James Stafford
@jpstafford
Author of 'The Sorrowful Putto of Prague', 'Unbelievable Underdogs', the 'Illustrated History of Rugby' series, 'How Wales Beat the Mighty All Blacks', 'Ragby' (Czech), editor of the East Terrace (theeastterrace.com). #booksky Prague based. Welsh born.
Just watched 'The Odyssey'. I thought it was a very clever and imaginative take of one of the truly great songs/poems/stories. 🎥
"Marlene watches from the wall, her mocking smile says it all..." Suzanne Vega, Prague, 2006. 🎶
Missing the start of #ENGvARG as Suzanne Vega is in town. A good excuse, I feel.
Count Binface. Your time has come. The only one we need to stand against Farage. Everyone else must stay out of it. This is your destiny. @countbinface.bsky.social
Wonderful start by the Tron U20 team against the Baby Boks in the #JWC2026.
Yup. Soccer was perfectly acceptable in the UK (and used often by the media, FA, players and in lots of parts of the country) until the 1994 World Cup began a backlash.
The book is aimed at all ages, but I've had lots of great feedback from teachers and parents of young readers in particular, many who are often reluctant readers. So please do consider getting it for someone in your family who loves sport. jpstafford.com/us-and-austr...
Neither side managed to win their next games and both were eliminated from the tournament. One nation left covered in glory and the other in shame. England would go on to win the 1966 World Cup, while it would be 40 years before the USA again qualified for the event.
There was just one American journalist at the whole tournament. The NY Times is said to have thought the initial report of the score was a hoax. The story of English newspapers 'correcting' what they at first assumed was an incorrect score sent to them seems to be a myth.
The result sent shock waves through the footballing world, but sadly for the heroes of the day, the US press made little fuss about the result as football was simply not of huge interest to the media and most of the population.
With minutes remaining, USA almost made it 2-0, but right-back, and future England World Cup winning manager, Alf Ramsey, just managed to block what seemed a certain goal. The USA hung on though and made history.
...USA forward Joe Gaetjens dived at the ball, got the slightest of touches to it and changed its course. The new trajectory of the ball wrong-footed Williams and it went in.
37 minutes into the match the only goal of the match came. American midfielder Walter Behr tried a speculative shot from outside the area. Bert Williams, in goal for England, seemed to have things covered but, suddenly...
After making a save he would throw the ball out, rather than kick it. For goal kicks he’d get another player to kick for him as he didn’t consider himself good enough with his feet.
US goalkeeper, Frank Borghi, was having the game of his life. An undertaker, he slowly buried English hopes with one athletic save after another. He had originally been a pro baseball player, but decided to try his hand (or hands) as a goalkeeper.
The contest was played in the Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte. An estimated 13,000 fans attended the game. England were on top straight from the kick off and averaged a shot on goal every two minutes for the first 12 minutes. The Americans didn't have a shot for 25 mins.
Stanley Matthews, one of the greatest players of all time, was not picked for this fixture by England. He had joined the squad a little late due to playing in Canada and it was thought better not to rush him back for a game against the lowly USA. No subs were allowed then.
The combined score in those ten games was 48-11 to their opponents! One of those losses had been a humiliating 11-0 defeat by Norway. England opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over Chile, while the USA lost 3-1 to Spain.
One USA player was unable to play in the tournament as his employers would not give him time off. The USA were 500/1 tournament outsiders and had little preparation time. Since international football had restarted after WWII the USA had won just one of ten matches.
England had won an impressive 23 of 30 matches since the end of the Second World War. In contrast, the USA were a mixture of part timers and amateurs, containing players who earned their wages in occupations as diverse as mailman, dishwasher, teacher and undertaker.
The 1950 World Cup was held in Brazil. It was the 4th edition of the tournament, but the first England, the sport’s founding fathers, had agreed to take part in. England were dubbed ‘The Kings of Football’ and considered by many as the favourites with betting odds of 3/1.