The countdown to the is on! Every day forward of the match’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports activities will spotlight an perception or second that showcases simply how grand the world’s largest sporting spectacle has turn out to be — even past the expanded subject of this yr’s world occasion.
Should you’re a fan of U.S. soccer historical past, one title ought to stand out: Joe Gaetjens.
Commercial
It was Gaetjens who scored the aim that surprised the soccer world on the 1950 World Cup, giving america a surprising 1-0 victory over England in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, throughout the group stage. His Thirty eighth-minute header turned one of the crucial well-known targets in World Cup historical past.
That may be the one sport the U.S. would win that World Cup, but it surely disrupted England’s quest to advance to the ultimate spherical. (In 1950, the 4 group winners moved on to a separate group stage to find out the champion.)
FILE – U.S. middle ahead Joe Gaetjens is carried off by cheering followers after his group beat England 1-0 in a World Cup soccer match in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on June 28, 1950. (AP Picture/File)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The upset was historic, but it surely didn’t sign a brand new period for American soccer. The USMNT wouldn’t seem at one other World Cup for 40 years, till the 1990 World Cup
Commercial
Gaetjens himself had an uncommon path to that second. A local of Haiti, he was considered one of three gamers on that U.S. group who weren’t Americans, however got permission to play by FIFA. His solely three appearances for the U.S. got here throughout that World Cup, but considered one of them produced a aim that also echoes by U.S. soccer historical past.