Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Game of their Lives

A brief history lesson - In US Olympic hockey, you have the miracle on ice. In US World Cup soccer, you have the game of their lives (or the miracle match). See the trailer for The Game of their Lives, below (starring Gerard Butler, Zachary Ty Bryan and John Harkes)

Going into the World Cup of 1950, the US's chances of winning were 500-1. Their goal? Just for people to know they were there.

On June 29, 1950, this US team, which was made up of a scrappy group of part-time, semi-professionals from around the country, took on England. England was favored to win the World Cup and had long been referred to as the father of football. The team that took the field for the yanks, that day, were probably just as shocked as the rest of the world when the final whistle blew and they realized they had won.

Newspapers around the globe exploded with the news, but this exciting moment was not documented in any US newspapers, as soccer was not worth reporting in those days.

The US did not qualify for another World Cup, until 1990 in Italy. Since 1990, the USMNT has developed into a legitimate and quality professional program, which currently ranks at 14th in the world.

Lets see what Bob's bunch can do against England, 60 years later.

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