A lot of what I’ve written about the U.S. men’s national team in this series of essays on historical matters has had to do with high points, like events in 1991 and 1995. It’s time to give a little attention to low points.
USMNT
The road to Belo Horizonte
The United States’ famous victory over England in the 1950 World Cup might not have been possible if it weren’t for the efforts of Peter Matevich.
Memories of the first US Junior National Team: Guatemala, 1964
Alex Popovich, a member of the first ever junior US national soccer team, shares memories of the team’s participation in the CONCACAF Youth Tournament in Guatemala City, April 1964.
Pan-Am surprise
The United States team’s bronze-medal performance at the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago stands out as an unexpected surprise.
The Cummings Report
At the conclusion of the United States team’s trip to the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the manager of the team, Wilfred Cummings, wrote a report to the USFA on the trip.
The way it wasn’t
Historical inaccuracies are common in movies. Those inaccuracies are piled pretty deep in in the USMNT’s lead-up to the 1950 World Cup in The Game of Their Lives/The Miracle Match.
Happy days
The U.S. men’s national team has scored a few famous upsets against major teams over the years, and also a few significant victories that are not as well remembered.
A change of uniform
When the U.S. Soccer Federation used clubs to take the field in place of the U.S. men’s national team.
Springtime in Paris
The 1924 Olympic Games in Paris were a landmark event for the U.S. national soccer team.
Before the turning point
Everyone knows about Paul Caligiuri’s gamewinner against Trinidad and Tobago in 1989. So what else did the U.S. men’s national team do that year?
The All-American Football Club
In 1916 in the midst of the First World War, the US played its first official internationals in Sweden and Norway.
The wrong place at the wrong time
Smoke bombs thrown onto the field? Ho-hum. Hooligans in the streets? Yawn. There are American soccer players who have seen far worse, like tear gas in the stadium.
A century ago: The untold story of the 1924 U.S. Olympic team
Michael Lewis recounts the story of the first US Olympic soccer team.
Rounding the curve in ’91
The events of 1991 included some important steps in the right direction for the US national team.
Rising from the depths in ’87
So who brought the United States back? Paul Krumpe and Jim Gabarra did.
Progress in Paysandu
A high-water mark for American success in international soccer was the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay.
Catching minnows
The Concacaf World Cup qualifying format has thrown the USMNT up against small island nations from the Caribbean in early rounds.
The other Confederations Cup run
In 1999 the United States advanced through the first round from a group that included Brazil and Germany.
Studying mythology
The idea that the United States team at the 1930 World Cup included a group of British ringers is one of the longest-standing pieces of fiction in American soccer.
The original dos á cero
The United States’ 2-0 upset of Mexico in the semifinals of the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup seems to have been largely forgotten.
Is this the American style?
It is often said that the United States doesn’t have a distinct national style of playing soccer.
The brief Dettmar Cramer
On the sudden departure of Dettmar Cramer as head coach of the USMNT in 1975.
The accidental Gerry Baker
Baker holds the title of the first European first-division player ever to play for the United States men’s national team.
Ticos weren’t as high a hurdle in ’84
Roger Allaway looks at when the USMNT defeated Costa Rica 3-0 at the 1984 Olympics in front of a crowd of 78,265 at Stanford Stadium.
Shots heard a few blocks away
Paul Caligiuri’s biggest goal wasn’t the first game winner that he’d scored against Trinidad and Maurice. He’d also had one four years earlier, on May 19, 1985, Roger Allaway explains.
A warning that England missed
In the first installment of The Archives Room, Roger Allaway looks at the 1950 World Cup. Everyone knows about the 1-0 US win over England in Brazil. But four days before that game, the US held a 1-0 lead against Spain for 62 minutes before losing 3-1.
Behind the footage: The opening game of the USMNT’s 1916 Scandinavian tour
Ed Farnsworth looks at the opening match of the United States Football Association’s first international tour, which was in Stockholm against a club side, Tigrarna Fotbollkubben.
Behind the discovery of the earliest known footage of the United States Men’s National Team
Brian Bunk on the discovery by SASH of the earliest known footage of the USMNT in action, filmed during the team’s first-ever overseas tour in 1916 to Scandinavia.
SASH uncovers earliest known footage of the U.S. Men’s National Team
The footage is from the 1-1 draw at Stockholm Olympic Stadium with Stockholm Tigrarna on August 15, 1916, the first match of the first-ever overseas tour by the US Men’s National Team.
What did referee Dattilo really say to Colombo in Belo Horizonte?
How a regional dialect may have played a part in a famous incident during the USMNT’s historic victory over England in the 1950 World Cup.
Perseverance in soccer: A useful trait
Len Oliver on how he is living proof that perseverance in soccer pays dividends.
An Interview with Walter Bahr, US Soccer Legend
Walter Bahr, an American soccer legend, passed away today. May he rest in peace. SASH member Dr. David Kilpatrick traveled to speak with Bahr in 2014. Here is Part 1 of that interview. DK: It is a tremendous honor to be in your company. WB: Are you American born? DK: […]
1934: USA vs. Mexico and the “little truck”
Aldo “Buff” Donelli’s quartet of goals in the one-off playoff game against Mexico powered the US to a berth in the 1934 World Cup. It would 46 years before the US would defeat Mexico again.
The lost tape
Televisa broadcast the US win over Mexico in 1980 — the first in 44 years — but footage of the game remains under wraps.
Len Oliver Q&A: Playing in the pros in 1950s Philadelphia and beyond
Our series of conversations with Philadelphia-born National Soccer Hall of Famer Len Oliver continues.
Live From Acapulco, It’s Tabare Ramos!
Tab Ramos is presently coaching the US at the U-20 World Cup. In 1982, it took a private jet and helicopter to get him to a New Jersey high school championship playoff game.
Philly and the first USA international tour
On June 9, 1916, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, “Word was received in this city yesterday that all arrangements had been completed for an All-American soccer team to tour Sweden and Norway in July. The Sweden Football Association, through its secretary, C.L. Kornerup, has cabled a guarantee of $4000 to cover […]
That wooden sign
In recognition of Throwback Thursday, Tom McCabe recalls the wooden sign that used to hang behind Archie Stark’s tavern in Kearny, New Jersey
A Boca American
Peter Millar joined Inter in 1961 and by the end of his first season he led the league in scoring and was voted its top player. He took home the Most Valuable Player award again after the 1962-63 campaign, and by early 1964 a black and white photograph of a […]
Meet the Babe Ruth of American Soccer
Steve Holroyd on Billy Gonsalves, one of the greatest players the US has ever produced.
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