Goalkeeper who was one of the stars of the game in which the United States upset England in the 1950 World Cup. The goal that won that 1-0 game was scored by Joe Gaetjens, but Borghi was at least equally a hero, playing a spectacular game in the American goal.
That game was one of nine full internationals that Borghi played for the United States. He was in goal for all four of the United States games in World Cup qualifying in 1949, and then all three of the United States’ games in the World Cup itself in Brazil, against Spain in Curitiba, England in Belo Horizonte and Chile in Recife. He later played for the United States when it met Scotland before a giant crowd in Glasgow in 1952, and in a World Cup qualifier against Mexico in 1954.
Borghi, one of six St. Louis players on that 1950 United States roster, was a product of St Louis’ large Italian community. Like many leading American goalkeepers over the years, he had a baseball background, attracting major-league attention for a while. He was a member of the Simpkins Ford powerhouse that dominated St. Louis soccer in the late 1940s and early ’50s, and was the goalkeeper for the Simpkins teams that won the U.S. Open Cup in 1948 and 1950. He later played briefly for Kutis, which was sponsored by the funeral home that employed him, after Simpkins folded.
Inducted in 1976.
