England's World Cup match against United States in June will bring
back memories Bert Williams would rather forget.
Now 90, Williams was the goalkeeper who conceded the only
goal of the game when a team of journeymen Americans beat a
talented England side in Brazil in 1950, one of the biggest upsets
in World Cup history.
Joe Gaetjens scored a first-half goal for the U.S., but the
result was such a shock that some parts of the media queried
whether the score was 10-1 to England instead of 1-0 to the
Americans.
In the U.S. media, it was labeled the "Miracle on Grass," in
the same way that the Americans' famous ice hockey victory over the
Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics was called the "Miracle on Ice."
"It's been 60 years. It's taken a lot of forgetting as far as
I am concerned," Williams said.
Williams spent almost the entire 90 minutes watching England
make wave after wave of attacks in the group game at Belo Horizonte
only to see a defense-minded American lineup block every move on
the edge of their area.
Behind a team that included England greats such as Tom
Finney, Stan Mortensen and Alf Ramsey, who coached the team to its
1966 World Cup triumph, Williams said he was little more than an
onlooker.
"As soon as England played a good ball through, the whole
American team retreated to the 18-yard line," the former
Wolverhampton Wanderers player told The Associated Press in a
telephone interview.
"You could hardly see their goal. We hit the crossbar and the
upright three times to my knowledge but we could not get the ball
past this crowd of players."
Williams said some of the American players arrived at the
ground smoking cigars and wearing "cowboy hats."
"You have got to give them a certain amount of credit," he
said. "But they came there not with any intention to win. They
didn't think they had much chance to do that. That came with the
intention of avoiding a hatful of goals against them.
"We thought the score should have been 8-1, 10-1 even - and I
was virtually one of the spectators."
Williams said the Americans' good fortune didn't only extend
to their defending.
"I don't remember a great deal about the goal," Williams
said. "I had the ball covered and it was a deflection off one of
their players who was standing in front of me. I was going the
right way. It just happened."
Although Williams played only 24 times for his country, he
was one of the most recognizable names. When he played in a 2-0
victory over Italy in 1949, the Italians nicknamed him "The Cat"
for his spectacular saves.
England may have been attending its first World Cup in 1950
but the team was expected to go for the title. Instead, the loss to
the U.S. team was followed by another 1-0 defeat to Spain and
elimination.
"There was no shaking of hands after the game, but no
animosity at all. Just utter, sheer dejection. We just couldn't
believe it," Williams said. "I think what lost us the match against
Spain was the utter dejection from losing 1-0 to the Americans. Our
spirits were so low. I felt sorry for everyone who was on that
tour.
"In those days, the World Cup didn't have anything like the
same euphoria as it does now. People didn't really pay very much
attention to it. But they did in South America and the conditions
were so different for us - it was so hot and the euphoria there was
terrific."
Now the oldest-living England international player, Williams
has teamed up with 1966 World Cup winner Martin Peters and
goalkeeper Peter Shilton from the 1986 team for a TV advertisement
for Mars, an official supplier to the current national team.
