FIFA World Cup 1950 Group 2

fifa world cup 1950 poster England made their World Cup debut with a team full of outstanding players and were considered one of the favourites to win the competition. Humiliation at the hands of the United States followed by defeat by Spain should have indicated that English football was not, after all, superior but it would be many years before the fact that the rest of the world had moved on while England stood still sank in.

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England

Chile

England 2 Chile 0

Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (30,000)
25 June 1950

Chile's fast forwards gave the England defence plenty to worry about but they were poor at finishing. Mortensen put England ahead in the 37th minute and Wilf Mannion scored England's second six minutes into the second half.

(Andre Silva)

Spain

United States

Spain 3 United States 1

Estádio Durival de Britto, Curitiba (10,000)
25 June 1950

Pariani gave the United States an unlikely lead after 17 minutes and they held on right to the last. In the final ten minutes of the game, however, Spain broke through three times as the part-timers tired.

Spain

Chile

Spain 2 Chile 0

Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (16,000)
29 June 1950

Spain's shirts were without a crest suggesting they may have been borrowed for this game. According to Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (Phil Ball 2011), General Franco (the dictator of Spain) insisted on blue shirts as this was the colour of his Falange party.

Both of Spain's goals came in the first half.

(Jon Jones, Andre Silva, Julio Lopez, Jon Chandler)

United States

england 1950 world cup change kit

England

United States 1 England 0

Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte (10,000)
29 June 1950

From the kick-off it was one-way traffic as England besieged the American goal but in a rare attack, Gaitjens dived headlong to make glancing contact with a long shot and deflected the ball past the England goalkeeper. Thousands of locals poured into the ground after hearing the half-time score to support the US team. England pressed even harder in the second half and were denied a penalty and a "goal" that was cleared off the line when the English players were convinced the ball had crossed the line. The match has gone down in history as one of the most remarkable giant-killing acts of all time.

(Andre Silva)

Spain

England

Spain 1 England 0

Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro (74,000)
2 July 1950

After their humiliation against the USA, England needed to beat Spain to force a play-off if they were to qualify for the final pool stage. They started out positively, playing fine football and with a little more luck and a more sympathetic referee they could have been two or three up. In the second half, Spain took the lead and then resorted to rough tactics and time wasting to defend their lead. With the crowd now behind them, England pressed forward as hard as they could but Spain hung on.

(Andre Silva)

Chile

United States

Chile 5 United States 2

Estádio Ilha do Retiro, Recife (9,000)
2 July 1950

Had they won this game and England beaten Spain, the United States would have been involved in a three-way play-off to decide the group winner. When they came back from 2-0 down to draw level at the start of the second half anything seemed possible but Chile's superiority eventually told as they put three more past the US defence.