The Spirit of '50
You may have read somewhere in your history books that the US has faced off against England a number of times throughout history. In most of those encounters, the Yanks have been prohibitive underdogs.
The Revolutionary War (1776) - granted we had home field advantage in this one but if there were bookmakers in international conflicts at this point in history we would have looked a lot like North Korea going up against Brazil in the opening round of this World Cup. No chance. As it turns out, we did slightly better than expected.
The War of 1812 (well, 1812) - Washington, DC was burned to the ground and my soon-to-be hometown of Leesburg, VA (a bucolic town about 30 miles up the Potomac River) was briefly the center of government for the United States. That said, home field advantage still held and we actually built a winning steak against the highly favored Brits. Let's just say that we became their "bogey team" well before they started losing grip of their empire.
1950 World Cup - Could the magic hold when we didn't hold a decided home field advantage? Well, in 1950 we produced an incredible upset that, until we hosted the Cup in 1994 and started what I like to think of as the modern era of US involvement in the world's game, was without question the high water mark for US Soccer. It may still be the single greatest accomplishment in the US game but since 1994, we've certainly had our share of moments that at least approach it (draw vs. Italy in 2006, beating Spain in Confederations Cup, etc.).
Since 1950, there have been friendlies between the two countries but there haven't been many moments that mattered. The friendly matches have, as you might expect, been dominated by the more talented English squads. So, where does all of this leave us? Well, I'm not a huge fan of sequels but let's see how this one is likely to play out...
