This Day in American History: Team USA's First-Ever World Cup Match (July 13, 1930)
- ForAmerica
- 1 day ago
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This Day in American History: July 13, 1930
Ninety-six years ago today, on a rain-soaked field in Montevideo, Uruguay, the United States men's national team played its first-ever World Cup match. They beat Belgium 3-0. Nobody watching that day could have guessed it would take almost a century for the Americans to have a shot at beating Belgium again.
Snow was actually falling in Montevideo, an unusual sight in the Uruguayan winter, when the U.S. and Belgium kicked off at the same moment France was beating Mexico across town in the tournament's other opening match. French players had nicknamed the physically built American squad "the shot-putters," but it was the Americans who had the last laugh: Bart McGhee scored twice and Bert Patenaude added a third as the U.S. rolled to a 3-0 win in front of just over 18,000 fans.
Restored footage from the tournament the U.S. team's opening win helped kick off.
That win kicked off a run nobody expected. Four days later the U.S. beat Paraguay 3-0 to win their group outright and advance straight to the semifinals, still the deepest run an American men's team has ever made at a World Cup. The New York Times ran the headline "U.S. Favorite to Win World's Soccer Title" before Argentina ended the fairy tale 6-1 in the semis, a game complicated by injuries to two key American players on a field far bigger than anything the team had ever played on.
Here's the part that stings: across the seven times the U.S. and Belgium have met at a World Cup since, that 1930 win is still the only one. The two sides met again just last week in this year's tournament, and Belgium won 4-1. Ninety-six years later, and the Red Devils still haven't given the Americans a rematch win.
The Americans have been chasing that first win's feeling for 96 years. Come back tomorrow for what else happened on July 14 throughout American history.
Also on this day
1787: The Confederation Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance, banning slavery in the Northwest Territory and setting the template for admitting new states as full equals.
1860: John F. Kennedy was nominated for president at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, defeating Lyndon B. Johnson for the top of the ticket.
1863: Deadly draft riots broke out in New York City in protest of Civil War conscription.
1923: The Hollywood Sign was installed in Los Angeles, originally reading "Hollywoodland."
1985: Live Aid raised millions for African famine relief in a concert broadcast from London and Philadelphia to over a billion viewers.
1942: Actor Harrison Ford was born.
Sources: HISTORY.com, Front Row Soccer, and Yahoo Sports