By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 25 – Prince Harry wasn’t the only VIP attending England’s final game of the World Cup in Brazil’s third largest city. Just when England fans thought it could not get any worse, the match took place in the very city where England’s much-lauded team were humiliated by a bunch of amateurs from the United States all of 64 years ago.
Elmo Cordeiro remembers it only too well. He was a 16-year-old ballboy that day and like everyone else couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of an England side that were expected to challenge for the greatest sporting prize on earth.
Yet instead of England taking Belo Horizonte by storm, they left a dejected and demoralised bunch, just as the current yeam did after today’s 0-0 draw with Costa Rica, who struck yet another blow for the CONCACAF Confederation when they topped the Group D having gone into the tournament as rank outsiders.
That 1-0 defeat by the United States over half a century ago still ranks as perhaps the greatest upset in World Cup history. Many fans thought it was a misprint when the score was published in English papers. Combined with their defeat to Spain by the same scoreline, England, under the captaincy of Billy Wright and whose other legendary names included Mortensen, Finney and Ramsey, tumbled out of the competition.
Elmo explained how he became an office boy for the company which was building the Independencia stadium commissioned specially for Brazil’s hosting of the first post-war World Cup and home now to the America club on the other side of town to where today’s game took place.
When he was offered a chance to be a ballboy two days before the tie – a broken leg led to his own career being cut short – he didn’t think twice.
“England were considered the kings of the world and the inventors of the game,” Elmo, now 80, recalled yesterday. “Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of them. I was listening intently to the loudspeaker waiting to hear the name of Stanley Matthews. But he wasn’t in the starting line-up.
“England were that good. They came on to the pitch thinking they could win by any score they wanted. But the United States were physically better prepared. After they scored England became desperate.”
He will never forget the reaction of the England players.
“It was the only attack I can remember the Americans having. At the final whistle the English trudged off with their heads bowed . They really felt the defeat, you could tell.
“I would have loved to have seen them come here and qualify. Everyone here has a soft spot for the English game, old generation and new. We see a lot of English football on television.”
That, of course, is the Premier League with all its foreign players. Which is now at the very heart of the debate over the state of the national game and which is certain to be further fuelled by England’s tame exit from Brazil after their poorest return of any appearance in the finals.
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