USA

USA 1950 World Cup. American captain Gaetjens scores the only goal of the game as the unfancied USA causes one of the upsets of the tournament by beating England.

USA 1930 World Cup.

The USA was one of 13 nations to compete in the first FIFA World Cup competition in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The US stunned Belgium in their opening match, winning 3-0. The first goal was scored by Bart McGhee in the 40th minute off a rebound from the crossbar after a Gonsalves shot. There is some dispute as to whether this was actually the first goal of this first World Cup tournament. FIFA had determined some years later that the first goal was actually scored by Lucien Laurent of France. McGhee followed this with another goal just before halftime when Belgium paused, waiting for an offside whistle, leaving McGhee open in front of the net. Florie got the final goal in the second half. Four days later, the US shut out Paraguay 3-0. Their successful run came to a sudden end in the semifinals, when Argentina knocked out the Americans decisively in a 6-1 thrashing. This game was complicated by two significant injuries. The US goalkeeper twisted his ankle early in the game, forcing him to play the final 80 minutes practically on one leg, and a serious leg injury suffered by midfielder Tracey, leaving the US with ten men for the second half. The US prevented a shutout with a goal by Brown in the 89th minute. Ultimately, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 for the trophy. Despite the disappointing end, this was still a great run for the Americans in their first World Cup, one that would remain unequaled until it's historic performance in 2002.

USA,Pan American games 1959

Chicago hosted the Pan-American games of 1959 during August. As is frequently the case with such multi-sport tournaments, soccer was the most well attended of the sports, with several games drawing in excess of 30,000 spectators. The U.S. put on an inspiring performance, garnering the bronze medal with a 4-2-0 record, behind gold medalist Argentina and runner-up Brazil.

The US team, coached by James Reed, started off being thumped by Argentina 4-1 on August 23, but rebounded by defeating Haiti convincingly 7-2 a day later. This was followed by a surprising win over Brazil, 5-3, and a 5-0 shutout of Cuba on August 30. They wrapped up the schedule with a 4-2 win over Mexico and a 3-4 loss to Costa on 9/3. Although their opponents had not sent their strongest teams by a long shot, the performance was one of the US's better showings in a number of years, with strength both on offense and defense. Altogether the US scored 26 goals, led by Al Zerhusen with 10.