On 29 June 1950, the United States defeated England 1–0 in a World Cup group match at Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Each team had played one previous match in the group, England having beaten Chile 2–0 and the United States losing 3–1 to Spain.

Walter Bahr was a high school teacher, Frank Borghi drove a hearse for his uncle's funeral home[6]: 14  and others worked as letter carriers or dishwashers.

[7] "We have no chance," recently appointed coach Bill Jeffrey told the press;[6]: 16  he also declared his players "sheep ready to be slaughtered".

"[13] Although Walter Bahr regularly served as captain for the United States, Ed McIlvenny was selected for the role for this particular match "because he was British".

Within ninety seconds, Stanley Mortensen sent a cross from the left wing to Roy Bentley, who let off a shot that was barely pushed aside by U.S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi.

[6]: 22–24 The U.S. struggled to move to the offense, and finally managed a shot on goal in the 25th minute, which was blocked by English goalkeeper Bert Williams.

[6]: 37–42 In the 37th minute, Bahr took a long shot from 25 yards out, but as Williams moved to his right to intercept, Gaetjens dived headlong near the penalty spot,[14] and grazed the ball enough to put it to the left of the English goalkeeper, whose momentum prevented him from changing direction, and into the back of the net.

With eight minutes left, Charlie Colombo brought down Mortensen with an illegal tackle at the edge of the penalty area.

England did not threaten again, but the U.S. had one final chance in the 85th minute: Frank "Peewee" Wallace drew Williams out of position and fired a shot at the empty net, only to be denied by a sliding goal line clearance by Ramsey.

[12] Newspaper headlines in most World Cup nations trumpeted the shocking upset, except ironically in the United States and England.

There was only one U.S. journalist at the World Cup: Dent McSkimming of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; he could not persuade the newspaper to pay for the trip, and had taken time off work to cover the event.

Because the English cricket team happened to suffer their first-ever home defeat to the West Indies the very same day, that was the major story in many publications.

The result of these losses was a reorganization of English football that culminated in England winning the 1966 World Cup on home soil.

[5] There was little attention given to the match in the U.S. at the time, and that continued to be the case until the 1994 World Cup, which was hosted in the U.S.[25] Geoffrey Douglas, a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was inspired by news articles in the build-up to the 1994 tournament, and wrote a book about the 1950 match, having interviewed the five surviving members of the U.S. team.