Usa Football Team

Few know that the USA soccer team is actually one of the oldest around and despite the fact that soccer was not as popular as other sports such as basketball, hockey or football, the USA soccer national team was formed early on, in the last decades of the 19th century. With England and Scotland being the first national teams, the only recorded international matches were against these two countries and they were all held inside Great Britain. The first international match ever to be played outside Britain is the one between the US national soccer team and Canada, a match that was played in 1885 in Newark and ended with Canada's 1-0 win. The US soccer team seemed to specialize in "world firsts" during that era, as they also managed to get the first ever win in a World Cup, when they defeated Belgium 3-0 at the 1930 Cup held in Uruguay. That World Cup would also be the best in the history of the American soccer team, as they would advance to the semi-finals, where they would suffer a crushing defeat by the Argentineans, who won 6-1. Since no third-place final was played at the 1930 World Cup, it is still slightly controversial why FIFA awarded the 3rd place to the US soccer team over the other defeated semi-finalist, Yugoslavia. World Cup soccer team was given the 3rd spot because they had a superior goal difference than Yugoslavia, but since this wasn't a rule in the books of FIFA back then, the decision is still blurry. It seems like the 1930 World Cup was the most eventful for the US national soccer team, as yet another controversy was sparked around them. In their second fixture of the group stage, the USA soccer team beat Paraguay 3-0, with American Bert Patenaude allegedly scoring all three goals, thus being the first player ever to score a hattrick in a World Cup match. Later on, this performance was disputed, as FIFA noted that Patenaude scored only 2 goals, with the third being attributed to teammate Tom Florie. Others say that it was an own goal by a Paraguayan player, but since no recording of the goal was made, it's impossible to know where the truth lies. In 1950, the US soccer team made one of its most memorable World Cups, despite not being able to go above the group stage. They were in a death group, with trophy favorites England and Spain as well as a surprisingly strong Chile side. The American soccer team was given the last chance in the group, especially that the English were rampant at that time, having just beaten a selection of the best players from Europe with the score of 6-1 in an exhibition match. The USA soccer team had an excellent day against the English national team and managed to earn a victory that would echo throughout the World and still remains one of the most important moments in the history of US soccer. Winning 1-0 against England did not get the USA national soccer team out of the group stage, but it definitely put them on the map as a soccer nation. Nowadays, the USA soccer team is ranked 29th in FIFA's standings and has qualified for all of the last 5 World Cups. Despite not being able to impress much in last 2006 world cup, the American soccer team is considered a solid one that has tremendous potential and a very bright future.