June 8th 1953 saw England play against The USA at the New York Yankee Stadium under floodlights, for the first time. This was a 6-3 win helped by goals from Tom Finney 2, Nat Lofthouse 2, Ivor Broadis 1, and the interestingly named Redfern Froggatt 1. Only 7,271 came to witness "soccer" in a baseball stadium, but hey ho, it took time for the Yanks to turn up....don't we know!
The tour started in Buenos Aries on May 17th and was the first official tour outside Europe.
The team England fielded at the end of a long tour was: Ted Ditchburn, Alf Ramsey, Bill Eckersley, Billy Wright (c), Harry Johnston, Jimmy Dickinson, Tom Finney, Ivor Broadis, Nat Lofthouse, Jack Froggatt, Redfern Froggatt.
Redfern Froggatt featured on the 28-man longlist for the 1950 World Cup, however he was excluded from the final squad. He made his England debut against Wales on 12 November 1952. His fourth and last England cap came on 8 June 1953 against the USA, in which he scored one of the Three Lions' six.
Redfern played over 430 games for Sheffield Wednesday, scoring 140 goals. Jack Froggatt was Redfern's cousin, and he played for Portsmouth, Leicester and Kettering Town and won 13 caps for England scoring 2 goals.
Retiring from football, Froggatt returned to Portsmouth to become a publican. For 22 years, he kept the Manor House in Cosham, The Milton Arms near Fratton Park (Portsmouth's ground) and a hotel in Partidge Green, West Sussex....a stone's throw from my back yard.
During this tour to Argentina (0-0: match abandoned after 25 minutes due to torrential rain; 80,000 in crowd), Chile 2-1 (goals from Lofthouse and Tommy Taylor. 57,000) and Uruguay 1-2 (goal from Taylor 66,000) and a bout of food poisoning. The tour ended in New York on the 8th June, lasting 38 days and 4 games, England using only 14 players!!
England have played the USA 11 times, winning 8 and drawing 1. The infamous defeat came during the two nation's first meeting, on June 29th 1950, when the star studded English lost 0-1 to the USA in a World Cup match.
This result is notable as one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.
Before the game, England were heavy favourites against a hastily assembled U.S. team, which was composed of part-time players. The game's only goal was scored by the U.S.'s Haitian-born centre forward Joe Gaetjens.
This game and the U.S. team were profiled by author Geoffrey Douglas in his book The Game of Their Lives, which was made into a film of the same name (later renamed The Miracle Match).
England has won 6-3, 8-1, 10-0, 5-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, drawn 1-1 (World Cup 2010) and won 3-0.
The 1-1 draw in the World Cup held in South Africa with a "depleted side". Capello was the hapless manager and after going ahead through Gerrard, Rob Green let a Clint Dempsey shot slide under his body; final score 1-1. England campaign ended with an embarrassing 1-4 defeat by our old foes Germany, in the Round of 16.
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