It just goes to show what is possible. Billy Wright’s England were widely expected to win that tournament.
On the other hand, let's remember England had never played in any prior World Cups, yes, a fault maybe by the FA.
As for the movie, "The game of their lives" or "Miracle Match", there was no skirmish in the USA before the two teams went to Brazil. There was no arrogant English Banquet speech as the movie has by Stanley Mortensen who played for England. All that seems totally manufactured, I don't know where they got this from.
Who was Stanley Mortensen who is pegged as a troublemaker in that movie?
South Shields-born Mortensen went to war in 1939 as a wireless operator and overcame an injury – sustained when his RAF bomber crashed, leaving him as the only survivor – to become one of England's best post-war players.
Stanley Mortensen was born in South Shields on 26th May 1921. His grandfather was a Norwegian sailor who settled in England. Mortensen's father died when he was five years old and he experienced a great deal of poverty in his childhood.
So he had a fair amount of Scandinavian in him to begin with.
Oh, and as for the movie again, no way was Stanley Matthews enjoying the beach at Copacabana, taking time off to not play in that game as the movie shows. Matthews was hurt.
Oh, and the USA squad with a few players of Italian heritage and the referees were Italian?? It sounds like some fouls could have been called that weren't according to Sir Thomas Finney's book, perhaps the game itself is on youtube.
Interestingly, there was another wonder team, game of their lives in 1966 with the North Koreans and another film though that is a documentary. And it is actually a BBC documentary probably at Youtube as well
So per football/soccer, I enjoy it but take it all with a grain of salt.
There is another movie on the 1954 World Cup, I believe it is called the "Miracle at Bern". West Germany won.
But other things are written on that World Cup too. Of course, emphasis here is nothing is proven.
When the West Germans won their first World Cup in 1954 — defeating the heavily favored Hungarians — there were immediate accusations that their players had been receiving special injections. Reports in Italy claimed that several of the German players had come down with jaundice.
In 2004 a German television documentary established that injections were indeed given to the players — the team doctor, now 84, had admitted as much, but said the injections were nothing more than vitamin C. He also allowed that the jaundice that affected eight players might have spread because the hypodermic needles were not properly sterilized.
All this proves nothing, but it is worrying because it is suggestive. If both the 1966 and the 1954 teams (and the Germans did win that one) are under a cloud, where does that leave the 1974 team, World Cup winners at a time when the leaked report suggests that doping in West Germany had become “systematic”?
Even if one dismisses or does not like this story, it is interesting that beyond a doubt, some of the players contracted jaundice.
Let's not forget no one other than the Germans themselves have investigated this.
The 800-page study by the Humboldt University in Berlin was commissioned in 2008 by the German Olympic sports federation (DOSB) and the Federal Institute of Sport Science (BISp); head of the DOSB is Thomas Bach who is favourite to become next president of the International Olympic Committee. Read more at http://www.worldsoccer.com/columnists/keir-radnedge/west-germanys-culture-of-doping-kept-under-wraps#6U7KPmgka2Cu2zlR.99
Diego? Grew up during a time use of methamphetamine use was more common in sports. Maradona booted out of the 1994 World Cup but who really knows. Ephedrine was used in a lot of products back then.
The list goes on.