World Cup style

The US national team lost to the Netherlands 2-1 in a friendly match in Amsterdam today. I watched the game, and I thought it was an encouraging performance. The team debuted their World Cup 2010 jerseys for this game. I love them! Here is a picture.



They are an obvious throwback to the 1950 USA World Cup jerseys, pictured below:

What is significant about the 1950 USA world cup team? It was they who shocked the world when they upset the English with a 1-0 win in group play; a game which went down in history as one of the biggest upsets ever in international soccer and has been called the "miracle on grass". Upon receiving the report of the final score over the wire, English newspapers famously assumed that the report was a typo and reported the following day that England had won the match 10-0.

Team USA's opening match in this year's world cup, which will kick off at 2:30 PM Eastern on June 12, is against none other than England. Think the choice of jersey design is a coincidence?