Competition Info

• US Bicentennial Cup Tournament

• 1976

• The Bicentennial Cup Tournament was held in the USA to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Naturally they invited the British, or English in this case along with Italy and Brazil. Some sources state that England and Italy were only invited because they failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championship Finals but as this was two weeks later there is little evidence to support this. The USA national team was thought inferior to the opposition and so "Team USA" was invented to draw talent from the North American Soccer League pool of players. Players such as Pele and Bobby Moore played for "Team USA". As such the match (which England won 3-1) is regarded as unofficial but the matches against Italy and Brazil stood and England came second in the tournament.