1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament

The Bicentennial Cup Tournament was a minor international football competition, which took place in the summer of 1976 in the USA.

The tournament - which celebrated the 200th anniversary of the USA's Declaration of Independence - came about after England and Italy failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championship tournament. These two teams joined Brazil and Team America - a side composed of stars playing in the North American Soccer League - in a hugely entertaining tournament.

The U.S.A. team of the time was not strong enough to compete against sides as powerful as Brazil, Italy and England, and hence Team America, consisting of players of various nationalities drawn from North American Soccer Leagueclubs, carried the U.S.A. banner in the tournament. Team America included players who had performed for other national teams, among them Pelé, Ramon Mifflin, Mike England, Giorgio Chinaglia and Bobby Moore.

The day after England played Team America, the Football Association, asked about the match's status, said it was regarded as "a training game" and that caps would not be awarded to the participating players. Accordingly, the F.A. does not include the match in its list of full internationals. The associations of both Brazil and Italy, on the other hand, listed their national sides' matches against Team America as full internationals. Matches against Team America would not meet the new standard FIFA set down in January, 2001 for official full internationals because they were not played between the selections of two FIFA country members. FIFA has retroactively removed the official status of matches involving other multinational all-star selections, including England's matches against the Rest of Europe and the Rest of the World (although the F.A. continues to recognise these as official internationals).

Brazil won the cup, winning all three of their games, while England came a decent second, winning two and losing one; 1-0 against Brazil.

Results

footballbox
date = May 23, 1976
team1 = flagicon|United States Team America
score = 0–4
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington D.C.footballbox
date = May 23, 1976
team1 = fb|BRA
score = 1–0
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California----footballbox
date = May 28, 1976
team1 = flagicon|United States Team America
score = 0–2
team2 = fb|BRA
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = King County Domed Stadium, Seattle, Washingtonfootballbox
date = May 28, 1976
team1 = fb|ENG
score = 3–2
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York City----footballbox
date = May 31, 1976
team1 = flagicon|United States Team America
score = 1–3
team2 = fb|ENG
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniafootballbox
date = May 31, 1976
team1 = fb|BRA
score = 4–1
team2 = fb|ITA
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Yale Bowl, New Haven, Connecticut

Table

External links

* [http://www.englandfootballonline.com/CmpT/CmpT1976.html USA Bicentennial Cup Tournament results & table]