NETHERLANDS 0-0 USA, Amsterdam 03/03/10
Kuyt (pen) 40, Huntelaar 73 (Netherlands), Bocanegra 89 (USA)

And the Dutch go marching on. This 2-1 victory saw the Netherlands retain their title in the first UFWC match of 2010. The Dutch led at halftime through a Dirk Kuyt penalty. Substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar added a second with just over quarter of an hour to go. Carlos Bocanegra scored a late consolation goal for the USA in the 89th minute.

The Netherlands now need just one more UFWC win to draw level with Russia in 4th place in the UFWC all-time rankings. They will have the opportunity to do that on 26 May, when they take on Mexico in Innsbruck. Like the Dutch, the Mexicans will be at the World Cup Finals in June, so whoever wins we will be one step closer to seeing the UFWC title competed for in South Africa.

Match Reports Netherlands, USA

NETHERLANDS vs USA, Amsterdam 03/03/10

The Unofficial Football World Championships 2010 fixture list gets underway on Wednesday with a real cracker, featuring two teams on their way to South Africa to compete in the World Cup this summer.

The Netherlands are formidable UFWC champions, having held the title for 12 straight games, remaining unbeaten throughout 2009. The Dutch are ranked fifth in the UFWC rankings, just two points behind Russia. FIFA rank the Netherlands third in the world.

But the Dutch have found it difficult to hit the net in recent games. The side’s last 3 UFWC matches, including the last game against Paraguay, ended in goalless draws. The absence of the Robin van Persie, badly injured in a UFWC title clash with Italy in November, will not help matters.

The USA are ranked a lowly 36th in the UFWC rankings, having chalked up only 2 UFWC victories. The first was a famous 1-0 World Cup victory over England in 1950, and the second was a 1-0 win over Portugal in 1992. FIFA rank the Americans higher, at 14th in the world.

The USA warmed up for this one by beating El Salvador 2-1 last week. In a team made up of MLS stars, several players staked claims for a place in the USA’s World Cup squad. Brian Ching and Sacha Kljestan scored the goals. But the USA’s European-based stars will be back for the Netherlands game.

Can the Netherlands continue their epic UFWC title reign, or will the USA take the title towards the World Cup? Who will win? Make your prediction below, and tune in on Wednesday to find out.

Match Previews Netherlands, USA

Ahead of the Netherlands versus Australia title match, we look back at Australia’s only UFWC victory.

USA 0-1 AUSTRALIA, 13 June 1992
Friendly, Citrus Bowl, Orlando
Scorer: Spink (Australia)

Despite traditionally preferring their footballs to be egg-shaped, the Americans were enjoying their second stint as UFWC champions, having taken the title from Portugal and held off Italy in friendly matches in Chicago earlier in the month.

Australia, another country that preferred its football to be played by alternative rules – and was yet to fully embrace the beautiful game despite having been on the international stage since 1922 – had never played in a UFWC title match.

The match was the first of a ‘goodwill series’ across the Americas designed to give Australia’s Socceroos match practice ahead of World Cup qualifiers.

Among the US players were keeper Tony Meola, defender Marcelo Balboa, and Dutch-born striker Earnie Stewart, all of whom would play for their country in World Cup finals. The US were coached by Yugoslav Velibor ‘Bora’ Milutinovic.

Australia’s coach, Eddie Thomson, was a Scot. The Aussie line-up included controversial midfielder Ned Zelic, and defender Tony Vidmar, who would both later have relatively unsuccessful stints in England, with Queen’s Park Rangers and Middlesbrough respectively.

Zelic, of Croatian origin, was signed for £1.3 million by QPR manager Ray Wilkins, who described him as ‘as versatile as an egg’. But the signing was a rotten one – Zelic played only three times for the relegation bound club, suffering persistent knee injuries and eventually deciding that London wasn’t for him. Vidmar, Australia’s most-capped player, also played for Rangers and Cardiff City.

In a muggy and humid Orlando, 17,500 fans braved a huge thunderstorm to get to the game, but the kick-off was delayed for fear that the players would be struck by lightning. Indeed the match was on the verge of being abandoned, when the storm finally passed, and the go-ahead was given.

In slippery conditions, neither side served up much to convince those gathered there that the game had been worth braving the weather. It was a full 85 minutes before the deadlock was broken, with Warren Spink netting the only goal of the game for the Socceroos. Australia took the UFWC title, but lost it in their next ‘goodwill’ match to Argentina.

Classic Matches australia, USA

Joe Gaetjens scored one of the most famous goals in UFWC history, in the USA’s 1950 World Cup finals win over England.

Gaejtens was 26 years old when he hit ‘the shot heard around the world’. Born in Haiti in 1924, he moved to the US to study at New York’s Columbia University, and worked as a restaurant dishwasher to pay his way.

Renowned for his speed and style on the football pitch, he cut a distinctive figure with his socks around his ankles. Gaetjens never played for the US after 1950, but turned out for Haiti in a World Cup qualifier in 1953. He had a brief spell at Troyes in France, then returned to Haiti to open a dry cleaning business.

In 1964 the apolitical Gaetjens was arrested by the Tonton Macoutes, the Haitian secret police, and was never seen again.

15 years later, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a report that concluded: ‘The fact that Mr Gaetjens, a football player of international standing, has not been seen since his detention in 1964 leads to the conclusion that he is dead.’ Witnesses later claimed that, within days of his arrest, Gaetjens was lined up against a wall and shot.

Hall of Fame USA