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.

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.

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.

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.

The 1950 World Cup tournament was another organisational shambles, with withdrawals and disqualifications leaving just 13 teams playing in four uneven qualifying groups of four, four, three, and two. Germany and Japan were excluded as they were under Allied occupation, while India were refused entry as they insisted on playing barefoot. But, crucially, for the first time the UFWC holders were invited. This was UFWC champs England’s first World Cup appearance, and much was expected of the so-called ‘Kings of Football’. The lowly USA had lost their last seven matches and conceded 45 goals along the way. London bookies offered odds of 500-1 against a US victory.

English manager Walter Winterbottom must have felt confident – he left out the great Stanley Matthews. His side still featured the likes of Alf Ramsey, Tom Finney, Wilf Mannion, and Stan Mortenson. The US side, on the other hand, contained just one professional footballer, skipper and full-back Ed McIlvenny. Goalkeeper and D-Day veteran Frank Borghi was a funeral director, centre-back Charley Colombo was a meat packer, and Haitian-born centre-forward Joe Gaetjens (pictured above) washed dishes in a New York restaurant.

Straight from the kick-off, England, wearing unfamiliar blue shirts, peppered the US goal with shots from all distances. But the USA, organised by Scottish coach Bill Jeffrey, held firm. Then, eight minutes before half-time, US half-back Walter Bahr hit a speculative shot from almost 30 yards that English keeper Bert Williams easily had covered. Enter the dish-washing centre-forward. Joe Gaetjens dived full-length to connect with the ball and deflect it past Williams into the back of the net. England fought for an equaliser for the remaining 57 minutes, but the crowd favoured the underdogs, chanting, ‘One more!’ When England did break through the defence, Borghi produced heroics, including three highly unconventional stops with his face. At the final whistle English players sunk to their knees, as jubilant spectators invaded the pitch. Goalscorer Gaetjens was carried from the stadium at shoulder height.

The USA became the first side from the Americas to win the UFWC. It was the USA’s greatest-ever international football result, but few Americans knew or cared. Only one US reporter saw the game – Dent McSkimming from the St Louis Post Dispatch. McSkimming paid for his own airfare after the paper refused to cover his expenses. ‘It was like Oxford University beating the Yankees in baseball,’ he wrote. Back in England, newspapers ran with black borders, with The Daily Express reporting that England had been ‘outplayed by American amateurs and semipros’. The US lost the UFWC title to Chile in their next game, and neither the US nor England qualified for the next round of the World Cup. Although the England team went on to better things, the US side was broken up and never played together again. The US players deserved more credit for their amazing victory. Goal-maker Bahr reflected, ‘Nine times out of 10 they would have beaten us, but that game was our game.’

Goalscorer Gaetjens was 26 years old when he hit ‘the shot heard around the world’. He never played for the US after 1950, and returned to his native 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.

This is an edited extract from the official UFWC book The Unofficial Football World Championships by Paul Brown.