Going into this final qualifying match, the US were given virtually no chance winning a place at Italia 90.
They had to win in front of 40,000 passionate Trinidad & Tobago fans who had turned out to see their team gain the point they needed to qualify.
But as the hosts pushed forward, they were caught out by Paul Caligiuri's dipping shot from 35 yards out.
Immediately labelled as a "shot heard around the world", Caligiuri's strike propelled the US to their first World Cup appearance after a 40-year absence.
US 1-0 England
World Cup, Brazil, 29 June 1950.
A hastily-assembled squad of part-timers who barely knew each other when they began the year, the United States were questioned as a legitimate entry into the World Cup, let alone an opponent to be taken seriously by England.
The fans expected the Americans to be thrashed as a matter of course by an England side tipped to win.
But in what is arguably the greatest upset in World Cup history - and without question the biggest victory ever by the US in the sport - the unthinkable happened.
A 37th-minute goal by French-speaking Haitian immigrant Joe Gaetjens, the brilliant goalkeeping of Frank Borghi, and some amazingly good luck, produced an unimaginable scoreline.
So much so that many newspapers around the world reported the result as a victory by England of 11-1 or 10-0, believing that a typographical error had occurred in the transmission "US 1-0 England".