Hey everyone, My apologies if this belongs in another forum, but: for quite some time I had been itching to learn more about NY Hungaria's victory over CD Oro de Jalisco in 1963 - until last year, the only time a US club had managed to win a game in Mexico. Fortunately, CONCACAF Retro just ran an article on the feat, based on an interview with Andy Mate, scorer of all three goals on the day - and surely the only player on a US club to ever score a hat-trick on Mexican opposition.
So the only usa team to win in Mexico for all those years, were a bunch of Hungarians. Props to Hungary. It's sad how this tournament ended, with Guadalajara withdrawing.
Not really surprising. A whole lot of the major teams from this era were primarily ethnic teams. In addition to New York Hungaria, Philadelphia Ukrainians, New York Ukrainians, and Greek American AA also won the Open Cup during the 1960's. I think this is actually one of the most unique and impressive things about American soccer history.
The players on those teams (which often were sponsored by an ethnic social club), weren't always confined to members of a single ethnic group. For example, there were John Wojciechowizc of Kearny Scots, Efraim Chachurian of New York Swiss, Francis Ryan of Philadelphia German-Americans, Ed Murphy of Chicago Slovak, and Jorge Benitez, who played for both Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals and Los Angeles Yugoslavs.
Indeed. On the New York Hungaria team that won this game, it seems unlikely that Victor Gerley or Tony Domborovski were Hungarian, based on their names, and Dietrich Albrecht was born in Germany. It is a remarkably Hungarian squad, nevertheless.