The Wales team of 1958 had a distinctly South West Walian feel to it, and did they ever do us proud...
The 1958 World Cup in Sweden has, for most Welsh fans, always been rooted in our memory - mostly because it's the last (and only) time we've qualified for a major tournament. Well, I say qualified... we benefited from Belgium refusing to play Israel in a playoff...and Uruguay refusing to accept a "charitable entry" into the competition, and were drawn as the next "lucky losers" to play Israel for a place in the finals. We subsequently went on to win 4-0 on aggregate and book our place in the competition outright, and the Welsh were on their way to the World Cup!
Three draws in the group saw us play (and beat) Hungary in a playoff match for a place in the quarter-finals, where we came up against a Brazil side, whose attack was spearheaded by a 17-year-old Pele - who was both the youngest player to ever play in a World Cup and, when he scored the winner against Wales in a hard-fought 1-0 win, became the youngest ever goalscorer too. I know what you're thinking though - why the title about Swansea almost winning the World Cup?
Well, in doing some research for a recent article for Campo Retro (link) I realised there was a distinctly Swansea look to the squad. Starting at the back, Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Kelsey was born in Llansamlet, but the links far from end there. Mel Charles is a player who shouldn't need any introduction to Swansea fans, while his brother John, well...despite not playing for the Swans first-team he's almost definitely the finest footballer to ever emerge from the SA postcode area.
Next up you've got Cliff Jones and Terry Medwin, both famously talented Swansea players who went on to play for Spurs. Ivor Allchurch and his brother Len also featured in the World Cup squad, while Colin Webster played over one-hundred and fifty games for the Swans despite being born in Cardiff. I'm sure we can forgive him that given he scored sixty-six league goals for us...
Eight players with a direct link to the Swans - seven of whom were born in the city. Not a bad contingent for a small seaside city (or town, as it was at the time) to produce, and when you consider how far they pushed the much more vaunted Brazilian team in the quarter-final I find it remarkable that less has been made over the years about Swansea's link to the only appearance the Wales national side has made at a major competition.
As I mentioned in the aforementioned article for Campo Retro, it seems at present the current Wales squad is as good as any I've seen in my lifetime, so hopefully we won't be waiting too long to see our dragons roar once again. With Bale scoring the crucial goal in the Champions League final, and Ramsey the winner in the FA Cup Final, we could be on the verge of another golden era in Welsh football.
As a special treat check the site for the next blog, where I'll be posting a video of Ivor Allchurch scoring an absolute WORLDY of a goal against Hungary in the playoff match. And I do mean worldy.