Article 47 — USA 94
As we edge closer to the start of Coppa Italia, Serie A and the English Premier League, without much to talk about on current football, let’s look back at another major tournament. This tournament is the first-ever World Cup tournament that I watched, USA 94.
Everything about that tournament is memorable for me personally even after 26 years. I remember the tournament logo, the mascot and whenever I watch footage of the tournament or view pictures, it rekindles a warm feeling of nostalgia.
I was 10 years old when this tournament took place and luckily for me, it was during my June school holidays. The matches were shown “live” early in the morning with some kick-offs at 6, 7 am which wasn’t too early for me to get up and watch.
We start by detailing the Group stage. In Group A, there was Switzerland. A team that had surprised me with their results in the World Cup qualifiers being in the same group as my favourite, Italy. What stood out for me was their English manager, Roy Hodgson. Later it was players like Alain Sutter with his rocker hairstyle and Stephane Chaipusat. The hosts, USA was in this group too and I was fascinated to see them as a footballing team. I was well aware that football, as we know, is not a popular American sport. Colombia was a team that I really wanted to see in action after an impressive and shocking 5–0 win over Argentina in the qualifiers. Finally, there was Romania.
I watched a lot of matches in this group. Romania surprised me with their performances particularly Gheorghe Hagi who was magic, a wonderfully gifted player.
Colombia was a massive disappointment, under-performed in this tournament. There was also the unfortunate infamous own goal by Andres Escobar against USA and that led to his premature, shocking death when he went back to Colombia.
USA surprised me too. Tony Meola in goal, Alexis Lalas with his ZZ-Top goatee, Cobi Jones, Eric Wynalda, Roy Wegerle, Tab Ramos and John Harkes. I was already getting to know of some American players through cards and stickers that I was collecting. Harkes and Wegerle were playing in the English Premier League too.
Switzerland didn’t surprise me too much. Romania qualified top of this group and deservingly so, Switzerland and USA were tied on points but the hosts qualified as one of the best 3rd placed team.
In Group B, there was Brazil who had a big reputation, Sweden I knew from Euro 92 and had some players that played in England, Cameroon I knew created a stir at the previous World Cup and Russia. I don’t remember watching too many matches in this group. Brazil lived up to their reputation, Romario and Bebeto were on fire upfront.
Sweden qualified as the 2nd placed team. For Russia, I was looking forward to seeing Andrei Kanchelskis in the squad but he wasn’t because he led a boycott against the Russian team’s manager. Cameroon was a big disappointment in this group. They were on the wrong end of a 6–1 thrashing. Russia’s Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals in a game and amazingly, he won the Golden Boot despite leaving the tournament in the group stage. Roger Milla scored the only goal for Cameroon and became the World Cup’s oldest goalscorer at the age of 42.
In Group C, there was the reigning World Champions, Germany, Spain, South Korea and Bolivia. This was another group that I didn’t watch too many games. I remember the first game of the tournament was between Germany and Bolivia. Germany won 1–0 but I remember it more for Bolivia’s star player, Marco Etcheverry getting sent off.
After I watch the highlights of USA 94, I feel South Korea actually did very well for an Asian country. They drew 2–2 against Spain and came back from 0–3 down to reduce the lead 2–3 against Germany. At that time, Asian football was lagging far behind European, South American and even African football. We hardly had Asian players in European leagues and that made the Koreans’ performances praiseworthy.
Group D was a memorable group. There was the highly-rated Argentina who had Diego Maradona back in the squad, Bulgaria and Nigeria were under-rated at that time and Greece. Bulgaria I only knew for Hristo Stoichkov and Nigeria were complete unknowns. Nigeria, Bulgaria and Argentina all qualified from the group level on 6 points. Greece was the fodder of the group, losing the first two games by the same scoreline, 4–0 and exited the tournament without scoring a goal. Argentina was wonderful at the start, in top form but they lost Maradona after the 2nd game due to testing positive for drugs usage. They still had Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Cannigia scoring the goals for them.
Bulgaria proved that they were Stoichkov and more and Nigeria was the biggest surprise of the group with the late Rashidi Yekini and Daniel Amokachi upfront. They had pace and power and typical African colour and flamboyance.
Group E had a special interest for me because my favourite Italy was in this group. Together with us, we had Republic of Ireland whose players I knew from the English Premier League, Norway had some players in that league too and Mexico. Italy qualified from the group by the skin of our teeth as one of the best 3rd placed teams. All four teams finished the group level on 4 points. Norway was the unlucky team to miss out after failing to score more goals. I missed the first match against Ireland because it was too early for me. I got up to a shock when I saw Italy had lost 1–0. In the next match, Gianluca Pagliuca became the first goalkeeper to be sent off in the World Cup for handling the ball outside the box. My favourite player, Roberto Baggio was hooked out to make way for the replacement goalkeeper. Italy played well with 10 men against Norway and won it 1–0. In the final game, Mexico came from 0–1 down to draw 1–1 against us. Mexico was an unknown for me but after this World Cup became my favourite Latin/CONCACAF team. Jorge Campos caught my eye for his jersey and his tendency to get involved in the play as an outfield player. Other players that impressed me were Luis Garcia and Luis Garcia Aspe.
Finally, we reach Group F. Holland I knew of them from Euro 92 and had famously knocked England out of the World Cup. There was no Marco van Basten as he was injured for the whole season and Ruud Gullit walked out of the squad before the tournament due to disagreements with the Dutch team’s manager, Dick Advocaat. The other teams in the group are Belgium, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Saudi Arabia was the most impressive team in this group, the best performance by an Asian team at a World Cup since North Korea in 1966. I didn’t watch the matches in this group but I remember very well Saeed Al-Owairan’s amazing solo goal to beat Belgium. They had also narrowly lost 1–2 to Holland. Holland, Saudi and Belgium qualified from the group level on points with 6 points.
This tournament was exciting as well for the rise of the underdog teams. First, underdog surprise was in the 2nd Round. Romania knocked out one of the favourites, Argentina 3–2 but the Romanians were knocked out in the quarter-finals to another underdog team, Sweden 5–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw. Besides Hagi, this team had Ilie Dumitrescu, Florian Radicioiu, Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Popescu that impressed.
The Swedes were another surprise team. They beat Saudi Arabia, one of the surprise teams of the group stage 3–1 in the 2nd Round, Romania in the quarter-final before facing mighty Brazil in the semi-final. Brazil only won 1–0 in the semi-final. Sweden ended the tournament in 3rd place with a 4–0 thrashing of one other standout, surprise team, Bulgaria. This Swedish team had Thomas Ravelli in goal who reminded me of a mad man. Roland Nilsson and Anders Limpar were playing in England. I knew of star forward Tomas Brolin from Italy. Martin Dahlin I knew from Euro 92 and the very tall, Kennet Andersson made himself known in this tournament. There was also a very young Henrik Larsson with dreadlocks who was in the reserves.
Finally, we have Bulgaria. They beat Mexico 3–1 on penalties after drawing 1–1, sent huge shockwaves to the world of football by knocking defending champions Germany out 2–1 in the quarter-finals before losing 2–1 to Italy in the semi-final. Besides Stoichkov, this team had Krasimir Balakov, the half-bald Yordan Letchkov, Stoichkov’s strike partner, Emil Kostadinov and captain, goalkeeper Borislav Mikhailov. Oh yes, there was also the Wolverine lookalike, the late Trifon Ivanov.
With favourites Argentina out in the 2nd Round and Germany out in quarter-finals, Brazil had a relatively easy path to the final. They beat the hosts, USA 1–0 on USA’s Independence Day. This match will be remembered negatively for the elbow by Leonardo on Tab Ramos. It was a shocking incident. Leonardo was sent off and suspended for 4 matches after this match, ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
They beat Holland 3–2 late in the game after letting a 2–0 lead slip in the quarter-final. This game would also be remembered for Bebeto’s famous baby cradling celebration to celebrate the birth of his son, 2 days before this match.
Finally, you know what happened in the semi-final. Romario’s goal enough to see off the Swedes.
In the other bracket, Italy had a dramatic run to the final. We had underperformed in the group stage. Our star man, the world’s best player at that time, Roberto Baggio was carrying an injury and like the rest of the team, below-par. In the 2nd Round, we faced an impressive Nigeria side who took the lead against the run of the play. Italy had also been unfairly reduced to 10 men for an unjust sending off for Gianfranco Zola.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Baggio squeezed in the equaliser with a minute left on the clock. Just like that the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulder and he was back to his best. He got Italy the winner from the penalty spot in extra-time. In the quarter-final, with the score tied at 1–1 against neighbours Spain, Baggio stepped up again to squeeze a shot from a tight angle on the counter-attack with 2 minutes to go. Later in this game, the match officials didn’t catch, Italy’s Mauro Tassotti elbowing Spain’s Luis Enrique. Tassotti was banned for seven matches after this game.
The semi-final as we already know, we beat Bulgaria 2–1. Baggio scored twice in Italy’s best performance in the knockout stage. The progression to the final tampered with bad news as Baggio was hamstrung in the semi-final. There were big doubts about whether he would be fit to make the final. The final was between Brazil and Italy, touted as Romario vs Baggio by the media.
I didn’t watch the final as the school had re-opened and it was in the early hours of a school day. I woke up hoping to see that Italy had won the final and for some title celebrations but I found the match was not over yet. The match had ended 0–0 and a penalty shootout was to start. I have recounted this before and it is a famous penalty shootout in the history of the World Cup and football. The first-ever World Cup final to be decided by the lottery of a penalty shootout. Brazil won 3–2 to win their 4th World Cup. My favourite player, Baggio skied his penalty which left me in disbelief. It was a moment that would continue to haunt him and be unfairly remembered by, despite all the wonderful things he did in his career.
I would not admit it at that time but now I would say that based on consistency from the start to the end of the tournament, Brazil was the best team. It would have been magical and fantastic if Italy had won it if only Baggio had been fit for the final and as he did in the previous rounds, won the final for us. That would be the stuff of my fantasy.
It was still a memorable tournament for me despite how it ended. So many great players and great teams. It is always nice to see the rise of underdog teams as well. Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov shared the Golden Boot Award with 6 goals each, Romario won the Golden Ball, Baggio got the Silver Ball and Stoichkov the Bronze Ball awards and Belgium’s Michel Preud’homme won the first-ever Golden Glove Award for the tournament’s best goalkeeper. Holland’s Marc Overmars was the Best Young Player of the tournament and Brazil won the FIFA Fair Play Award. A surprising choice for the Fair Play Award after the shocking red card for Leonardo which left his opponent with a skull fracture. Brazil also won the Most Entertaining Team Award.
The best XI of USA 94 was as followed:
GK: Michel Preud’homme (Belgium)
DF: Marcio Santos, Jorginho (Brazil), Paolo Maldini (Italy)
MF: Dunga (Brazil), Krasimir Balakov (Bulgaria), Gheorghe Hagi (Romania), Tomas Brolin (Sweden)
FW: Romario (Brazil), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), Roberto Baggio (Italy)
