July 17, 1994: The World Cup Final On American Soil

The Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, July 17, 1994.

Attendance: 94,194.

July 17, 1994, 30 years ago: For the 1st time, the Final of soccer's World Cup is held on American soil.

There were 9 venues. From East to West:

* Foxboro Stadium, built in 1971, in the Boston suburb of Foxboro, Massachusetts, home of the NFL's New England Patriots. It had been the home of the North American Soccer League's Boston Minutemen and New England Tea Men, and would become the home of Major League Soccer's New England Revolution.

* Giants Stadium, 1976, in the New York suburb of East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets. It had been the home of the NASL's New York Cosmos, and would become the home of MLS' New York/New Jersey MetroStars, who became the New York Red Bulls.

* Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, known as District of Columbia Stadium from 1961 to 1969, in Washington, D.C., home of the NFL's Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders). It had been the home of the NASL's Washington Darts and Washington Diplomats, and would become the home of MLS' D.C. United.

* The Citrus Bowl, 1936, now named Camping World Stadium, in Orlando, Florida, the only venue not then the regular home of a professional or college football team. It was home of college football's annual Florida Citrus Bowl. It would later become the home of MLS' Orlando City Soccer Club.

* The Silverdome, 1975, in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions. It had been the home of the NASL's Detroit Express. Alone among these 9 metropolitan areas, Detroit has never had an MLS team.

* Soldier Field, 1924, in Chicago, home of the NFL's Chicago Bears. It had been the home of the NASL's Chicago Sting, and would become the home of MLS' Chicago Fire.

* The Cotton Bowl, 1930, in Dallas, home of the annual Cotton Bowl game, and the former home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. It had been the home of the NASL's Dallas Tornados, and would become the home of MLS' Dallas Burn, who became F.C. Dallas.

* The Rose Bowl, 1922, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, home of the football team at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the annual Rose Bowl game. It had been the home of the NASL's Los Angeles Wolves and Los Angeles Aztecs, and would become the home of MLS' Los Angeles Galaxy.

* And Stanford Stadium, 1921, in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California, home of the football team at Stanford University.

Thus, the Silverdome, Soldier Field, the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium became the only stadiums to host both a Super Bowl and a World Cup match -- and the Rose Bowl would become the only one to host both a Super Bowl and a World Cup Final. 

This tournament remains the World Cup with the highest per-game attendance: 68,991. And what an array of talent, not dampened in the slightest by England, which still thinks of itself as the country in world "football," failing to qualify for the 1st time since 1978:

* From finalists Brazil: Romário, Ronaldo, Cafu, Bebeto, Dunga, Leonardo, and Claudio Taffarel.

* From finalists Italy: Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Gianfranco Zola, Mauro Tassotti, Roberto Donadoni, Antonio Conte, and Roberto and Dino Baggio (not related).

* From semifinalists Sweden: Henrik Larsson and Tomas Brolin.

* From semifinalists Bulgaria: Hristo Stoichkov.

* From quarterfinalists the Netherlands: Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Danny Blind, Edwin van der Sar, and the twins Frank and Ronald de Boer. (Marco van Basten had already had to retire due to injury.)

* From quarterfinalists Germany: Lothar Matthäus, Jürgen Klinsmann, Jürgen Kohler, Rudi Völler, Thomas Häßler, Andreas Brehme, Matthias Sammer and Oliver Kahn.

* From quarterfinalists Romania: Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popsecu.

* From quarterfinalists Spain: Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique.

* From the Round of 16: From Argentina: Diego Maradona (who ended up getting suspended for drugs), Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Caniggia. From Ireland: Roy Keane, Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Steve Staunton, Ronnie Whelan, Tony Cascarino and Packie Bonner. From Nigeria: Jay-Jay Okocha.

* From teams that didn't make it to the knockout round: Roger Milla from Cameroon, and Carlos Valderrama and his hair from Colombia.

* And from our own team, which did make it past the Group Stage for the 1st time since 1930: Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Marcelo Balboa, Paul Caligiuri and Jersey Boys Tony Meola, John Harkes, Tab Ramos and Claudio Reyna.

True, we got knocked out by Brazil, on home soil, on the 4th of July no less, at the old Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. And we wore horrid uniforms. But it was still a big boost for American soccer, just what the upcoming founding of Major League Soccer (MLS) needed going into 1996.

Yes, we actually wore these things.

Certainly, we got the pageantry right. Having America play on the 4th of July worked out well, despite the loss. And the New York market got lucky, as 2 of the country's, and particularly the Tri-State Area's, biggest ethnic groups ended up having their ancestral homelands playing each other at the Meadowlands: The Republic of Ireland and Italy.

Ireland vs. Italy, Giants Stadium, June 18, 1994.

Attendance: 75,338. Ireland pulled the upset, winning 1-0.

But, from the American perspective, the 2 worst things that could have happened did happen. Someone got killed. Not in the stadium, or in the streets; it wasn't a fight between hooligans. Not even in the country. After his own goal sent Colombia down to defeat against us, Andrés Escobar of Atlético Nacional went back home to Medellín, and was shot and killed. He was only 27 years old.

The other was that the Final ended scoreless. There were the 2 best teams in the world, Brazil and Italy, and, after a full 90 minutes, plus extra time making it 120 minutes, the final score was 0-0. Nil-nil. Nothing to nothing. Americans like scoring, and any American watching this Final, not knowing all that goes into a soccer game, would have found it boring as hell. It probably set American interest in the sport back several years.

Roberto Baggio blasted a penalty kick over the crossbar, and Brazil won the penalty phase, 3-2. And Americans not already into soccer shrugged their shoulders, and either went back to watching baseball or began preparing for a new NFL season.

Romário (Number 11) lifts the Jules Rimet Trophy,

next to Dunga (8), the Captain

Foxboro Stadium was torn down in 2002, having been replaced by the next-door Gillette Stadium. Soldier Field was torn down in 2002, and replaced by a new stadium on the same site. Stanford Stadium was torn down in 2004, and replaced by a new stadium on the same site. Giants Stadium was torn down in 2010, having been replaced by the next-door MetLife Stadium. The Silverdome was torn down in 2017. RFK Stadium was torn down in 2023.

The 2026 World Cup was awarded jointly to all 3 North American nations: The United States, Canada (which has never hosted), and Mexico (which hosted in 1970 and 1986). Most of the host stadiums from 1994 are unlikely to host again in 2026, since they've been replaced. The Final was awarded to New York, and to MetLife Stadium. SoFi Stadium, outside Los Angeles, got a Quarterfinal; while the Semifinals went to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and AT&T Stadium outside Dallas.

May 24, 1934: U.S. Soccer's 1st Game (and Win) vs. Mexico

May 24, 1934, 90 years ago: The national soccer teams of the United States of America and the United Mexican States play each other for the 1st time -- not in either country, and not with the result most people would have expected then, or now.

It was in Rome, Italy, and it was for the 16th and last qualifying spot in the FIFA World Cup, which had only been contested once before, in 1930, with Uruguay winning on home soil, beating Argentina in the Final. In that tournament, the U.S. beat Belgium and Paraguay, before losing to Argentina in the Semifinal. It remains the U.S.' best World Cup performance ever.

For 1934, the U.S. squad consisted of the following, many of them immigrants, who nonetheless qualified for this team under the rules of that time:

* Goalkeepers: Julius Hjulian of Sweden and Chicago.

* Defenders: George Moorhouse of Liverpool and New York, Ed Czerkiewicz and Joe Martinelli of Rhode Island, Al Harker of Philadelphia, and Herman Rapp of Stuttgart and Philadelphia.

* Midfielders: Tom Amrhein of Baltimore, Bill Fiedler of Philadelphia, Jimmy Gallagher of Scotland and Cleveland, William Lehman of St. Louis, Tom Lynch of Brooklyn, Tom Florie of Harrison (New Jersey), Peter Pietras of Trenton (New Jersey), and Bill Gonsalves of Fall River (Massachusetts).

* Forwards: Aldo "Buff" Donelli of Pittsburgh, Walter Dick of Scotland and Niagara Falls, Willie McLean of Scotland and Chicago, Werner Nilsen of Norway and St. Louis, and Francis Ryan of Philadelphia.

Donelli also played gridiron football, and later coached in his hometown, both at Duquesne University and with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Moorhouse, Florie, Gallagher and Gonsalves had played for the U.S. team in 1930.

Since the British "Home Nations" of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland did not participate in the World Cup until 1950, due to a dispute with FIFA, Moorhouse was the 1st native of England to play in the World Cup. Probably because he was trained to play in England, then considered the world's soccer capital, he was named Captain of this team.

George Moorhouse

The game against Mexico was played at the Stadio Nazionale in Rome, which would also host the World Cup Final. Since 1931, it had been the home of soccer team S.S. Lazio. In 1940, it would become the home of Lazio's arch-rivals, A.S. Roma. The Americans won, 4-2, with Donelli scoring all 4 goals.

Aldo "Buff" Donelli

The state of American soccer in 1934 was such that it was operating on what would now be considered a minor-league level. There were plenty of teams in the Northeast, in the Midwest, and on the West Coast, many of them ethnically based: Irish, Scottish, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Jewish.

Given that it was the Great Depression, there was room for the national team to become national heroes, if they could follow up a win over neighboring Mexico with a good performance at the World Cup. That year, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers both electrified the nation with their play, culminating in an epic World Series that the Cardinals won in Game 7. The Chicago Bears had become heroes of professional football. The Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks had already gotten Americans to cheer hockey. And boxers galore had excited people. If the U.S. soccer team could do well at the World Cup...

Stadio Nazionale

They didn't. Their 1st Round game was against the hosts, and Italy beat them, 7-1. Donelli scored the only U.S. goal. Angelo Schiavio of Bologna F.C. scored 3 goals. The last Italy goal was scored by Giuseppe Meazza of Internazionale Milano, the greatest Italian player of his generation, a man so loved that the home ground of both "Inter" and their rivals A.C. Milan, the greatest sporting venue in the country, known for its neighborhood as the San Siro, is officially named Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

So there would be no follow-up heroics for the U.S. team. They didn't even qualify for the 1938 World Cup in France. Their next game against Mexico didn't come until 1937, at Parque Asturias in Mexico City, and they lost, 7-2.

It would take until April 28, 1957 for the U.S. to play a home game against Mexico, a Qualifier for the 1958 World Cup, at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach, California, a 7-2 loss. The next U.S. win wouldn't happen until November 23, 1980, a Qualifier for the 1982 World Cup, at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a 2-1 U.S. win. And the U.S. wouldn't beat Mexico in Mexico until August 15, 2012, a 1-0 win in a friendly at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. 

In 1953, Roma and Lazio both moved into the Stadio Olimpico, which became the main stadium for the 1960 Olympics. After the move, the Stadio Nazionale, site of the 1934 U.S.-Mexico game, was demolished, and replaced with the Stadio Flaminio in 1959. It was used for the soccer games of the 1960 Olympics, and as the home of both Roma and Lazio in the 1989-90 season, while the Olimpico was demolished and rebuilt for the 1990 World Cup. The Flaminio is now home to Capitolina, a professional rugby team.

Stadio Flaminio

Buff Donelli died in 1994. The last survivor of the 1934 U.S. World Cup team was Al Harker, who lived until 2006.