World Cup of 1994
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, held in the United States, marked a significant milestone in soccer history, setting an attendance record with 3.6 million spectators across 52 matches in nine cities. Although the final match between Italy and Brazil ended in a goalless draw, leading to a penalty shootout, the tournament is remembered for its numerous firsts, including the introduction of a three-point system for match victories and the first indoor World Cup game. This tournament saw the debut of teams like Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia, while Brazil emerged victorious, claiming its fourth championship title.
The event was overshadowed by the tragic murder of Colombian defender Andrés Escobar, highlighting the sometimes perilous intersection of sports and national pride. The tournament featured standout performances, particularly by Brazil’s Romário and Italy’s Roberto Baggio, both of whom became key figures in their teams' journeys to the final. The 1994 World Cup significantly boosted the popularity of soccer in the U.S., paving the way for Major League Soccer (MLS) and setting the stage for future international tournaments, including the successful Women's World Cup in 1999. Overall, the 1994 World Cup played a crucial role in expanding soccer’s influence in a country traditionally focused on other major sports.
World Cup of 1994
The Event FIFA conquers a new frontier with World Cup USA 1994
Date June 17-July 17, 1994
Place Chicago; Dallas; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Foxboro, Massachusetts; Orlando, Florida; Palo Alto and Pasadena, California; Pontiac, Michigan; Washington, D.C.
In July of 1988, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) shocked the soccer world when it chose the United States to host the fifteenth World Cup in the summer of 1994. Despite the lengthy distances between match sites and the perceived general apathy of the American public in regard to international soccer, an initially skeptical global community was eventually converted by the overall success of the tournament.
World Cup USA 1994 set a total attendance record—3.6 million spectators gathered to see fifty-two matches in nine different cities—and the groundswell of excitement generated by FIFA’s expansion into untapped soccer territory overshadowed the tepidity of the final match between Italy and Brazil, considered one of the weakest in the tournament’s history.
World Cup Firsts
Though the 1994 event was not the first World Cup final played in North America—that distinction belongs to Mexico in 1970—it did feature a number of other first-time occurrences. The 1994 tournament was the first to award three points to winners of group play matches, ostensibly to avoid the general malaise of the 1990 tournament in which teams often played for ties. Also, the first indoor World Cup game, in which Team USA faced Switzerland, was played at the Pontiac Silverdome, outside of Detroit, Michigan. Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia were first-time qualifiers, and, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Russian team supplanted the Soviet Union team. Perhaps the most important “first” signaled the conclusion of the tournament: Brazil met Italy in the final match and the winner was crowned the first four-time World Cup champion.
The Tragedy of Fanaticism
Each of the twenty-four qualifying teams had reason to celebrate its inclusion in the World Cup final. Bolivia resurfaced after a forty-year absence, Mexico fielded perhaps its finest squad in Cup history, and defending-champion West Germany reunited with its East German counterparts to form Germany’s first post-Cold War national team. However, the United States and Colombia—teams scheduled to meet in the second match of group play—piqued the interest of spectators because of each team’s recent surge in international visibility. The U.S. team, one of the thirteen teams to play in the original World Cup in 1930, was neither traditionally strong nor elite. However, in 1994, the team, buoyed by home-field advantage and headed by Tab Ramos and Marcelo Balboa, hoped to surprise the soccer community.
Colombia entered the tournament as a favorite to win the Cup—Pelé predicting as much. The team had finished first in its South American qualifying group, ahead of Argentina, whom they crushed 5-0. Led by Carlos Valderrama, as famed for his creativity with the soccer ball as for his moppish, tightly curled blond-orange hair, Colombia lost 3-1 in its first game to Romania and hoped to redeem its World Cup chances against the Americans.
Andrés Escobar, a veteran Colombian defender, made a mistake that cost the Colombians the game: He deflected a pass from American John Harkes but inadvertently struck it past his own goalie. The team was devastated, eventually losing 2-0, and eliminated. Unfortunately, the devastation caused by Escobar’s mistake was inconsequential to the event that it triggered: As he left a restaurant in Medellín days after the game, Escobar was shot and killed, perhaps by a mentally disturbed soccer fanatic. Though the tragedy did not overshadow the celebratory nature of the tournament as a whole, Escobar’s murder was a reminder of the tenuous boundary between on-field dramatics and real-life tragedy.
Romário Versus Baggio
Brazil and Italy, arguably the two most storied national soccer teams, first met in a World Cup championship game in 1970. The Pelé-led Brazilian squad outplayed the Italians and won 4-1. In 1994, the two teams took different paths through the tournament. The Brazilians, led by “Romário” (Romário de Souza Faria) and “Bebeto” (José Roberto Gama de Oliveira) charged through group play, defeating Russia and Cameroon and tying Sweden. In the second round, the team defeated the upstart Americans 1-0 on Independence Day, a match notorious for Leonardo Araújo’s errant elbow that nearly killed Ramos. In the quarterfinals, Brazil defeated the Netherlands in one of the finer games of the tournament. Down 2-0, the Dutch fought back and tied the game with fourteen minutes left in regulation. However, a shot by “Branco” (Cláudio Ibrahim Vaz Leal), with less than ten minutes to play, kicked Brazil into the semifinals where, in a hard-fought rematch with Sweden, Romário headed in the gamewinner—his fifth goal of the tournament.
Italy stumbled to the final match—though it played in arguably the toughest group with Ireland, Mexico, and Norway. Roberto Baggio’s brilliance provided moments of high drama. Other than Romário—the winner of the Golden Ball, awarded to the tournament’s best player—Baggio was perhaps the most outstanding player of the 1994 World Cup. Though he did not score in the first round, Baggio, FIFA’s World Footballer of the Year in 1993, provided some of the most electrifying goals of the elimination rounds. In the second round, he scored twice to overcome the “Super Eagles” of Nigeria; in the quarterfinal match against Spain, with the game deadlocked 1-1 and approaching the end of regulation, Baggio scored the winner; and in the semifinal against an exciting Bulgarian team led by Hristo Stoichkov, Baggio scored two goals within a five-minute span midway through the first half to send Italy into the finals. Even his opponents praised him in defeat: Bulgarian coach Dimitar Penev said, “We really can’t be upset with our defense for allowing . . . Baggio those two wonderful goals.”
On July 17, 1994, on a clear, hot summer day, in front of 94,194 spectators at Pasadena’s historic Rose Bowl Stadium, Brazil and Italy met on a field better known for college football clashes and Super Bowls. What was to be the premier event of the month-long tournament and a showcase of the “beautiful game” to an American audience became what FIFA most feared: a 120-minute stalemate. The drama and excitement that Romário and Baggio had provided for their respective teams throughout the tournament was absent. One of the more exciting moments was a missed shot—the Brazilian Márcio Santos’s kick went through the arms of the Italian goaltender Gianluca Pagliuca, but it hit the goalpost and ricocheted back into his arms. Pagliuca, relieved, turned around to kiss the goalpost. The game ended in a scoreless tie, forcing a penalty shoot-out for the first time in World Cup history. With Brazil leading 3-2 in penalty shots, Baggio stepped up to the ball in an attempt to tie the game. Baggio—who had been so magical throughout, who had carried his Italian team into the final—shot high, his ball just clearing the top of the goalpost. The Brazilian team erupted in celebration as the first four-time World Cup champions.
Impact
The 1994 World Cup is remembered for its exhilarating on-field occurrences—Russian player Oleg Salenko’s five goals against Cameroon, Gheorghe Hagi’s inspired play for Romania, Martin Dahlin’s four goals for Sweden. The tournament also had its controversial moments, specifically the disgraceful exit of Argentine soccer-god Diego Maradona, who tested positive for ephedrine following the team’s victory over Nigeria.
The lasting legacy of the 1994 World Cup is the surge in popularity that soccer experienced in the aftermath. The success of Major League Soccer (MLS), established immediately following the World Cup, proved that soccer had its place in mainstream American sports society. Furthermore, the 1994 World Cup indirectly enabled the success of the 1999 Women’s World Cup, hosted by the United States and won by the home team. FIFA understood the challenge of swaying a society devoted to three major sports other than soccer. However, both FIFA and the U.S. populace benefited from the 1994 World Cup, the former with its successful infiltration of a dormant marketplace and the latter with a heightened awareness of soccer and the international community.
Bibliography
Arnold, Peter. World Cup USA 94: The Official FIFA Book. San Francisco: Collins, 1994. Filled with colorful pictures, this book highlights the history, venues, teams, and players associated with the 1994 World Cup.
Crouch, Terry. The World Cup: The Complete History. Rev. ed. London: Aurum, 2006. A comprehensive look at each World Cup tournament from 1930 to 2006. An integral text to any serious study of the World Cup.
Fiore, Fernando. The World Cup: Ultimate Guide to the Greatest Sports Spectacle in the World. Translated by Ezra E. Fitz. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. With his signature wit, Fiore outlines the important and interesting aspects of each World Cup, adding analysis of the event.
Lewis, Michael. World Cup Soccer. Wakefield, R.I.: Moyer Bell, 1994. Looks at the historical aspects of the tournament, but also features biographical sketches of players from each of the twenty-four World Cup teams.