The 1994 FIFA World Cup will always be remembered for a number of reasons including some truly great players, the heat, the televised pre-tournament police chase of OJ Simpson, the vibrant colours from the African and South American fans and ultimately because of the way it ended in the final.
This was perhaps thought to be a strange World Cup in some ways as football was not a game that the USA had really engaged with on a large scale but this tournament was about showing the world and particularly the Americans what they had been missing.
It was also about show casing the game on the US shores and engaging with the massive sports mad nation and growing fan base.
The tournament itself was staged across nine cities;
- Pasedena, Los Angeles – Rose Bowl
- Pontiac, Michigan – Pontiac Silverdome
- Stanford, San Francisco – Stanford Stadium
- East Rutherford, New Jersey – Giants Stadium
- Orlando, Florida area – Citrus Bowl
- Chicago, Illinois – Soldier Field
- Dallas, Texas – Cotton Bowl
- Foxborough, Massachusetts (Boston) – Foxboro Stadium
- Washington D.C. – Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
After a rather extravagant and memorable opening ceremony on 17 June at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the tournament was opened to the watching world. A number of VIPs attended the ceremony along with Diana Ross. Diana engaged in the pre-tournament singing and even took a penalty which we will come to later in this article.
The 24 teams were split into six groups of four teams;
Group A
Romania, Switzerland, United States, Columbia
Group B
Brazil, Sweden, Russia, Cameroon
Group C
Germany, Spain, South Korea, Bolivia
Group D
Nigeria, Bulgaria, Argentina, Greece
Group E
Mexico, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Norway
Group F
Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Morocco
It doesn’t take much to realise that there were no British teams in the competition as they all failed to qualify even though current England manager Roy Hodgson was (at the time) manager of the Swiss national team who were present in Group A.
The tournament did have a few twists and turns as along with the top two teams from each group progressing to the knock-out stages there was also considerations for the top four third placed teams to qualify for the second round with the best records which kept it interesting.
I hadn’t realised until researching the article that this was also the first competition where three points were awarded for a win rather than two. This was aimed at producing more attacking football and goals due to some poor games and defensive performances at Italia 90.
Group A is unfortunately remembered for the Andrés Escobar own goal. An own goal in a style that happens every week around the footballing world but this was a contributor to Columbia leaving the competition in the group stages and resulted in the defender being shot dead on his return home to Columbia by drug cartels.
On a much more positive note, the excellent long drifting lob from Gheorghe Hagi against the very same Columbia team sits well in the memory for the audacity, the bright all yellow kit, the funny little (hands aloft) dance and (upon reflection) the silence that it was met with by the crowd.
I am not sure to this day if it was due to shock or because the vast majority of fans in the stadium were on the side of Columbia. The bicycle kick by Balboa for USA versus Columbia would possibly be the best goal ever scored at a World Cup if it had gone in.
Romania (6 points) who had a very good team at this time made it through as group winners with Switzerland in the runners-up spot (4 points). USA (4 points) ended up third and Columbia (3 points) in a lowly 4th place.
Group B held a very top team in Brazil so the race was always going to be about securing second spot for the other teams. This group will be remembered for the 6-1 drubbing that Russia gave a Cameroon side with Solenko of Russia being the only man to have ever scored five goals in a single world cup game to this day.
Cameroon will always be remembered for their colour and especially remembered for Roger Milla who was 42 (possibly 83) at the time and his smile that lit up the team and competition. Brazil (7 points) ended by topping the group with Sweden (5 points) in second place, Russia (3 points) third and Cameroon (1 point) in last spot.
Group C held the current champions Germany along with Spain and the sides of South Korea and Bolivia. Germany (7 points) sneaked through to grab top spot with Spain (5 points) in second. The South Koreans (2 points) were very unlucky not to have progressed as they were unable to overcome Bolivia (1 point) in a 0-0 draw where a win would have seen them through.
Group D was noted as despite Argentina getting two wins straight off the mark, they went into injury time in the final game and were dropped down to third place in the table due to a very late strike for Sirakov for Bulgaria. This changed things massively and Bulgaria had become the surprise package of the tournament.
This group finished with three teams tied on 6 points with Nigeria taking top spot, Bulgaria second, Argentina dropped to third and Greece on zero points in fourth place. Diego Maradona was banned mid-tournament after taking illegal, performance-enhancing drugs but is remembered for his goal against Greece when he scored and ran to the camera afterwards to scream into it. Get access to legal steroids at baltic pharmaceuticals.
Personally, I felt like hitting the screen as although he is an absolutely great player, he is also a cheat and for that I can never forgive him. That clip still grates on me to this day. Rant over and I move on!
Group E looks very unusual when it is looked at today. All four teams finished the group stage on four points. Ray Houghton’s knock down and lob over the Italian keeper was one of the highlights from this round in the blistering heat of the Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. As the final points would suggest, this group was very tight and Mexico made it through in top spot with the Republic of Ireland second due to the win over Italy. Italy finished in third spot and Norway in last.
Group F held neighbours Belgium and the Netherlands which made it a little more dramatic. The main highlight from this round was the crazy and mazy run of Said Al-Owayran on Saudi Arabia versus Belgium where he appeared to take on the whole Belgian team before slotting home. This run started in his own half and went around and through the Belgian midfield and defence and would probably be up there as one of the best ever World Cup goals if the likes of Ronaldo had scored it.
This group again ended in a very tight fashion with three teams tied on six points. The Netherlands were first, Saudi Arabia second, Belgium third and Morocco on zero points in last place.
Progression to the knock-out stages had been achieved by Romania, Switzerland, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Mexico, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. The third placed teams that managed to sneak through the back door were Argentina, Italy, USA and Belgium.
Sixteen teams now in place and ready for the next round of knock-out game with the fixtures for this round as follows:-
Second Round
Germany vs Belgium (which ended 3-2 to Germany)
Spain vs Switzerland (which ended with an emphatic 3-0 win for the Spaniards)
Sweden vs Saudi Arabia (which ended 3-1 to Sweden)
Romania vs Argentina (which ended 3-2 to Romania)
Netherlands vs Republic of Ireland (ended 2-0 to the Dutch)
Brazil vs United States (ended 1-0 to Brazil)
Nigeria vs Italy (finished 1-2 to Italy after extra time)
Mexico vs Bulgaria (which was 1-1 at full time & AET but Bulgaria proceeded after winning 1-3 on penalties)
The tournament progressed on into the next stage of the quarter finals with a few surprises to behold. Certainly in the shape of Romania and Bulgaria who had a few star men to assist them in their exploits such as power-house (and beast) Hristo Stoichkov with an awesome driven shot against Mexico in the group games and of course the Romanians who had a few more notable names with the likes of Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi. They had beaten Argentina who were unable to cope as well without Maradonna in the team.
The quarter finals were set with a few big names lined up along with a few surprises.
Quarter Finals
Italy managed to see off Spain 2-1 in Boston
Brazil got past the Netherlands with a tight 3-2 win over the Netherlands
Romania v Sweden went to the wire with the score at 2-2 at the end of the game and Sweden finally progressing to the semi’s with a 4-5 win on penalties.
Perhaps the surprise of the quarter finals was Bulgaria knocking out the reigning champions Germany 2-1 in New York.
Semi Finals
The semi-finals were set-up as the pace built in the competition even though we were now firmly in the less enthralling bit for watching fans where the initial flurry of 3 games a day drifts down to just a few each week.
Italy were to take on Bulgaria in New York in what was bound to be a crunching encounter. Italy were now picking up the pace having only previously got through as one of the best third placed teams.
The scene was set and Italy took an early lead after twenty minutes with a goal from Roberto Baggio (assist – Roberto Donadoni) and then another one from the pony-tailed assassin on twenty five minutes with an assist from Demetrio Albertini.
Bulgaria looked to be getting back into the game when Hristo Stoitchkov scored a penalty on forty three minutes but the game was done and 2-1 to Italy is how it ended.
On the same day, Brazil took on Sweden and managed to overcome them narrowly with a 1-0 win over the Scandinavians. Brazil had literally squeezed past an inspired Swedish team thanks to a single Romario goal to set up a final against previous multiple winners Italy.
The Final
The Rose Bowl stadium was the setting for what must have surely been an amazing final between two World Cup greats of their time. A crowd of 94,000 packed the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles and millions watched on across the globe with great excitement.
What followed was a pretty dull affair that was devoid of much quality, scoring opportunities and ended 0-0 after extra time. The World Cup winner was to be decided by the lottery of a penalty shoot-out which after such drama in previous games was a little bit of a shame in many ways and something that we were not used to at the time.
Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro had already missed for Italy and Marcio Santos had failed for Brazil. The Brazilian captain placed the place and stroked the ball home which had put the pressure onto Baggio..
With four rounds of penalties gone and Brazil with a slender 3–2 lead over Italy, one of the stars of the World Cup Roberto Baggio “the devine pony-tail” placed the ball on the spot. Nobody in the world expected what came next and many would have placed their mortgages on him scoring but the pressure was on him to slot it home and keep the hopes of Italy alive.
The injured Baggio ran up and the world gasped as the ball went sailing over the cross-bar which in turn finished the competition and made Brazil World Cup winners. An absolutely awful penalty under normal circumstances anyway but taking the world stage and magnitude of the event into consideration, it was catastrophic with only the penalty by Dianna Ross in the opening ceremony as a worse example.
The Baggio penalty did not “hilariously” cause the goals to split apart and fall over as was the case when Diana Ross missed the target at the opening ceremony. This was reality, it was a penalty in the World Cup final that extinguished the hopes and dreams of a nation in front of a watching world in literally a split second.
For me, the “Divine Ponytail” Roberto Baggio was one of my favourite players of the competition and it was a massive shame that his tournament ended in this manner. It is however often the case with the cruel game of football and the lottery that is penalties but as a result Baggio had to leave the tournament bitterly disappointed and empty handed.
Brazil were now champions and the presented trophy was held aloft by Brazilian captain Dunga who later dedicated the win to the late (and great) Ayrton Senna who had died a few months earlier.
Overview
The Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria’s Stoichkov and Salenko of Russia. Both of these players had scored six in the competition even though Salenko had scored five of his against Cameroon in the group stages. Romário of Brazil was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournaments best player having scored five goals along the way.
Other key scorers in the tournament;
- 5 goals – Romário, Jürgen Klinsmann, Roberto Baggio, Kennet Andersson
- 4 goals – Gabriel Batistuta, Florin Răducioiu, Martin Dahlin
- 3 goals – Bebeto, Dennis Bergkamp, Gheorghe Hagi, José Luis Caminero, Tomas Brolin
As a side note, Sweden and Bulgaria both reached the last four where the Swedes came third after beating Bulgaria 4-0.
Despite initial concerns about taking the World Cup to the USA, the huge crowds, attractive football, drama, noise and colour made the tournament a big success. The USA as a team did OK and managed to reach the second stage having gone out to the eventual tournament winners Brazil narrowly.
The football in the USA World Cup had been much more entertaining generally than that seen previously in Italy 1990 due to the new 3 points for a win rule and this certainly lit up the group stages. The competition saw a total of 141 goals with an average 2.7 per match.
The World Cup in 1994 will also be remembered for its great attendances with an average of 69,000 fans per game, a total attendance for the completion at 3,587,538. These attendances are even more staggering with consideration that the tournament at the time had 24 teams instead of the 32 that we have today which in turn meant that there were 52 games rather than the 64 that we will have in World Cup 2014.
A great World Cup generally and one that will be remembered as it became the first World Cup to be decided on penalties!
The following link has a compilation of some of the goals scored at USA94 with some absolute corkers – enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAyjYKwDZxU
