I was only five when Italia 90 took place. If I really dig deep into the back of my mind, there’s a couple of memories of watching the coverage on TV at home, but those memories are extremely hazy.
USA 94, however, is a different kettle of fish, as a 9-year-old who had by now become infatuated with ‘The Beautiful Game’. In the build-up to that World Cup, I’d already experienced a couple of my all-time favourite County goals - Andy Preece smashing that volley into the Railway End net, and Chris Beaumont booking a trip to Wembley against York. The season ended in heartache against Burnley, but I was still immensely looking forward to the World Cup, and even without a competing English team, it was still a memorable tournament.
On that note, I’m delighted to be able to share with you today, an exclusive extract from Matt Evans’ new book, in which he looks back at USA 94 in fantastic detail. It’s a superb read, and I’d highly recommend you adding it to your list for Father Christmas.
Today’s edition is sponsored by The Site Supply Company. A big thank you to Steve Cree. Check out hivis.net if you need any workwear or high visibility clothing, and get 10% off all orders with the code TSMFW.
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Des Junior
The ‘SHOT heard around the world’, as it came to be known, secured the USA’s qualification for Italia 90 and with it legitimised FIFA’s decision to choose them as the next hosts of the World Cup. Paul Caligiuri’s dipping 30-yard volley was enough to beat Trinidad and Tobago in the final qualifier but the performances that followed in Italy showed just how much was still needed to be done on the playing side. It was the USA’s first World Cup appearance since 1950, where an Eric Gaetjens goal shocked England in their most famous victory to this point.
USSF head Werner Fricker planned to take a similar approach to other American sports by installing a team manager alongside a field coach. Talks had taken place with German World Cup dual-winning player and manager Franz Beckenbauer to step into the main role with Italia 90 coach Bob Gansler working under Der Kaiser until the election defeat ultimately put an end to these plans.
‘I was concerned after Italia 90 that we needed professionalism at the coaching level,’ Rothenberg said. ‘I’m not a soccer man but knew we needed to step up the coaching, Gansler was a great guy, American through and through but he was a college coach.’ The search began to replace Gansler and after a shortlist was drawn up Steinbrecher was charged with interviewing the main candidates.
‘The secretary general takes the suggestion of the manager to the president who then gets it ratified from the board,’ Steinbrecher explained. ‘There were many big names, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Beckenbauer, but I needed someone who would come in, roll their sleeves up and get to work.’
Velibor ‘Bora’ Milutinović was something of an enigma. Born during World War II in German-occupied BajinaBašta, situated in Yugoslavia’s Serbian republic, his early childhood was far from happy. When the horrors of the conflict arrived at their door the younger Milutinovićes found themselves uprooted to live with their aunt some 30 miles away. His father died during the fighting whilst his mother passed away shortly after due to illness. The children were orphaned and, after leaving school at the age of 15, Bora and his siblings set off to Belgrade looking for a better way of life.
Brothers Miloš and Milodrad were unimpressed with Bora’s apparent nonchalance to completing his schoolwork. Despite the elder duo being promising footballers, they were adamant their younger brother should complete his education. Bora’s burgeoning skills developed and he soon superseded his brothers in the footballing stakes to the point where they relented and it became the family’s singular focus.
Milutinović anchored the midfield at both youth and senior levels for two Belgrade clubs, OFK Beograd and Partizan, for over ten years. He also represented Yugoslavia at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Two years later the opportunity arose to move to Switzerland and for Milutinović there was no looking back; his footballing odyssey had begun. Over the next 45 years, he would play and coach in France, Nigeria, Jamaica and the Middle East to name but a few.
An obvious selling point to the USSF was the fact Milutinović had managed at the previous two World Cups. In 1986 he took hosts Mexico to the quarter-finals where they were defeated by eventual finalists West Germany on penalties. Milutinović had turned around Mexico’s drab World Cup record whilst also securing their highest finish in the process. He spent the next four years in club football before an emergency call came in for him to coach Costa Rica, three months before they made their World Cup debut at Italia 90. Milutinović was a popular man of the people, could speak several languages and made friends wherever he went. During press conferences, he carefully trod the line between being open and cryptic, giving off the impression he was disorganised whilst also having a shrewd eye for detail.
Steinbrecher took an instant liking to him. ‘Do not put this guy in a hen house, he is a wily fox,’ he laughed. ‘The first interview was in Mexico City and conducted in Spanish. As I don’t speak it a translator was provided, now I knew Bora was a cagey guy and I was pretty certain he understood English.’
During the final meeting Steinbrecher set a humorous trap for Milutinović. ‘Bora came to the States to finalise things and this time I provided the translator who I told not to translate what I said until I was finished speaking,’ he said. ‘I congratulated Bora on getting the job and said in English, “Now remember you must use the tactics and players that I tell you to.” “No, no, no,” he said, waving his arms. Bora, I got you! He was a genius coach, as he has proven in all of the countries he managed in.’
The appointment of Milutinović appeared out of left field, causing something of a furore amongst the federation with many having championed homegrown options only to see a non-American appointed. There was a method to US Soccer’s apparent madness, however, thanks to the large Latino communities in the country. ‘Hispanics love soccer and Bora was a cult figure in their eyes after the job he had done with Mexico. This wasn’t the main reason [he was appointed] but something that definitely stood out,’ explained Rothenberg. ‘He had also worked at World Cups before, combined with his skill set he was an obvious choice.’
Milutinović’s preparations with the hosts at Mexico 86 would stand him in good stead for what US Soccer had planned for the national team. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention, our players were continually disrespected at international level,’ said Rothenberg. ‘Hardly any had professional contracts, so we had to figure out how to get players experience.’ To begin with, the federation would build the team its own full-time training centre.
There were two locations in mind to be the squad’s base, California and Florida. Mission Viejo had its advantages over Orlando: a temperate all-year-round climate and its proximity to Los Angeles, where eight World Cup games would be played. The decision seemed to tilt in the Californian city’s favour when Milutinović moved his family to nearby Laguna Niguel. If the obvious kudos of hosting the national team seemed reward enough, the chosen city stood to make an estimated $4m in revenue whilst being able to convert the facility into another practical use once the national team had vacated.
USSF president Alan Rothenberg had settled on this decision from his headquarters in Chicago, noting that several other nations had a dedicated training base to work from. He had all too often seen players spend inordinate amounts of time on the road to games, practically living in hotels before heading back to their clubs and colleges spread all across the country. There was too much at stake for the national team; competitiveness and progression through the group stages was the minimum requirement.
The decision came on Thursday, 30 July 1992. Mission Viejo would play host to the USA squad and construction at the seven-acre Oso Viejo Community Park would begin immediately at a cost of $400,000 with an estimated completion date of spring 1993. There would be two full-size pitches, a training room, clubhouse and media facilities alongside a block of nearby apartments within walking distance. The city official promised a world-class training facility whilst the USSF guaranteed a £2,500 monthly allowance to the players who would be based there for 17 months.
One such player was Alexi Lalas who, having served his footballing apprenticeship at Rutgers University, had been part of the USA Olympic team at Barcelona in 1992. ‘Bora had seen me play. I, along with a group of others, matriculated from that Olympic team to the full national team set-up in 1993 when residency started in Mission Viejo,’ Lalas said. However, the promised world-class facilities had been hampered by an El Niño weather pattern that battered the Pacific coast.
‘When we arrived in January 1993 the training centre wasn’t complete due to weeks of massive rain,’ Lalas continued. ‘We spent a good month running on the beach in Laguna with limited field play. When we were finally able to train, the locker rooms weren’t ready so a space was rented across the street in a strip mall. We changed opposite a Wienerschnitzel and next door to a Domino’s Pizza restaurant. We then walked across a crowded La Paz Boulevard to the training fields. It was like playing US National Team Frogger.’
Once the training centre was complete preparations flew into full swing. Some players, such as Tony Meola and Marcelo Balboa, had experience from Italia 90, for others it was their first stop after completing college. ‘I had been around the game all of my life,’ midfielder Mike Sorber said. ‘My father had spent 30 years as a junior coach, winning ten National Championships, and I had always played the game from parish teams in my St Louis neighbourhood to state games through to university.’ It was whilst playing for St Louis University in November 1992 that Sorber’s life would change. ‘Bora was at the college championship to watch Claudio Reyna play for Virginia whilst I was lined up on the opposite side,’ he said. ‘After the game, I was invited to a training camp in December where I spent two weeks before returning to complete my senior year at college.’
With his senior year completed Sorber went straight to Mission Viejo at the turn of the year, one of five kept on from the training camp he had previously attended. There were 23 in camp with several first-team members unable to attend due to commitments at their professional clubs. There was plenty of work to be done, something Milutinović knew only too well, putting his players through their paces with twice-daily training sessions, five times a week. Weekends were different, with only one training session on a Saturday and the players given Sunday off.
‘When it was finally open, the training facility was first-rate,’ Lalas said. ‘It basically provided us with a club environment. Some don’t realise that when many of us stepped foot on the field in 1994 we had never been on the books of any professional club.’
The more experienced members like Balboa were chomping at the bit to be a part of another World Cup. ‘At Italia 90 we didn’t know how to prepare, it was our first major tournament. We were mainly a bunch of kids who had played at a youth World Cup going up against men,’ Balboa said. ‘We had been told we would physically match any side but when we lined up against Czechoslovakia, who had a team made up of players all six foot plus, reality hit.’
For those who remained from Italia 90, there would be a better understanding of what was to be expected and what level they would need to perform at. As he did with Mexico ahead of the 1986 World Cup, Milutinović arranged a heavy schedule of friendly fixtures with the CONCACAF Gold Cup and US Cup providing stiffer opposition as the tournament approached. The core of players based at Mission Viejo would be supplemented by European-based professionals like Caligiuri, John Harkes and Eric Wynalda who would rendezvous with the others for some of the warm-up games.
‘The guys from Europe really added to the group in terms of ability and personality which dampened any resentment from the camp-based guys,’ Lalas explained. There was no room for ego with players coming in and out at Mission Viejo’s revolving doors, Milutinović leaving no stone unturned in finding his ideal squad for the tournament.
‘We all had the same goal, whether based at Mission Viejo or in Europe,’ Sorber said. ‘We had no World Cup history and had gone 40 years between appearances. Everyone wanted to play in 1994.’
USA 94 - The World Cup That Changed The Game is published by Pitch Publishing.
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Matt Walker ‘eats’ the World Cup
🇦🇺 No 8 - Australia (Vauxhall Food & Beer Garden) 🇦🇺
“Four fixture day featured an almighty shock, free shots, technical troubles and eBay buys. An inflatable roo kept me entertained during the goalless inevitablility of my Mexico match. And did an early somersault in Vauxhall before the four goal bounty from the French.”
One of my favourite football books is Matt Walker’s Europe United, in which the author and Fulham fan spends a whole season taking in a game in all 55 UEFA countries. Well he’s back with another fun challenge, to experience Qatar 2022 in restaurants and bars across London which represent all 32 competing nations. Matt has kindly allowed me to use his photos and I’ll bring you one each day, giving you a tasty flavour of the World Cup, in more ways than one.