The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as thehost by FIFA on July 4, 1988. Brazil became the first nation to win four World Cup titles when they beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra-time, the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The official match ball was the Adidas Questra.
Average attendance was nearly 69,000, which broke records that had stood since the 1966 World Cup. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams (and from 52 to 64 matches) in the 1998 World Cup.
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[edit]Qualification
Main article: 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. Russia, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of theSoviet Union, also qualified. The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup.
As a result of the strong performances by African teams in 1990, Africa was given three spots for the first time, with Nigeria joining Cameroon and Morocco.
Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950, and Switzerland for the first time since 1966.
The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1992, and the team completed its qualifying group under the name Representation of Czechs and Slovaks (RCS), but failed to reach the finals. Yugoslavia was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify.
Among other teams who failed to qualify were Uruguay and England. Hungary and France both failed to qualify for the second successive tournament, while Scotland failed to qualify for the first time since 1970. This was the only World Cup finals since 1938 for which neither England nor Scotland (nor indeed any of the British home nations) qualified, although the Republic of Ireland did qualify.
[edit]Summary
FIFA's decision to hold the event in the United States over the bids of Morocco and Brazil surprised many,[1] due to the common perception that the United States had a relative lack of soccer fans.[citation needed] FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious football tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport - one condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional football league; Major League Soccer started play in 1996. Despite these misgivings, in terms of attendance the event was a success. The average attendance of nearly 69,000 shattered a record that had stood since 1950 World Cup, because of the bigger capacities of the American stadiums compared to those of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition to 32 teams in 1998 World Cup. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the final draw that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 19, 1993.[2]
The format of the competition stayed the same as in the 1990 World Cup: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout competition: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. This World Cup was the first in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two. FIFA instituted this feature to encourage attacking football after the defensive display of many teams at Italia '90.
The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having played in the 1982, the 1986 — where he led Argentina to the World Cup title — and the 1990 World Cups. Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test which uncovered ephedrine, a weight loss drug, in his blood. Colombia, despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign, disappointed in the tournament, failed to advance from the round robin. The team was supposedly dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection. Defender Andrés Escobar was a tragic figure of this tournament, as in the group stage match against theUnited States national team, he scored an own goal which eliminated his team 2–1. Escobar was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellín suburb only ten days after the match, apparently in retaliation for the own goal.[3]
On the field, the biggest surprise of the tournament was Bulgaria. The Bulgarians had previously never won a match in five previous World Cup finals but, led byHristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group matches to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico. Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals, where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkovgave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semi-finals and third-place match, respectively. The hosts advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. They played Brazil and, despite a 1–0 defeat, the United States' performance was considered a great success.
Brazil's win over the United States helped take them to the final against Italy. While Brazil's path was relatively smooth as they defeated the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and Sweden in the semis (it was the second game between Sweden and Brazil in the tournament, the first ending 1–1), the Italians had made hard work of reaching the final game. During the group stage the Italian team struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland. Roberto Baggio, who was expected to be the shining star, had not scored a goal. During the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1–0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the equalizer forcing the game into extra time. He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarter-final against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semi-final victory over Bulgaria.
The final match at the Rose Bowl was tense, but devoid of scoring chances. Despite the strategies implemented by FIFA to promote offensive play, both teams failed to produce a goal. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3–2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive. He missed by shooting it over the bar, and Brazil were crowned champions. The trophy was handed to captain Dunga from the hands of the vice-president Al Gore. The Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Brazilian F1 champion Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior.
The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup. Sweden won convincingly with a 4–0 victory. One of Sweden's players — Thomas Brolin — was named to the All-star team.
The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, who scored a record five goals in their match against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazil's Romário, with five goals, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.
[edit]Mascot
The official mascot of this World Cup was Stryker, a dog wearing a red, white and blue soccer uniform with a soccer ball.[4] Stryker was designed by the Warner Bros. animation team.[5]
[edit]Venues
The games were held in nine cities across the country. All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53,000, and their usual tenants were National Football League or NCAA Football teams. The most used venue was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with eight games, among them the final, the third place match, a semifinal and a game of the Round of 16, followed by the Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, which had one semifinal, a quarterfinal and a round of 16 match. The least used was the Pontiac Silverdome, the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup, with four Round 1 matches.
| Pasadena, California (Los Angeles, California, area) | Pontiac, Michigan (Detroit, Michigan, area) | Stanford, California (San Francisco, California, area) | East Rutherford, New Jersey (New York City, New York, area) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | Pontiac Silverdome | Stanford Stadium | Giants Stadium |
| 34°9′41″N 118°10′3″W | 42°38′45″N 83°15′18″W | 37°26′4″N 122°9′40″W | 40°48′44″N 74°4′37″W |
| Capacity: 91,794 | Capacity: 77,557 | Capacity: 80,906 | Capacity: 75,338 |
 |  |  |  |
| Orlando, Florida | |||
| Citrus Bowl | |||
| 28°32′21″N 81°24′10″W | |||
| Capacity: 61,219 | |||
 | |||
| Chicago, Illinois | Dallas, Texas | Foxborough, Massachusetts (Boston, Massachusetts, area) | Washington, D.C. |
| Soldier Field | Cotton Bowl | Foxboro Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium |
| 41°51′45″N 87°37′0″W | 32°46′47″N 96°45′35″W | 42°5′33.72″N 71°16′2.79″W | 38°53′23″N 76°58′18″W |
| Capacity: 63,117 | Capacity: 63,998 | Capacity: 53,644 | Capacity: 53,142 |
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[edit]Media and broadcasting
Dallas, Texas, served as the primary international broadcast center, along with Los Angeles, California.
[edit]Referees
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[edit]Squads
Further information: 1994 FIFA World Cup squads
 | This section requires expansion with: summary of standalone squad article. |
[edit]Seeding
The composition of the four pots was based on the FIFA World Ranking (established in 1993) and on the qualified teams' results in the three previous World Cups.
| Pot 1 (Top 5 plus Hosts) | Pot 2 (Europe 1–6) | Pot 3 (Europe 7–10 + Asia) | Pot 4 (Africa + Americas) |
|---|---|---|---|
[edit]Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the World Cup was held on 17 June at Chicago's Soldier Field. Numerous dignitaries attended, including United States President Bill Clinton, Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl and President of Bolivia Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. The ceremony wasemceed by Oprah Winfrey. In addition, Daryl Hall, Jon Secada and Diana Ross gave musical performances. Ross was also supposed to kick a football into the goal from the penalty spot at the end of her performance, with the goal then splitting in two as part of a pre-orchestrated stunt. She kicked the ball wide to the left, missing the goal, but the goalposts were collapsed anyway in accordance with the stunt plans.
[edit]Results
[edit]Group stage
| Key to colours in group tables | |
|---|---|
| Group winners, runners-up, and best four third-placed teams advance to theRound of 16 | |
[edit]Group A
Main article: 1994 FIFA World Cup Group A
Group A will be remembered for two historic moments in international football. First was that the match between the United States and Switzerland would be the first ever to take place indoors, having been played under the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome. The second was the murder of Colombian defender Andres Escobar - shot dead on his return to Colombia, after his own goal had contributed to his country's elimination from the tournament.
Victories against Colombia and the United States (in front of a crowd of 93,869) were enough to see Romania through as group winners, despite a 4–1 hammering by Switzerland in between. The magnitude of that victory let the Swiss move past the Americans into second place on goal difference, although the hosts qualified for the second round as one of the best third-placed teams.
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