Caligiuri’s Goal Propels U.S. to World Cup, 1-0
If it seemed as if the United States had to beat an entire island Sunday, that was not the case. It had to beat two islands, Trinidad and Tobago.
But against a better than decent T&T; soccer team, and in front of more than 35,000 fans, all dressed in red, who had the National Stadium bulging at its seams, the United States scored an unlikely victory. The fact that it scored at all was unlikely enough.
The United States had been shut out in its last two games, but midfielder Paul Caligiuri, a former UCLA captain from Diamond Bar, broke the team’s 238-minute scoring drought in the 30th minute of a tense 1-0 victory.
This game was an example of what international soccer is all about, if not at its best then at least at its most thrilling. The victory assures that the United States will be exposed to more of it next summer, when it goes to Italy to play alongside the national teams from 23 other countries in its first World Cup finals since 1950.
It is too early to determine all of the implications for soccer in the United States, but it at least should help to generate interest in the World Cup that will be held there for the first time in 1994.
“It’s not a dream any more,” said goalkeeper Tony Meola, who became the starter four games ago and has had shutouts in all of them. “We’re in the World Cup.”
The dream is truly over for Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean islands that, with a population of 1.2 million, would have become the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup finals if it had just played to a draw.
“We Goin’,” signs throughout the capital city of Port of Spain predicted. So confident were the islanders that there were advertisements on the scoreboard during the game for bargain travel packages to Italy.
The government announced last week that, win, lose or draw, today would be a national holiday. If the activity throughout the city Sunday night is any indication, it will not be a day of mourning.
The game was televised live on both islands and was shown on Diamond Division screens at three locations on Trinidad. But there was still a rush on the stadium Sunday morning, although all 30,000 tickets had been sold within two hours when they went on sale two weeks ago.
When the gates opened at 10 a.m., the ticket takers were not able to handle all of the fans, some of whom had been at the stadium since 4 a.m. Some people without tickets were able to squeeze through undetected, which resulted in a crowd that overflowed into the aisles.
But even though the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) declared this a high-risk game because of all that was on the line and demanded extra security, there were no incidents.
After the U.S. goal, the crowd was subdued for the remaining 60 minutes. When the final whistle blew, the fans remained in their seats, stunned into almost total silence. But when the U.S. players gathered at the sideline to acknowledge their supporters, about 130, the entire crowd applauded.
Moments later, someone in the crowd shouted, “We want the Strike Squad,” using the nickname for the T&T; team, which had already retired to the dressing room. Soon, everyone joined in the chant.
Hours later, thousands of people were still dancing in the streets to calypso music.
In retrospect, it appears as if the T&T; team, which has no more experience than the United States at playing important international soccer games, succumbed to the pressure of all the pregame hoopla.
“When we were with them in the tunnel before the game, they were scared,” said U.S. sweeper Mike Windischmann. “You could tell by looking at their eyes. They didn’t want to play.”
Although T&T; had only to tie to advance, it didn’t have the type players to go into a defensive shell and hope for a draw. The United States planned to play tight defense early, hope that T&T; would be too overeager on offense and make a mistake that would leave its backside open to a counter-attack.
But all of that changed in the 30th minute, when Caligiuri scored from 30 yards out. He was about to shoot with his right foot but flicked the ball over to his left when a defender closed on him. He then volleyed the ball, curving it deftly into a upper right-hand corner of the net.
That is the kind of skill that allowed Caligiuri to play three years in West Germany. But because he has not always been available due to his commitments there and because of a fractured bone in his now-famous left foot when he did return to the United States this year, he has not been a regular with the national team. He started for the first time in a World Cup qualifying game Sunday.
“I knew that he had at least one left-footed shot still in him,” said U.S. Coach Bob Gansler, who has been taking the heat because of his team’s inability to score.
With a 1-0 lead, the United States was able to do what it does best, play defense. In eight World Cup qualifying matches this year, it scored only six goals. But it was able to advance out of the Central and North American region (CONCACAF) because it allowed only four.
The United States finished the five-nation round-robin tournament with a 4-1-3 record. T&T; was 3-2-3. Costa Rica also advanced with a 5-2-1 record.
Virtually all of the second half was played in the U.S. end as T&T; mounted charge after charge, but it had only three real scoring chances against a physical, swarming defense.
There was not a modern scoreboard clock to give the exact time remaining, which added to the tension.
“It seemed like the second half lasted two hours,” defender Brian Bliss said. “At one point, I was thinking there was only about 10 minutes left. When someone on the bench called out 23 minutes, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was never going to end.”
But when it did, it was the United States, not T&T;, that was checking into those travel packages to Italy.
“If we had lost, the sun would have risen tomorrow,” Gansler said. “But now it will shine a lot brighter.”
WORLD CUP QUALIFIERSThe 24 nations that have qualifed for soccer’s 1990 World Cup in Italy. The 24-nation draw will be made Dec. 12 at Rome.
EUROPE (14 nations): Austria, Belgium, Czechoslavkia, England, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Scotland, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, West Germany, Yugoslavia.
SOUTH AMERICA (4): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay.
NORTH, CENTRAL AMERICA (2): Costa Rica, United States.
ASIA (2): South Korea, United Arab Emirates.
AFRICA (2): Egypt, Cameroon.
