Day to Remember for the U.S. : Soccer: One year ago today, Paul Caligiuri’s goal qualified the United States for the World Cup.
One year ago Sunday, Paul Caligiuri’s stunning goal at Trinidad put the United States in the World Cup for the first time in 40 years.
Not many expected the Americans to win in that raucous stadium down in Port of Spain. But they did, accomplishing their dream of going to Italy and sending the 35,000 red-clad locals home in tears.
A year later, many of the American players have scattered to Europe, the head of the U.S. Federation has been deposed and no one’s really sure what will happen next.
“It seems like an eternity really,” U.S. forward Bruce Murray said this week before leaving for Sunday’s exhibition rematch in Port of Spain. “Everything rested on that one afternoon. Now when you look back at it, you took it almost for granted that it was just another game.”
By winning, the United States earned the right to get pummeled in Italy, losing to Czechoslovakia, Italy and Austria by a combined 8-2. The Americans finished 23rd among 24 teams, beating out only the United Arab Emirates.
“As I said then, and I say now, it was immensely important that we got to Italy,” U.S. coach Bob Gansler said. “If we had not won, it would not have been the end of soccer in the United States. But the added visibility and credibility we got in Italy was very important. So much of America became so much more aware of the game of soccer and the World Cup and the involvement the world has with this game.”
Nine players on the U.S. team have signed with European clubs and are gaining experience they couldn’t get at home because there isn’t a national outdoor league.
“A lot has happened in a year,” said goalkeeper Tony Meola, who plays for Watford of the English second division. “We’ve grown up not only as players, but as a federation. We’ve learned a lot. It seems like yesterday the game took place.”
Trinidad and Tobago, with a 3-1-3 record, needed only a tie become the smallest nation ever in a World Cup. The U.S. team, also 3-1-3 but with a poorer goal differential, needed a victory to qualify.
When the Americans arrived at 12:15 a.m. Saturday, about 1,000 screaming Trinidadians greeted them at Piarco Airport with chants of “Go Home! Go Home!”
When they practiced that afternoon, a calypso band serenaded them, reminding that the “T&T; Strike Force” would win.
And on game day, fans filled the ballpark 5 1/2 hours before kickoff, singing and dancing as if soccer were the only thing that existed. The next day already had been declared a national holiday, win or lose.
“The extent of the country’s involvement was overwhelming,” Gansler said. “Everyone we seemed to come in contract with was thinking soccer, was thinking the game, was thinking Italy. That was one of the things that make you think, ‘When will we get that level of involvement in our own country?’ That was absolutely mesmerizing.”
Caligiuri’s goal came in the 31st minute and developed out of nowhere. He beat a defender and lofted a 30-yard, left-footed shot that curled inside the far post past goalkeeper Michael Maurice.
“Every time I see it again, it gives me chills,” Caligiuri said this week from Germany, where he is playing for Hanna Rostock of the former East German first division. “It’s a moment I’ll always remember the rest of my life. I think it gave me international recognition as a player but, more importantly, I think it gave us new hope and recognition around the world.”
From then on, Trinidad pressed for the tying goal. But the U.S. defense withstood the pressure.
“I remember the game seeming like it was only 10 minutes long in the first half and about three hours in the second half,” Meola said. “The second half just went on forever.”
But finally, as as the sun sank in the autumn afternoon, the last whistle blew. While the Trinidad players slumped in tears, the American players and their 100 fans let loose, unfurling the flag and whooping it up.
“After the game, when Tony Meola and myself were rolling around on the floor screaming, it was unreal,” said midfielder John Harkes, now with England’s Sheffield Wednesday. “A lot of things were going through my mind. Not just that we qualified for the World Cup in 1990, but what we did for American soccer as well.”
Last Sept. 15, before the U.S. team beat Trinidad 3-0 in an exhibition game at High Point, N.C., Gansler played the videotape at the pregame meal.
“You could see goosebumps run up and down their spines,” said Gansler, who hasn’t watched the tape himself. “I don’t dwell on the past. I try to look forward to the future. The next opponent is going to get my attention. I’m sure as I get a little older and a little grayer there will be times to sit back and watch that one.”
