U.S. World Cup Team Plays Two in Rose Bowl
The 1994 World Cup soccer schedule was unveiled Tuesday, with officials presenting a new format that seeks to distribute the high-profile games more evenly and play more matches on weekends.
The Rose Bowl in Pasadena will be the site of four first-round games, including two with the U.S. team. Alan Rothenberg, president of the World Cup organizing committee, said at a news conference Tuesday that he could not confirm that the U.S. team would be based in Los Angeles, but that it was a “working assumption.”
Rothenberg added that he could foresee little that might change the U.S. team’s city assignment.
The U.S. team is scheduled to play its first game in the Silverdome at Pontiac, Mich., on June 18. It will be the first World Cup match indoors.
The opening game in the 24-nation, 52-game tournament will be played in Chicago on June 17 and will feature defending World Cup champion Germany. In a change from the usual format, Dallas also will be the site of an opening game.
First-round matches at the Rose Bowl will be played on June 18, 19, 22 and 26. The venue also will have one game in the round of 16 on July 3, a semifinal game on July 13, the third-place match on July 16 and the final on July 17.
To accommodate U.S. television and working fans, 24 of the 52 games will be played on weekends.
For the first time in World Cup history, each of the top-seeded teams will be required to travel at least once in the first round. Previously, the seeded teams had the advantage of playing their first three games in one city; the other teams in the group had to travel.
Since World Cup qualifying is still under way worldwide, the only teams assured of a place in the tournament are the defending champion and the host country. First-round opponents and city assignments won’t be known until after the draw, in December of 1993. Rothenberg said that, in general, the starting times would be 12:30 p.m., 4 and 7:30, Eastern time.
The starting time of the final probably will be 12:30 p.m., local time. Starting times for the tournament here will generally be earlier than in past World Cups, so that the games can be televised during prime time in Europe and Africa.
The nine U.S. venues will be arranged in groups of three. The 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four teams each. The city and group assignments: Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Detroit will play host to Groups A and B. Dallas, Chicago and Foxboro, Mass., will play host to Groups C and D, and Washington, D.C., Orlando, Fla., and East Rutherford, N.J., will play host to Groups E and F.
Quarterfinal games will be played in Foxboro Stadium and the Cotton Bowl on July 9, and in Stanford Stadium at Palo Alto and Giants Stadium at East Rutherford on July 10.
The two semifinals are scheduled for July 13, the first at East Rutherford and the second at the Rose Bowl. FIFA had wanted one played on July 12, but it would have conflicted with baseball’s All-Star game.
Partial Schedules
As host of 1994 World Cup, the U.S. is given an automatic spot in the 24-team tournament. The U.S. team is seeded first in Group A and will play its opening match at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., and the following two first-round matches at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Opponents will not be known until after the draw, in December of 1993. UNITED STATES TEAM
First-Round Games
Sat., June 18, at Silverdome (Pontiac, Mich)
Wed., June 22, at Rose Bowl
Sun., June 26, at Rose Bowl
ROSE BOWL
First-Round Games
Sat., June 18
Sun., June 19
Wed., June 22
Sun., June 26
