WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Wynalda Scratches His Four-Year Itch : Group A: Despite a case of hives, U.S. forward scores tying goal, atones for red card he received in Italia ’90 opener.

The last time Eric Wynalda played in the United States’ opening game of a World Cup, in 1990 against Czechoslovakia, he was sent off the field early with a red card and a red face. His coach and most of his teammates were so angry they would barely speak to him, and he was wondering if his debut as an international player was also his farewell.

It wasn’t. After serving his one-game suspension, he came on as a substitute in the United States’ third and final game of Italia ’90 and since has had a successful professional career in Germany.

But that experience against Czechoslovakia remained on his conscience until Saturday. In the 58th minute of the United States’ opening game of the 1994 World Cup, he left the field looking no less like Eric the Red. But, this time, he was flushed not with embarrassment but with a rash that covered much of his body.

And when he arrived at the bench, his reception was much warmer than it had been four years ago in Florence. Most among the Silverdome crowd of 73,425 cheered, and his coach, Bora Milutinovic, hugged him.

That was because, in the final minute of the first half, Wynalda had scored the goal that ultimately enabled the United States to tie Switzerland, 1-1, a goal that his teammate, Paul Caligiuri, later would call “one of the greatest in World Cup history.”

Although that might have been an exaggeration, it was one to admire. On a free kick from 28 yards, Wynalda sailed the ball over the Swiss wall and into the top left corner of the net, a virtually impossible spot for goalkeeper Marco Pascolo to defend.

“It had to be perfect,” Wynalda said, “and that’s what it was.”

Wynalda, who seldom practices free kicks because he is almost never called on to take them, was not the first choice to take this one. Under normal circumstances, midfielder Claudio Reyna would have been. But he did not play Saturday because of a hamstring injury. In his absence, two other midfielders, John Harkes and Tab Ramos, made motions toward the ball. But Wynalda, a forward, beat them to it.

“Eric just stepped up,” Caligiuri said. “He didn’t want anyone else taking that shot.”

After scoring, especially in the World Cup, most players celebrate as if they had just hit the lottery.

Wynalda stood and looked at the ball in the net as if it were an apparition.

“To be honest, I was almost in disbelief,” he said. “I remember looking at John and Tab, and then I really didn’t know what to do.”

Thirty-six hours earlier, Wynalda, 25, of Westlake Village, was not sure if he would play because of an allergic reaction to--he now believes--something he ate that caused his torso, thighs and hands to break out in a rash. Team doctor Bert Mandelbaum diagnosed it as hives, gave him an antihistamine and said Wynalda should be fit for the game.

But the itching was so irritating that Wynalda said he couldn’t sleep Friday night. He complained so much in the dressing room before the game that Caligiuri, a defender from Diamond Bar and one of the team’s veterans, said he took him aside and told him to keep his misery to himself.

“It was almost to the point that it was having a negative effect on the rest of the team,” Caligiuri said. “We were getting ready for one of the most important games of our lives, and he was distracting us. I told him that he should overcome the adversity and be a positive influence. He proved he was up to the challenge because he was a leader out there.”

He was until 13 minutes into the second half when, worn down by the heat, humidity and fatigue, he asked to come out.

“I feel today was a good example of the new Eric,” he said.

So did the man who coached the U.S. team in the last World Cup, Bob Gansler.

“Do you realize that Eric played about the same number of minutes in this game as he did in the one in Italy four years ago?” Gansler said. “But his effect on this game was a bit more significant.

“It wasn’t only the goal that impressed me. You can just tell that he’s gained so much maturity. He’s a player now. It’s the difference between someone who’s becoming a star and a wanna-be.”