WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : ORANGE IN CITRUS BOWL

The Citrus Bowl in Orlando went from the predominantly green of Mexico and Ireland to the bright orange of the Dutch in one day. Outside the press center, there was a huge orange flag, decorated with thousands of signatures and messages.

Two Dutch visitors, Allert Bolhuis and Eddie Koelfat, explained that the flag was the idea of Radio 3, a popular music radio station in Holland. The flag traveled from site to site during exhibition games in Holland, and Dutch soccer fans wrote greetings and good luck wishes to their team. The only problem was that the flag was so large--roughly the size of a soccer penalty area, 18 by 44 yards--that it couldn’t be brought into the Citrus Bowl, so they laid it on the entryway so the team could see it, as well as others coming into the stadium.

After Holland’s 1-0 loss to Belgium, it took 20 men to carry the flag away.