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Soccer

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : NASL FLASHBACK

By HELENE ELLIOTT
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Was it 1994 or 1979?

Driving through the parking lot at Giants Stadium before Tuesday’s Mexico-Bulgaria game was a trip back in time, to the days when the North American Soccer League was flourishing and the Cosmos drew overflow crowds to the Meadowlands.

As in the brief but enjoyable heyday of the NASL, fans flocked to Giants Stadium hours before the game for tailgate parties. They set up portable grills, bridge tables and picnic benches in the lots, gossiping and watching to see who was passing by. Here and there, a few nimble souls played keep-away, dodging cars and campers to keep the ball in play.

Where have you gone, Giorgio Chinaglia?

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Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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