USA '94. The World Cup comes to America! The big World Cup. Huge stadiums, massive crowds. Big Jack Charlton. Hot matches, really hot. Played at noon in high humidity to keep the Europeans happy. Big Jack wasn't happy. Maradona's big eyes after his goal against Greece, but that was the last we saw of those drug filled eyes. Big surprise: Bulgaria, who went from never winning a World Cup match to beating the defending champions, Germany, on their way to the semifinals. The big anticlimactic final: Brazil vs Italy in the massive Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the first World Cup final to be won on a penalty shoot-out. But it still wasn't as bad as the final four years earlier.
And there was the big funny moment, which us Euro snobs could all laugh at as only being able to happen in America. Ha! Mexico played Bulgaria in the last 16. I remember my amusement at the referee's decision to send off a player from each team. The Mexican sending off seemed to be a case of "I got it terribly wrong when I sent off the Bulgarian player so I'd better even it out as soon as I can." But that wasn't the real "moment". This is the match of the broken goalpost. A Mexican player ran into a pole holding up the goal and it collapsed, forcing the groundsmen to frantically do something they never thought they would have to do: look in the storage room for a replacement.
It was funny, and it seemed to fit in so well with our perception of soccer in the US. Now, many years later, I enthusiastically watch MLS. Circle of life, and all that.
No comments:
Post a Comment