I was wondering a few things about the way things were before we started qualifying on a regular basis (1990). How many (if any) knew/cared when we beat England in 1950 and after that what kind of attendance did we draw to qualifying games between then and 1989?
I don't know about attendance to games, but my father knew about us beating England in 1950 and seemed to think that it was of note. He played HS ball in Long Island and his team was the NY state runner-up. His father was a neurologist and wouldn't let him play football. That was before they knew about the damage that heading a soccer ball causes. Funny because my dad was a high jumper, and the only skill he had in soccer was heading the ball, enough so to make him the MVP. He ran track in college, and never played soccer again, but he did follow soccer, and watches all of the USMNT games.
I grew up in the 70's slash 80's in a family that was 100% sports all the time. My sports were pretty much chosen for me by my dad - baseball, basketball, football - and didn't start playing soccer until I was around 24. But I remember knowing about the NASL when I was young, and Pele, beckenbaur, chinaligia, Kyle Rote , but never ever heard anything about our national team. Were we even competitve before '90?
I remember back in 1989 watching the USNT in a friendly against a Russian club side. I thought it was a big deal that we won 2-1. I think 5000 people attended that match.
By all accounts, the 1950 victory was ignored in the USA. A few sentences buried in the sports pages. As for attendance, I don't have any figures, but it was very, very low in the 70s and 80s. Of course, we sucked then.
A very thorough source of info on US soccer history can be found at The American Soccer History Archives. You can click on any year and get all the results/news from that year.
The team was Dnepr, the venue was the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field (a block and a half from where I live), the score was 1-0, and the attendance was 43,356. It still stands as the only US National Team game ever played in Philadelphia, which is the only reason why I bothered to do the research. The USSF Media Guide is a wonderful thing...
On Feb 21 1991, the USA lost 0-1 away to Bermuda. I'd say we've come a long way in a very short perid of time!
I remember going to WC '90 qualifiers amd friendlies at the St. Louis Soccer Park. Capacity is around 3000 I think, and it was almost always filled. Don't know what demand really was. I do know that parking was always hell.
The US Soccer Archives list the attendance at some of the Fenton Soccer Park games at 5,500. St. Louis was, and still is, a great soccer town. I too attended WC Qualifyers there, my first being in 1984. The USMNT also played some games at Busch Stadium, on the turf, but not official qulaifiers, if I recall correctly. Growing up in St. Louis, you grow up with soccer, especially going to Catholic Schools. Our CYO League had three divisions, ten teams each, with Promotion and Relegation between the divisions each season. We also had a knockout City Cup touney with all three divisions thrown into one big bracket. Cup ties were played on Wed and league games on Sat. This was in second grade, people, on up to 8th. I never knew how sweet I had it... The win in 1950 (the book "The Game of Their Lives" by Geoffry Douglas inspired my username,)was largley ignored by the mainstream press at the time. If you'd like to no more about this historic team, get the book. A good tale about a group of mostly first, second and third generation Americans, living in diverse ethnic neighborhoods across the country, coming together and shocking the world. Frank Borghi, the Keeper drove a hearse for his families funeral home during the off-season from his St. Louis Club team. Jaoe Gaetjens, the goalscorer v England, had a job washing dishes. Different times then. Five (or was it six?) players were from St. Louis, and the book does focus on them a bit. A few tidbits from way back... In 1980, to prepare the team for WC 82 Qualifying, Head Coach Walt Czychowych (try chanting that name) took the squad on a tour of Europe. They lost 3-0 to Neurenburg of the Bundesliga, then beat Luxenbourg 2-0. Then a salary dispute broke out. The players wanted a $50 per week raise, making their take $400 per week. The Fed only offered $35. The dispute was put on hold while the team beat Portugal. Then it got ugly, and the squad held out, only to finally back down at the airport. They flew to England and lost to the B team 1-0. In a qualifer at the Azteca later that year, the US Team bus failed to pick them up at their Mexico City hotel. They took cabs to the stadium. When they got there, the gates were locked. (Freaking Mexicans!!!) Then, as the team finally practised for 20 minutes, it started getting dark. The Mexicans refused to turn on the lights. The next day, Mexico trounced us 5-1, and we were eliminated from WC 82. We drew 54,000 63,000 and 74,000 for our three games in the Olympics in LA in 1984. We Drew Egypt 1-1, lost to Italy 1-0 and beat Costa Rica 3-0 in that order. Things have certainly changed.
I remember around 92 or 93 the US played Sheffield Wednesday (and John Harkes) in Philadelphia at The Vet, but maybe since it was vs a club, that didn't count as a "full international." Where is Jack Edwards when you need him? Tom
US v. Sheffield Wednesday I was at this game as well. I think Brian Quinn scored a pretty nice goal in this one; I think the score was 2-0 or 2-1. Meola was in goal, and I can remember Tug McGraw on the field at halftime trying to kick a ball.
This was actually in 1991. I think it was in August of 1991. I was there. It was right after I graduated from high school and after the US won the first Gold Cup. There were 40+ thousand people there and the US won 2-0 on goals by Perez and Quinn.
The St. Louis Papers always did a decent job of posting Soccer results. But it was Soccertown back then. St. Louis University played in 13 of the first 15 NCAA Championship matches, winning 9 titles, one co-championship, and one championship after Howard was disqualified AFTER the title game. That's 11 championships before any other school ever got to 2. Forza Billikens!! Soccer was almost in every Sunday paper, be it college, NASL, Major Indoor Soccer League, profiles of area high school stars, and/or the USMNT results. I found out about Caliguiri's shot heard round the world from reading the paper, I think. No Jack Edwards back then.
As an aside, I went to see Dnepr in '89 when they played UVa in Charlottesville. Can't remember the result but that brought up good memories of watching a vey young Meola in goal.
Saw 'em play one of those Busch Stadium mentioned games against a Russian Club Team. I think it ended up a 1-1 tie if my memory serves right. I also saw a couple of qualifiers, ut it's been so long I couldn't really remember scores of anything. I do remember pretty small crowds, nothing like the games today. I also saw the Olympic team beat Mexican Olympians 1-0 with Jovan scoring the winning penalty. I hate to say it, but I can understand why people thought he would be something. He was the most dangerous guy on the field all day, although his lack of speed and less than ruthless attitude going to goal cost him chances even then.
I saw an MTV video about the US team before seeing them play. They mentioned something about winning the cup in 1990, didnt happen. THe first time I saw them play was in Mexico. I was in Mexico taking a vacation with family. They lost that game. That game was some type of final. I wasnt into soccer that day, but my dad was watching it and since I had nothing else to do, I was like, what the hell. My dad was cheering for the mexicans, I decided to cheer for the Americans since I was, well, made in the USA. After the US lost, my mom wanted to go out, my dad warned her that it would be a bad idea, but my mom put it clear we didnt have a choice. After driving for 5 minutes, the streets became clogged with Mexicans celebrating their victory. I had never seen anything like it before. I felt a bit intimidated. But then it happend! I saw a car full of red t shirts with the wonderful flag of stars and stripes. I had never in my life felt so happy to see an american flag, even though we had lost, I wanted to stand with that dude and wave that flag. I guess thats when I started watching soccer. I got more into it when Bolivia qualified for the world cup. I guess thats when I became a fan of being a fan. I attended a few matches in Bolivia and loved the environment. THe songs, streamers, smoke bombs and the flags were just awsome. Now that there are fan clubs (LA NORTE=NORTHSIDE) everywhere, I dont need to go down to my parents country. I can just stay home, hold my flag proudly, and celebrate the game as if I was in BOlivia (the security goons needs some work though).
Nostalgia works in funny ways. Only the passage of time can make that monstrosity seem "okay" I guess the waiting in line for 45 minutes afterwards to play a really lousy video game was also okay. And yet, for some strange reason, I downloaded Tron from Grokster.
I didn't really start following the USMNT until '96, and before that I would pretty much only watch during World Cups ('90 and '94). But now, as a passionate soccer fan, I had to laugh when I was watching old tapes of the 1990 WC qualifying and seeing the team playing a final round qualification match in college stadium in New Haven, CT. I think the team has come pretty far in the last decade.
