A couple of days ago the media made mention that it was 25th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase. Every time I see video of that day I only think of one thing: The 1994 World Cup.kicked off that very same day. I attended 9 matches during that tournament, all of them in California (Rose Bowl and Stanford). So on the 25th anniversary of USA '94 I'm curious to know how many others here attended any games during that tournament and what are your fondest memories. Here are a few images of souvenirs I managed to save from that tournament.
I attended 6 matches in Boston. -- Argentina vs Greece I finally got to see Diego Maradona in action. Even through he was not in jhis prime, but I got to see him.His goal vs Greece was a classic. George HW Bush was also in the audience. It was also my first time ever seeing a backpass call. An older British sitting behind me was questioning a call. "I think that's the new back pass call," someone told him. -- South Korea vs Bolivia -- Argentina vs Nigeria Caniggia's smart goal in the end. -- Greece vs Nigeria Amolachi's goal!!! -- Italy vs Nigeria I finally got ti watch Baggio, he icon of our generation in action. I was sitting in a section full of Italian Americans. So they were speaking in English. Every time, Okacha touched the ball... all the Italians was amazed. I never heard of him before the match and I knew his name. When a penalty was called, everyone stood up. An Italian was hugging me after Baggio scored even through I was a neutral fan. -- Italy vs Spain In the rematch warmup, Zubizarreta was practicing receiving the ball with his feet. "Because of the new back pass rule, he has to practice with his feet. The game has evolved," I said, Dino Baggio scored that goal right in front of me. And then, Salinas' miss actually looked worst in live than TV. I did not see Tassotti breaking Luis Enrique's nose. I saw him complaining to the ref. There were a lot of commotion on the field, but the fans in the stadium had no idea. Then,I saw Italy's breakaway. I barely saw Signori's pass. Everyone stood up. I could not see what happened. Through peoples' bodies, I saw Baggio giving blow kisses. The Italians were cheering. I knew it was a goal.
Argentina looked like strong favorites after those two wins. I was looking forward to another Argentina-Italy clash in the second round (it would have been the SIXTH consecutive World Cup that the two teams played each other!) but then Maradona failed that drugs test and Argentina weren't the same. The defeat to Bulgaria resulted in Argentina having to travel out West to the Rose Bowl to play Romania which I attended. Arguably the most exciting match of the tournament. Here are a couple of photos I took during the match. Argentine fan supporting Maradona. Hagi putting Romania 3-1 up. Salenko at the corner flag after scoring his fifth goal.
My ex-roommate from college was from Argentina. I recalled running into him in the stadium. He and his friends were all painted in Argentine colors. It was probably the last time I saw him. Argentina had a great team on paper. I heard about Maradona's drug test while driving somewhere. I remembered calling my friend about it, but it was before cellphone was popular and I did not have one. I forgot when was the OJ's Bronco chase. I recalled hearing about the updates during one of the matches, but there was no interruption from the WC boardcast. I recalled I switched to watch the NBA Final dring the half-time. I knew about the chase while it happened, but I did not know the seriousness of the issue. I did nit watch a single minute of it. On the morning that I heard of Andrea Escobar's death, I went to a fast food. I had a copy of the Boston Globe with me, but the paper was published before the news came out. I was starring at the headlines and talking to myself. "What happened in the newspaper?" one of the worker asked me. "It has nothing to do with the headlines. I just felt sad looking at the newspaper," I told him. And I explained what happened.
June 17, the day the tournament kicked off. iirc, I believe the news broke about OJ during halftime of the Germany-Bolivia inaugural in Chicago. OJ hadn't turned himself in to authorities after saying he would and there was a hunt on to find him. And then after the match the Bronco chase was going. He then arrived at his home in Brentwood with the police surrounding his home trying to get him to surrender... then Spain-South Korea kicked off and I switched to that. lol By the time the match in Dallas ended I think OJ had surrendered or he did shortly afterward. I had a ticket for the USA-Colombia game but my car had broken down on the drive back from attending Sweden-Cameroon. I ended up missing Brazil-Cameroon and USA-Colombia while my car was being fixed. After Escobar died I had mixed feelings about having missed USA-Colombia. Still do. In some ways I'm disappointed I wasn't able to attend the game but in some ways I'm glad I didn't witness his own goal. I still have that unused ticket.
The SI had a story on the US-Colombia game. Ernie Stewart was on the cover, I think. It talked about how the drug cartels were funding Colombian football. At the end of the article, the journalist played with the surname Escobar with Andrea and Pablo. I thought it was clever..... the article was written before Andre's death. I did not recall whether he was dead when I first read the article.