So, 24 years later it finally comes. On the final game of qualifying in 1985 the US was poised to make the World Cup for the first time since 1950. This was the transition period where the last of the NASL players were still around and trying to preserve their legacy by qualifying for the world cup. They had just gone to Costa Rica a few days earlier and earned a 1-1 draw on the road at Alajuelense. Now the US is at home in California and a win sends them to the world cup while a loss to Costa Rica who was already eliminated would send the US home. 0-1 and the Ticos send the Canucks to Mexico 86. Well, 24 years later with nothing but pride to play for since the US had already qualified the US mounts a comeback to draw 2-2 with Costa Rica and knock them out of the World Cup and into the playoff with Uruguay. Funny world and paybacks are a...
I don't see the parallel. For one, the US didn't play "at home" in California. At the time, the US Fed placed the game in a Costa Rican neighborhood, and heavily advertised the game to the Costa Rican community. The halftime show had Costa Rican music. Costa Rica may have knocked us out of a place in Mexico 86, but our fed's desire for cash was the real killer. We could have just as easily played the game in St. Louis and made our run of World Cups longer.
I'm really curious at how drawing 11K fans in the game against Costa Rica made more money for the USSF than the 15k fans in the previous game in St. Loius. I'm curious as to how the game in the US is not the home game. But I'm really not sure there was a point in asking those questions because reading comprehension was...the us tried to make money in 85, in 2009 they...idk.
This is not correct. The United States was not poised to make the World Cup in that 1985 game against Costa Rica in Torrance, Calif. It was poised to make the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, against Canada and Honduras, to be held later that year. Costa Rica was not already eliminated. By beating the United States, 1-0, in Torrance on May 31, 1985, it advanced to that final round (where it finished third).
Because making money is a matter of outgo as well as income. Renting a junior-college football stadium like the one where it played in Torrance, Calif., cost the USSF a lot less than renting a major-league baseball stadium like the one where it played in St. Louis.