http://sports.yahoo.com/news/paul-caligiuri-changed-us-soccer-25-years-ago-171209520--sow.html A nice article and good to remember, but I think the author doesn't really know what was going on at the time as he wrote: "The Americans' chances were boosted because Mexico had been disqualified from the North and Central American and Caribbean region for using at least four overage players in qualifying for the 1989 World Youth Championship, a tournament for players under 20. FIFA gave all Mexican national teams a two-year ban June 30, 1988 - four days before announcing the U.S. would host the 1994 World Cup. Costa Rica clinched one of CONCACAF's two berths Oct. 8, and the U.S. entered its final game of qualifying tied with T&T at eight points (3-1-3) and needing a win because of a poorer goal difference. " Had Mexico been playing they would have matched up in a home and away with Costa Rica to get into the final round of qualifying. Mexico could have taken Costa Ricas spot ahead of the US but they couldn't have combined with Costa Rica to knock out the US. Mexico not being there was probably a good thing for concacaf in that Costa Rica had a solid cup (made the second round, scored a pretty nice team goal vs Scotland) and the US got to start turning some fans attention back towards the US in the international game 4 years before hosting. Anyway, Mexico not being there didn't really matter.