I'm not really here to participate in a cool conversation about the history of our national squad. What I really want to do is make a stupid and historically inaccurate point about something no one is discussing and that happened when I was eleven years old followed by a rediculous demand that you think about it.
I know it wasn't a victory but what about the 0-0 game in Mexico in 1997? That was the beginning of the end for Bora in Mexico and it gave the US some much-needed confidence. I remember before that game that people were talking about the 4-0 loss the US had in Azteca in the Gold Cup final in 93 I believe, when Cobi Jones was overwhelmed by the high altitude and couldn't breathe right. Back to 97, thanks to Goose, the US played a man down for quite a long time, no? I remember thinking that it was like watching a hockey team kill a power play. And didn't Earnie Stewart or Dooley hit the crossbar? I think that scoreless draw was more meaningful than the win we had over them in Copa America 95.
Another important US loss. Brazil 1 - 0 USA - WC 1994 The eventual cup winners sent Tab Ramos to the hospital and barely escaped with the victory. ***EDITED: to remove historically innacurate point *** At least the Brazilians have given us something to talk about when talk turns to soccer. And with Brazilians, it always does.
According to FIFA, Leonardo did get the red card for whacking Tab Ramos: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/02/en/pf/h/pwc/mr/3090.html If I recall rightly, the ref showed Leonardo red (Violent conduct), and showed the stretcher they were carrying Ramos away on yellow (Unsporting behavior). Brazil played a man down for the second half, but it wasn't meant to be... I'm surprised nobody mentioned the 3-0 victories over Paraguay and Belgium that booked the USA's passage to the semifinals against Argentina in WC1930. Even though teams advanced directly to the semi's from the group stage, it's the only time the USA has gone that far.
............................... Erm..........I don't know if that was to me regarding Escobar, but someone did bring it up, and I just wanted to clear it up. Take a chill pill, and reminisce, my friend. (If that comment wasn't directed to me, just ignore this post. )
A variation on the theme ... the best victories of each of the past 20 years: 1985 T&T 0, USA 1 ("Away" leg of WC Qualifier played in Torrance, CA) Caligiuri scores the only goal of the game; this is called foreshadowing. 1986 USA 1, Uruguay 1 (Friendly) Winless in two games, so we're stuck with a moral victory, highlighted by our only goal of the year. 1987 USA 1, Thailand 0 (in Korea) Only win of the year (three games) 1988 USA 5, Jamaica 1 (WC Qualifier) Emphatic victory in a do-or-die game. Goalscorers were Klopas (2), H. Perez, Krumpe, and Bliss ... last I heard, all four of these guys had gotten into coaching. 1989 T&T 0, USA 1 (WC Qualifier) Having already been selected to host WC94, the US didn't actually need to win this game ... but it sure gave our team a lot more legitimacy. 1990 Poland 2, USA 3 (Friendly) Did Peter Nowak play in this one? 1991 USA 2, Mexico 0 (Gold Cup semi-final) Back when a home win over Mexico was something noteworthy, this victory helped us to our only Gold Cup title prior to 2002. 1992 USA 1, Portugal 0 (US Cup?) Wegerle strikes in his first start 1993 USA 2, England 0 (US Cup?) Ian Wright to Tony Meola: "You'll never play in England again." Meola's response: "You'll never play in the US again." (ref. to USA '94) 1994 USA 2, Colombia 1 (WC Finals) It's only a game. 1995 USA 2, Chile 1 in Uruguay (Copa America) Not the most eye-catching score of the year, this was a clear win against a tough opponent. It was arguably the most noteworthy game of Eric Wynalda's career. Hours after arriving from Germany, Wynalda scored twice before being taken off exhausted at halftime. 1996 USA 2, T&T 0 (WC Qualifier) With Dwight Yorke in his prime, T&T was a dangerous opponent, but the US made short work of them. 1997 USA 1, Costa Rica 0 (WC Qualifier) The last hurrah for Tab Ramos. 1998 USA 1, Brazil 0 (Gold Cup) Preki provides the power, pyrrhic but pleasant. 1999 USA 3, Germany 0 (Friendly) Eight months after the debacle in France, Reyna (who scored) and Cobi were the only repeat starters. 2000 USA 1, Guatemala 0 (WC Qualifier) It wasn't among the prettiest, but it certainly was one of the hardest fought, most critical wins of US soccer history. 2001 USA 2, Mexico 0 (WC Qualifier) Yes, kids play soccer in Georgia. 2002 USA 3, Portugal 2 in Korea (WC Finals) ... as if France '98 had never happened. 2003 USA 5, Cuba 0 (Gold Cup) No longer a pushover, Cuba was nonetheless pushed over. 2004 Poland 0, USA 1 (Friendly) The end of the European drought.
Re: Top Ten USA Victories Of All Time 1. USA 3-2 Portugal 2002 WC 2.USA 1-0 T&T 1990 WCQ 3.USA 1-0 England 1950 WC 4. USA 2-0 Mexico 2002 WC 5.USA 1-0 Brasil 1998 Gold Cup 6.USA 2-1 Colombia 1994 WC 7.USA 2-0 Costa Rica 2002 Gold Cup 8.USA 2-1 Jamaica 2002 WCQ 9. 1930 WC & 2002 WC 10.Italia 1-0 USA 1.It was the start of history. We beat one of the favs for the WC and we were up 3-0 we werent supposed to beat them they were supposed to beat this was one of those matches where that old cliche "thats why they play the game on grass not paper". 2.Qualifying for our first WC in 40 years is something special.Great result. 3.Beat England 1-0 nuff said 4.Beat Mexico 2-0 in a WC to make it to the qrts even non Football fans were celebrating this win. 5. our only win against Brasil and it was in the semis of the Gold Cup. 6. A great result. 2-1 against Colombia even if it was in the USA it was a World Cup and got us to the round of 16. 7. This may have started the great run of 2002.We won the Gold Cup against a not so bad team. 8.Qualifyed for the WC which was the same WC that we went to the qrts. 9. Both of these WC's were special. We beat 2 teams 3-0 in 1930 and went to the qrts in 2002. 10.We lost to Italia 1-0 in Italia in a WC and we had just lost 5-1 to Czechs so this was a great result even if we had lost.
Re: Top 10 USMNT victories of all time ? In copa america we beat Arg. URU, MEX, and we beat brazil in gold cup '98
That Poland victory was special. Why? Because we hadnt won in Europe in a long long time even if it was a freindly it still was a good win.
Good call on the England '93 game.That should really be on more lists-that was a big win,even if it was a freindly. I'd like to give a shout out to a couple of draws,the only sporting result which gets compared to incest(you hug your sister,NO KISSING,EVER!!!). -1-1 in Korea,against Korea,in a World Cup.Not bad.Especially the goal.And that's why he's here. -1-1 against Switzerland in the Silverdome WC'94-Wynalda's free kick was huge,even if indoor games are weird. -Mexico '97 WCQ-Down a man for almost an hour in Azteca,we hold out and have Mexican fans booing their own team instead of us. -The two away draws in this round, WHAT? Yeah ,I said the two away draws in this last WC round. Yes we sucked,YES BA was wrong on several occasions,bad refs,bla,bla,bla. Guess what - we came out with two points from two road games.Where would we be without those two draws,I wonder? Good teams get draws when they need to,too.
The wins in the '02 World Cup have to be in the top 10. They were both golden. Any win against Mexico is big for the US too. And of course, the wins against Brazil and England are classics.
Automatic demerits because we played the "Turnips" - the worst England team under the worst English coach in probably 50 years. But yeah that was a definite thought - as were the 1930s games, but their impact was really negligible on the overall state of US soccer, so I didn't include them in my list.
Sam here - I'm always searching for them on e-bay, and the only ones they have are that crap crap crap powder blue uni.
The 3:0 over Germany in J-ville also ahd two of the bestest goals ever scored by the US players. For all of us lamenting putrid long-range shooting in MLS, JM Moore's curler and Jovan Kirovski's rocket were and still are spectacular. PS. The 2:0 win over Germany in Guadalajara the same year doesn't seem to register with anyone. That was one stinky German team.
Actually he showed Tony Meola, the Captain, the card. He pulled on his sleeve (his "armband") pointed at Tab being carried off on the stretcher, then showed Meola the card. He did this as to say "Your not getting the card, but the guy who's almost dying is getting it for pulling on the dummy's jersey is getting it and I can't show it to him so I'm showing it to you."
Re: Top 10 USMNT victories of all time ? Here's my list: 11 - USMNT 2 Mexico 0 (CONCACAF Gold Cup semis - 1991) 10 - USMNT 1 Brazil 0 (CONCACAF Gold Cup semis - 1998) 9 - USMNT 2 Germany 0 (FIFA Confederations Cup semis - 1999) 8 - USMNT 3 Argentina 0 (Copa America 1995) 7 - USMNT 2 Honduras 1 (CONCACAF WCQ - 2001) 6 - USMNT 2 Mexico 0 (CONCACAF WCQ - 2001) 5 - USMNT 2 Colombia 1 (World Cup 1994 - Pasadena, CA.) 4 - USMNT 1 Trinidad & Tobago 0 (CONCACAF WCQ - 1989) 3 - USMNT 3 Portugal 2 (World Cup 2002 - Korea) 2 - USMNT 2 Mexico 0 (World Cup 2002 Round of 16 - Korea) 1 - USMNT 1 England 0 (World Cup 1950 - Brazil) Couldn't decide which of the 2001 WCQs were more important so I decided to make it a top eleven list. I only attended one of the games listed (the Mexico WCQ at Crew Stadium in 2001) but the ones I most remember are the WC victories over Colombia, Portugal & Mexico.
Re: Top 10 USMNT victories of all time ? Baffled a bit here. How did you see this? If memory serves, I believe this game was blocked at least in the states, by News Coverage because news of the US going to War in Afghanistan began within an hour or two of the game and they shunted the game off. Could be that just happened out in Cali, but I know that I didn't get to see the game, as I was eagerly anticipating it and had to watch a quick 1-2 highlight of the match on espn later that afternoon at like 4pm if memory serves.
Nice job on two games I hadn't seen mentioned. The draw with the swiss that made it possible to grab the last slot and play Brazil in the single elimination round. Wynalda's goal was a superb strike if I remember right. The 1-1 draw with S. Korea was also huge. S. Korea was the most fit, and exhausting team in the tourney with far and away the most involved fans, inspite of that, and the fact that including this game, we'd go on to play with less rest than our opponent in every game of the World Cup save the opening 3-2 win over Portugal and you see how huge this was. Tired, possibly due for a let down, Mathis scores the beautiful opener, S. Korea gets a bogus penalty, Friedel saves the bogus penalty (and even gets away with moving early ), and then our boys hold on exhausted in the second half, while S. Korea blows a sure sitter minutes before full time (they got payback for that when Vieri blew a sitter against them in the round of 16 in the final minutes of that game) to pull out a HUGE 1-1 draw. That game should have been mentioned more. As for me personally? The 3-2 win against Portugal was the benchmark. Utterly unexpected, and the first mass media US Win on the world Stage against what was perceived as a soccer power. Portugal had played the best qualifying soccer in all of UEFA and was seemingly rightfully considered a dark horse favorite to win it all if France or Italy failed (no one knew what Brazil team would show up at the time), then Arena came out, and completely shut down their attack that had more or less decimated it's group, and anyone else they'd played in friendlies. Portugal never scored in the run of play, rarely threatened in the run of play, and their only goals came via an own goal, and a botched clearance off a corner which went directly to the foot of Beto (just about the only place it could have gone that would have resulted in a virtual sure goal). The goals we did score, and the fact that we won was an enormous surprise of epic proportions, but what always amazed me most was the fact that their offense couldn't get anything going whatsoever against Arena's game plan, and the likes of Heydude, Agoos, and an admittedly aging group of defenders. Absolutely sterling performance, particularly in the second half when things could have gone to pieces, but didn't. Pauletta, Figo, Gomes, Costa, et all? Completely neutralized in this game. No one anywhere expected that on the planet as far as I knew. The theme on bigsoccer, at the time, from what I remember was, 'maybe if we're really lucky we'll get a draw,' but most were just hoping for a one goal loss so the GD wouldn't put us in a massive hole a la '98.
Re: Top 10 USMNT victories of all time ? ESPN2 aired it the next day. In its entirety. I taped it, and had to wait til my wife and I got our hands on a universal VCR here, so that I could watch that tape as well as any of my other tapes (soccer and otherwise) from the USA... given the different formats and all. And that wasn't until about a year ago, or thereabouts. However, seeing what that match against Jamaica in 2001 meant to a great many of us, it was well worth the wait to relive again.
First, for me they're a very close second to the away kits of that year, the red ones I've been trying to find an XL forever!!! Second, look at the crowd behind Tab, going crazy, in a word awesome. C'mon Hex!