After 40 Years
I he U.S. NationalTeam is going
to the World Cup for the first
time in 40 years. After playing 10
qualifying games, the United States
earned its berth in the soccer spec
tacular Nov. 19 with a 1-0 victory over
Trinidad Tobago in Port of Spain.
Trinidad.
It was midfielder Paul Caligiuri
scoring in the 31st minute that sent
the United States to its biggest victory
in four decades, and guaranteed it a
trip to Italy next June.
A loss or tie would have meant that
America would have had to wait until
1994, when it receives an automatic
bid as the host country. But the Ameri
can players wanted to earn a berth on
their own this year, to prove to the
football world that the sport is on the
upswing in the United States.
Here is a look at how the United
States National Team got to the final
game against T&T and won their trip to
Italy.
The Americans received a bye in
the first round of this three-round
qualification process in the CONCA-
CAF zone. In the second round the
United States won their home-and-
away series with Jamaica during the
summer of 1988, tying 0-0 July 24 in
Kingston and winning 5-1 Aug. 13 in
St. Louis.
That advanced the U.S.squad into
the final round of CONCACAF qualify
ing, with a round-robin schedule (eight
games) to be played between April and
November of 1989.
The U.S. opened third round play
with a trip to San Jose, Costa Rica.
Costa Rica won the April 16 game 1-0
on the strength of Gilberto Rhoden's
goal in the 14th minute. The victory
gave Costa Rica their third and fourth
points in three games.
But the U.S. team retaliated just
14 days later in St. Louis when they
defeated the Costa Ricans 1-0. David
Vanole's save of Maricio Montero's pen
alty kick in the closing minute of play
ensured the victory and held up Tab
Ramos's goal in the 72nd minute.
The next game in Torrance, Calif.,
on May 13 against Trinidad Tobago
turned out to be a heartbreaker for the
American team. The U.S. led most of
the game on Steve Trittschuh's goal in
United
The
photo Oy Jon Van Woerden
42 USA National Team
