While hundreds of millions of people glued themselves to television screens elsewhere on earth, past World Cup tournaments have been mostly ignored in the United States. But this year will be different. The U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) received a record 90 applications for Italia ‘90 press credentials, and Atlanta-based Turner Network Television plans to air 24 of the tournament’s 52 games live. Among the betterknown members of the press corps will be lifelong fan Henry Kissinger, the chairman of the ‘94 Cup organizing committee, who has been commissioned by the Los Angeles Times to pen a guest column. “The American journalistic fraternity will never view the World Cup in the same way,” predicts USSF communications director John Polis. “They will realize this is a genuine international sports event and that it’s time America became a part of it.”
But without a generous supply of good luck the United States would have never come anywhere near Italia ‘90. Under the rules established by the sport’s worldwide governing body FIFA (International Federation of Association Football), two slots are reserved in every World Cup for the defending champions and the tournament’s host country; the remaining 22 berths are allocated by region. Two slots are usually set aside for North America and the Caribbean, and they are typically snapped up by regional powerhouse Mexico and a Central American or Caribbean squad. But America’s prospects were bolstered when FIFA banned Mexico from the 1990 Cup for having falsified players’ ages in a youth tournament. As it is the United States just squeaked in, stunning a more talented Trinidad and Tobago team 1-0 in Port-of-Spain last November.
Boom times: If, as expected, the American team fails to advance to the playoff rounds in Italy, its mere presence could still boost the sagging fortunes of professional soccer in the United States. As a youth sport the game continues to grow: 5 million Americans under the age of 19 play soccer today, and in the last three years the number of colleges and universities offering it as a sport (780) has come to exceed the total of institutions fielding football teams (686). But the United States has lacked a big-time pro league since the North American Soccer League folded five years ago-and while some college stars take up the high-scoring indoor version of the game upon graduation, other talented Americans are left with little choice but to offer their services to European clubs.
Two such players will bring valuable international experience to the team that debuts against the Czechoslovaks. Delran, N.J., native Peter Vermes was a starting forward for the Dutch First Division club F.C. Volendam this season and is considered to be the team’s most polished pro, while teammate Chris Sullivan is just coming off a successful tour in Hungary. But U.S. fortunes will probably be decided by a trio of youngsters who grew up and played together in the industrial town of Kearny, N.J.: in the net, 21-year-old goalkeeper Tony Meola will have to overcome occasional lapses in judgment, and it will be up to midfielders John Harkes and Uruguayan born Tab Ramos to set up occasional attacks and feed the strikers up front. On a defense oriented team that won’t be easy to pull off. “It’s true that the team doesn’t really have a style,” shrugs Ramos, 23, “at least not yet.”
Can this year’s contingent equal the heroics of the 1950 team? Almost certainly not, that was an astonishing victory. The English 11 who fell to ignominious defeat 40 years ago this month had been touted as a pretournament favorite, and legend has it that sports editors at The New York Times initially balked at printing the score, believing it to be a mistake. The lone opportunity to match that feat will come on June 14 when the United States plays Italy. The last time these two met in a World Cup was in 1934, and the Italians thrashed the hapless Yanks 7-1. Team U.S.A. should count itself fortunate if it can go home after three first-round games without suffering a comparable blowout.
