1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988. Despite soccer's relative lack of popularity in the host nation, the tournament was the most financially successful[1][2] in World Cup history. It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3,587,538 and an average of 68,991 per game,[3] marks that stood unsurpassed as of 2022[4] despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the 1998 World Cup.[5]
| World Cup USA '94 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | United States |
| Dates | June 17 – July 17, 1994 |
| Teams | 24 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 9 (in 9 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Brazil (4th title) |
| Runners-up | Italy |
| Third place | Sweden |
| Fourth place | Bulgaria |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 141 (2.71 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,597,042 (69,174 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Hristo Stoichkov Oleg Salenko (6 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Romário |
| Best young player | Marc Overmars |
| Best goalkeeper | Michel Preud'homme |
| Fair play award | Brazil |
← 1990 1998 → | |
Brazil was crowned the winner after defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California near Los Angeles, after the game had ended 0–0 after extra time. It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties. The victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. There were three new entrants in the tournament: Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia; Russia also appeared as a separate nation for the first time, following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and for the first time since 1938, a unified Germany took part in the tournament. They were also defending champions, but were eliminated in quarter-finals by Bulgaria. It was the first World Cup where three points were awarded for a victory instead of two and also the first with the back-pass rule. This was done to encourage a more attacking style of soccer as a response to the criticism of the defensive tactics and low-scoring matches of the 1990 World Cup. This resulted in an average of 2.71 goals per match.
Background and preparations
Bidding process
Three nations bid for host duties: United States, Brazil, and Morocco.[6] The vote was held in Zurich on July 4, 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the FIFA Executive Committee members.[6] FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport.[7]
An inspection committee also found that the proposed Brazilian stadiums were deficient, while the Moroccan bid relied on the construction of nine new stadiums. Conversely, all the proposed stadiums in the United States were already built and fully functioning; US Soccer spent $500 million preparing and organizing the tournament, far less than the billions other countries previously had spent and subsequently would spend on preparing for this tournament.[8] The U.S. bid was seen as the favorite and was prepared in response to losing the right to be the replacement host for the 1986 tournament following Colombia's withdrawal.[9]
One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league – Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996.[10] There was some initial controversy[11] about awarding the World Cup to a country where soccer was not a nationally popular sport, and at the time, in 1988, the U.S. no longer had a professional league; the North American Soccer League, established in 1967, had folded in 1984 after attendance faded.[11] The success of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, particularly the soccer tournament that drew 1.4 million spectators throughout the event, also contributed to FIFA's decision.[12]
The United States had previously bid to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup, after Colombia withdrew as the host nation in November 1982 because of economic concerns. Despite a presentation led by former North American Soccer League players Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer, as well as former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the executive committee selected Mexico.[13] There were proposals by FIFA to introduce larger goals and breaks after every quarter instead of just at half-time in order to appease US television advertisers.[14][15][16] These proposals were met with resistance,[17] and ultimately rejected.
Venues
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2019) |
The games were played in nine cities across the contiguous United States. All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53,000, and their usual tenants were professional or college American football teams.[18] Other considered venues in other major cities across the United States such as Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Seattle and Tampa were not used, as well as venues in smaller towns such as Annapolis, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; Corvallis, Oregon; and New Haven, Connecticut.[19] Several venues, including Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and Candlestick Park in San Francisco, were rejected because of conflicts with Major League Baseball, so Stanford Stadium, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of San Francisco was used,[20][21] and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando was picked over Miami's two submitted venues (the Orange Bowl, the other Miami venue, required major renovations to meet tournament standards).[22] The venue used most was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with eight games, among them one round of 16 game, a semi-final, the third-place game, and the final. Giants Stadium near New York hosted seven games including a semi-final; Boston (Foxborough), San Francisco (Stanford), and Dallas hosted six games each and Chicago, Washington, and Orlando each hosted five games. The least used was the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup, with four group stage games. The Pontiac Silverdome was also the only venue of the nine used that did not host any knockout round games.
Because of the large area of the continental United States, the game locations were often far apart. Some teams in Groups A and B had to travel from Los Angeles or San Francisco all the way to Detroit and back again, covering 2,300 miles (3,700 km) and four time zones. The teams in Groups C and D only played in Foxborough (Boston), Chicago, and Dallas—a trip from Boston to Dallas is 2,000 miles (3,200 km), but only covers two time zones; Chicago is in the same time zone as Dallas but is still 1,000 miles (1,600 km) away from both Dallas and Boston. The teams in Groups E and F had it a bit easier—they played exclusively in New York (East Rutherford), Washington, and Orlando, which, while far apart, were at least all in the same time zone. A few teams, such as Cameroon and Colombia, did not have to travel to cities across the country to play games.
The variety of climate in different cities all over the United States also sometimes made playing conditions challenging. Aside from the oceanic coolness of Boston (Foxborough), the Mediterranean climate of San Francisco (Stanford), and occasionally the coolness of Chicago, as they had been in Mexico in 1970 and 1986 most matches were played in hot and/or humid conditions, thanks to nearly all of the games being scheduled to be played during the day instead of at night in order to suit a time difference compromise for television in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; this had always been done every time a World Cup was held in the Americas. Although playing in the mostly dry heat and smoggy conditions of Los Angeles (Pasadena) and the mixture of heat and humidity of Washington and New York sometimes proved to be difficult, the cities with the most consistently oppressive conditions were Orlando and Dallas in the South, because of the combination of heat and extreme humidity.[23] The Floridian tropical climate of Orlando meant all games there were played in temperatures of 95 °F (35 °C) or above with dew points above 70 or more (the temperature there during the group stage game between Mexico and Ireland was 105 °F (41 °C)) due to the mid-day start times.[24] Dallas was not much different: in the humid heat of a Texas summer, temperatures exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) during mid-day, when games there were staged in the open-type Cotton Bowl meant that conditions were just as oppressive there as they were in Orlando.[25] Detroit also proved to be difficult: the Pontiac Silverdome did not have a working cooling system and because it was an air-supported stadium, the air could not escape through circulation, so temperatures inside the stadium would climb past 90 °F (32 °C) with 40% humidity. United States midfielder Thomas Dooley described the Silverdome as "the worst place I have ever played at".[26]
Of these nine stadiums, all but one have since been either demolished and replaced by other stadia, or have been moderately or heavily modified. The Pontiac Silverdome, Giants Stadium, and Foxboro Stadium have been demolished, and RFK Stadium is no longer in use and is slated for demolition by 2023.[27] Stanford Stadium, the Cotton Bowl, the Citrus Bowl (Camping World Stadium), and Soldier Field have all been moderately or heavily modified. The Rose Bowl is the only largely unmodified stadium that was used for this tournament.
| Pasadena, California (Los Angeles) | Stanford, California (San Francisco) | Pontiac, Michigan (Detroit) | East Rutherford, New Jersey (New York/New Jersey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | Stanford Stadium | Pontiac Silverdome | Giants Stadium |
| Capacity: 94,194 | Capacity: 84,147 | Capacity: 77,557 | Capacity: 76,322 |
| Dallas, Texas | 1994 FIFA World Cup (the United States) | ||
| Cotton Bowl | |||
| Capacity: 64,000 | |||
| Chicago, Illinois | Orlando, Florida | Foxborough, Massachusetts (Boston) | Washington, D.C. |
| Soldier Field | Citrus Bowl | Foxboro Stadium | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium |
| Capacity: 63,160 | Capacity: 62,387 | Capacity: 54,456 | Capacity: 53,121 |
Participating teams and officials
Qualification
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2021) |
Three teams: one African, one Asian, and one European, made their debuts at the 1994 tournament. Nigeria qualified from the African zone alongside Cameroon and Morocco as CAF was granted three spots as a result of the strong performances by African teams in 1986 and 1990. In the Asian zone, Saudi Arabia qualified for the first time by topping the final round group ahead of South Korea as both edged out Japan, who was close to making its own World Cup debut, but was denied by Iraq in what became known as the "Agony of Doha". In the European zone, Greece made their first World Cup appearance after topping a group from which Russia also qualified, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup. Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950 (and the last time as of 2022), and Switzerland for the first time since 1966. Norway's 56-year gap between appearances in the final tournament equaled Egypt's record in the previous tournament as the longest. This record was later broken by Wales when they qualified for the 2022 tournament, after a 64-year absence. Mexico had its first successful qualification campaign since 1978, failing to qualify in 1982, qualifying as hosts in 1986 and being banned for the Cachirules scandal in 1990.
The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993, completing its qualifying group under the name "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks" (RCS), but failed to qualify for the finals, having been edged out by Romania and Belgium in Group 4. Yugoslavia (which was supposed to play in Group 5) was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chile's suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the forced interruption of their qualification game against Brazil, extended to the 1994 qualifiers as well.
This was the first World Cup since World War II in which none of the UK Home Nations of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales qualified (they withdrew their FIFA memberships between 1928 and 1946, during the first three tournaments), with England (finishing third behind Norway and Netherlands in Group 2) missing out after having finished fourth in the 1990 tournament, and Scotland (who finished fourth in Group 1) failing to qualify for the first time since 1970. France, who had been already designated as hosts of the 1998 tournament, also missed out following surprise home losses to Israel and Bulgaria. This was the second World Cup in a row for which France had failed to qualify, and the last one to date not to feature England, France, and Japan. Other notable absentees were 1986 and 1990 Round of 16 participants Uruguay, UEFA Euro 1992 champions Denmark, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal and Hungary.
List of qualified teams
The following 24 teams, shown with their pre-tournament FIFA World Ranking from June 1994,[28] qualified for the final tournamentː
|
|
| Countries qualified for World Cup Country failed to qualify Countries that did not enter or were banned from the World Cup Country not a FIFA member
|
Squads
Teams were selected following usual FIFA rules with 22 players. Greece, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and Spain were the only countries that had all their players coming from domestic teams, while the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria had no players from domestic teams. Saudi Arabia was the only team with no players from European teams.
Referees
Draw
Seeding and drawing
The FIFA Organizing Committee upheld the tradition to seed the hosts (United States) and holders (Germany), along with the other four teams ranked in the top five based on their results obtained in the last three FIFA World Cups. The newly introduced FIFA World Ranking was not used as part of the calculated ranking for the seeding in this World Cup, as FIFA considered it to be too new.[29] Despite that it was not used in any way, for comparison purposes the teams' pre-tournament FIFA World ranking position from June 1994 are shown in parenthesis,[30] followed by the official and used ranking (OR) position determined by the results obtained in the last three world cups.
The six top-seeded teams, were allocated in pot 1 and would be drawn into the first position of the six groups playing in the group stage. The remaining 18 teams were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections, with the: six qualified teams from Africa and Americas in pot 2, the top-6 ranked European teams in pot 3, while pot 4 comprised the 7th-10th best qualified European teams along with the two qualified Asian teams.
The principle of the draw was that each of the six drawn groups would have one team drawn respectively from pot 1, 2, 3 and 4; while respecting the following geographical limitations:
- At least two European teams from UEFA in all groups, with one group having three European teams.
- United States and Mexico can not be drawn in the same group, due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONCACAF team per group.
- Brazil and Argentina can not be drawn with another South American team, due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONMEBOL team per group.
- As all qualified Asian teams from AFC were in the same pot 4, and all qualified African teams from CAF in the same pot 2, this automatically respected the rule of only allowing maximum one Asian team and maximum one African team per group, as part of the normal draw procedure - without needing to observe special restricting sub-rules for them.
| Pot 1 Top-seeded teams (top 5 teams + hosts) | Pot 2 Africa & Americas (CAF, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL) | Pot 3 Best unseeded from Europe (UEFA) | Pot 4 Asia and worst ranked from Europe (AFC and UEFA) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
- The draw took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was televised live on 19 December 1993 on ESPN in the United States & Eurosport in all Europe.[31]
Ahead of the draw, the FIFA Organizing Committee had decided to allocate the top-seeded first group position A1 for the United States as the hosts, C1 for defending champions Germany, and E1 for the Italian team who had requested to play most of their group matches at the Giants Stadium in New York. The three other top seeded teams would be located at the first position of either group B/D/F, with the decision largely depending on the identity of the other drawn group members for the seeded teams. Therefore, this last decision would only be made by a secret vote made by the FIFA Organizing Committee a few minutes after all teams had been drawn for all groups, and the decision would only be announced as the last step of the televised draw event. To make this procedure possible, the six drawn groups would during the draw be given the colors green, orange, white, black, pink and blue; and the closing remarks at the event would then reveal the group letters represented by the colors. The six groups from A to F would play their group matches in the following nine cities:[32]
- Group A and B are playing in Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- Group C and D are playing in Chicago, Dallas and Boston.
- Group E and F are playing in New York, Washington DC, and Orlando.
Procedure for the draw:[33]
- Pot 1 was used to draw the six top-seeded teams into the first position of the six groups designated by the colors green, orange, white, black, pink and blue. Group letters behind each color would only be decided by a following secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote, and only be revealed after the draw had been completed. Although the committee had already predetermined ahead of the draw that: the United States should play in group A, Germany should play in group C, and Italy should play in group E.[32]
- Pot 2 was used to draw one team to each of the six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue); while this order however at the same time had to respect the following restricted geographical rules:
- Rule 1: First two drawn non South American teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the two groups led by a South American team, in order to avoid the possibility for these groups later to be drawn by a second South American team.
- Rule 2: First drawn South American team or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the group led by the CONCACAF team, the United States, in order to avoid the possibility for this group later to be drawn by the second CONCACAF team Mexico.
- Rule 3: One of the two South American teams or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order, first be drawn into the first available open group being led by a European team, in order to avoid the meeting of two South American teams in the same group.
- Rule 4: Mexico can not be drawn together with the United States as they are both CONCACAF teams, so Mexico will be grouped with the first still open available group being led by a European or South American team, as per the color order.
- Pot 3 was used to draw one European team to each of the six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue).
- Pot 4 was used to draw one European/Asian team to each of six colored groups, with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right (green, orange, white, black, pink, blue). However, in order to respect the geographical rule that five of the groups shall have two European teams - and the rule that three European teams is only allowed in one group, the color order will be skipped subject to these allocation rules:
- Rule 1: All drawn Asian (AFC) teams would not be drawn into any of the three groups led by a top-seeded CONCACAF/CONMEBOL team (United States/Brazil/Argentina), but would instead only be allowed to join a group being led by a top-seeded European team.
- Rule 2: All drawn European (UEFA) teams, shall first be drawn into the three groups led by a top-seeded CONCACAF/CONMEBOL team (United States/Brazil/Argentina), until the point of time when only European team(s) remain to be drawn from the last pot 4.
- The exact group position number for the teams (2, 3 or 4) in each colored group, were also drawn immediately from six special group bowls, after each respective team had been drawn from pot 2, 3 and 4.
- Group letters behind each color (green, orange, white, black, pink and blue) would finally be decided by a final secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote, being announced as the last part of the televised event.
The draw was officiated by FIFA general-secretary Sepp Blatter. Teams were drawn by German legend Franz Beckenbauer, heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield and comedian and actor Robin Williams. Numbers for placement in the group were drawn by actor Beau Bridges, Women's World Cup champion Michelle Akers, model Carol Alt, artist Peter Max, racecar driver Mario Andretti and Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Mary Lou Retton.[34][35][33]
Results of the draw
| Group A (blue) | Group B (orange) | Group C (green) | Group D (white) | Group E (pink) | Group F (black) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
In each group, the teams will play three matches, one against each of the other teams. After completion of the group stage, the best two teams of each group as well as the four best ranked third places, will advance to round 16 in the knockout stage. This format was identical with the tournament structure being used in 1986 and 1990. Compared to all previous editions of the World Cup, a victory in the group stage will however now be rewarded with 3 points instead of the previously granted 2 points.
Summary
The format of the competition stayed the same as in the 1990 World Cup: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout phase: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. FIFA introduced three rule changes for this tournament to encourage attacking play: three points awarded for a win in a group stage match instead of two, a relaxed offside rule and a ban on picking up back-passes to goalkeepers. The number of goals increased to 2.73 per game from the record-low of 2.21 in 1990.[36]
The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career, having played in the 1982, 1986, and 1990 World Cups, and leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title and the final of the 1990 World Cup. Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test that uncovered ephedrine, a weight-loss drug, in his blood. Colombia, despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign, failed to advance from the round robin. The team was dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels, with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection.[37][38] After scoring an own goal for the United States and effectively eliminating Colombia from the competition, defender Andrés Escobar was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellín suburb 10 days later.[39]
On the field, Bulgaria was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. The Bulgarians had never won a game in five previous World Cup finals but, led by Hristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring, they made a surprising[to whom?] run; Bulgaria won two of their three group games to qualify for the second round, where they advanced with a 3–1 penalty shoot-out win over Mexico. Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals, where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2–1 victory. Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden, in the semi-finals and third-place game, respectively.
The host nation United States, after a 23rd-place finish in the 1990 tournament, advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. They were eliminated in the Round of 16 in a 1–0 defeat to Brazil on Independence Day.
Brazil's win over the hosts helped take them to the final against Italy. Brazil's path was relatively smooth as they never trailed over 270 minutes of the knockout stage, defeating the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and Sweden in the semis after the aforementioned win over the hosts. The Italians meanwhile had made hard work of reaching the final. During the group stage, Italy struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1–0 to the Republic of Ireland. Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio, who as the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon D'Or holder, was expected[by whom?] to be one of the stars of the tournament,[citation needed] had not yet scored a goal. During the Round of 16 games against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1–0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the tying goal, forcing the game into extra time. He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarter-final against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semi-final victory over Bulgaria.[40]
The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup with 15 over seven matches. These teams had also previously met in the qualifying group. Sweden won, 4–0. Swedish forward Tomas Brolin was named to the All-star team.[41]
The final game at the Rose Bowl was tense but devoid of scoring chances. It was the second time in 24 years that the two nations had met in a final. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3–2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive.[40] He missed by shooting it over the crossbar, and the Brazilians were crowned champions for the fourth time.[42] After the game ended, then-Vice-president Al Gore hosted the awarding ceremony by handing Brazilian captain Dunga the prestigious trophy; the Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Formula One motor racing champion and countryman Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior.[citation needed]
The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, the latter becoming the first player to score five goals in a game, coming in a 6–1 victory against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazilian striker Romário, with five goals, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.[42]
Despite the controversy, the U.S. staged a hugely successful tournament, with an average attendance of nearly 70,000, surpassing the 1966 FIFA World Cup average attendance of 51,000, thanks to the large seating capacities of the stadiums in the United States in comparison to the generally smaller venues of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France.[4]
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the World Cup was held on June 17 at Chicago's Soldier Field. The ceremony was emceed by Oprah Winfrey, who fell off the dais in introducing Diana Ross, who gave a musical performance. Ross was also supposed to kick a soccer ball into the goal from the penalty spot at the beginning of her performance, with the goal then splitting in two as part of a pre-orchestrated stunt. She kicked the ball wide to the left, missing the goal, but the goalposts collapsed anyway in accordance with the stunt plans. In addition, Daryl Hall and Jon Secada also gave musical performances.[43] It was officially opened by then-President Bill Clinton.[44]
Group stage
Times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4) (East Rutherford, Foxborough, Orlando, Pontiac and Washington), Central Daylight Time (UTC−5) (Chicago and Dallas), and Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−7) (Pasadena and Stanford).
Champion Runner-up | Third place Fourth place | Quarter-finals Round of 16 | Group stage |
In the following tables:
- Pld = total games played
- W = total games won
- D = total games drawn (tied)
- L = total games lost
- GF = total goals scored (goals for)
- GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
- GD = goal difference (GF−GA)
- Pts = total points accumulated
Group A
The Group A game between the United States and Switzerland was the first to take place indoors, played under the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Following the tournament, Colombian defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead on his return to Colombia, after his own goal had contributed to his country's elimination.
Victories against Colombia and the United States (in front of a crowd of 93,869) were enough to see Romania through as group winners, despite a 4–1 hammering by Switzerland in between. The magnitude of that victory allowed Switzerland to move ahead of the United States on goal difference, although the hosts qualified for the second round as one of the best third-placed teams.
Switzerland's 4–1 victory over Romania came nearly 40 years to the date of Switzerland's last World Cup victory, also a 4–1 victory, on that occasion over Italy. The United States' 2–1 victory over Colombia was its first World Cup victory since June 29, 1950, when it upset England 1–0 in the 1950 World Cup.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romania | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 | |
| 3 | United States (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Colombia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 |
(H) Host
| United States | 1–1 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Wynalda 44' | Report | Bregy 39' |
| Switzerland | 0–2 | Colombia |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Gaviria 44' Lozano 90' |
| United States | 0–1 | Romania |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Petrescu 18' |
Group B
Group B produced two of the four semi-finalists of this World Cup — Brazil and Sweden — and was also one of the two groups in which only two, rather than three, sides progressed to the second round. The match between the two eliminated teams, Cameroon and Russia, broke two World Cup records. Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first – and remains the only[citation needed] – man to score five goals in a single World Cup game as Russia won 6–1. The goals also ensured that Salenko finished the tournament joint-top scorer with six goals, having previously bagged one against Sweden. Cameroon left a mark too as Roger Milla, at the age of 42, became the oldest World Cup goalscorer of all time, as he grabbed his side's consolation goal in the game. The result was not enough to take Russia through following losses to Brazil and Sweden. Brazil beat Cameroon, and then confirmed the top spot with a draw to Sweden.
The Swedes also progressed, finishing in second place with five points. Sweden's 3–1 victory over Russia was the nation's first World Cup victory since July 3, 1974. Russia failed to progress to the second round for the second time, while Cameroon failed to repeat their surprise performance from the previous tournament.[45]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Sweden | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 5 | |
| 3 | Russia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Cameroon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 1 |
| Brazil | 3–0 | Cameroon |
|---|---|---|
| Romário 39' Márcio Santos 66' Bebeto 73' | Report |
| Brazil | 1–1 | Sweden |
|---|---|---|
| Romário 47' | Report | K. Andersson 23' |
Group C
As was the case with Group B, Group C would only send two teams into the Round of 16 as Spain and defending champions Germany progressed to round two. Coming from two goals down with four minutes left to snatch a 2–2 draw against Spain, the South Koreans very nearly eclipsed that feat against Germany when they came from 3–0 down to lose narrowly 3–2. In spite of these comebacks, South Korea was held to a 0–0 draw against Bolivia in their other group game when a win would have seen them through. Spain's late implosion against the South Koreans effectively decided that it would be Germany who won the group and not them.
Germany, who defeated Bolivia 1–0 in the tournament's opening game, finished with seven points. Spain had to settle for second place despite leading in all three games.
Despite Bolivia finishing last in the group, Erwin Sanchez made team history after scoring the nation's first World Cup goal in a 3–1 loss to Spain. Prior to 1994, Bolivia had never scored in either of their previous appearances at the 1930 and 1950 World Cups.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Spain | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 5 | |
| 3 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Bolivia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 |
| Spain | 2–2 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Salinas 51' Goikoetxea 55' | Report | Hong Myung-bo 85' Seo Jung-won 90' |
| Germany | 1–1 | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Klinsmann 48' | Report | Goikoetxea 14' |
| South Korea | 0–0 | Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Germany | 3–2 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Klinsmann 12', 37' Riedle 20' | Report | Hwang Sun-hong 52' Hong Myung-bo 63' |
Group D
Tournament favorites Argentina led by Diego Maradona collected a maximum of six points from their opening two games after dominating Greece 4–0 in Foxboro with a Gabriel Batistuta hattrick before winning a close match against a formidable Nigeria with a 2–1 victory on the same field four days later; despite this Argentina finished third in the group. Nigeria had been very impressive on their World Cup debut, and despite the narrow loss to Argentina, had emerged as group winners following victories against Bulgaria and Greece, the latter in which Nigeria doubled its lead late on a goal from Daniel Amokachi – a goal that would allow Nigeria to top its group. Maradona only played with Argentina during their first two games, both in Foxborough (playing Greece and Nigeria and scoring his last ever World Cup goal against the former); he was thrown out of the tournament after testing positive for ephedrine.
Having qualified for the tournament through a last-gasp goal against France, Bulgaria surprised many people, as the nation had never even won a game at the World Cup finals prior to this tournament. Despite losing its opening game 3–0 to Nigeria, Bulgaria came back in style with a 4–0 win over Greece (who had suffered exactly the same fate five days earlier against Argentina), and a 2–0 win against Argentina saw them advance. Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury time, while Bulgaria played the last 25 minutes with 10 men; however, a 91st-minute header from Nasko Sirakov meant that Argentina dropped two places and finished third. Nigeria won the group on goal difference. Bulgaria's victory over Argentina earned them second place.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Bulgaria | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Argentina | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | |
| 4 | Greece | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 |
Group E
Group E remains the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same points and same goal difference. It began at Giants Stadium where Ray Houghton's chip ensured a shock Irish victory over the then-three-time champions Italy by 1–0, as well as gaining a measure of revenge for the previous World Cup, in which Italy both hosted and eliminated Ireland at the quarter-final stage. The next day in Washington, Norway played its first World Cup game since 1938 and Kjetil Rekdal's goal five minutes from time proved decisive in an equally tense encounter as Norway beat Mexico.
In the second round of group play, Luis García's double had Mexico 2–0 up and in control of the game before a disagreement on the touchline resulted in fines for both Republic of Ireland's manager, Jack Charlton, and their striker John Aldridge. Aldridge was able to regain concentration in time to score six minutes from the end of the game to make it 2–1. Despite their loss, Aldridge's goal proved crucial to Ireland in the final group standings.
During the previous day at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, Italy's World Cup hopes seemed to be diminishing fast as goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off with the game still at 0–0. Yet despite this, Italy was still able to salvage an important 1–0 victory. Norway would ultimately pay a price for their inability to take advantage of Pagliuca's dismissal. With the four teams level on points, the final two group games would each have to finish as draws for things to stay that way. Republic of Ireland made it through after a dreary 0–0 draw with Norway; midfielders Massaro and Bernal traded strikes as Italy and Mexico played to a 1–1 draw.
Those results meant that Mexico won the group on goals scored, with three in the group. With Ireland and Italy also progressing having finished with identical records, the Irish team qualified as second place as a result of their victory against the Italians. Norway's shortcomings in attack ultimately let them down, and they exited the tournament with only one goal.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Republic of Ireland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Italy | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Norway | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Italy | 0–1 | Republic of Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Houghton 11' |
| Mexico | 2–1 | Republic of Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| García 42', 65' | Report | Aldridge 84' |
| Republic of Ireland | 0–0 | Norway |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group F
Just as happened to Argentina in Group D, Belgium endured the same fate in Group F. Despite winning both of its first two matches 1–0 against Morocco and neighbors Netherlands, Belgium finished third as, in an upset, it lost to tournament newcomers Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the third game. During that game, Saudi player Saaed Al-Owairian ran from his own half through a maze of Belgian players to score the game's only goal.
Saudi Arabia advanced through to the Round of 16 as well, having also defeated Morocco 2–1. The Netherlands endured a somewhat nervier experience. The opening 2–1 victory against Saudi Arabia was followed by the 1–0 loss against Belgium before another 2–1 victory against Morocco, with Bryan Roy scoring the winner a mere 12 minutes from time, saw the Dutch win the group having scored more goals than Belgium and beaten Saudi Arabia. Morocco, despite losing all three of their group games, did not leave without a fight, as each of their losses were by just a single goal, 1–0 to Belgium, 2–1 to Saudi Arabia, and 2–1 to the Netherlands.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Belgium | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 6 | |
| 4 | Morocco | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 2–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Jonk 50' Taument 86' | Report | Anwar 18' |
| Belgium | 1–0 | Netherlands |
|---|---|---|
| Albert 65' | Report |
| Belgium | 0–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Al-Owairan 5' |
| Morocco | 1–2 | Netherlands |
|---|---|---|
| Nader 47' | Report | Bergkamp 43' Roy 77' |
Ranking of third-placed teams
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | Argentina | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | F | Belgium | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | A | United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | E | Italy | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 5 | B | Russia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 3 | |
| 6 | C | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
Knockout stage
| Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| July 3 – Pasadena | ||||||||||||||
| Romania | 3 | |||||||||||||
| July 10 – Stanford | ||||||||||||||
| Argentina | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Romania | 2 (4) | |||||||||||||
| July 3 – Dallas | ||||||||||||||
| Sweden (p) | 2 (5) | |||||||||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 1 | |||||||||||||
| July 13 – Pasadena | ||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Sweden | 0 | |||||||||||||
| July 4 – Orlando | ||||||||||||||
| Brazil | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 2 | |||||||||||||
| July 9 – Dallas | ||||||||||||||
| Republic of Ireland | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 2 | |||||||||||||
| July 4 – Stanford | ||||||||||||||
| Brazil | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Brazil | 1 | |||||||||||||
| July 17 – Pasadena | ||||||||||||||
| United States | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Brazil (p) | 0 (3) | |||||||||||||
| July 5 – East Rutherford | ||||||||||||||
| Italy | 0 (2) | |||||||||||||
| Mexico | 1 (1) | |||||||||||||
| July 10 – East Rutherford | ||||||||||||||
| Bulgaria (p) | 1 (3) | |||||||||||||
| Bulgaria | 2 | |||||||||||||
| July 2 – Chicago | ||||||||||||||
| Germany | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Germany | 3 | |||||||||||||
| July 13 – East Rutherford | ||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Bulgaria | 1 | |||||||||||||
| July 5 – Foxborough | ||||||||||||||
| Italy | 2 | Third place | ||||||||||||
| Nigeria | 1 | |||||||||||||
| July 9 – Foxborough | July 16 – Pasadena | |||||||||||||
| Italy (aet) | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Italy | 2 | Sweden | 4 | |||||||||||
| July 2 – Washington | ||||||||||||||
| Spain | 1 | Bulgaria | 0 | |||||||||||
| Spain | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 0 | |||||||||||||
Round of 16
| Spain | 3–0 | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|
| Hierro 15' Luis Enrique 74' Begiristain 86' (pen.) | Report |
| Saudi Arabia | 1–3 | Sweden |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Ghesheyan 85' | Report | Dahlin 6' K. Andersson 51', 88' |
| Netherlands | 2–0 | Republic of Ireland |
|---|---|---|
| Bergkamp 11' Jonk 41' | Report |
| Brazil | 1–0 | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Bebeto 72' | Report |
| Mexico | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
| García Aspe 18' (pen.) | Report | Stoichkov 6' |
| Penalties | ||
| García Aspe Bernal Rodríguez Suárez | 1–3 | Balakov Genchev 1994, fifa, world, 1994, world, redirects, here, other, uses, 1994, world, disambiguation, 15th, fifa, world, world, championship, national, soccer, teams, hosted, united, states, took, place, from, june, july, 1994, nine, venues, across, country, united, stat. 1994 World Cup redirects here For other uses see 1994 World Cup disambiguation The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup the world championship for men s national soccer teams It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17 1994 at nine venues across the country The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4 1988 Despite soccer s relative lack of popularity in the host nation the tournament was the most financially successful 1 2 in World Cup history It broke tournament records with overall attendance of 3 587 538 and an average of 68 991 per game 3 marks that stood unsurpassed as of 2022 4 despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams starting with the 1998 World Cup 5 1994 FIFA World CupWorld Cup USA 94Tournament detailsHost countryUnited StatesDatesJune 17 July 17 1994Teams24 from 5 confederations Venue s 9 in 9 host cities Final positionsChampions Brazil 4th title Runners up ItalyThird place SwedenFourth place BulgariaTournament statisticsMatches played52Goals scored141 2 71 per match Attendance3 597 042 69 174 per match Top scorer s Hristo Stoichkov Oleg Salenko 6 goals each Best player s RomarioBest young playerMarc OvermarsBest goalkeeperMichel Preud hommeFair play award Brazil 19901998 Brazil was crowned the winner after defeating Italy 3 2 in a penalty shoot out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California near Los Angeles after the game had ended 0 0 after extra time It was the first World Cup final to be decided on penalties The victory made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles There were three new entrants in the tournament Greece Nigeria and Saudi Arabia Russia also appeared as a separate nation for the first time following the breakup of the Soviet Union and for the first time since 1938 a unified Germany took part in the tournament They were also defending champions but were eliminated in quarter finals by Bulgaria It was the first World Cup where three points were awarded for a victory instead of two and also the first with the back pass rule This was done to encourage a more attacking style of soccer as a response to the criticism of the defensive tactics and low scoring matches of the 1990 World Cup This resulted in an average of 2 71 goals per match Contents 1 Background and preparations 1 1 Bidding process 2 Venues 3 Participating teams and officials 3 1 Qualification 3 1 1 List of qualified teams 3 2 Squads 3 3 Referees 4 Draw 4 1 Seeding and drawing 4 2 Results of the draw 5 Summary 5 1 Opening ceremony 6 Group stage 6 1 Group A 6 2 Group B 6 3 Group C 6 4 Group D 6 5 Group E 6 6 Group F 6 7 Ranking of third placed teams 7 Knockout stage 7 1 Round of 16 7 2 Quarter finals 7 3 Semi finals 7 4 Third place play off 7 5 Final 8 Statistics 8 1 Goalscorers 8 2 Awards 8 3 All star team 8 4 Final standings 8 5 Disciplinary statistics 9 Symbols 9 1 Mascot 9 2 Match ball 9 3 Music 10 Aftermath and legacy 11 See also 12 References 13 External linksBackground and preparations EditBidding process Edit Three nations bid for host duties United States Brazil and Morocco 6 The vote was held in Zurich on July 4 1988 and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the FIFA Executive Committee members 6 FIFA hoped that by staging the world s most prestigious tournament there it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport 7 An inspection committee also found that the proposed Brazilian stadiums were deficient while the Moroccan bid relied on the construction of nine new stadiums Conversely all the proposed stadiums in the United States were already built and fully functioning US Soccer spent 500 million preparing and organizing the tournament far less than the billions other countries previously had spent and subsequently would spend on preparing for this tournament 8 The U S bid was seen as the favorite and was prepared in response to losing the right to be the replacement host for the 1986 tournament following Colombia s withdrawal 9 One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996 10 There was some initial controversy 11 about awarding the World Cup to a country where soccer was not a nationally popular sport and at the time in 1988 the U S no longer had a professional league the North American Soccer League established in 1967 had folded in 1984 after attendance faded 11 The success of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles particularly the soccer tournament that drew 1 4 million spectators throughout the event also contributed to FIFA s decision 12 The United States had previously bid to host the 1986 FIFA World Cup after Colombia withdrew as the host nation in November 1982 because of economic concerns Despite a presentation led by former North American Soccer League players Pele and Franz Beckenbauer as well as former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger the executive committee selected Mexico 13 There were proposals by FIFA to introduce larger goals and breaks after every quarter instead of just at half time in order to appease US television advertisers 14 15 16 These proposals were met with resistance 17 and ultimately rejected Venues EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message The games were played in nine cities across the contiguous United States All stadiums had a capacity of at least 53 000 and their usual tenants were professional or college American football teams 18 Other considered venues in other major cities across the United States such as Atlanta Denver Kansas City Las Vegas Miami Minneapolis New Orleans Philadelphia Seattle and Tampa were not used as well as venues in smaller towns such as Annapolis Maryland Columbus Ohio Corvallis Oregon and New Haven Connecticut 19 Several venues including Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami and Candlestick Park in San Francisco were rejected because of conflicts with Major League Baseball so Stanford Stadium 30 miles 48 km southeast of San Francisco was used 20 21 and the Citrus Bowl in Orlando was picked over Miami s two submitted venues the Orange Bowl the other Miami venue required major renovations to meet tournament standards 22 The venue used most was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with eight games among them one round of 16 game a semi final the third place game and the final Giants Stadium near New York hosted seven games including a semi final Boston Foxborough San Francisco Stanford and Dallas hosted six games each and Chicago Washington and Orlando each hosted five games The least used was the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit the first indoor stadium used in a World Cup with four group stage games The Pontiac Silverdome was also the only venue of the nine used that did not host any knockout round games Because of the large area of the continental United States the game locations were often far apart Some teams in Groups A and B had to travel from Los Angeles or San Francisco all the way to Detroit and back again covering 2 300 miles 3 700 km and four time zones The teams in Groups C and D only played in Foxborough Boston Chicago and Dallas a trip from Boston to Dallas is 2 000 miles 3 200 km but only covers two time zones Chicago is in the same time zone as Dallas but is still 1 000 miles 1 600 km away from both Dallas and Boston The teams in Groups E and F had it a bit easier they played exclusively in New York East Rutherford Washington and Orlando which while far apart were at least all in the same time zone A few teams such as Cameroon and Colombia did not have to travel to cities across the country to play games The variety of climate in different cities all over the United States also sometimes made playing conditions challenging Aside from the oceanic coolness of Boston Foxborough the Mediterranean climate of San Francisco Stanford and occasionally the coolness of Chicago as they had been in Mexico in 1970 and 1986 most matches were played in hot and or humid conditions thanks to nearly all of the games being scheduled to be played during the day instead of at night in order to suit a time difference compromise for television in Europe Africa and the Middle East this had always been done every time a World Cup was held in the Americas Although playing in the mostly dry heat and smoggy conditions of Los Angeles Pasadena and the mixture of heat and humidity of Washington and New York sometimes proved to be difficult the cities with the most consistently oppressive conditions were Orlando and Dallas in the South because of the combination of heat and extreme humidity 23 The Floridian tropical climate of Orlando meant all games there were played in temperatures of 95 F 35 C or above with dew points above 70 or more the temperature there during the group stage game between Mexico and Ireland was 105 F 41 C due to the mid day start times 24 Dallas was not much different in the humid heat of a Texas summer temperatures exceeded 100 F 38 C during mid day when games there were staged in the open type Cotton Bowl meant that conditions were just as oppressive there as they were in Orlando 25 Detroit also proved to be difficult the Pontiac Silverdome did not have a working cooling system and because it was an air supported stadium the air could not escape through circulation so temperatures inside the stadium would climb past 90 F 32 C with 40 humidity United States midfielder Thomas Dooley described the Silverdome as the worst place I have ever played at 26 Of these nine stadiums all but one have since been either demolished and replaced by other stadia or have been moderately or heavily modified The Pontiac Silverdome Giants Stadium and Foxboro Stadium have been demolished and RFK Stadium is no longer in use and is slated for demolition by 2023 27 Stanford Stadium the Cotton Bowl the Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium and Soldier Field have all been moderately or heavily modified The Rose Bowl is the only largely unmodified stadium that was used for this tournament Pasadena California Los Angeles Stanford California San Francisco Pontiac Michigan Detroit East Rutherford New Jersey New York New Jersey Rose Bowl Stanford Stadium Pontiac Silverdome Giants StadiumCapacity 94 194 Capacity 84 147 Capacity 77 557 Capacity 76 322 Dallas Texas Pasadena Pontiac Stanford East Rutherford Orlando Chicago Dallas Foxborough Washington D C 1994 FIFA World Cup the United States Cotton BowlCapacity 64 000 Chicago Illinois Orlando Florida Foxborough Massachusetts Boston Washington D C Soldier Field Citrus Bowl Foxboro Stadium Robert F Kennedy Memorial StadiumCapacity 63 160 Capacity 62 387 Capacity 54 456 Capacity 53 121 Participating teams and officials EditQualification Edit This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification Three teams one African one Asian and one European made their debuts at the 1994 tournament Nigeria qualified from the African zone alongside Cameroon and Morocco as CAF was granted three spots as a result of the strong performances by African teams in 1986 and 1990 In the Asian zone Saudi Arabia qualified for the first time by topping the final round group ahead of South Korea as both edged out Japan who was close to making its own World Cup debut but was denied by Iraq in what became known as the Agony of Doha In the European zone Greece made their first World Cup appearance after topping a group from which Russia also qualified competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union The defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup Norway qualified for the first time since 1938 Bolivia for the first time since 1950 and the last time as of 2022 and Switzerland for the first time since 1966 Norway s 56 year gap between appearances in the final tournament equaled Egypt s record in the previous tournament as the longest This record was later broken by Wales when they qualified for the 2022 tournament after a 64 year absence Mexico had its first successful qualification campaign since 1978 failing to qualify in 1982 qualifying as hosts in 1986 and being banned for the Cachirules scandal in 1990 The qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1993 completing its qualifying group under the name Representation of Czechs and Slovaks RCS but failed to qualify for the finals having been edged out by Romania and Belgium in Group 4 Yugoslavia which was supposed to play in Group 5 was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars The sanctions were not lifted until 1994 by which time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify Chile s suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup following the forced interruption of their qualification game against Brazil extended to the 1994 qualifiers as well This was the first World Cup since World War II in which none of the UK Home Nations of England Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales qualified they withdrew their FIFA memberships between 1928 and 1946 during the first three tournaments with England finishing third behind Norway and Netherlands in Group 2 missing out after having finished fourth in the 1990 tournament and Scotland who finished fourth in Group 1 failing to qualify for the first time since 1970 France who had been already designated as hosts of the 1998 tournament also missed out following surprise home losses to Israel and Bulgaria This was the second World Cup in a row for which France had failed to qualify and the last one to date not to feature England France and Japan Other notable absentees were 1986 and 1990 Round of 16 participants Uruguay UEFA Euro 1992 champions Denmark Paraguay Poland Portugal and Hungary List of qualified teams Edit The following 24 teams shown with their pre tournament FIFA World Ranking from June 1994 28 qualified for the final tournamentː AFC 2 Saudi Arabia 34 South Korea 37 CAF 3 Cameroon 24 Morocco 28 Nigeria 11 OFC 0 None qualified CONCACAF 2 Mexico 16 United States 23 hosts CONMEBOL 4 Argentina 8 Brazil 3 Bolivia 43 Colombia 17 UEFA 13 Belgium 27 Bulgaria 29 Germany 1 Greece 31 Italy 4 Netherlands 2 Norway 6 Republic of Ireland 14 Romania 7 Russia 19 Spain 5 Sweden 10 Switzerland 12 Countries qualified for World Cup Country failed to qualify Countries that did not enter or were banned from the World Cup Country not a FIFA member Squads Edit Further information 1994 FIFA World Cup squads Teams were selected following usual FIFA rules with 22 players Greece Italy Saudi Arabia and Spain were the only countries that had all their players coming from domestic teams while the Republic of Ireland and Nigeria had no players from domestic teams Saudi Arabia was the only team with no players from European teams Referees Edit CAF Lim Kee Chong Neji JouiniAFC Jamal Al Sharif Ali BujsaimUEFA Fabio Baldas Manuel Diaz Vega Philip Don Bo Karlsson Hellmut Krug Peter Mikkelsen Leslie Mottram Pierluigi Pairetto Sandor Puhl Joel Quiniou Kurt Rothlisberger Mario van der EndeCONCACAF Arturo Angeles Rodrigo Badilla Arturo Brizio CarterCONMEBOL Jose Torres Cadena Ernesto Filippi Francisco Oscar Lamolina Renato Marsiglia Alberto TejadaDraw EditSeeding and drawing Edit The FIFA Organizing Committee upheld the tradition to seed the hosts United States and holders Germany along with the other four teams ranked in the top five based on their results obtained in the last three FIFA World Cups The newly introduced FIFA World Ranking was not used as part of the calculated ranking for the seeding in this World Cup as FIFA considered it to be too new 29 Despite that it was not used in any way for comparison purposes the teams pre tournament FIFA World ranking position from June 1994 are shown in parenthesis 30 followed by the official and used ranking OR position determined by the results obtained in the last three world cups The six top seeded teams were allocated in pot 1 and would be drawn into the first position of the six groups playing in the group stage The remaining 18 teams were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections with the six qualified teams from Africa and Americas in pot 2 the top 6 ranked European teams in pot 3 while pot 4 comprised the 7th 10th best qualified European teams along with the two qualified Asian teams The principle of the draw was that each of the six drawn groups would have one team drawn respectively from pot 1 2 3 and 4 while respecting the following geographical limitations At least two European teams from UEFA in all groups with one group having three European teams United States and Mexico can not be drawn in the same group due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONCACAF team per group Brazil and Argentina can not be drawn with another South American team due to the rule of only accepting maximum one CONMEBOL team per group As all qualified Asian teams from AFC were in the same pot 4 and all qualified African teams from CAF in the same pot 2 this automatically respected the rule of only allowing maximum one Asian team and maximum one African team per group as part of the normal draw procedure without needing to observe special restricting sub rules for them Pot 1Top seeded teams top 5 teams hosts Pot 2Africa amp Americas CAF CONCACAF and CONMEBOL Pot 3Best unseeded from Europe UEFA Pot 4Asia and worst ranked from Europe AFC and UEFA United States hosts 23 OR 18 Germany 1990 champions 1 OR 1 Argentina 8 OR 2 Italy 4 OR 3 Brazil 3 OR 4 Belgium 27 OR 5 Mexico 16 OR 8 Cameroon 24 OR 9 Morocco 28 OR 11 Colombia 17 OR 13 Nigeria 11 OR new Bolivia 43 OR new Spain 5 OR 6 Russia 19 OR 7 Ireland 14 OR 10 Romania 7 OR 12 Netherlands 2 OR 14 Bulgaria 29 OR 15 South Korea 37 OR 16 Sweden 10 OR 17 Greece 31 OR new Norway 6 OR new Switzerland 12 OR new Saudi Arabia 34 OR new The draw took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was televised live on 19 December 1993 on ESPN in the United States amp Eurosport in all Europe 31 Ahead of the draw the FIFA Organizing Committee had decided to allocate the top seeded first group position A1 for the United States as the hosts C1 for defending champions Germany and E1 for the Italian team who had requested to play most of their group matches at the Giants Stadium in New York The three other top seeded teams would be located at the first position of either group B D F with the decision largely depending on the identity of the other drawn group members for the seeded teams Therefore this last decision would only be made by a secret vote made by the FIFA Organizing Committee a few minutes after all teams had been drawn for all groups and the decision would only be announced as the last step of the televised draw event To make this procedure possible the six drawn groups would during the draw be given the colors green orange white black pink and blue and the closing remarks at the event would then reveal the group letters represented by the colors The six groups from A to F would play their group matches in the following nine cities 32 Group A and B are playing in Detroit San Francisco and Los Angeles Group C and D are playing in Chicago Dallas and Boston Group E and F are playing in New York Washington DC and Orlando Procedure for the draw 33 Pot 1 was used to draw the six top seeded teams into the first position of the six groups designated by the colors green orange white black pink and blue Group letters behind each color would only be decided by a following secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote and only be revealed after the draw had been completed Although the committee had already predetermined ahead of the draw that the United States should play in group A Germany should play in group C and Italy should play in group E 32 Pot 2 was used to draw one team to each of the six colored groups with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right green orange white black pink blue while this order however at the same time had to respect the following restricted geographical rules Rule 1 First two drawn non South American teams shall irrespectively of the color order first be drawn into the two groups led by a South American team in order to avoid the possibility for these groups later to be drawn by a second South American team Rule 2 First drawn South American team or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order first be drawn into the group led by the CONCACAF team the United States in order to avoid the possibility for this group later to be drawn by the second CONCACAF team Mexico Rule 3 One of the two South American teams or one of the last two African teams shall irrespectively of the color order first be drawn into the first available open group being led by a European team in order to avoid the meeting of two South American teams in the same group Rule 4 Mexico can not be drawn together with the United States as they are both CONCACAF teams so Mexico will be grouped with the first still open available group being led by a European or South American team as per the color order Pot 3 was used to draw one European team to each of the six colored groups with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right green orange white black pink blue Pot 4 was used to draw one European Asian team to each of six colored groups with the draw conducted in the color order from left to right green orange white black pink blue However in order to respect the geographical rule that five of the groups shall have two European teams and the rule that three European teams is only allowed in one group the color order will be skipped subject to these allocation rules Rule 1 All drawn Asian AFC teams would not be drawn into any of the three groups led by a top seeded CONCACAF CONMEBOL team United States Brazil Argentina but would instead only be allowed to join a group being led by a top seeded European team Rule 2 All drawn European UEFA teams shall first be drawn into the three groups led by a top seeded CONCACAF CONMEBOL team United States Brazil Argentina until the point of time when only European team s remain to be drawn from the last pot 4 The exact group position number for the teams 2 3 or 4 in each colored group were also drawn immediately from six special group bowls after each respective team had been drawn from pot 2 3 and 4 Group letters behind each color green orange white black pink and blue would finally be decided by a final secret FIFA Organizing Committee vote being announced as the last part of the televised event The draw was officiated by FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter Teams were drawn by German legend Franz Beckenbauer heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield and comedian and actor Robin Williams Numbers for placement in the group were drawn by actor Beau Bridges Women s World Cup champion Michelle Akers model Carol Alt artist Peter Max racecar driver Mario Andretti and Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Mary Lou Retton 34 35 33 Results of the draw Edit Group A blue Group B orange Group C green Group D white Group E pink Group F black United States 23 OR 18 Switzerland 12 OR new Colombia 17 OR 13 Romania 7 OR 12 Brazil 3 OR 4 Russia 19 OR 7 Cameroon 24 OR 9 Sweden 10 OR 17 Germany 1 OR 1 Bolivia 43 OR new Spain 5 OR 6 South Korea 37 OR 16 Argentina 8 OR 2 Greece 31 OR new Nigeria 11 OR new Bulgaria 29 OR 15 Italy 4 OR 3 Ireland 14 OR 10 Norway 6 OR new Mexico 16 OR 8 Belgium 27 OR 5 Morocco 28 OR 11 Netherlands 2 OR 14 Saudi Arabia 34 OR new In each group the teams will play three matches one against each of the other teams After completion of the group stage the best two teams of each group as well as the four best ranked third places will advance to round 16 in the knockout stage This format was identical with the tournament structure being used in 1986 and 1990 Compared to all previous editions of the World Cup a victory in the group stage will however now be rewarded with 3 points instead of the previously granted 2 points Summary EditThe format of the competition stayed the same as in the 1990 World Cup 24 teams qualified divided into six groups of four Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout phase the six group winners the six group runners up and the four third placed teams with the best records This was the last time this format was used due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams FIFA introduced three rule changes for this tournament to encourage attacking play three points awarded for a win in a group stage match instead of two a relaxed offside rule and a ban on picking up back passes to goalkeepers The number of goals increased to 2 73 per game from the record low of 2 21 in 1990 36 The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona s World Cup career having played in the 1982 1986 and 1990 World Cups and leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title and the final of the 1990 World Cup Maradona was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test that uncovered ephedrine a weight loss drug in his blood Colombia despite high expectations due to their style and impressive qualifying campaign failed to advance from the round robin The team was dogged by influence from betting syndicates and drug cartels with coach Francisco Maturana receiving death threats over squad selection 37 38 After scoring an own goal for the United States and effectively eliminating Colombia from the competition defender Andres Escobar was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellin suburb 10 days later 39 Lothar Matthaus scoring a penalty kick in Germany s quarter final against Bulgaria at Giants Stadium on July 10 Bulgaria came back to win the game On the field Bulgaria was one of the biggest surprises of the tournament The Bulgarians had never won a game in five previous World Cup finals but led by Hristo Stoichkov who eventually shared the tournament lead in scoring they made a surprising to whom run Bulgaria won two of their three group games to qualify for the second round where they advanced with a 3 1 penalty shoot out win over Mexico Bulgaria then faced the reigning world champions Germany in the quarter finals where goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2 1 victory Bulgaria went on to finish in fourth place after losing to Italy and Sweden in the semi finals and third place game respectively The host nation United States after a 23rd place finish in the 1990 tournament advanced to the second round as one of the best third place teams They were eliminated in the Round of 16 in a 1 0 defeat to Brazil on Independence Day Brazil s win over the hosts helped take them to the final against Italy Brazil s path was relatively smooth as they never trailed over 270 minutes of the knockout stage defeating the Netherlands in the quarter finals and Sweden in the semis after the aforementioned win over the hosts The Italians meanwhile had made hard work of reaching the final During the group stage Italy struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round despite losing 1 0 to the Republic of Ireland Italian playmaker Roberto Baggio who as the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon D Or holder was expected by whom to be one of the stars of the tournament citation needed had not yet scored a goal During the Round of 16 games against Nigeria Italy was trailing 1 0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the tying goal forcing the game into extra time He scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through Baggio carried the Italians from there scoring the game winning goal in the quarter final against Spain and both goals in Italy s semi final victory over Bulgaria 40 The third place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup with 15 over seven matches These teams had also previously met in the qualifying group Sweden won 4 0 Swedish forward Tomas Brolin was named to the All star team 41 The final game at the Rose Bowl was tense but devoid of scoring chances It was the second time in 24 years that the two nations had met in a final After 120 goalless minutes the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot out After four rounds Brazil led 3 2 and Baggio playing injured had to score to keep Italy s hopes alive 40 He missed by shooting it over the crossbar and the Brazilians were crowned champions for the fourth time 42 After the game ended then Vice president Al Gore hosted the awarding ceremony by handing Brazilian captain Dunga the prestigious trophy the Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Formula One motor racing champion and countryman Ayrton Senna who had died two and a half months prior citation needed The tournament s Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria s Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia the latter becoming the first player to score five goals in a game coming in a 6 1 victory against Cameroon Both players scored six goals in the tournament Brazilian striker Romario with five goals won the Golden Ball as the tournament s best player 42 Despite the controversy the U S staged a hugely successful tournament with an average attendance of nearly 70 000 surpassing the 1966 FIFA World Cup average attendance of 51 000 thanks to the large seating capacities of the stadiums in the United States in comparison to the generally smaller venues of Europe and Latin America To this day the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3 6 million remains the highest in World Cup history despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France 4 Opening ceremony Edit The opening ceremony of the World Cup was held on June 17 at Chicago s Soldier Field The ceremony was emceed by Oprah Winfrey who fell off the dais in introducing Diana Ross who gave a musical performance Ross was also supposed to kick a soccer ball into the goal from the penalty spot at the beginning of her performance with the goal then splitting in two as part of a pre orchestrated stunt She kicked the ball wide to the left missing the goal but the goalposts collapsed anyway in accordance with the stunt plans In addition Daryl Hall and Jon Secada also gave musical performances 43 It was officially opened by then President Bill Clinton 44 Group stage EditTimes are Eastern Daylight Time UTC 4 East Rutherford Foxborough Orlando Pontiac and Washington Central Daylight Time UTC 5 Chicago and Dallas and Pacific Daylight Time UTC 7 Pasadena and Stanford Champion Runner up Third place Fourth place Quarter finals Round of 16 Group stage In the following tables Pld total games played W total games won D total games drawn tied L total games lost GF total goals scored goals for GA total goals conceded goals against GD goal difference GF GA Pts total points accumulatedGroup A Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group A The Group A game between the United States and Switzerland was the first to take place indoors played under the roof at the Pontiac Silverdome Following the tournament Colombian defender Andres Escobar was shot dead on his return to Colombia after his own goal had contributed to his country s elimination Victories against Colombia and the United States in front of a crowd of 93 869 were enough to see Romania through as group winners despite a 4 1 hammering by Switzerland in between The magnitude of that victory allowed Switzerland to move ahead of the United States on goal difference although the hosts qualified for the second round as one of the best third placed teams Switzerland s 4 1 victory over Romania came nearly 40 years to the date of Switzerland s last World Cup victory also a 4 1 victory on that occasion over Italy The United States 2 1 victory over Colombia was its first World Cup victory since June 29 1950 when it upset England 1 0 in the 1950 World Cup Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Romania 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 6 Advance to knockout stage2 Switzerland 3 1 1 1 5 4 1 43 United States H 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 44 Colombia 3 1 0 2 4 5 1 3Source FIFA H Host June 18 199411 30 EDT UTC 4 United States 1 1 SwitzerlandWynalda 44 Report Bregy 39 Pontiac Silverdome PontiacAttendance 73 425Referee Francisco Oscar Lamolina Argentina June 18 199416 30 PDT UTC 7 Colombia 1 3 RomaniaValencia 43 Report Răducioiu 15 89 Hagi 34 Rose Bowl PasadenaAttendance 91 856Referee Jamal Al Sharif Syria June 22 199416 00 EDT UTC 4 Romania 1 4 SwitzerlandHagi 35 Report Sutter 16 Chapuisat 52 Knup 65 72 Pontiac Silverdome PontiacAttendance 61 428Referee Neji Jouini Tunisia June 22 199416 30 PDT UTC 7 United States 2 1 ColombiaEscobar 35 o g Stewart 52 Report Valencia 90 Rose Bowl PasadenaAttendance 93 869Referee Fabio Baldas Italy June 26 199413 00 PDT UTC 7 Switzerland 0 2 ColombiaReport Gaviria 44 Lozano 90 Stanford Stadium StanfordAttendance 83 401Referee Peter Mikkelsen Denmark June 26 199413 00 PDT UTC 7 United States 0 1 RomaniaReport Petrescu 18 Rose Bowl PasadenaAttendance 93 869Referee Mario van der Ende Netherlands Group B Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group B Group B produced two of the four semi finalists of this World Cup Brazil and Sweden and was also one of the two groups in which only two rather than three sides progressed to the second round The match between the two eliminated teams Cameroon and Russia broke two World Cup records Oleg Salenko of Russia became the first and remains the only citation needed man to score five goals in a single World Cup game as Russia won 6 1 The goals also ensured that Salenko finished the tournament joint top scorer with six goals having previously bagged one against Sweden Cameroon left a mark too as Roger Milla at the age of 42 became the oldest World Cup goalscorer of all time as he grabbed his side s consolation goal in the game The result was not enough to take Russia through following losses to Brazil and Sweden Brazil beat Cameroon and then confirmed the top spot with a draw to Sweden The Swedes also progressed finishing in second place with five points Sweden s 3 1 victory over Russia was the nation s first World Cup victory since July 3 1974 Russia failed to progress to the second round for the second time while Cameroon failed to repeat their surprise performance from the previous tournament 45 Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Brazil 3 2 1 0 6 1 5 7 Advance to knockout stage2 Sweden 3 1 2 0 6 4 2 53 Russia 3 1 0 2 7 6 1 34 Cameroon 3 0 1 2 3 11 8 1Source FIFA June 19 199416 30 PDT UTC 7 Cameroon 2 2 SwedenEmbe 31 Omam Biyik 47 Report Ljung 8 Dahlin 75 Rose Bowl PasadenaAttendance 93 194Referee Alberto Tejada Noriega Peru June 20 199413 00 PDT UTC 7 Brazil 2 0 RussiaRomario 26 Rai 52 pen ReportStanford Stadium StanfordAttendance 81 061Referee Lim Kee Chong Mauritius June 24 199413 00 PDT UTC 7 Brazil 3 0 CameroonRomario 39 Marcio Santos 66 Bebeto 73 ReportStanford Stadium StanfordAttendance 83 401Referee Arturo Brizio Carter Mexico June 24 199419 30 EDT UTC 4 Sweden 3 1 RussiaBrolin 39 pen Dahlin 60 82 Report Salenko 4 pen Pontiac Silverdome PontiacAttendance 71 528Referee Joel Quiniou France June 28 199413 00 PDT UTC 7 Russia 6 1 CameroonSalenko 15 41 44 pen 72 75 Radchenko 81 Report Milla 46 Stanford Stadium StanfordAttendance 74 914Referee Jamal Al Sharif Syria June 28 199416 00 EDT UTC 4 Brazil 1 1 SwedenRomario 47 Report K Andersson 23 Pontiac Silverdome PontiacAttendance 77 217Referee Sandor Puhl Hungary Group C Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group C As was the case with Group B Group C would only send two teams into the Round of 16 as Spain and defending champions Germany progressed to round two Coming from two goals down with four minutes left to snatch a 2 2 draw against Spain the South Koreans very nearly eclipsed that feat against Germany when they came from 3 0 down to lose narrowly 3 2 In spite of these comebacks South Korea was held to a 0 0 draw against Bolivia in their other group game when a win would have seen them through Spain s late implosion against the South Koreans effectively decided that it would be Germany who won the group and not them Germany who defeated Bolivia 1 0 in the tournament s opening game finished with seven points Spain had to settle for second place despite leading in all three games Despite Bolivia finishing last in the group Erwin Sanchez made team history after scoring the nation s first World Cup goal in a 3 1 loss to Spain Prior to 1994 Bolivia had never scored in either of their previous appearances at the 1930 and 1950 World Cups Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Germany 3 2 1 0 5 3 2 7 Advance to knockout stage2 Spain 3 1 2 0 6 4 2 53 South Korea 3 0 2 1 4 5 1 24 Bolivia 3 0 1 2 1 4 3 1Source FIFA June 17 199414 00 CDTGermany 1 0 BoliviaKlinsmann 61 ReportSoldier Field ChicagoAttendance 63 117Referee Arturo Brizio Carter Mexico June 17 199418 30 CDTSpain 2 2 South KoreaSalinas 51 Goikoetxea 55 Report Hong Myung bo 85 Seo Jung won 90 Cotton Bowl DallasAttendance 56 247Referee Peter Mikkelsen Denmark June 21 199415 00 CDTGermany 1 1 SpainKlinsmann 48 Report Goikoetxea 14 Soldier Field ChicagoAttendance 63 113Referee Filippi Cavani Uruguay June 23 199419 30 EDTSouth Korea 0 0 BoliviaReportFoxboro Stadium FoxboroughAttendance 54 453Referee Leslie Mottram Scotland June 27 199415 00 CDTBolivia 1 3 SpainE Sanchez 67 Report Guardiola 19 pen Caminero 66 70 Soldier Field ChicagoAttendance 63 089Referee Rodrigo Badilla Costa Rica June 27 199415 00 CDTGermany 3 2 South KoreaKlinsmann 12 37 Riedle 20 Report Hwang Sun hong 52 Hong Myung bo 63 Cotton Bowl DallasAttendance 63 998Referee Joel Quiniou France Group D Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group D Claudio Caniggia scoring for the second goal Argentina 2 v 1 Nigeria at Foxboro Stadium Tournament favorites Argentina led by Diego Maradona collected a maximum of six points from their opening two games after dominating Greece 4 0 in Foxboro with a Gabriel Batistuta hattrick before winning a close match against a formidable Nigeria with a 2 1 victory on the same field four days later despite this Argentina finished third in the group Nigeria had been very impressive on their World Cup debut and despite the narrow loss to Argentina had emerged as group winners following victories against Bulgaria and Greece the latter in which Nigeria doubled its lead late on a goal from Daniel Amokachi a goal that would allow Nigeria to top its group Maradona only played with Argentina during their first two games both in Foxborough playing Greece and Nigeria and scoring his last ever World Cup goal against the former he was thrown out of the tournament after testing positive for ephedrine Having qualified for the tournament through a last gasp goal against France Bulgaria surprised many people as the nation had never even won a game at the World Cup finals prior to this tournament Despite losing its opening game 3 0 to Nigeria Bulgaria came back in style with a 4 0 win over Greece who had suffered exactly the same fate five days earlier against Argentina and a 2 0 win against Argentina saw them advance Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury time while Bulgaria played the last 25 minutes with 10 men however a 91st minute header from Nasko Sirakov meant that Argentina dropped two places and finished third Nigeria won the group on goal difference Bulgaria s victory over Argentina earned them second place Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Nigeria 3 2 0 1 6 2 4 6 Advance to knockout stage2 Bulgaria 3 2 0 1 6 3 3 63 Argentina 3 2 0 1 6 3 3 64 Greece 3 0 0 3 0 10 10 0Source FIFA 21 June 199412 30 EDTArgentina 4 0 GreeceBatistuta 2 44 90 pen Maradona 60 ReportFoxboro Stadium FoxboroughAttendance 54 456Referee Arturo Angeles United States 21 June 199418 30 CDTNigeria 3 0 BulgariaYekini 21 Amokachi 43 Amunike 55 ReportCotton Bowl DallasAttendance 44 132Referee Rodrigo Badilla Costa Rica 25 June 199416 00 EDTArgentina 2 1 NigeriaCaniggia 21 28 Report Siasia 8 Foxboro Stadium FoxboroughAttendance 54 453Referee Bo Karlsson Sweden 26 June 199411 30 CDTBulgaria 4 0 GreeceStoichkov 5 pen 55 pen Letchkov 65 Borimirov 90 ReportSoldier Field ChicagoAttendance 63 160Referee Ali Bujsaim United Arab Emirates 30 June 199418 30 CDTArgentina 0 2 BulgariaReport Stoichkov 61 Sirakov 90 3 Cotton Bowl DallasAttendance 63 998Referee Neji Jouini Tunisia 30 June 199419 30 EDTGreece 0 2 NigeriaReport George 45 2 Amokachi 90 5 Foxboro Stadium FoxboroughAttendance 53 001Referee Leslie Mottram Scotland Group E Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group E Italy and Norway getting ready to play at Giants Stadium Group E remains the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same points and same goal difference It began at Giants Stadium where Ray Houghton s chip ensured a shock Irish victory over the then three time champions Italy by 1 0 as well as gaining a measure of revenge for the previous World Cup in which Italy both hosted and eliminated Ireland at the quarter final stage The next day in Washington Norway played its first World Cup game since 1938 and Kjetil Rekdal s goal five minutes from time proved decisive in an equally tense encounter as Norway beat Mexico In the second round of group play Luis Garcia s double had Mexico 2 0 up and in control of the game before a disagreement on the touchline resulted in fines for both Republic of Ireland s manager Jack Charlton and their striker John Aldridge Aldridge was able to regain concentration in time to score six minutes from the end of the game to make it 2 1 Despite their loss Aldridge s goal proved crucial to Ireland in the final group standings During the previous day at Giants Stadium in New Jersey Italy s World Cup hopes seemed to be diminishing fast as goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was sent off with the game still at 0 0 Yet despite this Italy was still able to salvage an important 1 0 victory Norway would ultimately pay a price for their inability to take advantage of Pagliuca s dismissal With the four teams level on points the final two group games would each have to finish as draws for things to stay that way Republic of Ireland made it through after a dreary 0 0 draw with Norway midfielders Massaro and Bernal traded strikes as Italy and Mexico played to a 1 1 draw Those results meant that Mexico won the group on goals scored with three in the group With Ireland and Italy also progressing having finished with identical records the Irish team qualified as second place as a result of their victory against the Italians Norway s shortcomings in attack ultimately let them down and they exited the tournament with only one goal Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Mexico 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4 Advance to knockout stage2 Republic of Ireland 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 43 Italy 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 44 Norway 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4Source FIFA June 18 199416 00 EDT UTC 4 Italy 0 1 Republic of IrelandReport Houghton 11 Giants Stadium East RutherfordAttendance 75 338Referee Mario van der Ende Netherlands June 19 199416 00 EDT UTC 4 Norway 1 0 MexicoRekdal 84 ReportRFK Stadium WashingtonAttendance 52 395Referee Sandor Puhl Hungary June 23 199416 00 EDT UTC 4 Italy 1 0 NorwayD Baggio 69 ReportGiants Stadium East RutherfordAttendance 74 624Referee Hellmut Krug Germany June 24 199412 30 EDT UTC 4 Mexico 2 1 Republic of IrelandGarcia 42 65 Report Aldridge 84 Citrus Bowl OrlandoAttendance 60 790Referee Kurt Rothlisberger Switzerland June 28 199412 30 EDT UTC 4 Italy 1 1 MexicoMassaro 48 Report Bernal 57 RFK Stadium WashingtonAttendance 52 535Referee Francisco Oscar Lamolina Argentina June 28 199412 30 EDT UTC 4 Republic of Ireland 0 0 NorwayReportGiants Stadium East RutherfordAttendance 72 404Referee Jose Torres Cadena Colombia Group F Edit Main article 1994 FIFA World Cup Group F Just as happened to Argentina in Group D Belgium endured the same fate in Group F Despite winning both of its first two matches 1 0 against Morocco and neighbors Netherlands Belgium finished third as in an upset it lost to tournament newcomers Saudi Arabia 1 0 in the third game During that game Saudi player Saaed Al Owairian ran from his own half through a maze of Belgian players to score the game s only goal Saudi Arabia advanced through to the Round of 16 as well having also defeated Morocco 2 1 The Netherlands endured a somewhat nervier experience The opening 2 1 victory against Saudi Arabia was followed by the 1 0 loss against Belgium before another 2 1 victory against Morocco with Bryan Roy scoring the winner a mere 12 minutes from time saw the Dutch win the group having scored more goals than Belgium and beaten Saudi Arabia Morocco despite losing all three of their group games did not leave without a fight as each of their losses were by just a single goal 1 0 to Belgium 2 1 to Saudi Arabia and 2 1 to the Netherlands Pos Teamvte Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 Netherlands 3 2 0 1 4 3 1 6 Advance to knockout stage2 Saudi Arabia 3 2 0 1 4 3 1 63 Belgium 3 2 0 1 2 1 1 64 Morocco 3 0 0 3 2 5 3 0Source FIFA June 19 199412 30 EDTBelgium 1 0 MoroccoDegryse 11 ReportCitrus Bowl OrlandoAttendance 61 219Referee Jose Torres Cadena Colombia June 20 199419 30 EDTNetherlands 2 1 Saudi ArabiaJonk 50 Taument 86 Report Anwar 18 RFK Stadium WashingtonAttendance 50 535Referee Manuel Diaz Vega Spain June 25 199412 30 EDTBelgium 1 0 NetherlandsAlbert 65 ReportCitrus Bowl OrlandoAttendance 62 387Referee Renato Marsiglia Brazil June 25 199412 30 EDTSaudi Arabia 2 1 MoroccoAl Jaber 7 pen Anwar 45 Report Chaouch 26 Giants Stadium East RutherfordAttendance 76 322Referee Philip Don England June 29 199412 30 EDTBelgium 0 1 Saudi ArabiaReport Al Owairan 5 RFK Stadium WashingtonAttendance 52 959Referee Hellmut Krug Germany June 29 199412 30 EDTMorocco 1 2 NetherlandsNader 47 Report Bergkamp 43 Roy 77 Citrus Bowl OrlandoAttendance 60 578Referee Alberto Tejada Noriega Peru Ranking of third placed teams Edit Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification1 D Argentina 3 2 0 1 6 3 3 6 Advance to knockout stage2 F Belgium 3 2 0 1 2 1 1 63 A United States 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 44 E Italy 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 45 B Russia 3 1 0 2 7 6 1 36 C South Korea 3 0 2 1 4 5 1 2Source FIFAKnockout stage EditMain article 1994 FIFA World Cup knockout stage Round of 16Quarter finalsSemi finalsFinal July 3 Pasadena Romania3 July 10 Stanford Argentina2 Romania2 4 July 3 Dallas Sweden p 2 5 Saudi Arabia1 July 13 Pasadena Sweden3 Sweden0 July 4 Orlando Brazil1 Netherlands2 July 9 Dallas Republic of Ireland0 Netherlands2 July 4 Stanford Brazil3 Brazil1 July 17 Pasadena United States0 Brazil p 0 3 July 5 East Rutherford Italy0 2 Mexico1 1 July 10 East Rutherford Bulgaria p 1 3 Bulgaria2 July 2 Chicago Germany1 Germany3 July 13 East Rutherford Belgium2 Bulgaria1 July 5 Foxborough Italy2Third place Nigeria1 July 9 FoxboroughJuly 16 Pasadena Italy aet 2 Italy2 Sweden4 July 2 Washington Spain1 Bulgaria0 Spain3 Switzerland0 Round of 16 Edit July 2 199412 00Germany 3 2 BelgiumVoller 6 38 Klinsmann 11 Report Grun 8 Albert 90 Soldier Field ChicagoAttendance 60 246Referee Kurt Rothlisberger Switzerland July 2 199416 30Spain 3 0 SwitzerlandHierro 15 Luis Enrique 74 Begiristain 86 pen ReportRFK Stadium WashingtonAttendance 53 121Referee Mario van der Ende Netherlands July 3 199412 00Saudi Arabia 1 3 SwedenAl Ghesheyan 85 Report Dahlin 6 K Andersson 51 88 Cotton Bowl DallasAttendance 60 277Referee Renato Marsiglia Brazil July 3 199413 30Romania 3 2 ArgentinaDumitrescu 11 18 Hagi 58 Report Batistuta 16 pen Balbo 75 Rose Bowl PasadenaAttendance 90 469Referee Pierluigi Pairetto Italy July 4 199412 00Netherlands 2 0 Republic of IrelandBergkamp 11 Jonk 41 ReportCitrus Bowl OrlandoAttendance 61 355Referee Peter Mikkelsen Denmark July 4 199412 30Brazil 1 0 United StatesBebeto 72 ReportStanford Stadium StanfordAttendance 84 147Referee Joel Quiniou France July 5 199413 00Nigeria 1 2 a e t ItalyAmunike 25 Report R Baggio 88 102 pen Foxboro Stadium FoxboroughAttendance 54 367Referee Arturo Brizio Carter Mexico July 5 199416 30Mexico 1 1 a e t BulgariaGarcia Aspe 18 pen Report Stoichkov 6 PenaltiesGarcia Aspe Bernal Rodriguez Suarez 1 3 Balakov Genchev span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library, article, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games. |