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Thirty-two years ago, many fans in the global soccer community saw the United States planning to host its first FIFA World Cup in 1994 and asked one collective question: Why?
At the time, the United States men’s national team was a largely anonymous squad of unknown players wearing now-nostalgic denim uniforms.
In mainstream America, soccer did not have the same popularity as other sports like gridiron football or baseball. But then, the tournament kicked off.
To look back at the summer of 1994, members of that squad — Alexi Lalas, Cobi Jones, John Harkes, and Marcelo Balboa — reunited to take a trip down memory lane in special FOX Sports roundtable and recount the tournament that changed the sport stateside.
Bora And The Bootcamp
The architect behind the Americans’ 1994 transformation was Bora Milutinović. The enigmatic manager arrived with a storied World Cup pedigree, having already guided Costa Rica and Mexico to the round of 16 and quarterfinals, respectively.
Milutinović specialty was inspiring underdogs to play far above their weight class, but his methods frustrated a young Lalas.
“Bora, incredibly intelligent man… spoke five languages, not a single one of them well, and will go down for me as… the most frustrating coach I ever had in my life, but also the coach that gave me the opportunity that changed my life,” Lalas.
For the players, Bora was not the most popular person in the locker room, as his experience was initially met with resistance, until the team won its first-ever major international tournament title at the 1991 Gold Cup.
“I hated it, and I tell you why, because he made me the translator. Nothing like being on a team, and you’re the player translating the coach’s new message. That was awful,” Balboa said. “But as time grew on, I understood what Bora wanted, and I think we all believed it when we go to the ’91 Gold Cup, and all of a sudden we’re starting to win games, we beat Mexico, and we win the Gold Cup.
“I don’t think a lot of us were buying in until that tournament. Once we won that tournament, we were like, crap, here we go.“
Milutinović also had to navigate a player pool that comprised mostly players who weren’t tied to specific clubs, but instead were contracted to play for the U.S. Soccer Federation and participate in an ongoing training camp and trial in Mission Viejo, California. That created tension between those players and the ones who were playing professionally in Europe.
“We hated you guys,” Balboa said, referring to Harkes and the other overseas-based players. “Working every day under Bora, and training and double days and this and this. We thought, ‘How was this going to work?’”
The ‘Miracle On Ice’ Moment
By the time the tournament arrived, the USA was still widely viewed as a naive squad out of their league. But after earning a draw against Switzerland, the Americans faced tournament favorites Colombia in front of a raucous Rose Bowl crowd. What followed was a historic upset that became the U.S. soccer equivalent of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.”
“Final whistle blows, all hell breaks loose in the most positive way… I remember in 1980 when the US hockey team, Jim Craig, with a flag around him, and I, I wanted that moment to celebrate my country,” Lalas said. “Everybody thought we would lose to Colombia, right?”
The 2-1 victory was made even more staggering by the roster’s humble realities. The United States didn’t even have a domestic professional league at the time.
“When you talk about… ‘iconic wins,’ ‘best win ever.’ You look at that team with six guys, didn’t have a club team, we trained every day,” Balboa said.
“Cobi and I, we never played at a club, and all of our experience was international,” Lalas added.
Brazil Breaks America’s Hearts
The dream run eventually collided with global powerhouse Brazil in the Round of 16 on the Fourth of July. The match reached a violent turning point when U.S. playmaker Tab Ramos was hospitalized following a brutal elbow from Brazil’s Leonardo. Though Leonardo was red-carded, losing Ramos gutted the American midfield.
“Just devastating, scared beyond belief, because the way he landed,” Harkes said. “I cared about Tab. I didn’t care about the game at that point.”
The loss of Ramos didn’t just hurt USA and its players emotionally, but tactically as well.
“We not only lost a player in Tab leaving the field, but we lost from a practical perspective the guy that could hold the ball for us,” Lalas said.
Even down to 10 men, the eventual world champions continued to produce scoring opportunities.
In the 72nd minute, Brazilian forward Bebeto finally broke the deadlock, slipping a clinical shot through the tiniest of windows.
“What pisses me off about this goal is that I have the tackle… The problem is I get to it and I overrun it, and it ends up going in the only possible place through my legs and into the far corner there,” Lalas said. “This little magician right here, Bebeto, scores the goal that they need to go through and for all intents and purposes, our World Cup is over.”
Looking Ahead To This Summer
More than three decades after the class of ’94 laid the foundation, the World Cup is returning to North American soil.
For the current generation of the U.S. the tournament represents a massive launching pad to eclipse the history written by their predecessors.
“I think this team can go far. I think this team can go farther than 2002,” Harkes said. I hope we get to a semi, or even beyond that. Why not? Why not us? Let’s believe in that.”
As the pressure and expectation mount for the modern squad, the trailblazers of ’94 remind them that changing the sport forever requires a bit of audacity.
“Gotta have dreamers,” Alexi Lalas said.
2026 FIFA World Cup: How To Watch
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will run from June 11–July 19, 2026. Spread across three countries, the tournament will culminate with the final on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. All 104 tournament matches will air live across FOX (70) and FS1 (34) with every match streaming live and on-demand within both the FOX One and the FOX Sports app. A record 40 matches, more than one-third of the tournament, will air in prime time across FOX (21) and FS1 (19).
The opening match on June 11 between Mexico and South Africa (3 p.m. ET) will stream for free on Tubi, as well as the USA’s opening match against Paraguay on June 12 (9 p.m. ET).
