No soccer event in recent memory has attracted such attention regarding its organization, or lack thereof, than the 1996 Gold Cup.
The local Spanish-language newspaper, La Opinion, has been running each day a section on the day’s Gold Cup snafus. Some stories making the rounds:
— Following, its 3-2 loss to the USA Jan. 13, Trinidad & Tobago not only was stranded at Anaheim Stadium when the bus that was supposed to carry the players and staff back to their hotel broke down and a replacement never showed up, but a local police helicopter, believing they were loitering, beamed its spotlight on them and asked them to disperse. The T&T players and staff were finally given rides back to their hotel, where they discovered that someone impersonating the team manager had gained access to some rooms and took off with a reported $50,000 in money and valuables.
— There was no ambulance at the opening game between Canada and Honduras in Anaheim, which meant that there was no one to take a Honduran player to the hospital when he was injured.
— Organizing staff was still putting up field signboards at the Los Angeles Coliseum after the opening game there between Canada and Brazil had begun.
— There were more troubles at the start of the next game at the Coliseum, when organizers played the Panamanian national anthem instead of the Honduran national anthem. The Honduran players refused to kick off against Brazil until they sang the national anthem into a walkie talkie and the signal was relayed back to the TV feed going back to Honduras.
— Bora Milutinovic was introduced as Miguel Mejia Baron, his predecessor, at the postgame press conference following Mexico’s 1-0 win over Guatemala in San Diego.
— UEFA president Lennart Johansson was stranded at his Los Angeles hotel when the driver who was supposed to escort him to the Gold Cup never showed up.
— Organizers have been lax in keeping people out of normally secured areas. The U.S. team discovered a group of Boy Scouts wandering around their locker room one game. Even Alexi Lalas, who normally gives everyone time, was heard to say, “Enough already!”