You certainly have to give the U.S. Soccer Federation credit for this one.
By creating the U.S. Cup in 1992, the Federation gave its team its most significant preparation games for the 1994 World Cup.
It offered foreign skeptics ù those who still groaned about a World Cup in a ônon-soccerö country ù a glimpse of how colorful international games in the United States can be.
It manufactured an event that has been played in every non-World Cup year since its inception and become nothing less than one of the most exciting ôunofficialö national team tournaments in the world.
Juergen Klinsmann, Roberto Baggio, Jay Jay Okocha, Luis Hernandez, Careca, David Platt, Jaime Moreno and Mick McCarthy are just a few of the stars who have scored U.S. Cup goals.
And it is a tournament that has been able to reveal the basic character ù the strengths, weaknesses and potential ù of the host team.
1992: MAGIC IN THE CAPITAL. After winning the 1991 Gold Cup shortly after his appointment, Coach Bora MilutinovicÆs honeymoon period had dissipated long before the inaugural U.S. Cup approached.
The United States had won only two of its 10 games in 1992, and Ireland, Portugal and Italy presented formidable opponents.
Ireland had thumped the United States, 4-1, a month earlier in Dublin. Portugal was coming off a win over the Netherlands, and Italy had downed Germany.
But the United States welcomed reinforcements from across the Atlantic.
Tab Ramos and Peter Vermes rejoined the squad after their seasons in the Spanish Second Division while Paul Caligiuri returned from second-tier soccer in Germany.
John Harkes, in the prime of his Sheffield Wednesday tenure, arrived in Washington, D.C., in time for one light training before the opener against Ireland.
Tom Dooley, born and raised in Germany, joined the squad in training two weeks earlier, his American citizenship, thanks to his U.S. serviceman father, having been discovered earlier in the year.
Roy Wegerle, the South Africa native who played college and NASL in the United States, had acquired U.S. citizenship through marriage and arrived within 24 hours of kickoff.
Wegerle became acquainted with his new teammates from the bench in the first half.
ôI saw things in the first half I could exploit, and it all fell into place in the second half,ö Wegerle said.
By the time Wegerle entered the game, Dooley had already been making dangerous forays from his central defender spot, but Ireland took an early second-half lead.
First Marcelo Balboa equalized. Then Wegerle slipped a ball to Fernando Clavijo that was relayed to Ramos for the go-ahead goal. And when WegerleÆs back-heel to Dooley led to HarkesÆ goal, one could safely call the 3-1 win one of the most spectacular U.S. triumphs ever.
Three days later Wegerle scored the winner against Portugal (1-0), and the host clinched its tournament when HarkesÆ goal matched Roberto BaggioÆs strike in a 1-1 tie with Italy.
The 1992 U.S. Cup win underscored how important the U.S. foreign-based players would be to its 1994 World Cup quest. It enabled Milutinovic to survive the scores of hapless efforts his team would make in the future with its domestic players.
1993: æYANKS BEAT PLANKS.Æ It was, on the whole, a miserable year for MilutinovicÆs team.
With the stars back in Europe, Milutinovic concentrated on nurturing the young talent that comprised his full-time team. They played 14 full internationals before the U.S. Cup and won only once.
Brazil, England and Germany provided the U.S. CupÆs strongest field ever, and the Brazilians downed the Americans 2-0 in the opener.
Ramos and Dooley arrived too late for Brazil, but they made a huge impact against England.
Late in the first half, Ramos controlled a Jeff Agoos cross that could easily have bounced over the end line and delivered to Dooley for a diving header goal.
In the second half , Alexi Lalas replaced a hobbled Dooley and, with the back of his head, redirected a Ramos corner kick into the goal.
The English tabloids dubbed their players ôPlanksö and the Daily MirrorÆs front-page featured a Wild West drawing of Coach Graham Taylor, ôWanted dead or alive ù outlaw of English football.ö
Milutinovic framed the tabloid page and hung it in his Mission Viejo, Calif., office.
The Americans finished with a 4-3 loss to Germany in which Dooley tied the score early on before the Germans stormed to a 4-1 lead.
Later in 1993, the Americans made a mediocre Gold Cup showing and an embarrassing Copa America appearance, but the U.S. Cup had the most impact on MilutinovicÆs decisions for the following yearÆs World Cup.
Tony MeolaÆs brilliant performance against England protected him from Brad FriedelÆs challenge.
That John Doyle allowed a Karlheinz Riedle hat trick spelled doom for the Italia æ90 veteran. He would lose his job to Lalas, who, Milutinovic would later say, had an amazing knack for good fortune.
1995: SAMPSONÆS RISE: Milutinovic had reached his goal, taking the Americans to the second round of the 1994 World Cup. But by the summer of 1995, Steve Sampson was the interim head coach.
For the U.S. Cup, he had 19 foreign-based players on his roster ù and they were more than pleased to play for Sampson, who released the shackles of MilutinovicÆs rigid tactical scheme.
They gave up goals, twice going behind to Nigeria, but won spectacularly, 3-2, on goals by Harkes, Balboa and Cobi Jones.
The sweetest win came against archrival Mexico, which came with the collection of stars that had brought it major success in 1993 and 1994 but fell, 4-0, on goals by Wegerle, Dooley, Harkes and Claudio Reyna.
The game marked the return of Kasey Keller, whom Milutinovic had shunned, and gave the Americans the cup in combination with a 0-0 tie with Colombia.
1996: MEXICAN REBIRTH: The 1995 U.S. Cup, coupled with the fourth-place finish at the æ95 Copa America, sealed the job for Sampson. But the æ96 tournament, the first of the MLS era, revealed the start of a slide.
The Americans, noticeably weaker than a year earlier, downed Ireland impressively, 2-1, but lost, 2-0, to Bolivia.
That game will be forever remembered by Jaime MorenoÆs 60-yard jaunt, with Agoos lagging behind, before his second-minute goal.
A 2-2 tie in front of 92,216 in the Rose Bowl was enough to give Mexico the title. Milutinovic smiled widely as he accepted the trophy for his latest team. Overall, the U.S. performance provided the first clue that 1995 had marked the peak of the Sampson era.
1997: A DISASTER. Coming off an adequate yet unimpressive first round of France æ98 qualifying, the United States played its worst U.S. Cup ever, losing to Peru, Mexico ù a 2-0 game marked by Ramon Ramirez flooring Lalas with a knee to the groin ù and Denmark.
Milutinovic won his third U.S. Cup and not a single American made Soccer AmericaÆs all-tournament team.
The 4-1 loss to the Danes had Sampson lashing out at his team. He bemoaned the quality of ôsecond-tierö American players and the lack of leadership ù veterans such as Dooley, Eric Wynalda and Harkes having been rested.
ôI learned that leadership is a very important element, and the lack of it was apparent in this tournament,ö Sampson said. ôI think it was very important for John Harkes to see this game.ö
Harkes had worked as TV pundit for the Denmark game.
1999: MEXICO AGAIN. Bruce Arena had coached the United States in four games, including a 3-0 win over Germany, before his first U.S. Cup.
Not a round robin in æ99, the Americans beat Guatemala, 3-1, before losing, 2-1, to Mexico. Despite keeping two of their biggest stars, Ramirez and Luis Hernandez, on the bench in the first half, the Mexicans had little trouble controlling the play.
This U.S. Cup showed that, for all the progress that the United States has made, it has yet to catch up with its southern neighbor.
by Soccer America executive editor Mike Woitalla