On the afternoon that America hosted its first-ever World Cup, Oprah Winfrey fell through a hole in the stage, Diana Ross missed an open goal in front of 750 million television viewers, and O.J. Simpson led police on the most famous car chase in modern history.
The tournament hadn't even started properly.
By the time Roberto Baggio launched a penalty somewhere over Pasadena six weeks later, millions of sceptics who had predicted disaster were quietly wondering whether they had just witnessed one of the greatest World Cups ever staged.
As U.S. prepares to host the 2026 World Cup, we remember USA'94, the tournament that finally turned the U.S. onto 'soccer'...
The World Cup nobody wanted (apart from FIFA)
Following the collapse of the North American Soccer League in 1985, professional soccer in the United States appeared to be on its knees. Then, on July 4, 1988, it all changed when FIFA handed America the World Cup.
There had been a vote by FIFA Executive Committee members in Zurich, but the outcome was never really in doubt. The promise of American razzmatazz, $300M in broadcast revenue, and, perhaps most importantly, access to the one major market that FIFA had yet to conquer saw North American selected over Morocco and Brazil.
Soccer wasn't exactly front-page news in America in 1994. One study from the era ranked it as the country's 67th favorite sport, one place behind tractor-pulling. But if the reaction in the United States was muted, the reaction elsewhere was closer to horror. To many traditional football nations, handing the World Cup to America felt like asking Las Vegas to host Wimbledon.
Not that everyone shared the panic. After all, the organizers had experience staging major events such as the Super Bowl and a full six years to learn the customs, traditions and peculiar obsessions of the world's most popular sport.
Six months before kickoff, the World Cup draw took place in Las Vegas hosted by Faye Dunaway and Dick Clark. It produced Colombia, Romania and Switzerland as opponents for the hosts but the evening is chiefly remembered for the actor Robin Williams referring to FIFA president João Havelange's successor as "Sepp Bladder" and shouting "Bingo!" when Greece emerged as the final team drawn in Group D.
Surely the opening ceremony on June 17, before Germany faced Bolivia at a sold-out Soldier Field in Chicago, would reveal what kind of World Cup America intended to stage. And with an estimated global TV audience of 750 million watching, who better to steer proceedings than... Oprah Winfrey?
USA '94 kicks off (with an epic fail)
The upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies (there's three of 'em) will be headlined by Shakira in Mexico, Michael Bublé in Canada, and Katy Perry in the USA. But back in 1994, it was all down to Motown legend Diana Ross to kick things off.
Things did not start well.
Moments after introducing Ross, Oprah Winfrey turned to leave the stage and promptly fell through a hole covered by a sheet of plastic. Winfrey later described it as 'the most embarrassing moment of her career', although most TV viewers never saw it because the cameras were focused on Ross's entrance.
The "Chain Reaction" singer then gamely ran the length of the pitch to take a ceremonial penalty, only to hoof the ball well wide of a comically oversized goal, which dramatically collapsed anyway, having been rigged to burst apart in celebration. Oops.
Seemingly untroubled by the worst World Cup penalty miss in living memory, Ross carried on running/singing while millions of international TV viewers wondered whether they were watching a World Cup or a David Lynch fever dream sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Any lingering doubts about the strangeness of the day were settled a few hours later.
After Spain and South Korea drew 2-2 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, American viewers switched over to Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, only to find the basketball sharing the screen with live footage of O.J. Simpson being pursued through Los Angeles in a white Ford Bronco.
Maradona (and darkness beneath the carnival)
Despite O.J. hijacking the news cycle, USA'94 began to catch fire on the pitch. German fans were left shellshocked after a 2-1 loss to Bulgaria (who embarked on a fairytale run), while Brazil edged the Netherlands 3-2 in an epic end-to-end Quarter Final.
Just prior to that, Italy's Roberto Baggio (a.k.a the “Divine Ponytail”) went from superstar to saint by scoring a penalty in extra time, propelling Italy towards a nail-biting final against eventual winners Brazil.
Before the dramatic conclusion of USA '94, however, two stories helped define the tournament for very different reasons: Diego Maradona's final World Cup implosion and the tragedy of Colombia's Andrés Escobar.
Maradona arrived in the United States for his fourth consecutive World Cup carrying enough football mythology to fill a library. At 33, he was no longer the unstoppable force that had dragged Argentina to glory in Mexico eight years earlier, but he remained the tournament's biggest attraction.
His goal against Greece was pure Maradona — instinctive, brilliant and delivered with the sort of conviction that suggested he still believed the world revolved around him. The celebration was even more memorable. Sprinting toward a pitchside camera, he grabbed the lens with his eyes and screamed directly into it.
More than a few viewers watched his wild expression and wondered whether something looked a little... off.
It turned out they were right.
Following Argentina's next game against Nigeria, Maradona tested positive for five variants of ephedrine and was expelled from the tournament. One of football's greatest careers ended not with a trophy, but with an anti-doping report.
Colombia's World Cup exit was altogether more tragic.
Against the United States, defender Andrés Escobar stretched to intercept a cross and succeeded only in diverting the ball past his own goalkeeper. The hosts won 2-1 and Colombia – one of the favorites – were eliminated in the first round.
Escobar accepted responsibility with remarkable dignity. Ten days later, he was gunned down outside a nightclub in Medellín, allegedly on the orders of a local drug lord.
The loss hung heavily over Colombia and, in many ways, the tournament itself. But, almost 32 years later, there's no doubt that USA'94 can count itself a success...
The blueprint (that changed football forever)
In spite of the chaos, novelty and celebrity mishaps, USA'94 managed to become the perfect laboratory for modern football. While much of the world was busy waiting for America to embarrass itself, FIFA was quietly using the World Cup to drag the sport into a new era that endures to this day.
For the first time, teams received three points for a win. Goalkeepers were no longer allowed to pick up deliberate back-passes and waste thirty seconds at a time staring mournfully into the distance. The objective was simple: encourage attacking football.
It worked. The tournament produced an average of 2.71 goals per game and a cast of characters that remains difficult to forget more than three decades later.
There was Roger Milla, still scoring World Cup goals at the age of 42. Russia's Oleg Salenko scoring five goals in a single game against Cameroon. Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov playing with the permanent fury of a man convinced the universe was conspiring against him. And who can forget Brazil's Romário and Bebeto giving the world the now-famous "rocking the baby" goal celebration.
The innovations don't end there, either.
USA '94 featured the first World Cup match played indoors, when the hosts faced Switzerland beneath the roof of the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit. It introduced the now-familiar suspension rules that allowed a single yellow card to be wiped clean after the group stage. And, in a suitably dramatic finale, it produced the first World Cup final to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Perhaps most surprisingly, USA'94 shattered attendance records, drawing an average crowd of 68,991 and a total audience of more than 3.5 million spectators — both marks that still stand today. In four weeks, it introduced millions of Americans to the sport and helped pave the way for MLS (Major League Soccer), which launched two years later and is now home to the likes of Lionel Messi.
USA '94 also reflected a changing world beyond football. It was the first World Cup to feature a reunified Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia all made their tournament debuts. FIFA even unveiled an official World Cup anthem (to be fair, nobody gets everything right).
This summer, the World Cup returns to a very different USA. One where soccer is big business, the MLS is thriving, and children no longer need explaining why the rest of the world calls the beautiful game 'football'.
If you can get a ticket, you should go. And if you can't we'll show you how to watch the World Cup from anywhere in the world.
Watch World Cup 2026 from anywhere
More from Tom's Guide
- World Cup 2026 LIVE – all the build-up
- How to watch the World Cup on Fubo
- Tom's Guide to the World Cup
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