The USA, with its existing sports, transport and broadcast infrastructure, and huge potential audience, was actually a fairly safe choice for FIFA from many standpoints, but its lack of a top-flight league and its perceived lack of football heritage went badly against it. FIFA were under pressure from the minute the vote to award the tournament to the USA took place, on July 4, 1988.
“In 1990 I bummed around Europe with my buddies and went to the World Cup and sat around and watched the team, painted my face, drank a lot of beer – not even fathoming that four years later I’d be on the field playing for the national team.”
Some 3.4m watched the 52 games in person – more than any World Cup before or since. The momentum ensured the domestic league had a credible mandate for its launch in 1996, and despite ups and downs since, the appetite for the game in all its forms has never been higher in the US.
I watched the team, painted my face, drank a lot of beer – not even fathoming that four years later I’d be on the field playing for the national team
You’ve sent that important message – that it’s not just about hosting a World Cup, but you actually deserve to be there and you can do some stuff on the field
I wouldn’t exactly say it made me visualise a career in the game – it was just a cool thing to do with my friends
You need look no further than what the EPL has done. They’ve recognised that this is about entertainment and that how you present it goes a long way
Among 12-to-20-year-olds, football is now the second-most-watched sport in the country
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