By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (June 10, 2013) US Soccer Players – Coming off a successful 1994 World Cup, the National Team was looking to build on that in 1995 under interim coach Steve Sampson. The Bora Milutinovic era had come to an end and under Sampson the Americans were looking to become a more attack-minded squad. In 1995, the United States, along with its CONCACAF rival Mexico, accepted an invitation to participate at the Copa America, South America’s continental championship. By the time the tournament was over, the Americans had gained newfound respectability and US Soccer removed the interim tag from Sampson’s title.
Sampson, an assistant to Milutinovic, found himself in the spotlight while US Soccer officials searched the globe for a replacement. On the field, however, there were all sorts of newfound energy surrounding the National Team. The US did well in the US Cup ’95, beating Nigeria 3-2 on June 11 at Foxboro with goals from Marcelo Balboa, John Harkes, and second-half substitute Cobi Jones. The run continued at RFK Stadium on June 18 with the US routing Mexico 4-0. The goals in that game came from Roy Wegerle, Thomas Dooley, Harkes, and Claudio Reyna who also picked up two assists in 71 minutes of work. A week later at Rutgers Stadium in New Jersey, the US played out a scoreless draw with Colombia in a rematch of the famous ’94 World Cup match. That was good enough for the USA to win the tournament with Harkes as leading scorer.
In a busy summer, the next stop for the National Team was the’95 Copa America in Uruguay. The Americans opened the tournament on July 8 with a 2-1 win over Chile. Eric Wynalda scored both goals at the Estadio Parque Artigas. Two days later, the Americans lost 1-0 to Bolivia. With Bolivia losing to Argentina in their opening game, this created a scenario that didn’t favor the USA. Beat Argentina in the final group game, a team ranked 8th in the world at the time.
The United States used a platoon system in goal, with Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller both in contention for the starting role. The two goalkeepers alternated starts, with Keller in goal against Argentina.
Argentina – still coping with the end of the Diego Maradona era – did not need a win to advance and coach Daniel Passarella rested most of his regulars for the game. In the end, it was the US advancing to the quarterfinals. Goals by Frank Klopas, Alexi Lalas and Eric Wynalda propelled the US to a 3-0 shutout.
Soccer historian Roger Allaway ranks the win as the biggest in National Team history. “There are lots of candidates, but I think my choice would be the 3-0 win over Argentina in the 1995 Copa America,” he said.
For Sampson, the victory was a culmination of months of hard work.
“Our last match in group play against Argentina became a very important match for us, he told US Soccer’s official site earlier this year. “We had to beat Argentina or at the very least tie them in order for us to go on. On that day, the US team had one of its best performances in history…. One of the great moments was when Diego Maradona came down to the locker room and greeted our US players and told them how proud he was of not only the fact that they beat Argentina but of the quality of soccer that they played.”
The Americans didn’t stop there. In the quarterfinals, the United States beat Mexico 4-1 in a penalty shootout after playing to a scoreless draw with Friedel in goal. The US played the first four games of the tournament in the Paysandu, where the locals had adopted the Americans as their team. In the semifinals, the Americans played Brazil in Maldonado on July 20 in a rematch of the World Cup game a year earlier. Again, the Americans lost 1-0, this time on a goal by Aldair after 13 minutes.
Playing in the third-place game on July 22 in front of a tiny crowd at the Estadio Campus Municipal in Maldonado, the US lost 4-1 to Colombia in the third meeting of the teams over two summers and second in under a month. The US didn’t play Harkes, Dooley, Balboa, or Wynalda.
The USA run did not produce the frenzy back home that more recent National Team exploits have mostly because the Internet was still in its infancy and Copa America matches aired on pay-per-view at the time. Despite that, the Americans came of age. With the surprise performance in the 94 World Cup and the strong showing in the 95 Copa America, any lingering doubt about the quality of American soccer was finally laid to rest in the eyes of the world. The future looked brighter than ever for the United States National Team.
Clemente Lisi is a New York-based writer. Contact him at: CAL4477@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter at:http://twitter.com/ClementeLisi.
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