(Image credit: Getty Images)
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)
