This Week In Soccer History… June 18-24

By Sean McCaffery, June 22, 2018

Contributed by Steven Torres

Soccer Long Island Magazine continues its weekly feature as it looks back at some historical events/games, both on and off the field, from the region of North, Central America and Caribbean.

In this week’s edition you have: Record crowd for a Women’s World Cup opening match; Canada’s 1st men’s qualifier; New York Americans are 1st U.S. club to visit Cuba.

June 18, 1994: The first indoor FIFA World Cup match took place at Detroit's Pontiac Silverdome, when hosts United States drew 1:1 against Switzerland in the opening Group A match.  A crowd of 73,425 saw Georges Bregy (39th) give the Swiss the lead, but Eric Wynalda (44th) scored the equalizer for the Stars & Stripes.

June 19, 1999: Goals by Mia Hamm (17th), Julie Foudy (73rd) and Kristine Lilly (89th) gave hosts U.S. a 3:0 win over Denmark to open the FIFA Women's World Cup at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.  The crowd of 78,972 was the largest to see an opening women’s world cup match.

June 20, 1990: Goals by Roger Flores and Hernan Medford led Costa Rica to a 2:1 triumph against Sweden at Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Geona, Italy, during World Cup Group B encounter.  The victory gave the Ticos second place (2-1-0, 4 Points) in the group, which was won by Brazil, and they became the first Central American team to reach the 'Round-of-16.’ However, their run ended three days later with a 4:1 loss to Czechoslovakia.

June 21, 2007: Mexico and hosts U.S. posted victories against Guadeloupe and Canada, respectively, during the semifinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup at Chicago's Soldier Field.  Goals by Frankie Hejduk and Landon Donovan gave the Stars & Stripes a 2:1 win over the Maple Leafs.  Meanwhile, Pavel Pardo scored the game-winner for the Tricolor (1:0) against the Gwada Boys.  Three days later in the same venue, U.S. captured its fourth Gold Cup with 2:1 victory over Mexico in finals.

June 22, 1957: Canada hosted and won its first World Cup Qualifying game (for Sweden 1958) by defeating the U.S., 5:1, in Group 2 opener at Toronto's Varsity Stadium.  Art Hughes scored twice, while Norman McLeod, Pat Philley and Gordon Stewart each added a goal for the Maple Leafs.

June 23, 2000: In Hershey, Pennsylvania, three goals by Cindy Parlow and two each from Lorrie Fair and Mia Hamm led U.S. to an 11:0 Group A win over visiting Trinidad & Tobago during the inaugural Women's Gold Cup.  The Stars & Stripes would then win three of its next four matches to reach final, where it defeated Brazil, 1:0, the following month.

June 24, 1934: Under helm of former Hungarian international Ernő Schwarz, the New York Americans became the 1st U.S. team to visit Cuba as it lost a 2:0 to hosts Club Deportivo Centro Gallego in Havana.  NY Americans’ two-month international tour included three games in Cuba & five in Mexico prior to start of ’34-’35 American Soccer League season.

Written by Steven Torres

Share: