This Week In Soccer History... June 4-10

By Sean McCaffery, June 3, 2018

Contributed by Steven Torres

Soccer Long Island Magazine commences a 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.

This week, you have the inaugural women’s under-19 qualifiers, Cuba’s first World Cup victory and North American referees in charge of matches during the W.C. Mexico 1970.

June 4, 2004: The United States and host Canada qualified for FIFA Women's U-19 (now Under-20) World Cup in Thailand after defeating Mexico and Costa Rica, respectively, in the semifinals of the Concacaf Qualifying Tournament at Molson Stadium in Montreal, Quebec.  Angela Woznuk had a hat-trick to lead the Stars & Stripes to a 6:0 win over El Tricolor.  Meanwhile, Aysha Jamani, Veronique Maranda, Brittany Timko and Emily Zurrer all scored the Maple Leafs in the 4:0 victory against the Ticas.  Canada would then defeat the U.S., 2:1, two days later in Ottawa, to win its first Concacaf U-19 title.

June 5, 1995: Canada’s Sonia Denoncourt became the first North American female referee to officiate the opening match of a FIFA Women’s World Cup (Sweden 1995).  Denoncourt oversaw the Sweden – Brazil encounter, won by the visitors 1:0, before crowd of 14,500, at Helsingborg’s Olympia Stadium.

June 6, 1995: The U.S. began the Women's World Cup with a 3:3 draw against China in Group C action at the Stroemvallen Stadium in Gavle, Sweden. Tisha Venturini, Tiffeny Milbrett and Mia Hamm scored for the Stars & Stripes, who had a 3:1 lead, however the Chinese squad came back with two tallies in the last 15 minutes to earn the stalemate.

June 7, 1962: Mexico achieved its first victory at a FIFA World Cup after defeating Czechoslovakia, 3:1, to conclude Group 3 play (in Chile 1962) at Sausalito Stadium in Vina del Mar.  After the Czechs took the lead in the opening minute, El Tricolor answered with goals from Isidoro Diaz (12th), Alfredo Del Aguila (29th) and Hector Hernandez (90th) for the win.

June 8, 2008: Hosts Guatemala captured its first Concacaf Futsal Championship by defeating Cuba on penalties (5:3) after a 3:3 draw in the 2008 final at Guatemala City’s Domo Polideportivo.  After Oliver Lopez gave the Chapines a 4:3 lead in the penalty shootout, the Leones del Caribe's next kick by Eduardo Morales was saved by goalkeeper Carlos Merida. Then, Jose Rafael Gonzalez sealed the victory with Guatemala's fifth penalty-kick goal.  Earlier in the day, three goals by Matthew Stewart led the United States to a 7:1 win over Panama, in the third-place encounter.  Cuba, Guatemala and U.S. all qualified for the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil.

June 9, 1938: Goals by Tomas Fernandez and Hector Socorro led Cuba to a 2:1 victory against Romania in a "replay" playoff match at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse, France, during the World Cup opening round.  The extra encounter was required after both teams played to a 3:3 draw four days earlier at the same venue.  The Leones del Caribe's victory was the first for a Caribbean team at the World Cup.

Photo source: Cuban F.A.

June 10, 1970: For the first time, North American Referees officiated two different matches during the FIFA World Cup in Mexico.  Henry Landauer of United States was the man in middle in the Sweden – Uruguay (1:0) match at Cuauhtemoc Stadium in Puebla, while Mexico's Abel Aguilar Elizalde was in charge of West Germany – Peru (3:1) encounter at Leon’s Nou Camp Stadium.

 Written by Steven Torres

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