Thirty-two years ago today, and a good half hour after arguably the most disappointing loss in US soccer history, a devastated Rick Davis sat slumped at his locker, head in hands. The Murdock Stadium locker room in Torrance, California, was silent. The United States had just been eliminated from contention for the 1986 World Cup after a 1-0 home defeat to Costa Rica.
“We can’t play much better than that,” a somber Davis said. “It’s a shame it wasn’t supposed to end that way. We were playing for US soccer – for its reputation and recognition in our country. It’s another setback. We missed a golden opportunity.”
If they had succeeded, the US would have reached the World Cup for the first time since the historic upset of England in 1950. Since Mexico was the host of the 1986 tournament and awarded an automatic berth, the Red, White and Blue’s traditional nemesis was out of the way and many in the US soccer community thought the country would finally return to soccer’s promised land. “The big thing was that for the first time, we as players felt and believed that this was going to be it,” Davis told the Guardian recently. “This was going to be the year we’re going to qualify. That we had a good collection of players.”
The US have reached every World Cup since 1990, but in 1985 the immediate future of American soccer was on the team’s shoulders. The North American Soccer League had played its final game the previous October, and several months later the league folded, seven years after Pelé had made his American debut.
The US team had a year’s worth of preparation for the qualifier as Team America, which supposedly had the country’s best native-born and naturalized citizens on its roster. The team was based out of Washington DC in the North American Soccer League, and was a disaster. Team America started out 8-5, but collapsed to finish at 10-20, hardly a morale-boosting campaign for many of the players looking to qualify for the World Cup.
The Americans’ qualifying journey started off with a comfortable two-legged victory over the Netherlands Antilles. That set up a round-robin series with Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica in the spring of 1985. Due to several restrictions, the US were forced to play those four final matches over a 16-day period, a far from ideal scenario.
Matters were not helped by the fact that many of the USA players weren’t even used to playing outdoors. Players such as defenders Gregg Thompson and Mike Jeffries, goalkeeper Jim Gorsek, defender Kevin Crow and midfielders Jacques Ladouceur and Jean Willrichstill were competing in the Major Indoor Soccer League.
“I was a year out from any true extended period of time on an outdoor field and many of the other players were in similar situations,” Davis said. “But the other big thing that we were dealing with at the time, we had no preparation. This was at a stage when the federation didn’t have money or had very little of it. A typical training for a World Cup qualifier was to meet the team on the flight to where we were going. In this case, it was meeting a few days before.”
Some players were still at school – defender Paul Caligiuri had to return UCLA to take his final exams. And there also were players trying to earn a living outside of league play. Defender Jeff Durgan was in New Jersey giving soccer clinics. Goalkeeper Winston DuBose was in Tampa, working as a salesman.
“It is frustrating because I’m not getting the players,” the USA coach Alkis Panagoulias said at the time. “Being on the other side of the world [Panagoulias coached in Greece for 10 years], and seeing the potential [in the US] makes me upset and mad. Everybody keeps telling me that this is America and we have to live with American standards. That’s why I’m very outspoken for everyone. That’s what the national coach has to do, sometimes be outspoken. We deserve a better place in international soccer.”
Despite those obstacles, the first three results were positive. The US edged T&T in St Louis 2-1, beat them again by a single goal in Torrance four days later and then drew 1-1 with Costa Rica in San Jose.
Those results placed the US top of the group with the winner going forward to the final round of qualifying. The US needed only a tie against Costa Rica to progress, but that was much easier said than done. The US Soccer Federation was short of money and sponsors, and decided to host the match at El Camino College, just south of Los Angeles. Most of the crowd of 11,800 was Latino and many rooted for the Central Americans. The half-time show featured Costa Rican folk dancers. “Where were the Americans?” Panagoulias asked.
Davis made the same point: “We had the opportunity to take advantage of many of those types of things, but for a variety of reasons, some of which included financial impact in my days [we didn’t],” he said recently. “So, there was no question that when we had a qualifier against Mexico or a Latin American team, we’re going to be playing in the Los Angeles area or some large region [with a sizable Latino population] because that’s going to generate money for the federation.”
One of the most agonizing goals in US Soccer history was scored in the 35th minute. Jorge Chevez sent a free-kick into the penalty area that goalkeeper Arnie Mausser tried to punch away. A Costa Rica player headed the ball to Evaristo Coronado, who knocked the ball into the net. “The goalkeeper misjudged the distance,” Panagoulias said. “He wanted to punch the ball. He should have caught the ball.”
Until then the US, with the great Hugo Perez playing at striker, had dominated and produced the better scoring opportunities. A minute after kick-off Perez forced goalkeeper Alejandro Gonzalez to make a diving save. In the 25th minute, Gonzalez barely beat forward Kerr to a loose ball in the box. “Even at half-time, I thought sooner or later one would go in,” Davis said. And the US did appear to score in the 73rd minute through Danny Canter’s drilled shot. The net rippled but it had actually hit the sidenetting. After initially allowing the “goal” the referee reversed his decision following a conversation with his assistant.
“This is one of the most frustrating days of my life,” said Panagoulias. “The boys played their hearts out. I’m very frustrated, very frustrated. I’m very disappointed. ... We created so many chances. The team deserved to win ... God is not an American. I am convinced of it now.”
Costa Rica advanced to the final round, where Canada booked a spot in Mexico, the last time the Maple Leafs have been to the World Cup. “I don’t know where we go from here,” Davis said at the time. “This was our best chance to make it to the World Cup. We won’t have another chance until 1990. Who knows where soccer in America will be by then? I do know this: unless we develop a professional league for outdoors, we won’t go anywhere. We can’t do it with indoor soccer.”
Then 27, Davis admitted he thought of quitting football. He was the face of the American game, signing with the New York Cosmos at the age of 19 and eventually working his way into the line-up and national team.
“It was still that big of a hurt that I seriously considered retiring right after that game,” he said. “It was that ... emotionally crushing. There’s just not anything that would cheer me up. I remember that I was not me. I didn’t want to talk to people afterwards. I didn’t want to be around people.
“For the first time, I didn’t feel like I wanted to be part of the game anymore, that somehow I had let myself down, that I had let the game down in our country in many ways because it was so important. Obviously, a big part of it was trying to garner some respect for the American player. It became very clear that the only way that was going to happen was to qualify for the World Cup.”
Davis never played professional outdoor soccer again, but performed indoors until 1990.
The devastating defeat had huge repercussions throughout the federation. Panagoulias, who would go on to coach the Greek national team at the 1994 World Cup in the US and at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was sacked less than a month later. The team was shaken up. Only a handful of players were brought back for Italia ‘90 qualifying, including defender Mike Windischmann, who captained that side, Perez and Caligiuri, who scored the historic goal that booked a spot in that World Cup. Since then, USA have played in seven consecutive World Cups, losing only two qualifiers at home (to Honduras in 2001 and to Mexico in 2016). The mistakes of the botched 1986 effort haven’t been duplicated since.
Major League Soccer has been up and running since 1996, helping nurture players to play abroad and for the national team. With 13 soccer-specific stadiums available, US Soccer can vet potential venues to choose the proper qualifying host and stay away from hostile crowds as much as possible. Ultimately, as it should be, it will be up to Bruce Arena and his players – rather than the authorities – to determine whether the US books a spot at Russia 2018, and make sure it doesn’t produce a disaster that rivals the 1986 debacle.