World Cup Guide

World Cup Guide

By Richard Pedler

Over the next seven weeks, let The Jakarta Post be your guide
to the biggest live event in history. Watched by 3.5 million
spectators and two billion viewers worldwide, the Fifteenth FIFA
World Championship has arrived in the United States of America.
Forget Ringling Bros, this promises to be The Greatest Show On
Earth.

JAKARTA (JP): After six years of organization and two years of
competition encompassing 582 games, 141 initial entries have been
reduced to 22 finalists. They will join the Holders of the FIFA
World Cup, Germany, and the hosts, the USA, for World Cup USA
'94.

The 24 finalists reflect the current balance of power in
world football. Thirteen are European, four South American, two
North American, three African and two Asian. They have been split
into six groups of (as far as possible) geographically dispersed
nations. Following two weeks of round-robin matches, eight
countries will pack their flight-bags, while the remaining 16
embark on the second, knockout stage, criss-crossing America and
culminating inside the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, on July
17th 1994 with the World Cup Final before the largest audience
in history.

When the 52-match tournament is over, US$5 billion will have
changed hands, and the USA will, at last, take its place in
'soccer' history. The most popular participation sport meets the
most successful entertainment industry in the world. How will
they get on?

Fourth of July

On the fourth of July 1988, FIFA, the world football
federation, narrowly chose the USA (10 votes) above Morocco (7)
and Brazil (2), to host World Cup XV. This was the culmination
of FIFA's driving ambition: to take the sport of football to all
corners of the world, to make 'The World Game' truly global.

Team USA briefly stunned the football world with a victory
over England in the Brazilian World Cup of 1950. Then, nothing
until those great exporters of pop music, The Beatles, arrived in
America just before England hosted and won the World Cup. For the
first time, America was able to see what the fuss was all about
as they watched the final live in their homes. The dormant
support of ethnic communities such as the Greeks, Irish,
Italians, Hispanics, and even Ukrainians, persuaded a few
Canadian and US businessmen of football's potential and they
formed the North American Soccer League (NASL) at Christmas 1967.

A pre-season tour by Pele and his Santos team brought a great
response from the public. Once Pele had flown off, though, the
fans drifted away from mediocre games and nameless players back
to baseball, basketball and American Football. Within a year
only five clubs were left. But the structure and league held on
and slowly developed, until Pele was lured out of retirement and
into Giants Stadium, New York to play alongside Beckenbauer,
Muller and Chinaglia for the New York Cosmos in front of crowds
of 50,000. On his arrival, Pele had told the Press of his dream
that one day the World Cup would take place on American soil.
"Everyone said I was crazy," he recalls.

No More Heroes

Unfortunately, foreign stars such as Johan Cruyff and George
Best were the ones people came to watch. They dominated the press
and their teams, crowding out the domestic players who became
passive and nameless in contrast. Without local heroes, the
novelty slowly faded and the fans left again. The league
eventually folded in 1985, it's only tangible success the
qualification of Canada for the 1986 World Cup with a squad of
former NASL players.

For FIFA, the USA remained the one unconquered land, the one
region refusing to join the world football 'club.' An invitation,
a spur, was needed. FIFA President, Havelange, approached then
President Reagan, got his support, and never looked back.

Sport is Business

Of course, the 'dream' shared by Pele and Havelange had a
utilitarian aspect. Pele's two years at New York Cosmos were
worth US$4 million. The big money for FIFA lies in global sports
television rights, and Havelange wants FIFA to get the sort of
riches that the Olympics bring to the IOC (NBC have bought
exclusive rights to the 1996 Olympics for a cool half a billion
dollars) from the richest nation in the world.

Ten official sponsors paid US$200 million between them for the
1990 Finals, which attracted 2.7 million fans and 1.3 billion
viewers. The Italia '90 Organizing Committee made $12.5 million
net profit. The US '94 Organizing Committee expects to double
that, and have promised FIFA US$100 million in funds when the
tents come down and the circus leaves town.