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Shot heard round the world (soccer)

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Trinidad & Tobago v United States (1989)
Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain hosted the match
Event1990 FIFA World Cup qualification – North, Central American and Caribbean zone – final round
Trinidad & Tobago United States
Trinidad and Tobago United States
0 1
United States qualifies for the 1990 World Cup
DateNovember 19, 1989; 34 years ago (1989-11-19)
VenueHasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain
RefereeJuan Carlos Loustau (Argentina)
Attendance35,000

The "shot heard 'round the world" is a term used in reference to one of the most historic goals in U.S. soccer history, which allowed the United States to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup after 36 years.[1] This goal was scored by Paul Caligiuri in a qualification game against Trinidad and Tobago at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain on November 19, 1989.[1]

The U.S. had not qualified for a FIFA World Cup since 1950 and wanted to give a good impression to the world of soccer by qualifying for the 1990 World Cup, after having been selected by FIFA in 1988 to host the 1994 tournament.[2]

Background

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Main article: 1989 CONCACAF Championship

The United States was one of the five nations competing in the final round of CONCACAF's qualifiers for two spots at the upcoming World Cup in Italy, the other involved nations being Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago. Mexico was disqualified due to a scandal related with the age adulteration for a youth tournament, known as los cachirules.[3] In that time, the U.S. team was formed mainly by college and semi-professional players.[4]

They started by losing 1–0 to Costa Rica, then they got revenge by beating Costa Rica 1–0, tied 1–1 against Trinidad and Tobago, won 2–1 against Guatemala and won 1–0 against El Salvador. After scoreless draws against both Guatemala and El Salvador, the situation of the group was as follows:

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Costa Rica 8 5 1 2 10 6 +4 11
 Trinidad and Tobago 7 3 3 1 7 4 +3 9
 United States 7 3 3 1 5 3 +2 9
 Guatemala 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 3
 El Salvador 6 0 2 4 2 8 −6 2

The United States needed a win in order to qualify for the World Cup because a loss or a draw would allow Trinidad and Tobago to qualify. Costa Rica had already qualified for the tournament in Italy.

Match

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The game was played on November 19, 1989 in the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. The stadium was painted red as an homage to the Strike Squad as the Trinidadian team was then known.[5]

Early on, John Harkes tried unsuccessfully to score, while Trinidad and Tobago's Paul Elliot-Allen had two attempts on goal. Eventually, the breakthrough would come in the 30th minute when Bruce Murray passed the ball to Paul Caligiuri, who dodged a rival defender and made it 1–0 for the United States through a left-footed shot. Trinidadian goalkeeper Michael Maurice waited for the ball practically standing on the goal line, but he could not see it, arguing that the sun had blinded him.[6]

In the second half, the Trinidadians went on an offensive to find an equalizer, but Tony Meola made several saves to deny them. After the final whistle, the U.S. players joyously celebrated while Trinidad and Tobago was left in consternation.[7][8]

Details

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1989 CONCACAF Championship
18th round
Trinidad and Tobago 0–1 United States
Report Caligiuri 30'
Attendance: 35.000[9]
Trinidad and Tobago
United States

Assistant referees:
Argentina Carlos Espósito
Argentina Francisco Lamolina

Post-match

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After the game, the group results were as follows:

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Costa Rica 8 5 1 2 10 6 +4 11
 United States 8 4 3 1 6 3 +3 11
 Trinidad and Tobago 8 3 3 2 7 5 +2 9
 Guatemala 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 3
 El Salvador 6 0 2 4 2 8 −6 2

Due to the political situation in El Salvador and the fact that El Salvador and Guatemala had no chances to qualify for the World Cup by winning both matches, the matches still to be played between El Salvador and Guatemala were canceled.[10][11]

The U.S. press, considering the significance of the result, described Caligiuri's goal as "the shot heard 'round the world".[12][1]

After 36 years of absences from the World Cup, the U.S. team qualified for the 1990 World Cup but its participation in the tournament was brief. They lost 1–5 to Czechoslovakia, 0–1 against hosts Italy,[1] and 1–2 against Austria.[13] The U.S. would consecutively qualify for the next six subsequent World Cups, but failed to keep the streak going in 2018 as they lost 2–1 to Trinidad and Tobago during their final qualification game.[14]

Trinidad and Tobago suffered a World Cup qualification drought until 2005, after beating Bahrain 2–1 on aggregate in an intercontinental playoff,[15] which allowed the Soca Warriors to qualify to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Yorke and Latapy, members of the qualifying campaign of 1989, were part of that Trinidadian team, which in that World Cup drew against Sweden 0–0 and lost against England 2–0 and Paraguay 2–0, being eliminated in the first round.[16]

Ironically, a shocking loss to Trinidad and Tobago in 2017 cost the United States qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and ended their streak of seven consecutive qualifications that started with this match.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "His goal changed soccer in the USA". October 15, 2013 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ Reno, Bill (November 19, 2014). "Relive Trinidad and Tobago 0–1 USA, Nov. 19, 1989". Paste Magazine. Paste Media Group. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  3. ^ "Carlos Albert relata cómo descubrieron a los 'cachirules'". Publimetro (in Spanish). April 12, 2018.
  4. ^ Litterer, David. "The Year in American Soccer - 1989". US Soccer History Archives.
  5. ^ Best, Earl (November 23, 2014). "Remember 19/11: Gally's post-Strike Squad torment". Wired 868.
  6. ^ U.S. Soccer (November 16, 2015). "Trinidad & Tobago GK Michael Maurice Remembers Paul Caligiuri's Shot in 1989". YouTube.
  7. ^ "'The shot' ends 40 years of hurt". FIFA. June 3, 2008. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  8. ^ "Once a year in November". TT Football. November 15, 2015.
  9. ^ Liburd, Lasana (June 19, 2015). "Cut Jack Warner and he probably bleeds brown envelopes". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. ^ "1990 FIFA World Cup qualification". RSSSF. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  11. ^ "THE SIDELINES : Strife Cancels Salvador Soccer". Los Angeles Times. November 17, 1989. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  12. ^ French, Scott (November 19, 2014). "The Shot Heard 'Round the World: 25 years later, Paul Caligiuri recalls goal that changed US soccer forever". Major League Soccer.
  13. ^ "1990 FIFA World Cup - Teams - USA". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  14. ^ Williams, Bob (October 10, 2017). "Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 USA: 2018 World Cup qualifier – as it happened". The Guardian.
  15. ^ "Bahrain 0-1 Trinidad & Tobago". BBC Sport. November 16, 2005.
  16. ^ "T&T captivate the Caribbean". FIFA.com. November 18, 2009. Archived from the original on July 1, 2019.
  17. ^ "Phantom goal helps Panama beat Costa Rica, qualify for WC over U.S." ESPN. October 10, 2017.
  18. ^ "World Cup 2018: Panama declares public holiday after qualifying". BBC. October 11, 2017.
  19. ^ Marshall, Tom (October 10, 2017). "Mexico falls to Honduras, fails to do U.S. favor in World Cup qualifying". ESPN.
  20. ^ Nathan, Alec (October 10, 2017). "Honduras Defeats Mexico to Qualify for 2018 World Cup Playoff vs. Australia". Bleacher Report.
  21. ^ Lauletta, Tyler. "The United States is out of the 2018 World Cup with embarrassing loss". Business Insider. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  22. ^ "Woeful USA fail to make 2018 World Cup after loss to Trinidad & Tobago". The Guardian. October 11, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  23. ^ Armen Graham, Bryan (October 11, 2017). "USA's World Cup failure was a catastrophe years in the making". The Guardian. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
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