World Cup 1994 in USA: Gold for Brazil, Maradona’s doping, big rule change, division of Czechoslovakia

The 1994 World Championships were the fifteenth in a row hosted by the USA. This World Championship offered a lot, and not only in terms of sport. Colombian defender Andres Escobar was shot for an own goal, Argentina lost Diego Maradona, Chile was completely eliminated and FIFA made big changes. Brazil went for the gold.

A total of 147 countries qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, with the final tournament featuring the classic 24 teams. They were, of course, divided into six groups of four participants. The top two from each group advanced to the knockout rounds or the eighth finals.

The division of Czechoslovakia, but still with a common team

As far as the qualification was concerned, despite the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, the Czechs and Slovaks participated as a joint team in the fight to qualify for the 1994 World Championship in the USA. This World Championship, or rather its qualification, thus offered a truly interesting paradox.

This is because if the team of that time had actually managed to qualify for the tournament, we would still have had a joint team, albeit with a different name, despite being separate countries. However, we take a closer look not only at this topic, but at the whole championship in our attached special below.

Qualifiers

As for the countries that qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, fans saw thirteen teams from Europe, six from the Americas, three from Africa and two from Asia. And the specific breakdown? The following countries represented the European continent.

Sweden, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain. Yes, you read that right, France, England or Portugal did not qualify for this world championship, and they experienced great disappointment.

As far as the representatives of the American continent are concerned, the following countries made it to the 1994 World Cup in the USA – Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, USA, Mexico. Nigeria, Morocco and Cameroon for Africa, Saudi Arabia for Asia and South Korea.

The Maracanazo Incident

It should be noted that the Chilean national team was completely excluded from qualifying for the 1994 World Cup in the USA. This was after goalkeeper Roberto Rojas pretended to be hit and seriously injured by firecrackers thrown by Brazilian fans in a 1989 match against Brazil. FIFA subsequently used television footage to prove Rojas’ fraudulent actions.

To this day, the incident is considered by many historians to be one of the most shameful affairs in football history. And it led precisely to Chile’s ban from the 1994 World Cup qualifiers, ending Rojas’ career as he received a lifetime ban.

Big changes in the rules

FIFA has made a rather big change to the regulations for this World Cup. In fact, the 1994 World Cup in the USA was the first one where teams took three points for a win, rather than two as in previous championships.

But in addition, the International Football Organisation came up with a rule that made the number of yellow cards accumulated by players after the preliminary groups null and void. So they went into the knockout fights with a clean slate.

And the third change? Referees were allowed to wear jersey colors other than black to avoid clashing with both teams on the field of play. The fourth, albeit more “cosmetic” change was that the players finally had their names above their numbers.

Tournament progress – Brazil gold, Swedes make history

Brazil won the gold medal at the 1994 World Championships in the USA. The latter had no major problems getting through their preliminary group, which they dominated with 7 points, no losses and a score of 6:1. Sweden was two points behind the South American country, but also did not lose. Russia and Cameroon bid farewell to the tournament.

The silver-placed Italians only made it through to the eight-finals thanks to the ranking of the third-placed teams, with the big success of fourth place going to Bulgaria, who finished second in a very even Group D.

The Swedes then convincingly beat Saudi Arabia 3-1 in the eighth round. It should be noted that the representative of the Asian continent also recorded one of the greatest successes in its history, and also presented very decent football.

Brazil defeated the USA in the eighth round, with Bebeto scoring the only goal. Bulgaria, on the other hand, came up against Mexico at this stage of the championship, and the match had to be decided by penalties, in which the Bulgarians succeeded.

Penalty kicks also decided the quarter-final between Sweden and Romania, in which the Scandinavian country was more successful. Bulgaria had a shocking result in the quarter-finals, knocking out the favoured Germany 2-1. Brazil went on to beat the Netherlands (3: 2), while Italy beat Spain 2: 1.

Thus, four teams – Italy, Bulgaria, Brazil and Sweden – advanced to the semi-finals. In the first match, thanks to two goals by Roberto Baggio, the Italians beat the Bulgarians (2:1) and advanced to the final. The second match between Brazil and Sweden was decided by a single goal from Romário in the 80th minute.

The battle for bronze was then clearly dominated by the Swedes, who had a really strong squad and played beautiful football at the 1994 World Cup in the USA. The final result of 4:0 was not surprising, despite Bulgaria’s solid run through the tournament. The final, however, offered an infarct ending, as the world champion had to be decided by penalties.

And Brazil was more successful in them, converting three of the four attempts, while the Italians were only successful twice out of five attempts. Italy’s hero Roberto Baggio did not score a try either.

Another successful championship in sporting terms

However, you can find out more about the specific course and the individual teams in our special feature attached above. Romania, for example, had great players at the 1994 World Cup in the USA and reached the quarter-finals.

The Greeks were a complete disgrace, the Germans were disgraced and disappointed after being eliminated by Bulgaria. The Norwegians narrowly failed to advance from the preliminary group, which in many cases offered very close fights. The home team got no further than the eighth round, and the same goes for Argentina.

To conclude…

Apart from the sporting aspects, however, this championship was also accompanied by the aftertaste of the death of the Colombian defender Escobar or the positive test of the star Maradona. So if you are interested in these very compelling topics, be sure to watch the aforementioned World Cup special.

On the other hand, it was very positive news that the total attendance reached an incredible 3 587 538 spectators. This was a record for attendance at a World Championship at the time. The average number of spectators per game was therefore 68 991.

In total, 52 matches were played at the 1994 World Cup in the USA and 141 goals were scored, an average of 2.71 goals per match. Bulgaria’s Christo Stoichkov, who scored six goals, and Russia’s Oleg Salenko, who scored five goals against Cameroon (6:1) in the group stage, were awarded the top scorers’ prize.

In addition to these two scorers, Romário, Robert Baggio, Jürgen Klinsmann and Sweden’s Kennet Andersson were also among the tournament’s biggest stars. In short, the 1994 World Cup in the USA is one of those that fans still remember very well.

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