Contributed by Steven Torres
Soccer Long Island Magazine continues its 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.
In this week’s edition you have - Haiti’s 1st World Cup goal; Costa Rica winning at Azteca; USA-Mexico face-off at 2002 World Cup.
June 11, 2000: Hosts United States captured the seventh and last edition of the U.S. Cup after posting a 3:0 shutout win over Mexico at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. during the final day of round-round tournament. Crowd of 45,008 saw Brian McBride (33rd), Frankie Hejduk (79th) and Ante Razov (85th) all scored for the Stars & Stripes. In the other encounter of the day, Ireland topped South Africa, 2:1, to finished second in the four-team group.
Credit J Brett Whitesell/ISI
June 12, 1983: Mexico's Atlante FC played to a 1:1 draw against hosts New York Pancyprian-Freedoms of U.S. in the first-leg of 1983 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Second Round held at Downing Stadium in Randall’s Island. Mario Hernandez gave Atlante the lead in the 38th minute, however Pancyprian-Freedoms Player-Coach - Dimitris "Mimis" Papaioannou tied it with 25 minutes remaining. Two days later at Long Island’s Hofstra Stadium, Atlante won series after posting a 3:2 overtime victory against Pancyprian-Freedoms.
June 13, 1999: Stern John scored with a minute remaining in the second overtime period to give hosts Trinidad & Tobago a 2:1 win over Cuba in the Caribbean Cup Final at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain. After a scoreless first half, Anthony Rougier gave the Soca Warriors the lead in the 66th minute, but Serguey Prado tied it for the Leones del Caribe with two minutes remaining. The victory gave Trinidad & Tobago its seventh Caribbean title.
June 14, 1970: Jose Gonzalez (13th) gave host Mexico an early lead against Italy during a FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match at Toluca's Luis Dosal Stadium (now Nemesio Diez Stadium). However, an own goal from Tricolor's Javier Guzman (25th) and two tallies by Gigi Riva (63rd, 76th) and one by Gianni Rivera (70th) gave the Azzurri the victory. Mexico was the first North American nation in 32 years to advance out of the first round.
June 15, 1974: Emmanuel Sanon's goal in the opening minute of the second half gave Haiti the lead against Italy at Munich’s Olympiastadion at the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Despite Les Bicolor's first world cup goal, the advantage lasted a short while as tallies from Gianni Rivera (52nd), Romeo Benetti (66th) and Pietro Anastasi (79th) lifted the Azzurri to a 3:1 victory.
June 16, 2001: Goals by Rolando Fonseca and Hernan Medford led visiting Costa Rica to a 2:1 win over Mexico at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, during the Final Round of World Cup Qualifying (for Korea/Japan 2002). The stunned crowd of 60,000 witness Tricolor’s first loss at home during World Cup qualifying which ended a 48-game unbeaten streak.
June 17, 2002: For the first time, two North American teams faced-off in the 'Round-of-16' at a FIFA World Cup as crowd of 36,380, saw goals by Brian McBride (8th) and Landon Donovan (65th) lead the U.S. a 2:0 win over Mexico at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, Korea Republic. The Stars & Stripes advanced to take on eventual tournament’s runner-up, Germany, in the quarterfinals.
Written by Steven Torres