Caligiuri recalls historic goal for U.S. in 1989

When reporters got to Paul Caligiuri and his teammates in the cramped American lockerroom after he scored a looping 35-yarder that had fooled Trinidad's goalkeeper on Nov. 19, 1989, and put the U.S. into the World Cup for the first time in 40 years, most of the players were doing a most American thing, drinking Budweisers.

"I was, because there was no water," Caligiuri said, in a phone interview last week. "We had just played in 90-degree heat. You took a few gulps, every muscle cramped within seconds."

Caligiuri wasn't thinking of the larger stakes at the time. The immediate stakes were momentous enough. The U.S. had to win that day in Port of Spain to get to the World Cup. A tie wouldn't have been enough.

If the Americans hadn't qualified for Italy in '90, the rumors were hot (and believable to many, including Caligiuri) that the '94 World Cup was going to be taken away from the United States.

Major League Soccer may never have gotten off the ground.

Caligiuri said he learned later, and is grateful to this day, how the late Werner Fricker, a Horsham developer and president of the U.S. Soccer Federation in the '80s, had sunk "$200,000 of his own money" into the national team, keeping it going, Caligiuri said. Without that, he wonders if he would have even made it to Trinidad. He was playing for a second-division German club at the time, the highest level an American had reached.

Caligiuri isn't claiming the goal itself was the play of the century. He put it on goal. The keeper was out of position. But Caligiuri is secure with his place in history, and defines it well.

"No other home run, no other slam dunk, no ace in tennis, no Miracle on Ice, changed a game as much," Caligiuri said. "Can you name one? It brought in millions and millions of dollars."

Think of it in local terms: Would there be a PPL Park without that goal?

"Kids today growing up in soccer, they don't know anything different," Caligiuri said. "They watch the national team, MLS, all the games in Europe. It's expected that the U.S. is going to play in the World Cup. It's a whole different mind-set. I think guys are even growing up saying, 'I'm going to play in Europe.' Everything is achievable."

Growing up outside Los Angeles, Caligiuri was a North American Soccer League (NASL) baby, following the Los Angeles Aztecs. He remembers once going to a try-out camp for the Junior Aztecs in Pasadena.

He knew in advance there was no way he could be on any team because it was too far from his house, 35 or 40 minutes, and he did not have a ride to get there and back. But by attending the tryout, selected players would get a free field ticket to help as ball boys at the pro game. Caligiuri was selected.

"Although I probably never chased a ball that day, I was so happy to be on the field to listen to the players talk and feel the speed of play from ground level," Caligiuri said. "The Aztec players I followed were Johann Cryuff, George Best and Steve David, a forward from Trinidad."

After a 16-year pro career, Caligiuri went on to coach college soccer and now coaches youth teams in Irvine, Calif.

"We don't teach drive," Caligiuri said of Jack McInerney. "I'm sure he has a special drive. These younger players are winning games, taking risks. These guys come with a certain ambition."

Just getting to Europe, showing that an American could do it, was his goal. Now it's accepted that Americans can contribute overseas. Dreaming of playing for the biggest clubs, for Arsenal or Barcelona? Why not?

Caligiuri loves that there are no limits. He jokes about re-doing Trading Places, the Philadelphia-set film where Eddie Murphy switched lives with Dan Ackroyd.

"I want to be Jack for a week," Caligiuri said. "C'mon, Jack. I know you're scoring a lot of goals. But I scored a goal once."