Commercialised, curious, sometimes raucous: USA 94 was a joy to attend

Y ou never forget your first World Cup , and the tournament’s return to American shores this year will stir vivid memories for anyone who attended USA 94. It was a curious and distinctive tournament, one that heralded the World Cup’s more expansive, commercialised future, while also seeming a world away from the jamboree that returns 32 years later, twice as big and at least twice as lucrative. I managed to do two weeks of it as a skint 23-year-old earning £9,000 a year, alongside my mate Paddy, a student. We took in only two games – both goalless draws – but soaked up enough of the occasionally raucous, often tepid, atmosphere for it to remain a personal favourite World Cup all these years on. Now, in an age when US investment pumps up pretty much every level of the English professional game , it’s difficult to overstate how distant and mutually suspicious the footballing relationship was between Europe and the US in 1994. Host media seemed fixated on hooliganism and other nefarious perceived threats to the American way of life – England’s failure to qualify did little to dispel this – while Europeans were wont to sneer at an assumed audience of couch potatoes lacking the sophistication or concentration span to appreciate the beautiful game. The Fifa president, João Havelange, unhelpfully stirred the pot in this regard by suggesting splitting games into quarters. But these fears did not materialise and USA 94 was a joy to attend. …