USA: The 90s

The 1990s were the decade the United States finally looked football in the eye and decided it had something to say.

It was quiet at first, the way first words often are. Italia ’90 was a timid hello. Three games, three defeats. The States were finding their feet, but they were there. Young, athletic, eager, learning on the job.

USA ’94, though, was a moment that changed everything. A World Cup where America planted its flag in the soil and said, “this is our game too.” The US team rode the wave and bought into another football, a sport that doesn’t take four hours and 200 adverts to get through.

The high point, though, was arguably the 1995 Copa América, where the U.S. stunned the world by beating Argentina 3–0, defeating Chile and Mexico, and finishing fourth against elite South American opposition.

But that's not to say progress was always linear. Their worst moments bookended the decade, highlighting how fragile their position in the international game was. In the '98 World Cup internal disputes, tactical confusion, and off-field drama led the U.S. to finish with the worst record of any competing nation. That's right. 32nd out of 32. Some going. They lost all three matches - including a politically charged defeat to Iran - and producing what is still regarded as one of the poorest major-tournament showings in team history.

By decade’s end, MLS was born, naff and imperfect but real. The national team had grown up too, more organised, more ambitious, no longer just happy to be invited. Sure, they got walloped a lot, but they also held their own against the big boys with surprising frequency. The 90s did not make the US a football nation overnight, but they lit the fuse. A third place finish at the 1999 Confederations Cup teased a promising future.

The decade left America perched between possibility and promise. Still figuring out the game, still growing into it, but moving forward all the same. America found its voice in football and has been heard ever since.