1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
CONCACAF
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Three South American entities—the independent nations of Guyana and Suriname and the French department of French Guiana—are also members. CONCACAFs primary functions are to organize competitions for teams and clubs. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, CONCACAF is the third-most successful FIFA confederation. Mexico dominated CONCACAF mens competition early on and has won the most Gold Cups since the beginning of the tournament in its current format. The Mexican national team is the only CONCACAF team to win an official FIFA tournament by winning the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup and they have also reached the Round of 16 for the past 6 World Cups. Between them, Mexico and the U. S. have won all, in recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals. CONCACAF is led by a General Secretary, Executive Committee, Congress, the Executive Committee is composed of eight members — one president, three vice-presidents, three members, and one female member. Each of the three zones in CONCACAF is represented by one vice-president and one member. The Executive Committee carries out the various statutes, regulations, in 1969, he was succeeded in the role by Mexican Joaquín Soria Terrazas, who served as president for 21 years. His successor Jack Warner was the CONCACAF president from 1990 to 2011, Warner was suspended as president on 30 May 2011 due to his temporary suspension from football related activity by FIFA following corruption allegations. Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary during the same period, the vice-president of CONCACAF, Alfredo Hawit, acted as president until May 2012. In May 2012, Cayman Islands banker Jeffrey Webb was installed as President of CONCACAF, on 27 May 2015, Webb was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland on corruption charges in the U. S. Victor Montagliani, leader of the Canadian Soccer Association, was elected as president of CONCACAF in May 2016, CONCACAF is a non-profit company registered in Nassau, Bahamas. The headquarters of the CONCACAF are currently located in the Admiral Financial Center, George Town, previously, they were based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the presidency of Jack Warner. The administration office of CONCACAF is located in Miami—the home town of Enrique Sanz, Enrique Sanz was appointed as the CONCACAF General Secretary in July 2012. It was previously located in Trump Tower, New York when Chuck Blazer was the General Secretary, there is also an office in Guatemala City, which is shared with UNCAF and an office in New York. CONCACAF has 41 member associations,27 from the Caribbean 7 from Central America 4 from North America 3 from South America M = Mens National Team. Bonaire were promoted from a member to a full member at the XXIX Ordinary CONCACAF Congress in São Paulo on 10 June 2014
3.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
4.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
5.
FIFA
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The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer. FIFA is responsible for the organisation of major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930. FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations, although FIFA does not control the rules of football, it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013, FIFA had revenues of over 1.3 billion U. S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million and those among these officials who were also indicted in the U. S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well. Many officials were suspended by FIFAs ethics committee including Sepp Blatter, in early 2017 reports became public about FIFA president Gianni Infantino attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee during the FIFA congress in May 2017. The need for a body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries, the founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram. The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin, Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the association. Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914. During World War I, with players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann and it was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership, the FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA is headquartered in Zürich, and is an association established under the Law of Switzerland. FIFAs supreme body is the FIFA Congress, a made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength, the Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The congress makes decisions relating to FIFAs governing statutes and their method of implementation and application, only the Congress can pass changes to FIFAs statutes
6.
Soccer in the United States
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Soccer in the United States is governed by the United States Soccer Federation. The organization governs most levels of soccer in the country, including the teams, professional leagues. With over 13 million Americans playing soccer in the United States, the popularity of soccer in the U. S. has been growing since the 1960s and 1970s, and received a significant boost when the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup. In the United States, the sport of football is mainly referred to as soccer. The highest professional league in the U. S. in the 1970s and 1980s was the North American Soccer League. Currently it is Major League Soccer, which play in 1996 with 10 teams. The MLS season runs from March to December, with the winner awarded the Supporters Shield. Soccer fans also follow the U. S. national teams in international competition, the mens national team has played in every World Cup since 1990, and the womens national team has won three Womens World Cup titles and four gold medals at the Summer Olympics. There has been debate about the origins of modern soccer in America. It has long held that the modern game entered the States through Ellis Island in the 1860s. However,2013 research has shown that soccer entered America through the port of New Orleans, as Irish, English, Scottish and it was in New Orleans that many of the first games of soccer in America were held. The origins of the game in general trace back to ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and it is difficult to say for sure which country was the true origin. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the club is credited with inventing the Boston Game. The first U. S. match known to have inspired by FA rules was a game between Princeton University and Rutgers University on November 6,1869, which was won by Rutgers. The FA rules were followed in the Princeton–Rutgers contest, participants were allowed to kick the ball. Other colleges emulated this development, but all of these were converted to rugby by the mid-1870s, the earliest examples of governance in the sport started in 1884, when the American Football Association was incarnated. The AFA sought to standardize rules for the soccer teams based in the Northeastern United States, particularly in northern New Jersey. By 1886, the AFA had spread in influence into Pennsylvania, within a year of its founding, the AFA organized the first non-league cup in American soccer history, known as the American Cup
7.
United States men's national soccer team
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The United States mens national soccer team, often referred to as the USMNT, represents the United States in international soccer. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF, the team has appeared in ten FIFA World Cups and hosted the 1994 edition. They achieved their best result when they reached the semi-final at the 1930 World Cup, finishing third, this remains the highest finish of any team outside of the UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations. After qualifying for the 1934 World Cup, and withdrawing in 1938, after 1950, the U. S. did not qualify for the World Cup again until 1990. Following the 1990 World Cup, the U. S. qualified automatically as hosts of the 1994 World Cup, the team has qualified for all five World Cups since, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2002 tournament, where it lost to Germany 1–0. In 2009 it finished runner-up at the Confederations Cup, eliminating top-ranked Spain 2–0 in the semi-finals before losing to Brazil 3–2 in the final, the teams current head coach is Bruce Arena, who took over in November 2016 and previously managed the team from 1998 to 2006. The first United States national team was constituted in 1885, when it played Canada in the first international match held outside the United Kingdom, Canada defeated the U. S. 1–0 in Newark, New Jersey. The United States had its revenge the following year when it beat Canada 1–0, also in Newark, the United States played its first official international match under the auspices of U. S. Soccer August 20,1916, against Sweden in Stockholm, where the U. S. won 3–2, the U. S fielded a team in the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the first ever World Cup to ever be played. The U. S. began group play by beating Belgium 3–0, the U. S. then earned a 3–0 victory over Paraguay, with FIFA crediting Bert Patenaude with two of the goals. In November 2006, FIFA announced that it had accepted evidence that Patenaude scored all three goals against Paraguay, and was thus the first person to score a hat trick in a World Cup, in the semifinals, the U. S. lost to Argentina 6–1. Using the overall tournament records, FIFA credited the U. S. with a third-place finish ahead of fellow semi-finalist Yugoslavia. The finish remains the U. S. teams best World Cup result, there was no official soccer tournament in the 1932 Olympic Games. In an informal tournament, the United States finished first, followed by Mexico, the U. S. qualified for the 1934 World Cup by defeating Mexico 4–2. The team played Italy and lost 7–1, eliminating them from the tournament, the Olympic soccer tournament was reinstated in the 1936 Olympic Games. The 1950 World Cup in Brazil was the United Statess next World Cup appearance, the U. S. lost its first match 3–1 against Spain, but then won 1–0 against England at Independência Stadium in Belo Horizonte. Striker Joe Gaetjens was the goal scorer, the result is considered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cups. Months before the famous World Cup loss to the U. S, England had beaten an all-star rest of Europe side 6–1 in an exhibition match
8.
United States women's national soccer team
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The United States womens national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competitions at the senior level. It is governed by United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF, the team is the most successful in international womens soccer, winning three Womens World Cup titles, four Olympic womens gold medals, seven CONCACAF Gold Cup wins, and ten Algarve Cups. It medaled in every single World Cup and Olympic tournament in soccer history from 1991 to 2015, before being knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics. The team is currently ranked No,1, moving back into the position on July 10,2015, due to its victory in the 2015 World Cup. The team played its first match at the Mundialito tournament on August 18,1985, coached by Mike Ryan, the U. S. teams first major victory came at the 1991 World Championship. The U. S. cruised to lopsided victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals, michelle Akers was the teams leading scorer with 10 goals, including the teams both goals in the final, and Carin Jennings won the Golden Ball as the tournaments best player. Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, and the 1999 team started a revolution towards womens sports in America. Arguably their most influential and memorable victory came in the 1999 World Cup when they defeated China 5–4 in a penalty following a 0–0 draw after extended time. With this win they emerged onto the stage and brought significant media attention to womens soccer. On July 10,1999, over 90,000 people filled the Rose Bowl to watch the United States play China in the Final. After a back and forth game, the score was tied 0–0 at full-time, with Briana Scurrys save of Chinas third kick, the score was 4–4 with only Brandi Chastain left to shoot. She scored and won the game for the United States and this win influenced girls to want to play soccer on a team. In the 2003 FIFA Womens World Cup, the U. S. defeated Norway 1–0 in the quarterfinals, the team then defeated Canada 3–1 to claim third place. Abby Wambach was the top scorer with three goals, Joy Fawcett and Shannon Boxx made the tournaments all-star team. At the 2007 FIFA Womens World Cup, the U. S. defeated England 3–0 in the quarterfinals, the U. S. recovered to defeat Norway to take third place. Abby Wambach was the leading scorer with 6 goals. In the quarterfinal of the 2011 Womens World Cup in Germany, Abby Wambachs goal in the 122nd minute to tie the game 2–2 has been voted the greatest goal in U. S. soccer history and the greatest goal in Womens World Cup history. The U. S. then beat France 3–1 in the semifinal, Hope Solo was named the tournaments best goalkeeper, and Abby Wambach won the silver ball as the tournaments second best player
9.
United States national futsal team
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The United States national futsal team is the futsal team that represents the United States at international competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and affiliated with CONCACAF. The U. S. Futsal Federation was founded in 1981, the first international futsal match in the United States was held in December,1985, at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. The U. S. select team, defeated Australia, 9–5, the U. S. golden period is in last 80s and early 90s when the team archived third-place at 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship and runner-up at 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship. After that, U. S. futsal has dropped down, recently the team failed to qualify nearest 2 FIFA Futsal World Cup edition. They have also qualified for 5 CONCACAF Futsal Championships, winning twice, in the nearest tournament in 2016, they did not advance past the qualification
10.
Referee (association football)
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In association football, the referee is the person responsible for enforcing the Laws of the Game during the course of a match. At higher levels of play the referee may also be assisted by an official who supervises the teams technical areas. Referees remuneration for their services varies between leagues, Referees are licensed and trained by the same national organisations that are members of FIFA. Each national organisation recommends its top officials to FIFA to have the honour of being included on the FIFA International Referees List. International games between national teams require FIFA officials, otherwise, the local national organisation determines the manner of training, ranking and advancement of officials from the youngest youth games through professional matches. The referees powers and duties are described by Law 5 of the Laws of the Game, as per Law 9 of the game, if during the game the ball hits the referee there is no stoppage in play. However the officials would be expected to position themselves such that this would be unlikely to occur. Modern day referees and their assistants wear a uniform consisting of a jersey, badge, shorts and socks, since then, most referees have worn either yellow or black, but the colours and styles adopted by individual associations vary greatly. For international contests under the supervision of FIFA, Adidas uniforms are worn because Adidas is the current sponsor, FIFA allows referees to wear five colours, black, red, yellow, green and blue. Along with the jersey, referees are required to wear shorts, black socks. The badge, which displays the referees license level and year of validity, is affixed to the left chest pocket. All referees carry a whistle, a watch, penalty cards, a wallet with pen and paper. Most are encouraged to have more than one of each on them in case they drop a whistle or a pen runs out, often, referees utilize two watches so that they can use one to calculate time lost for stoppages for the purposes of added time. In matches with goal-line technology, the referee will have on their person a device to receive the systems alerts, Referees use a whistle to help in match control. The whistle is sometimes needed to stop, start or restart play but should not be used for all stoppages, fIFAs Laws of the Game document gives guidance as to when the whistle should and should not be used. Overuse of the whistle is discouraged since, as stated in the Laws, the whistle is an important tool for the referee along with verbal, body and eye communication. Before the introduction of the whistle, referees indicated their decisions by waving a white handkerchief, the whistles that were first adopted by referees were made by Joseph Hudson at Mills Munitions in Birmingham, England. The Acme Whistle Company first began to mass-produce pea whistles in the 1870s for the Metropolitan Police Force, Referees in football are first described by Richard Mulcaster in 1581
11.
Soccer tournament
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This is a list of the association football competitions past and present for international teams and for club football, in individual countries and internationally. Confirmed future competitions, such as the 4 Associations Tournament, are also included, the competitions are grouped by organising authority, the FIFA, the six confederations, and the federations. This section lists the worldwide and intercontinental competitions ruled by the FIFA, open Cup George F. Donnelly Cup USASA National Womens Amateur USASA National Womens Cup This section lists the competitions ruled by the CONMEBOL, or by federations member the CONMEBOL. Leagues Meistriliiga Esiliiga Esiliiga B III liiga IV Liiga Naiste Meistriliiga Cups Estonian Cup Estonian Womens Cup Leagues Faroe Islands Premier League 1, noar Arzit, the third division is split into two regional leagues. Cups Men Israel State Cup Toto Cup, one for each of the top two divisions, līga Rigas cempionats Kurzemes zona Latgales zona Vidzemes zona Livonijas liga Cups Latvijas kauss Liechtenstein Cup—This is the only competition exclusively featuring clubs from Liechtenstein. All seven clubs in the play their league football in the Swiss league system. Leagues Luxembourg National Division Luxembourg Division of Honour Cups Luxembourg Cup Leagues 1, divisjon Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Toppserien Cups NM-Cup Northern Norwegian Cup Leagues Ekstraklasa I Liga II liga, gr. wschodnia II liga, gr. Presidents of inter-regional associations of federations of football are councilors of Amateur football league, Cups Russian Cup Russian Super Cup Leagues Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio Cups Coppa Titano Leagues Fortuna Liga 2. Liga Bratislava Západ Stred Východ 4, Liga eight groups Cups Slovak Cup Leagues 1. SNL2. SNL3. SNL3. SNL-zahod 3. com - results from 120 different countries
12.
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
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The Lamar Hunt U. S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U. S. Open Cup, is a knock-out cup competition in American soccer. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U. S. the overall champion earns a total of $250,000 in prize money, while the runner-up receives $60,000, and the furthest-advancing team from each lower division league receives $15,000. In addition, the tournament winner qualifies for the stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. The competition was first held during the 1913–14 season as the National Challenge Cup and it was renamed and then dedicated to MLS owner Lamar Hunt by the United States Soccer Federation in 1999. Major League Soccer teams have dominated the competition since MLS began play in 1996, the most recent champions of the competition, FC Dallas, won their second title after defeating the New England Revolution 4–2 in the 2016 final. The competition is a tournament that has been contested by 80 teams since the 2014 edition. The winner of each match progresses to the round and the loser is eliminated from the tournament. After the fourth round, no new teams are introduced, leading to a round in July, a semifinal round in August. Every match, including the final, is a tie that lasts 90 minutes plus any additional stoppage time. If no clear winner has been determined after 90 minutes of time,30 minutes of extra time is played. If the score is level after extra time then the winner is decided by a penalty shoot-out. In some cases, additional teams played in qualifying rounds to gain entry, beginning in 2012, the competition was expanded from its previous 40 teams to 64, with the qualifying process radically changed. The National Premier Soccer League received six places, plus the possibility of a seventh in a playoff against a team from the amateur US Club Soccer setup, nine clubs from the USASA earned places, as did 16 USL Premier Development League teams. Each of these organizations has its own qualifying process to determine its entrants and these 32 teams competed in the first round of the Cup, with the winners meeting all 16 USL Pro and NASL teams in the second round. The 16 U. S. -based MLS teams entered in the third round, in 2013 the competition was expanded to 68 teams. All U. S. based Division I, II and III teams participated in the tournament proper,16 from Major League Soccer, six from the North American Soccer League and 12 from USL PRO. The remaining 34 spots in the tournament field were filled by teams from the Adult Council category–16 from the Premier Development League. Adult Soccer Association regional qualifying, eight from the National Premier Soccer League, one from US Club Soccer, the process for determining the site for the Open Cup tournament semifinals and final was changed in 2013
13.
Major League Soccer
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Major League Soccer is a mens professional soccer league, sanctioned by U. S. Soccer, that represents the sports highest level in both the United States and Canada. MLS constitutes one of the professional sports leagues of the United States. The league comprises 22 teams—19 in the U. S. and 3 in Canada, the MLS regular season runs from March to October, with each team playing 34 games, the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters Shield. The postseason includes twelve teams competing in the MLS Cup Playoffs through November and December, culminating in the championship game, MLS teams also play in other domestic competitions against teams from other divisions in the U. S. Open Cup and in the Canadian Championship. MLS teams also compete against continental rivals in the CONCACAF Champions League, Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United States successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The first season took place in 1996 with ten teams, MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years, The league lost millions of dollars, teams played in mostly empty American football stadiums, and two teams folded in 2002. Instead of operating as an association of independently owned teams, MLS is an entity in which each team is owned and controlled by the leagues investors. The investor-operators control their teams as owners control teams in other leagues, MLS headquarters is located in New York City. Major League Soccers regular season runs from March to October, teams are divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences. Teams play 34 games in a schedule,23 matches against teams within their conference. Midway through the season, teams break for the annual All-Star Game, at the end of the regular season, the team with the highest point total is awarded the Supporters Shield. While MLS has looked into changing to a format, there are no current plans to do so. If the league were to change its schedule, a break would be needed, especially with several teams in colder climates. It would also have to compete with the more popular National Football League, National Hockey League, MLS teams also play in other competitions. Every year, up to five MLS teams play in the CONCACAF Champions League against other clubs from the CONCACAF region, two U. S. -based MLS teams qualify based on MLS regular-season results, the winner of the Western conference and the winner of the Eastern conference. The third U. S. team to qualify is the winner of the MLS Cup. A fourth U. S. -based MLS team can qualify via the U. S. Open Cup, Canadian MLS clubs play against lower division Canadian clubs in the Canadian Championship for the one Champions League spot allocated to Canada. MLSs 22 teams are divided between the Eastern and Western Conferences, each club is allowed up to 28 players on its first team roster
14.
National Women's Soccer League
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The National Womens Soccer League is a professional womens soccer league, run by the United States Soccer Federation. At the top of the United States league system, it represents the sports highest level in the United States, the NWSL was established in 2012 as a successor to Womens Professional Soccer which was the successor to Womens United Soccer Association. The league began play in 2013 with eight teams, four of which were members of Womens Professional Soccer. With the addition of two teams in Houston and Orlando since the leagues founding, it now has 10 teams based throughout the United States. Since the leagues inaugural 2013 season, three clubs have been crowned NWSL Champions and three clubs have claimed the NWSL Shield, the current shield winner is Portland Thorns FC, who finished first in the 2016 season. The NWSL season runs from April–September with each scheduled for 20 regular season games,10 each of home. At the end of the season, the team with the highest point total is awarded the regular season title. Compared to WPS, the teams would have a low salary cap of $500,000. The three federations would pay for the salaries of their national players to aid the teams in creating world-class rosters while staying under the salary cap. The players would be distributed evenly among the eight teams in an allocation process, USSF would run the league offices and set the schedule. On November 29,2012, it was announced that Cheryl Bailey had been named Executive Director in the new league. The first NWSL game was held on April 13,2013, as the Portland Thorns visited FC Kansas City, renae Cuellar scored the first goal in league history. The 2013 season saw regular-season attendance average 4,270, with a high of 17,619 on August 4 for Kansas City at Portland, ten NWSL teams are spread across the United States. Each club is allowed a minimum of 18 players on their roster, in addition, each team has three spots available for international players. The remaining roster spots must be filled by players from the United States. Teams fill their rosters via a number of drafts and 4–6 discovery player signings, western New York Flash — 2013–2016 Soon after launch, the league reportedly planned to expand to ten teams for 2014. During the inaugural season, there were rumors of expansion interest from MLS teams Toronto FC, NWSL team owners hinted that expansion for 2014 was not a question of if but how many. By early December, NWSL approved a new run by the Dynamo organization for expansion in 2014
15.
North American Soccer League
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The North American Soccer League is a professional mens soccer league with eight teams, six in the United States, one in Canada and one in Puerto Rico. It is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation as the Division II league in the American league system, under Major League Soccer and it is headquartered in New York City. The league is named for, but has no connection to, the modern NASL was founded in 2009, and began play in 2011 with eight teams, following a 2010 season that saw NASL and USL teams play in a combined temporary Division II league. The NASL uses a schedule running from April to early November. The spring and fall champions, along with the two teams with best combined spring/fall records meet in a four-team single-elimination tournament known as The Championship, the winner of the final claims the Soccer Bowl at the end of the season. While there is no promotion and relegation with other leagues, then-Commissioner Bill Peterson repeatedly stated that the league has an interest in introducing it to the pyramid, the NASL is owned and operated by its member teams through the Board of Governors. The Board consists of a representative of each member team, the Board oversees the League rules and regulations, governs the expansion and commercial strategy of the League, and oversees the league office. Mark Frisch is the chairman of the board, NASL has no official tie to the former NASL that operated from 1968 to 1984. Several of the present-day NASL teams, however, operate in cities where the former NASL had teams, in particular, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Tampa Bay Rowdies, and New York Cosmos clubs share the same names and similar jersey designs as their NASL predecessors. The New York Cosmos have been mindful of respecting the Cosmos legacy. NASL does not have a salary cap, NASL limits active rosters to 30 players and limits teams to seven foreign players. NASL teams have augmented their revenues by signing sponsorship deals, the NASL began playing a split-season format in 2013. The semi-final winners compete in The Championship Final, with Soccer Bowl being the name of the trophy itself, the NASL Spring Season and Fall Season champions will each host a semi-final. The number one seed will be awarded to whichever of the Spring or Fall champions posts the better combined regular season record, the number three and number four seeds will be awarded to the next two clubs with the best overall records from both seasons combined. Clubs will retain their seeding throughout the postseason, the top-seeded semi-final winner will host The Championship final. If the same club wins both seasons, the clubs with the second, third and fourth best overall records from both seasons combined will qualify for The Championship. The Spring Season runs from early April until July 4, and following a one-month break, the split-season model has several intended benefits for NASL. Secondly, NASL teams can use this break to generate revenue by hosting international friendlies or going on tour
16.
United Soccer League
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The United Soccer League, formerly known as USL Pro, is a professional mens soccer league in the United States and Canada that began its inaugural season in 2011. USL is sanctioned as a Division II Professional League by the United States Soccer Federation, placing it under Major League Soccer and this multi-year deal encourages MLS and USL Pro team affiliations and player loans, aiming to have more games for teams and developing players. As of March 2017,22 USL teams are affiliated to MLS teams and every MLS team, on September 8,2010, the United Soccer Leagues formally announced the creation of USL Pro in a press release. With this disclosure, the Dutch Lions were the first confirmed team in USL Pro for its inaugural 2011 season, alongside the announcement of the new league, the Richmond Kickers revealed they would be moving to USL Pro for 2011. On September 22,2010, the Caribbean Division of USL Pro was announced, with teams from Puerto Rico and Antigua, with the inclusion of a team from Los Angeles, this division eventually became the International Division. On September 28,2010, USL announced that one of their clubs and reigning 2010 USL Second Division Champions. On September 30,2010, nearly two months following the teams own announcement of a USL Pro Championship Division move, the USL formally announced Dayton Dutch Lions FC would join USL Pro. On October 4 and 7,2010, the USL revealed two Second Division clubs, the Charlotte Eagles and the Harrisburg City Islanders, would be making the jump to USL Pro for 2011, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds were added as the 9th official team on October 22,2010. On November 9,2010, former USL-2 Division side Wilmington Hammerheads officially joined the league as the 12th team, the expected number of teams to launch league play in 2011 was announced as 18–20, alongside the announcement of the Wilmington Hammerheads joining the league. The Los Angeles Blues, associated with the successful womens Pali Blues organization, were added on December 7,2010 with a message of future Western Conference growth into 2012, USL Pro debuted in 2011, starting with 15 teams playing a 24-game regular season schedule. International Division teams played each team in their division four times while traveling to face American or National Division opponents in four games, the original playoff format saw eight teams compete in a one-game quarterfinal. The four remaining teams were re-seeded for a single semi-final match, in all playoff matches the highest seeded team hosted. On May 10,2011, early in the inaugural season. The PRSL clubs were dropped due to economic and ownership issues, the two remaining International Division teams – Antigua Barracuda FC and Los Angeles Blues – were re-aligned into the American and National Divisions. Due to the removal of the International Division, the playoff format featured the top four teams in each of the two divisions. The two division winners met in the USL Pro Championship at the home venue of the team with the better record. Following the 2011 season, USL Pro announced with the release of the 2012 season schedule that F. C, New York would not be returning to play, with the former National and American Divisions being dissolved to form a single, eleven team league table. New York withdrawing in January 2012, the league announced an eleven team single-table schedule for the 2012 season, two expansion teams joined for the 2013 season, Phoenix FC and the VSI Tampa Bay FC. C
17.
United States Adult Soccer Association
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The United States Adult Soccer Association is a national organization and sanctioning body for amateur soccer in the United States. It consists of 55 state organizations as well as regional and national leagues, the USLs Premier Development League and the National Premier Soccer League are USASA-affiliated but are designed to promote a higher lever of competition than the state organizations. USASA also affiliates the Womens Premier Soccer League, one of the top leagues in the nation. USASA has over 250,000 adult members within its leagues, state and local associations operate leagues under the umbrella of the USASA. The national organization is split into four regions, For a list of USASA affiliated amateur adult leagues, in 2013, USASA began a competition to pit the champions of the different mens amateur competitions against each other for the title of USA National Amateur Champions
18.
United States Youth Soccer Association
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The United States Youth Soccer Association is the youth affiliate and member of U. S. Soccer, the governing body for soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer includes 55 state youth soccer associations, one per state except for California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, the US Youth Soccer membership is divided into four regions, each with a Director elected to the board. The US Youth Soccer membership is divided into four regions for the purpose of competition, the regions are essentially East, Midwest, South and West. The winners of the qualify for the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-final matches qualify for the finals. Regional Champions in the Under-13 through Under-19 boys and girls age groups advance to the National Championships, the top team from each of the two divisions gender age group advances to the US Youth Soccer National Championships. United States Youth Soccer Association QCM - International Youth Sports Academy official website
19.
American Youth Soccer Organization
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The American Youth Soccer Organization is one of the two main national organizations in youth soccer in the United States for children aged 4 through 19. Over 50 years ago, AYSO was established as a soccer organization in West Torrance at Jefferson Middle School in 1964 with nine teams. Today the organization membership of over 50,000 teams. AYSO is Headquartered in Torrance, California and has developed local programs known as Regions in all 50 states, the U. S. Virgin Islands, the organization is run primarily by volunteers at its constituent local levels, with approximately 60 paid employees at its national headquarters. AYSO is a California non-profit corporation, local programs, which are called Regions, are not separately incorporated. However, they are given significant autonomy in management of their operations, as long as they are in compliance with AYSOs Bylaws, National Rules and Regulations, each Region is managed by a Regional Commissioner in conjunction with a Regional Board. Groups of Regions in close proximity comprise an Area, which is managed by an Area Director in conjunction with an Area Board, Areas are grouped into 14 Sections, each managed by a Section Director in conjunction with a Section Board. In addition, some Regions administered directly by the National Office, the governing body of AYSO is its National Board of Directors, which operates similarly to other boards of directors. The AYSO National Office is located at 19750 South Vermont Ave. in Torrance, the AYSO Coaching Program provides training and certification resources to volunteer coaches. The program is designed to promote one of AYSOs guiding 6 Philosophies, there are Six levels of AYSO referee training with USSF cross-certification. Training for referee instructors, administrators and assessors is provided using online resources including video, the AYSO Officiating Program also includes a youth referee program. The AYSO Management Program is designed to facilitate the running of AYSO at the local level by providing practical management training for its volunteers. Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Regional Management courses teach AYSOs league administrators how to manage their local programs, AYSO also provides in-depth operational manuals to assist administrators at every level their AYSO program. The Board and Staff Introductory Certification audiovisual presentation gives regional volunteers a basic understanding of their duties, the AYSO EXPO are educational conferences conducted annually for each of AYSOs geographic sections. They provide Workshops, training seminars, motivational speakers, a vendor show, the 2015 AYSO EXPO for Section 6 was held in Madison, Wisconsin. AYSOs Very Important Player Program offers children and young adults with disabilities the opportunity to play soccer at their own pace, the practices and games are geared to their needs – with fewer and more flexible rules – allowing for a successful sport experience. Since 1991, AYSO has helped Regions and Areas establish VIP programs for players whose physical or mental disabilities make it difficult to participate on mainstream teams. As of 2014, over 3,700 VIP players participate nationally, AYSOs volunteer application and screening process reduces the likelihood of abuses occurring while kids are participating in AYSO soccer programs
20.
US Club Soccer
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The organization sanctions clubs, leagues and tournaments for youth and adults, with a focus on high-level competitive play. The result of which will be to improve the level of play of the soccer player. Thus, there is a focus on flexibility in areas such as roster rules, US Club Soccer also aims to create a “members for life” culture within its clubs, where players can be developed from childhood through the adult level. US Club Soccer boasts a membership from all 50 states, and its headquarters are split between two locations in South Carolina, an executive office in Charleston and administrative office in Myrtle Beach. Membership is organized into four regions, each of which holds two seats on the organizations board of directors. US Club Soccer’s offerings include league- and cup-based competition, player identification and development programs, league-based programming includes the National Premier Leagues and Premier Leagues, a collection of US Club Soccer’s top leagues from around the country. Champions of the various NPLs advance to the NPL Finals, the organization’s annual league-based national championship competition, in addition, US Club Soccer sanctions local competitive leagues, recreational programs and adult leagues. In Southern California, Cal South Youth and Adult Soccer Division hosts the tournament for top teams to compete in. The champion team of the Cal South National Cup is a representative of Southern California in the Far West Regionals division, age bracket requirements for boys and girls in the Cal South National Cup and Far West Regionals Championship are U12-19 and in the National Championship U13-U19. Also a definitive feature of Cal South National Cup is that it hosts a College Showcase for boys and girls of the U15, U16. This is during the weekend of round two in the tournament and allows college coaches to see teams in each division play two full length games. In 2016, it was noted that one hundred college coaches attended the showcase to scout players. Established in 2004, the id2 National Identification and Development Program gives all players a chance to be identified, developed and scouted for inclusion in the U. S. national team programs, there is no cost to players to be scouted, recommended or to participate in camps. The program includes a national scouting and recommendation system, whereby top players are invited to id2 Program Training Camps. Each year, a team of elite players from the designated age group is chosen for the id2 National Selection. While on the National Selection International Tour, players experience life in country, take on youth academy teams, visit professional clubs. The four tours have taken teams to the Netherlands and Germany, England and Scotland, in 2012, the id2 National Selection notched a 3-1 win over FC Barcelona’s Infantil A youth academy team. Both the id2 Program and Player Development Programs are Olympic Development Programs as approved by the United States Olympic Committee, another part of the id2 Program, PDPs are regional identification and development events centered on the National Premier Leagues
21.
Prairie Avenue
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The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. The upper six-block section includes part of the historic Prairie Avenue District, several of Chicagos most important historical figures have lived on the street. This is especially true of the period of recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the street, residents of the street have influenced the evolution of the city and have played prominent national and international roles. They have influenced the history, the architecture, the culture. The street has over time been influenced by the demographics of Chicago, the importance of the street has declined, but it still has landmark buildings and is the backbone of a historic district. Preservation battles regarding various properties on the street have been notable with one having been chronicled on the front page of The New York Times, in the early 21st century, the street was redeveloped to host valuable and important condominiums. Recently, developments have extended the north to accommodate new high-rise condominiums, such as One Museum Park. The redevelopment has extended the street so that it has prominent buildings bordering Grant Park with Prairie Avenue addresses, Prairie Avenue once served as an Indian trail linking Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne in Indiana and thus derived its name from the vast midwestern prairie land between the two endpoints. In 1812, the Battle of Fort Dearborn occurred in the area that is now the section of the street. Casualties of the battle, such as William Wells and George Ronan, were struck down here, over time, the district has evolved from an upscale neighborhood to a factory district and back to an upscale neighborhood. Zoning in 1853 anticipated residential development, although only one grand villa existed at the time, by 1877 the eleven-block area of Prairie Avenue as well as Calumet Avenue housed elite residences. By 1886 the finest mansions in the city, each equipped with its own carriage house, in the 1880s and 1890s, mansions for George Pullman, Marshall Field, John J. Glessner and Philip Armour anchored a neighborhood of over fifty mansions known as Millionaires Row. Many of the architects of the day, such as Richard Morris Hunt, Henry Hobson Richardson. At the time of the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition, guidebooks described the street as the most expensive street west of Fifth Avenue. However, after Bertha Palmer, society wife of Potter Palmer, built the Palmer Mansion that anchored the Gold Coast along Lake Shore Drive, by 1911, warehouses and factories cramped the Prairie Avenue District. Large industry overtook the district by 1950, early 21st century deindustrialisation, urban congestion, and historic preservation have brought the return of trendy buildings, and restored as well as renovated structures. Simultaneously new infill housing is resuscitating the district, now, the historic northern section of the street is part of the Chicago Landmark Prairie Avenue District that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was declared a Chicago Landmark on December 27,1979, the historic district includes the 1800 and 1900-blocks of South Prairie, the 1800 block of South Indiana and 211 through 217 East Cullerton
22.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
23.
1994 FIFA World Cup
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The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, held in nine cities across the United States from 17 June to 17 July 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on 4 July 1988. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the tournament remains the highest in World Cup history. Brazil beat Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 0–0 after extra time and this made Brazil the first nation to win four World Cup titles. Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made their appearances in the finals, Norway made its first appearance since 1938. Bulgaria, Morocco and Mexico returned after missing the 1990 tournament, Greece, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time. Russia, competing independently for the first time after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the defending champions West Germany were united with their East German counterparts, representing the unified Germany for the first time since the 1938 World Cup. As a result of the performances by African teams in 1990. Norway qualified for the first time since 1938, Bolivia for the first time since 1950, the qualification campaigns of both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were affected by political events. The nation of Czechoslovakia dissolved in 1992, and the team completed its qualifying group under the name Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, Yugoslavia was suspended from international competition in 1992 as part of United Nations sanctions against the country as a result of the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions were not lifted until 1994, by time it was no longer possible for the team to qualify. Chiles suspension from the 1990 FIFA World Cup, following the interruption of their qualification game against Brazil. Japan failed to qualify after the Agony of Doha against Iraq, losing out to Saudi Arabia, among other teams who failed to qualify were Uruguay and England- the latter being semi-finalists, and finishing in fourth place in 1990. Denmark, Portugal, Hungary, and France failed to qualify for the second successive tournament and this was the only World Cup finals since 1938, for which neither England nor Scotland qualified. The Republic of Ireland qualified for a second successive World Cup finals tournament, as of 2016, this was the last time that Bolivia qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals. Three nations bid for host duties, United States, Brazil, the vote was held in Zurich on 4 July 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members. FIFA hoped that by staging the worlds most prestigious tournament there, one condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league, Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the draw that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada
24.
FIFA Women's World Cup
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The competition has been held every four years since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the Womens World Championship, was held in China. Under the tournaments current format, national teams vie for 23 slots in a qualification phase. The tournament proper, alternatively called the World Cup Finals, is contested at venues within the host nation over a period of one month. The seven FIFA Womens World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams, including the United States, the current champion is the United States, after winning their third title in the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup. Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from UEFA, the tournament saw European champion Norway defeat Sweden 1–0 in the final to win the tournament, while Brazil clinched third place by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout. The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup, again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the United States beating Norway in the final 2-1. In the 1999 edition, one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastains victory celebration after scoring the Cup-winning penalty kick against China. She took off her jersey and waved it over her head, showing her muscular torso, the 1999 final in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California had an attendance of 90,185, a world record for a womens sporting event. The 1999 and 2003 Womens World Cups were both held in the United States, in 2003 China was supposed to host it, but the tournament was moved because of SARS. As compensation, China retained its automatic qualification to the 2003 tournament as host nation, germany hosted the 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup, as decided by vote in October 2007. In March 2011, FIFA awarded Canada the right to host the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup, the 2015 edition saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams. Christie Rampone is the oldest player to play in a Womens World Cup match. In March 2015, FIFA awarded France the right to host the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup over South Korea, the final tournament has featured between twelve and twenty-four national teams competing over about one month in the host nation. There are two stages, the stage followed by the knockout stage. In the group stage, teams are drawn into groups of four teams each, each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The last round of matches of group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. In the 2015 24-team format, the two teams finishing first and second in group and the four best teams among those ranked third qualify for the round of 16. Points are used to rank the teams within a group, since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss
25.
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
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The 1999 FIFA Womens World Cup, the third edition of the FIFA Womens World Cup, was held in the United States and won by the host team. The final between the U. S. and China, held on July 10 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, U. S. President Bill Clinton was among those in attendance. The final was scoreless after extra time and won by the U. S. in a penalty shootout and this remains the only Womens World Cup tournament in which the host nation has won. An official music video of the number Lets Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez was filmed live at the 1999 FIFA Womens World Cup,16 teams participated in the final tournament. The teams were, For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, a No extra time was played. The following awards were given for the tournament, Sissi of Brazil, in total,123 goals were scored by 74 different players, with three of them credited as own goals
26.
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
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The FIFA Womens World Cup 2003, the fourth edition of the FIFA Womens World Cup, was held in the United States and won by Germany. The tournament was scheduled for China. On 3 May 2003 the tournament was moved to the United States. Because the United States had hosted the 1999 World Cup, it was thought the United States could best organize the tournament in the time remaining before the October scheduled start. In compensation for losing the tournament, China retained its automatic qualification as host, mostly due to the rescheduling of the tournament on short notice, FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation were forced to creatively schedule matches. Nine doubleheaders were scheduled in group play and they also had to abandon the modern practice of scheduling the final matches of the group stage to kick off simultaneously. In Groups A and D, the matches were scheduled as the two ends of a doubleheader. The final matches in Groups B and C were also scheduled as doubleheaders, the four quarterfinals were also scheduled as two doubleheaders, and both semifinals were also a doubleheader. 16 teams participated in the final tournament, the teams were, For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 2003 FIFA Womens World Cup squads
27.
Football at the Summer Olympics
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Association football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a mens competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Womens football was added to the program in 1996. Football was not included on the program at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, however, sources claim that an unofficial football tournament was organized during the first competition, in which an Athens XI lost to a team representing Smyrna, then part of the Ottoman Empire. According to a source, this is an error which has been perpetuated in multiple texts, tournaments were played at the 1900 and 1904 games and the Intercalated Games of 1906, but these were contested by various clubs and scratch teams. Although the IOC considers the 1900 and 1904 tournaments to be official Olympic events, they are not recognized by FIFA, neither recognizes the Intercalated Games today. In 1906 teams from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and France withdrew from a competition and left Denmark, Smyrna, Athens. Denmark won the final against Athens 9–0, in the London Games of 1908 a proper international tournament was organised by the Football Association, featuring just six teams. The number of rose to eleven in 1912, when the competition was organised by the Swedish Football Association. Many of these matches were unbalanced, as evidenced by high scoring games. All players were amateurs, in accordance with the Olympic spirit, the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Ireland asked the Football Association to send an English national amateur team. Some of the English members played with clubs, most notably Derby Countys Ivan Sharpe, Bradford City F. C. Harold Walden. England won the first two official tournaments convincingly, beating Denmark both times, in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic games, the first South American teams entered the competition, Uruguay and Argentina. Football returned to controversy at the 1936 Berlin Games, the German organisers were intent on the return of the game to the Olympic movement since it guaranteed income into the organisations coffers. The Italian team intimidated a referee, peru scored a contested victory over Austria in overtime, with a fan invasion of the field at the very end. The Austrian team asked for the result to be annulled, FIFA agreed, the Peruvian team refused and left the Olympics. As professionalism spread around the world, the gap in quality between the World Cup and the Olympics widened, the countries that benefited most were the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe, where top athletes were state-sponsored while retaining their status as amateurs. Between 1948 and 1980,23 out of 27 Olympic medals were won by Eastern Europe, with only Sweden, Denmark, for the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the IOC decided to admit professional players. Since 1992 male competitors must be under 23 years old, and since 1996, players under 23 years old, with three over-23 year old players, are allowed per squad
28.
1984 Summer Olympics
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The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984. When Tehran, the other interested city on the international level, declined to bid due to the concurrent Iranian political and social changes. This was the second occasion Los Angeles hosted the games, the first being in 1932, for differing reasons, Iran and Libya also boycotted. The USSR announced its intention not to participate on May 8,1984, citing security concerns and chauvinistic sentiments, boycotting countries organized another large event in June–September 1984, called the Friendship Games, however, not even a single competition was held between July 28 and August 12. Representatives of the countries, the Soviets in particular, underlined it was not held to replace the Olympics. Elite athletes from the U. S. and USSR would only compete against each other at the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow, organized in response to the boycotts. The Olympic Committee led by Peter Ueberroth used some of the profits to endow the LA84 Foundation to promote sports in Southern California, educate coaches. The 1984 Summer Olympics are often considered the most financially successful modern Olympics, the host state of California was the home state of U. S. President Ronald Reagan, who officially opened the Games. He had served as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, the official mascot of the Los Angeles Games was Sam the Olympic Eagle. The logo of the games featured five blue, white and red stars arranged horizontally and struck through with alternating streaks and these were the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch. On July 18,2009, a 25th anniversary celebration was held in the main stadium and this celebration included a speech by the former president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, Ueberroth, and a re-creation of the lighting of the cauldron. After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in Munich and significant financial debts of Montreal, only two cities made serious bids for the 1984 Summer Games. But before a city could be anointed in 1978, Tehran, too. Hence, the process for the 1984 Summer Olympics consisted of a single finalized bid. The bid from Tehran was withdrawn before the selection as a result of Irans policy changes following the Iranian Revolution, Los Angeles had unsuccessfully bid for the two previous Summer Olympics, for 1976 and 1980. The 1984 Olympic Torch Relay began in New York City and ended in Los Angeles, traversing 33 states, unlike later torch relays, the torch was continuously carried by runners on foot. The route covered more than 9,320 mi and involved 3,636 runners, noted athlete O. J. Simpson was among the runners, carrying the torch up the California Incline in Santa Monica. With the torch, he touched off the flame passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo
29.
1996 Summer Olympics
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A record 197 nations, all current IOC member nations, took part in the Games, comprising 10,318 athletes. The 1996 Summer Games were the first to be staged in a different year from the Winter Games, Atlanta became the fifth American city to host the Olympic Games and the third to hold a Summer Olympic Games. Atlanta was selected on September 18,1990, in Tokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the 96th IOC Session. Atlantas bid to host the Summer Games that began in 1987 was considered a long-shot and this would be Torontos fourth failed attempt since 1960. The Athens bid was based on the fact that 1996 marked 100 years since the first Summer Games in Greece in 1896, though Athens would eventually host the 2004 Summer Olympics. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics at USD4.1 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 151% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the committee for the purpose of staging the Games. The competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. The cost and cost overrun for Atlanta 1996 compares with costs of USD4.6 billion, average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD5.2 billion, average cost overrun is 176%. The 1996 Olympics was predicated on the model established by the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The cost to stage the Games was US$1.8 billion, to pay for the games, Atlanta relied on commercial sponsorship and ticket sales, resulting in a profit of $10 million. Events of the 1996 Games were held in a variety of areas, a number were held within the Olympic Ring, a 3 mi circle from the center of Atlanta. Others were held at Stone Mountain, about 20 miles outside of the city, to broaden ticket sales, other events, such as soccer, occurred in various cities in the Southeast. The opening ceremony featured Céline Dion singing The Power of the Dream, the mascot for the Olympiad was an abstract, animated character named Izzy. In contrast to the tradition of mascots of national or regional significance in the city hosting the Olympiad, Izzy was an amorphous. The 1996 Olympics were the first to have two separate opening ceremony events, Savannah, because of its geographical separation from Atlanta, had its own opening ceremonies on July 18,1996. The event featured Worldwide Connection, a composed by Savannah native Jeffrey Reed and a concert by Trisha Yearwood. Atlantas Olympic slogan Come Celebrate Our Dream was written by Jack Arogeti, the slogan was selected from more than 5,000 submitted by the public to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
30.
Canada men's national soccer team
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The Canada mens national soccer team represents Canada in international soccer competitions at the senior mens level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association and compete in the Confederation of North, Canada also won a gold medal in the 1904 Summer Olympics. The 1986 World Cup was their only successful campaign in their history. Soccer was being played in Canada with the Dominion Football Association, in 1885, the WFA sent a representative team to New Jersey to take on a side put forth by the American Football Association, the then-unofficial governing body of the sport in the United States. In an unofficial friendly, Canada defeated their hosts 1–0 in East Newark, the American team won 3–2 in a return match one year later. In 1888, a team represented the WFA in a tour of the British Isles, earning a record of nine wins, five draws, and nine losses. The squad comprised 16 Canadian-born players with the exception being tour organizer David Forsyth. In 1904 Galt Football Club represented the WFA at the Olympic Games in St Louis, as just one of three teams competing, Galt defeated two American clubs, Christian Brothers College and St. Rose to win the tournament. After a short talk by Mr. James E. Conlon of the Physical Culture Department, Mayor Mundy, of the City of Galt, the medals are clearly engraved with the name of the company in St. Louis that made them. In 1905, a British team of touring amateurs nicknamed the Pilgrims toured Canada, the match was played in front of 3500 fans in Galt, now part of Cambridge, Ontario, and ended in a 3–3 draw. Earlier the Pilgrims had been beaten 2–1 by Berlin Rangers, in the city now known as Kitchener, Canada also played Australia at the Jubilee Oval, Adelaide on Saturday July 12,1924, and defeated them by 4 goals to 1. In 1925, Canada played their old rivals, the United States, in Montreal, in a return match in November 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, Canada was defeated 1–6. One year later, Canada lost 2–6 to the Americans in the city before playing four internationals in a 1927 tour of New Zealand. Following the lead of British football associations, Canada withdrew from FIFA in 1928 over a dispute regarding broken time payments to amateur players. Under the guidance of head coach Don Petrie, Canada defeated the USA in Toronto 5–1 in their opening game, Mexico advanced as group winners, meaning that Canada missed out on the World Cup in 1958 in Sweden. Canada withdrew from World Cup qualifying for 1962 and did not enter a team for 1966 and they did compete in soccer however at the 1967 Pan American Games, their first time to do so in the sixth edition of the games, which they hosted in Winnipeg. Canada finished a fourth place, helped somewhat by defending champion Brazils absence. A 0–0 draw away to Bermuda meant the Canadians, under manager Peter Dinsdale, Dinsdale was replaced by Frank Pike
31.
1930 FIFA World Cup
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The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July 1930, all matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament. Few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of travelling to South America, the teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the United States, Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history, while American goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first official clean sheet in the tournament. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event. Uruguays bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids, the first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete, and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept, plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long and costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances, and no European entries were received before the February deadline. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929, two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened, and eventually four European teams made the trip by sea, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, managed by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide and he selected the squad personally, and negotiated with employers to ensure that the players would still have jobs upon their return. The French entered at the intervention of Rimet, but neither Frances star defender Manuel Anatol nor the teams regular coach Gaston Barreau could be persuaded to make the trip. The Belgians participated at the instigation of German-Belgian FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers, the Romanians boarded the SS Conte Verde at Genoa, the French were picked up at Villefranche-sur-Mer on 21 June 1930, and the Belgians embarked at Barcelona. The Conte Verde carried Rimet, the trophy and the three designated European referees, the Belgians Jean Langenus and Henri Christophe, along with Thomas Balway, a Parisian who may have been English. The Brazilian team were picked up when the boat docked in Rio de Janeiro on 29 June before arriving in Uruguay on 4 July, Yugoslavia travelled via the mail steamship Florida from Marseille. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia there were doubts about their participation at first, since the Croatians decided to boycott the national team, King Alexander I did not want to finance the whole idea, but in the end they found a solution
32.
1934 FIFA World Cup
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The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934, the 1934 World Cup was the first for which teams had to qualify to take part. Thirty-two nations entered the competition, and after qualification,16 teams participated in the finals tournament, reigning champions Uruguay did not enter. Italy became the second World Cup champions, beating Czechoslovakia 2–1 in the final, after a lengthy decision-making process in which FIFAs executive committee met eight times, Italy was chosen as the host nation at a meeting in Stockholm on 9 October 1932. The decision was taken by the committee without a ballot of members. The Italian bid was chosen in preference to one from Sweden,36 countries applied to enter the tournament, so qualifying matches were required to thin the field to 16. Even so, there were notable absentees. As a result, the 1934 World Cup is the one in which the reigning champions did not participate. The British Home Nations, in a period of self-imposed exile from FIFA, despite their role as hosts, Italy were still required to qualify, the first and only time the host nation was not granted automatic qualification. The qualifying matches were arranged on a geographical basis, withdrawals by Chile and Peru meant Argentina and Brazil qualified without playing a single match. Twelve of the 16 places were allocated to Europe, three to the Americas, and one to Africa or Asia, only 10 of the 32 entrants, and four of the 16 qualified teams, were from outside Europe. The last place in the finals was contested between the United States and Mexico only three days before the start of the tournament in a match in Rome, which the United States won. The majority of the 16 teams were making their first World Cup appearance and these included nine of the 12 European teams together with Egypt. Egypt were the first team from Africa in the finals and would not qualify again until the time the competition was held in Italy. Like the Berlin Olympics two years later, the 1934 World Cup was an instance of a sporting event being used for overt political gain. Benito Mussolini was keen to use the tournament as a means of promoting fascism, the number of supporters travelling from other countries was higher than at any previous football tournament, including 7,000 from the Netherlands and 10,000 each from Austria and Switzerland. The group stage used in the first World Cup was discarded in favour of a knockout tournament. If a match was tied after ninety minutes, then thirty minutes of time were played
33.
1950 FIFA World Cup
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The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950, was the fourth FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup since 1938, the planned 1942 and 1946 competitions having been cancelled owing to World War II. It was won by Uruguay, who had won the competition in 1930. It was also the first tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, because of World War II, the World Cup had not been staged since 1938, the planned World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were both cancelled. After the war, FIFA were keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible, in the aftermath of the war, much of Europe lay in ruins. Brazils new bid was very similar to the mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted, having secured a host nation, FIFA would still dedicate some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete. The Italians were eventually persuaded to attend, but travelled by boat rather than by plane, Brazil and Italy qualified automatically, leaving 14 places remaining. Of these, seven were allocated to Europe, six to the Americas, both Germany and Japan were not permitted to participate in qualification. The British nations were invited to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile and it was decided to use the 1949–50 British Home Championship as a qualifying group, with the top two teams qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second, argentina, Ecuador and Peru in South America withdrew after the qualifying draw. This meant that Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay qualified from South America by default, in Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma all withdrew, leaving India to qualify by default. In Europe, Austria withdrew, claiming its team was too inexperienced, belgium also withdrew from the qualification tournament. These withdrawals meant that Switzerland and Turkey qualified without having to play their round of matches. Before the qualification competition, George Graham, chairman of the Scottish Football Association, had said that Scotland would only travel to Brazil as winners of the Home Championship, Turkey also withdrew, citing financial problems and the cost of travelling to South America. FIFA invited Portugal, Ireland and France, who had both been eliminated in qualifying, to fill the left by Scotland and Turkey. Portugal and Ireland refused, but France initially accepted, and was entered into the draw, the draw, held in Rio on 22 May 1950, allocated the fifteen remaining teams into four groups, The teams pre-tournament Elo rankings are shown in parenthesis. France also withdrew, citing the amount of travel that would be required in Group 4, there was not enough time to invite further replacement teams or to reorganise the groups, so the tournament featured only thirteen teams, with just two nations in Group 4. Of the thirteen teams that competed, only one, England, was making its debut, several of the Latin American teams were competing for the first time since the inaugural 1930 tournament—this included undefeated Uruguay, as well as Mexico, Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia
34.
United States v England (1950 FIFA World Cup)
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The United States mens soccer team defeated England 1–0 on June 29,1950, in a group match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup at Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The result is notable as one of the biggest shocks in the tournaments history, before the game, England were heavy favorites against a hastily assembled U. S. team, which was composed of part-time players. The games only goal was scored by the U. S. s Haitian-born center forward Joe Gaetjens. This game and the U. S. team were profiled by author Geoffrey Douglas in his book The Game of Their Lives, each team had played one previous match in the group, England having beaten Chile 2–0 and the United States losing 3–1 to Spain. At the time, the English had a reputation as the Kings of Football, with a record of 23 wins,4 losses. They had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before that, the odds were 3–1 the English would win the Cup, and 500–1 for the U. S. As such, the committee opted to stay with the team that had just defeated Chile. Matthews would be saved for later, supposedly more difficult, opponents, as there were no substitutes allowed in those days, Matthews watched the game with the other reserves. The American team consisted of players, most of whom had other jobs to support their families. Walter Bahr was a school teacher, Frank Borghi drove a hearse for his uncles funeral home. One player, Ben McLaughlin, had to withdraw from the tournament because he could not get time off work. S, citizens—had been added to the roster just before that game. We have no chance, recently appointed coach Bill Jeffrey told the press, the English Daily Express newspaper wrote, It would be fair to give the U. S. three goals of a start. England won the toss and elected to kick off, within ninety seconds, Stanley Mortensen sent a cross from the left wing to Roy Bentley, who let off a shot that was barely pushed aside by U. S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi. By the 12th minute, England had six shots on goal but could not convert. The U. S. struggled to move to the offense, and finally managed a shot on goal in the 25th minute, the English counterattacked with three successive clear shots at the goal in minutes 30,31, and 32, but failed to score. Mortensen twice went over the crossbar, and Tom Finneys header to the top corner was tipped away by Borghi, the crowd exploded as the U. S. improbably led 1–0. As the half drew to a close, Finney had a chance to equalize, the crowd, initially 10,000, increased as Brazilian locals heard radio coverage of the match. Attendants were mostly supporting for the underdog Americans, cheering with Borghis defenses, according to Bahr, The overwhelming majority was Brazilians, but they rooted for us the entire time
35.
England national football team
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The England national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England are one of the two oldest national teams in football, alongside Scotland, whom played in the worlds first international football match in 1872. Englands home ground is Wembley Stadium, London, and the current manager is Gareth Southgate, England contest the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, which alternate biennially. In contesting for the World Cup seventeen times over the past sixty four years, England won the 1966 World Cup, when they hosted the finals, the England national football team is the joint-oldest in the world, it was formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on 5 March 1870, having been organised by the Football Association, a return fixture was organised by representatives of Scottish football teams on 30 November 1872. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three Home Nations—Scotland, Wales and Ireland—in the British Home Championship, to begin with, England had no permanent home stadium. They joined FIFA in 1906 and played their first ever games against countries other than the Home Nations on a tour of Central Europe in 1908, Wembley Stadium was opened in 1923 and became their home ground. The relationship between England and FIFA became strained, and this resulted in their departure from FIFA in 1928 and their first ever defeat on home soil to a foreign team was a 0–2 loss to the Republic of Ireland, on 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park. A 6–3 loss in 1953 to Hungary, was their defeat by a foreign team at Wembley. In the return match in Budapest, Hungary won 7–1 and this still stands as Englands worst ever defeat. After the game, a bewildered Syd Owen said, it was like playing men from outer space, in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, England reached the quarter-finals for the first time, and lost 4–2 to reigning champions Uruguay. Although Walter Winterbottom was appointed as Englands first ever manager in 1946. In UEFA Euro 1968, the reached the semi-finals for the first time. England qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as reigning champions, and reached the quarter-finals, England had been 2–0 up, but were eventually beaten 3–2 after extra time. They failed in qualification for the 1974, leading to Ramseys dismissal, under Ron Greenwood, they managed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, despite not losing a game, they were eliminated in the second group stage. Despite losing to Italy in the third place play-off, the members of the England team were given bronze medals identical to the Italians’, the England team of 1990 were welcomed home as heroes and thousands of people lined the streets, for a spectacular open-top bus parade. However, the team did not win any matches in UEFA Euro 1992, drawing with tournament winners Denmark, the 1990s saw four England managers, each in the role for a relatively brief period. Graham Taylor was Robsons successor, but resigned after England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, at UEFA Euro 1996, held in England, Terry Venables led England, equalling their best performance at a European Championship, reaching the semi-finals as they did in 1968
36.
1990 FIFA World Cup
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The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, teams representing 116 national football associations entered, and qualification began in April 1988. A total of 22 teams qualified from this process, along with host nation Italy, the tournament was won by West Germany, their third World Cup title. They beat Argentina 1–0 in the final, a rematch of the final four years earlier. Italy finished third, and England fourth, after both lost their semi-finals in penalty shootouts and this was the last tournament to feature a team from the divided Germany, with the country being reunified later in 1990. Costa Rica, Ireland and the UAE made their first appearances in the finals, the official match ball was the Adidas Etrusco Unico. The 1990 World Cup is widely regarded as one of the poorest World Cups and it generated an average 2.21 goals per game – a record low that still stands – and a then-record 16 red cards, including the first ever dismissal in a final. This World Cup saw the introduction of the pre-match Fair Play Flag to encourage fair play, negative tactics led to the introduction of the back-pass rule in 1992, and three points for a win instead of two at future World Cups. Nonetheless, the 1990 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history and this was the first World Cup to be officially recorded and transmitted in HDTV by the Italian broadcaster RAI in association with Japans NHK. At the time it was the most watched World Cup in history in non-unique viewers, the vote to choose the hosts of the 1990 tournament was held on 19 May 1984 in Zürich, Switzerland. Here, the FIFA Executive Committee chose Italy ahead of the rival bid. This awarding made Italy only the nation to host two World Cup tournaments, after Mexico had also achieved this with their 1986 staging. Italy had previously had the event in 1934, where they had won their first championship, Austria, England, France, Greece, West Germany and Yugoslavia also submitted initial applications for 31 July 1983 deadline. A month later, only England, Greece, Italy and the Soviet Union remained in the hunt after the other contenders all withdrew, all four bids were assessed by FIFA in late 1983, with the final decision over-running into 1984 due to the volume of paperwork involved. In early 1984, England and Greece also withdrew, leading to a race in the final vote. 116 teams entered the 1990 World Cup, including Italy as host nation and Argentina as reigning World Cup champions, thus, the remaining 22 finals places were divided among the continental confederations, with 114 initially entering the qualification competition. Due to rejected entries and withdrawals,103 teams eventually participated in the qualifying stages, thirteen places were contested by UEFA teams, three by CONMEBOL teams, two by CAF teams, two by AFC teams, and two by CONCACAF teams. The remaining place was decided by a play-off between a CONMEBOL team and a team from the OFC, chile were also banned from the 1994 qualifiers for this offence
37.
Trinidad and Tobago national football team
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The Trinidad and Tobago national football team, nicknamed the Soca Warriors, represents the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in international football. It is controlled by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association and competes in both CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union, its sub-continental confederation, the team is ranked 83rd in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings, and 99th in the World Football Elo Ratings. They reached the first round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the national team competes in the FIFA World Cup and the CONCACAF Gold Cup, in addition to the Caribbean Cup and other competitions by invitation. The Soca Warriors lone appearance at the FIFA World Cup came in 2006 after the team defeated Bahrain 2–1 on aggregate in the CONCACAF–AFC intercontinental play-off. The team has qualified for the CONCACAF Gold Cup on eight occasions with their best performance in 2000 after reaching the semi-finals, however, the national team has experienced great success in the Caribbean Cup having won the sub-continental competition eight times and runners-up on five occasions. At the 1973 CONCACAF Championship, Trinidad and Tobago fell two short of qualifying for the 1974 World Cup Finals in controversial fashion. Trinidad and Tobago lost a game on 4 December 1973 against hosts Haiti 2–1 after being denied five goals. The referee, José Roberto Henríquez of El Salvador, and Canadian linesman James Higuet were subsequently banned for life by FIFA for the events of the match. Trinidad and Tobago came within one game of qualifying for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, nicknamed the Strike Squad during the qualifying campaign, Trinidad and Tobago needed only a draw to qualify in their final game played at home against the United States on 19 November 1989. For the good behaviour of the crowd at the stadium, despite the loss and overcrowded stands. Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, during their qualifying campaign, they sat at the bottom of the table in the final round of qualifying with one point from three. They qualified via a playoff against Bahrain, recovering from a 1–1 draw at home to win 1–0 in Manama, as a result, Trinidad and Tobago became the smallest country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. In Germany, Trinidad and Tobago were grouped with England, Sweden and they drew their first game 0–0 against Sweden despite going down to ten men early in the second half. They lost both their matches against England and Paraguay by a 2–0 margin. Trinidad and Tobago began their campaign in the Second Round with a home, Trinidad and Tobago lost the first match at home 1–2, but bounced back to win the away leg in Bermuda 2–0 to progress to the third round 3–2 on aggregate. The Soca Warriors advanced to Group 1 of the Third Round alongside the United States, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago progressed to the Fourth Round by placing second in the group with eleven points from six games. This qualified Trinidad and Tobago for the Fourth Round, or Hexagonal, against Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, the Fourth Round was also played in a home and away format among the six teams involved. Qualification quickly turned disastrous for Trinidad and Tobago as they tied 2–2 with El Salvador after leading 2–0 and they would then tie 1–1 with Honduras following a late-strike
38.
1994 FIFA World Cup Final
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The 1994 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, United States, on 17 July 1994 to determine the winner of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup final to be both scoreless in regular and extra time and to be decided by a penalty shoot-out, silver Ball winner Roberto Baggio missed the decisive penalty. FIFA awarded the match of the tournament to this famous college sports stadium near Los Angeles on June 30,1992. The World Cup trophy was presented to Brazil captain Dunga by then-Vice President of the United States Al Gore, with Italy finishing as runners-up, Franco Baresi became the sixth player in history to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the FIFA World Cup
39.
Colombia national football team
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The Colombia national football team represents Colombia in international football competitions and is overseen by the Colombian Football Federation. It is a member of the CONMEBOL and is ranked seventh in the FIFA World Rankings. The team are nicknamed Los Cafeteros due to the production in their country. Since the mid-1980s, the team has been a symbol fighting the countrys negative reputation. This has made the popular and made the national team a sign of nationalism, pride. Colombia is known for having a fan base. Colombia had its strongest period during the 1990s, a 1993 match resulted in a 5–0 win over Argentina which began a special mutual respect rivalry between both nations. The goalkeeper René Higuita achieved fame from his eccentric scorpion kick clearance against England at Wembley Stadium in 1995, stars from Colombias team included Carlos Valderrama and Faustino Asprilla. During this era Colombia qualified for the 1990,1994, and 1998 World Cups, following the death of Andrés Escobar after the 1994 World Cup, Colombias team faded in the latter half of the 1990s. They were the champions of the 2001 Copa América, which hosted and set a new Copa América record of conceding no goals. Prior to that success, they were runners-up to Peru in the 1975 Copa América, in total, Colombia has gained a top four result in seven Copa Américas. Colombia was the first team to win FIFA best mover in 1993 where the achievement was first introduced, Colombia missed three World Cups between 2002 and 2010. After a 16-year-long wait, in 2014 Colombia finally returned to the World Cup, where they were able to advance to the quarter-finals, Colombias midfielder James Rodríguez won two awards, the Golden Boot for most goals and Best Goal of the Tournament. The 1962 World Cup match against the Soviet Union finished in a 4–4 tie after Colombia had been down 4–1, in that game, Colombia also scored a direct corner kick goal, also making it the only direct corner kick goal in World Cup history. Colombia played its first official matches at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games, the Colombia national football team was composed mostly by all the players of the Club Juventud Bogotana. Alfonso Novoa was the manager of Colombia until 23 February, the first game was played on 10 February 1938 against Mexico. Colombia was defeated 1–3, Luis Argüelles, Luis de la Fuente and Horacio Casarín scored for Mexico, Colombia was able to obtain the bronze medal, with two wins and three losses. The same year, Colombia played at the I Bolivarian Games in Bogotá, fernando Paternoster was the manager of Colombia, the sides first foreign manager
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Presidents of the United States Soccer Federation