Secrets and scandals of the last US World Cup revealed: Insiders spill all on a wild summer of Diana Ross, drugs and OJ Simpson

A couple of years ago, Scott LeTellier realized he needed to redecorate his bachelor pad. The 75-year-old had recently remarried, and his new wife, Patsy, doesn’t quite share his tastes.

‘It looks like a sports museum in here,’ LeTellier told the Daily Mail in 2024. At that point, the exhibition had shrunk, but his walls remained a shrine to one summer. Pictures, posters, tickets – all originals, all from 1994.

LeTellier was a lawyer once. But 32 years ago, he was among the architects of a World Cup that broke records and brought soccer to the US. He wrote the bid that swayed FIFA and helped change the face of sports in the States.

On June 12 at SoFi Stadium, the US men’s national team will face Paraguay in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup, and eyes from across the globe will be trained on a soccer landscape that has been transformed since that summer when Oprah Winfrey fell through a trapdoor and Bill Clinton was left to burn in the sun. 

When Diana Ross missed a penalty and OJ Simpson drove players to insomnia. When a bridge collapsed and so did attendance records.

When USMNT hopefuls were put through a ‘reality show’ and drank Jagermeister with Metallica. When Diego Maradona failed a drugs test and some soccer was played, too.

Alexi Lalas jumps in the air during the 1994 tournament. He became the face of a US team that defied its doubters

Brazil lifts the trophy after beating Italy in a penalty shootout in the 1994 World Cup final

‘It was a strange, strange summer,’ Alexi Lalas says. ‘There was a real fear that we were going to get embarrassed.’

Shortly before the tournament, Lalas sat next to an elderly woman on a plane. He told her he was a soccer player. Her next two questions: ‘What’s your job?’ and ‘What do you do for money?’

Within weeks, Lalas had become the red-haired rock star of a team that defied its doubters, during a summer when soccer seared itself into American hearts and minds.

Earlier this month, US Soccer opened a new $250 million HQ outside of Atlanta that will serve as the sport’s nerve center for generations to come. It is perhaps the most glaring, glistening proof of progress.

‘When I was elected president of US Soccer in 1990, the federation offices were in a trailer on the Olympic committee grounds in Colorado Springs,’ Alan Rothenberg explains. ‘We were effectively broke.’

Sunil Gulati first became involved with the federation a few years earlier. They had a staff of around six back then, and he was once asked to run an Under-17 training camp.

‘We literally bought soccer balls at a retail store,’ Gulati recalls. ‘We had sprinklers that went off… in the middle of training.’

When Gulati told his superiors that America’s national team program was a ‘mess,’ he was asked to do something about it.

LeTellier’s journey in soccer, meanwhile, began in Cold War Germany. He was there on a church mission in 1974 when the World Cup was in town.

‘I got a graduate-degree level of education in soccer,’ he recalls. A decade later, LeTellier oversaw soccer for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

An aerial view of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the 1994 World Cup final was held

Scott LeTellier poses with Pele (center) and former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter (right)

But the collapse of the North American Soccer League came that same year, leaving players with a ‘barren wasteland’ of no professional league and few career prospects. 

After America failed with a late bid to host the 1986 World Cup, LeTellier argued that – rather than producing ‘a glitzy American marketing presentation’ – they needed to speak to the Swiss-based suits at FIFA.

‘It was more of a bureaucratic document,’ he explains, ‘which I basically dictated in a two-day, nonstop session.’

A few tweaks and 130 pages later, the bid was formed. They hired a political campaign firm out of Washington, DC. 

But their chances, LeTellier was told by FIFA, were around 10 percent. Brazil was widely expected to beat the US and Morocco, only for its bid to ‘implode’ amid financial problems and infighting.

‘The key moment came in ’88 when FIFA announced they were changing the date of the decision,’ Gulati recalls. ‘They moved it to July 4… we thought that was a pretty good sign.’ So it proved.

LeTellier was asked to pull the plug on his law firm and run the organizing committee. Soon after, he had mortgaged his house to keep the operation afloat. ‘We literally had no money,’ he says. Within three months, it’s claimed, he was $110,000 in the red.

At this point, it remained a shoestring operation. ‘We had only seven people,’ LeTellier recalls. That had changed by the time Gulati joined the organizing committee in late 1992, following a stint at the World Bank. But it remained a race against time.

Gulati would usually be in the office by 6am. He would leave around 9.20pm and order pizza in time for international calls from home. ‘That’s not a complaint,’ he says. ‘It was fantastic.’

Sunil Gulati speaks during the 2019 National Soccer Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony. He first got involved with US Soccer in the 1980s and helped organize the World Cup

For the players, those final two years turned into an exercise in survival. ‘It was basically a reality show,’ Lalas recalls.

With no professional league, it was time to improvise. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ Rothenberg says. ‘Our players at that time were disrespected around the world.’

Marcelo Balboa agrees. 

‘No one would take a chance on an American between ’90 and ’94, so the federation put us together as a club team,’ explains the Hall-of-Fame defender and veteran of three World Cups. ‘I don’t even think people really knew who the national team were.’

A training camp was set up in California, where coach Bora Milutinovic put on a rolling audition. ‘You would come in and hope that you lasted for the week,’ Lalas says.

Over 16 months, 30 players trained twice a day, ran on the beach and traveled around playing ‘countless’ international fixtures. ‘It was a boot camp,’ Lalas explains. ‘They would churn them and burn them… a lot of players came in and out. I was fortunate enough to go through that gauntlet.’

At first, players were housed in a hotel and paid only in meal tickets. Those who hung about would ‘graduate’ to a room in an apartment and perhaps a short-term contract. ‘The pot of gold was being on that team in ’94,’ Lalas said.

By June 17, 1994, the hard work had been done – on and off the field. Fears that hooliganism could disrupt the tournament were eased when England failed to qualify. Other security scares were narrowly avoided, too.

‘In the final of the Asian qualification, North Korea, Iran and Iraq were all in contention… three of the so-called axis of evil,’ Rothenberg, who served as chairman of the World Cup organizing committee, recalls. ‘We were scared to death.’ 

Thankfully for Rothenberg, none made it through. The presence of Iran, Iraq or North Korea would have dampened the party atmosphere US Soccer had tried to foster. Back then, Rothenberg wasn’t sure America had enough soccer fans to make the World Cup a ‘success.’ 

‘But I did know that Americans love a big event,’ the 87-year-old says. So he flooded the build-up with celebrity appearances and performances from the likes of Smokey Robinson, James Brown and Robin Williams. 

For the final, Rothenberg had planned a Super Bowl-style halftime show featuring Whitney Houston and Kenny G, only for FIFA to torpedo the idea. Three decades on, soccer’s governing body has organized its own.

Diana Ross performed at the opening ceremony in Chicago before missing a penalty

Back in 1994, there was still an opening ceremony in Chicago, where Oprah was chosen as MC.

‘During the rehearsal, she had completely mangled (then-FIFA president) Joao Havelange’s last name,’ LeTellier recalls. ‘So I went up to her and tried to explain… she took umbrage at the fact that I was correcting her.’

‘That’s it! We’re not mentioning any names!’ Oprah decided. Not many people stuck to the script, in fairness. During her performance, Diana Ross shanked a penalty from a few yards out. It missed, but the goal still broke in half.

It was a comical gaffe but no one was hurt. Unlike when Oprah and singer-songwriter Jon Secada fell through the stage.

Organizers had arranged for dancers to perform and then disappear down a trapdoor. ‘The last person down was supposed to close it,’ LeTellier says. They didn’t, and then Oprah and Secada tumbled down the stairs.

Up in the stands, meanwhile, a luxury suite had been reserved for the president and first lady, Bill and Hillary Clinton, to watch the ceremony and the opening game between Germany and Bolivia.

Instead, President Clinton chose to sit among the people with temperatures nearing 100 F. ‘No hat, no sunblock, no protection. It was just a mess,’ LeTellier says.

The only saving grace? Before long, another story had stolen the headlines. OJ Simpson was in the back of his friend’s white Bronco with a gun to his head. He had been accused of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend. He led police on a 60-mile chase that unfolded on national television.

Near Detroit, the US players were due up around 6am the following day for their first game against Switzerland. But Lalas and company struggled to sleep.

‘I remember turning to Brad Friedel, who was my roommate, and saying: “OJ is going to keep me up before the biggest game of my life,”‘ Lalas recalls. ‘You couldn’t put the remote control down. Then, obviously, we’re talking about it at breakfast the next morning.’

Lalas helped the United States Men’s National Team reach the knockout stages of the tournament

OJ Simpson’s iconic car chase gripped the country during the summer of 1994, and Lalas and his USA teammates were watching

Colombia defender Andres Escobar played during the 1994 World Cup. Upon returning home, he was shot to death

The US drew with Switzerland – after a pre-match visit from Henry Kissinger – and then upset Colombia to reach the knockout stages. Lalas went out for dinner the following night; other diners stood up and cheered.

A few days later, however, Colombia defender Andres Escobar was shot dead back home. He had scored an own goal against the US. ‘If we were able to lose that game and Andres was still here, we would gladly lose,’ Lalas says.

The tournament also marked the end of Diego Maradona’s World Cup career. The Argentina legend was thrown out of the tournament after testing positive for a banned stimulant.

‘An embarrassment for him and an embarrassment for us,’ says LeTellier, who was dragged into emergency meetings with FIFA in Dallas.

Argentina was beaten in the round of 16, and the United States’ tournament ended there, too. Lalas and his teammates lost to Brazil, who went on to lift the trophy at the Rose Bowl.

For the first time, the World Cup was settled on penalties, with Roberto Baggio following Ross’ lead and missing the crucial spot kick.

It was a drab climax to a remarkable summer that smashed attendance records. The 52 games, from Pasadena to Washington, DC, attracted an average of nearly 70,000 fans.

Somehow, organizers avoided real catastrophe. In Stanford, a temporary bridge was created to carry the media to their seats. It collapsed. ‘Fortunately, nobody was on it,’ LeTellier says. No one was hurt, so the party could continue.

Argentina legend Diego Maradona was thrown out of the tournament after failing a drugs test

Baggio misses the decisive penalty kick as Italy suffered heartbreak at the Rose Bowl

Lalas hung out with Pele before the final. He drowned his sorrows, following defeat against Brazil, with shots of tequila and Jagermeister with Metallica.

There is a decent chance Lalas would have hung up his cleats for good had he not been called up to that California boot camp. After the World Cup, the defender became the first American to play in Italy’s Serie A.

Gulati went on to become president of US Soccer and, in 1996, Major League Soccer was born. Three decades on, Lionel Messi calls Miami home and the world is preparing to return to the United States.