When the USA was selected to host the World Cup in 1994, the world was baffled. With little national popularity and no professional league to speak of, the US had its work cut out to fulfill FIFA’s requirement that they create a league by the summer of ’94.
SUMMER OF '94, directed by Dave LaMattia and Chad N. Walker tells the story of how this came to be through a combination of historic footage, newscasts, and interviews with the trialists and the players who would eventually make up the team. We hear from many voices, but notables include Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Tony Meola, Eric Wynalda, and John Harkes.
The guys explain life and training under the enigmatic Coach Bora Milutinovic, who is portrayed as the Mr. Miyagi of soccer, with his weird training methods. The group remembers just running on the beach every day for hours and doing an exercise called One Ball, One Player. In this exercise, the players would all just be on the field simultaneously each with their own ball, dribbling and controlling their target. The guys were expecting to run scrimmages and instead are doing the equivalent of daily calisthenics and elementary drills.
The documentary captures the highs and lows of this time, the grueling nature of training, food allergies, their reactions to their star-spangled uniforms, getting cut from the team, making the team, and becoming celebrities. We get to know the players and their personalities. And, of course, there’s footage from the games, most notably their shocking defeat of Colombia. All of those days running at the beach paid off, as the group appears to have won based on endurance alone. Earlier in the documentary, there’s a prophetic statement made by one of the players as they interpret why they think Coach Bora had them run so much. Something along the lines of, “Maybe you will never be good players, but you will be able to run and run forever.”
Of course, the US didn't win, but this group changed history and persevered, even though they were mocked for wanting to compete. No one expected much of them. Most of the players went on to coach and nurture future players.
As a non-sports person, I chose to watch THE SUMMER OF '94 based on the time period alone. As a 1994 high school graduate, that year represents a time when all things felt possible. In summer of 1994, it felt like I could make things happen by sheer will power alone, and it seems like this team was put together by scrappy people building something together from scratch. I know better now that things never just happen. Powerful mechanisms worked behind the scenes that allowed the US to even have a chance to host this thing. But sometimes it’s nice to revisit things in your lifetime that you never noticed the first time around.
The World Cup is coming up in 2026 and will be hosted by the US for only the second time. Who knows what history will be made this year and by whom?
Screening in its World Premiere in the Documentary Spotlight section. See film details page for more information.
Final score: 3.5 out of 5
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