The United States and World Cup Soccer Competition

The United States was one of just 13 nations taking part in the first World Cup of soccer played in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930. The first World Cup attracted very limited interest around the world, but since that time it has grown into the world's number one sporting event. This book details the history of the World Cup from 1930 to 1990 and includes the record of the United States national soccer team in the qualifying and final rounds of the competition. It also includes a detailed record of every game played by U.S. men's and women's national teams in international competition between 1885 and July 1993, at the senior level of play. Additionally, this book contains the details of the qualifying rounds of the 1994 competition, the finals of which will be staged in the United States in June and July of this year (1994). Also featured is a never before published account of U.S. participation in the 1930 competition, written in 1931 by team manager Wilfred Cummings. In his account, Cummings claims that American Bert Patanaude was the first player to score a hat trick in a World Cup game, a claim disputed in other published histories.