Ten summers ago, the greatest show in sport came to the USA for the first time when the FIFA World Cup was played in nine cities across the length and breadth of the country. For the first time, soccer fans across the country got to see the best players on the planet strut their stuff on the world's greatest stage.
Conditional on the awarding of the 15th FIFA World Cup finals - appropriately announced on July 4, 1988 - was the development of a Division I professional league in the USA. Two years later, that promise came to fruition when Major League Soccer kicked off.
The new league was certainly going to be a showcase for those U.S. stars who had thrilled with their run to the round-of-16 that summer. But perhaps a larger surprise of the legacy left by that World Cup were the international stars - many of whom played in those finals - who then returned to help blaze the trail of the game in the USA.
"Major League Soccer is a legacy of the 1994 World Cup, which remains the most successful FIFA event in history," said MLS commissioner Don Garber on June 17, when the 2004 format was announced. "Our July 31 event in The Nation's Capital will allow us to pay tribute to the landmark achievements for the sport of soccer during the last 10 years. Our league is built upon the efforts and trailblazing spirit of that event and those who played in MLS during the early years, starting the modern soccer boom in the U.S."
Prior to the Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game, a 50-minute game matching many of those players who figured greatly in the international game around World Cup USA '94 - and then went on to thrill fans from coast-to-coast in MLS, as the All-Star Weekend pays tribute to the past, present and future of soccer in the USA.
Fifteen of the 22 players on the U.S. roster from the 1994 team will be present for the All-Star celebration match. Two who won't be playing are still active in MLS - D.C. United's Earnie Stewart and Joe-Max Moore of the New England Revolution, while Claudio Reyna is also enjoying his summer vacation after finishing another season in England's Premier League.
But a number of the players who burst onto the consciousness of the U.S. sports fan in 1994, then came back to play when MLS started, will line up for the World team.
Carlos Valderrama - still the all-time assist record holder in MLS - was the linchpin to the Colombia team that entered that World Cup with such high hopes. Marco Etcheverry - whose only World Cup appearance, in 1994, lasted all of three minutes - was the vital cog in leading D.C. United to their three MLS Cup championships.
While not all of the international stars who shone brightly in the formative years of MLS featured in that World Cup, they certainly made their mark on the international stage in the era that U.S. soccer came of age. Players like Richard Gough and Mo Johnston, who played in World Cups for Scotland, but just missed out on USA '94. And Polish internationals Peter Nowak and Robert Warzycha, who have been among the greatest talents in the nearly 10-year history of the league.
Returning to coach the U.S. team in the reunion match will be Bora Milutinovic, who guided the fortunes of the U.S. national team during the '94 World Cup. The only manager in FIFA World Cup history to have been in charge of five different national teams in the World Cup finals (Mexico, 1986; Costa Rica, 1990; USA, 1994; Nigeria, 1998; China, 2002), Milutinovic also coached the MetroStars in the 1998 and '99 seasons.
The World team will be guided by current U.S. national team manager Bruce Arena, who led D.C. United to a pair of MLS Cup championships in the first two MLS seasons before taking the reins of the U.S. selection, including a quarterfinal posting in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
MLS USA
Marcelo Balboa
Defender
USA: 128 caps/13 goals
MLS Career: Colorado Rapids 1996-2001; MetroStars 2002
152 games (146 starts)/24 goals, 23 assists
Mike Burns
Defender
USA: 75 caps/0 goals
MLS Career: New England Revolution 1996-2000; San Jose Earthquakes 2000; Kansas City Wizards 2001-02
169 games (152 starts)/3 goals, 21 assists
Paul Caligiuri
Defender
USA: 110 caps/5 goals
MLS Career: Columbus Crew 1996; Los Angeles Galaxy 1997-2001
135 games (123 starts)/9 goals, 14 assists
Fernando Clavijo
Defender
USA: 61 caps/0 goals
MLS Career: Head coach, New England Revolution 2000-2002 (record: 22-31-13)
Thomas Dooley
Defender
USA: 81 caps/7 goals
MLS Career: Columbus Crew 1997-99; MetroStars 2000
83 games (74 starts)/5 goals, 6 assists
John Harkes
Midfielder
USA: 90 caps/6 goals
MLS Career: D.C. United 1996-98; New England Revolution 1999-2001; Columbus Crew 2001-02
167 games (155 starts)/16 goals, 42 assists
Cobi Jones
Midfielder
USA: 160 caps/14 goals
MLS Career: Los Angeles Galaxy 1996-present
89 games (64 starts)/13 goals, 16 assists
Frank Klopas
Forward
USA: 40 caps/12 goals
MLS Career: Kansas City Wizards 1996-97; Chicago Fire 1998-99
89 games (64 starts)/13 goals, 16 assists
Cle Kooiman
Defender
USA: 12 caps/1 goal
MLS Career: Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-97; Miami Fusion 1998
68 games (68 starts)/3 goals, 5 assists
Alexi Lalas
Defender
USA: 96 caps/9 goals
MLS Career: New England Revolution 1996-97; MetroStars 1998; Kansas City Wizards 1999; Los Angeles Galaxy 2001-02
147 games (144 starts)/15 goals, 11 assists
Tony Meola
Goalkeeper
USA: 99 caps/0 goals
MLS Career: MetroStars 1996-98; Kansas City Wizards 1999-present
Tab Ramos
Midfielder
USA: 81 caps/8 goals
MLS Career: MetroStars 1996-2002
112 games (105 starts)/8 goals, 36 assists
Juergen Sommer
Goalkeeper
USA: 8 caps/0 goals
MLS Career: Columbus Crew 1998; New England Revolution 2000-02
54 games/1.77 GAA
Mike Sorber
Defender
USA: 67 caps/2 goals
MLS Career: Kansas City Wizards 1996; MetroStars 1997-99; Chicago Fire 2000
116 games (106 starts)/9 goals, 17 assists
Eric Wynalda
Forward
USA: 106 caps/34 goals
MLS Career: San Jose Clash 1996-98; Miami Fusion 1999-2000; New England Revolution 2000-01; Chicago Fire 2001
98 games (76 starts)/34 goals, 37 assists
MLS WORLD
Jorge Campos
Goalkeeper
Mexico (130 caps/0 goals)
MLS Career: Los Angeles Galaxy 1996-97; Chicago Fire 1998
51 games/1.35 GAA (and 2 assists)
Mauricio Cienfuegos
Midfielder
El Salvador (68 caps/7 goals)
MLS Career: Los Angeles Galaxy 1996-2003
206 games (198 starts)/35 goals, 80 assists
Raul Diaz Arce
Forward
El Salvador (77 caps/39 goals)
MLS Career: D.C. United 1996-97; New England Revolution 1998; San Jose Earthquakes 1999; Tampa Bay Mutiny 1999-2000; D.C. United 2000-01; Colorado Rapids 2001
150 goals (142 starts)/82 goals, 29 assists
Michael Emenalo
Defender
Nigeria (14 caps/0 goals)
MLS Career: San Jose Clash 1996-97
56 games (54 starts)/1 goal, 4 assists
Marco Etcheverry
Midfielder
Bolivia (71 caps/13 goals)
MLS Career: D.C. United 1996-2003
191 games (180 starts)/34 goals, 101 assists
Richard Gough
Defender
Scotland (61 caps/6 goals)
MLS Career: Kansas City Wizards 1997; San Jose Clash 1998
36 games (36 starts)/2 goals, 2 assists
Carlos Hermosillo
Forward
Mexico (90 caps/35 goals)
MLS Career: Los Angeles Galaxy 1998-99
34 games (34 starts)/14 goals, 15 assists
Mo Johnston
Midfielder
Scotland (35 caps/14 goals)
MLS Career: Kansas City Wizards 1996-2001
149 games (142 starts)/31 goals, 28 assists
Peter Nowak
Midfielder
Poland (19 caps/3 goals)
MLS Career: Chicago Fire 1998-2002
114 games (114 starts)/26 goals, 48 assists
Mauricio Ramos
Midfielder
Bolivia (35 caps/1 goal)
MLS Career: Tampa Bay Mutiny 1998-99; New England Revolution 2000
73 games (70 starts)/15 goals, 26 assists
Giovanni Savarese
Forward
Venezuela (23 caps/4 goals)
MLS Career: MetroStars 1996-98; New England Revolution 1999; San Jose Earthquakes 2000
116 games (92 starts)/51 goals, 15 assists
Carlos Valderrama
Midfielder
Colombia (111 caps/11 goals)
MLS Career: Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-97; Miami Fusion 1998-1999; Tampa Bay Mutiny 1999-2001; Colorado Rapids 2002
175 games (175 starts)/16 goals, 114 assists
Martin Vasquez
Defender
Mexico (7 caps/0 goals [USA])
MLS Career: Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-97; San Jose Clash 1998
Robert Warzycha
Midfielder
Poland (47 caps/7 goals)
MLS Career: Columbus Crew 1996-2002
160 games (134 starts)/19 goals, 61 assists
Frank Yallop
Defender
Canada (52 caps/0 goals)
MLS Career: Tampa Bay Mutiny 1996-98; head coach, San Jose Earthquakes 2001-03
88 games (84 starts)/1 goal, 1 assist
