These days we probably take for granted that the US men's national team makes the World Cup every four years. In fact, they've made seven straight tournaments.
But that wasn't always the case.
Wednesday is the 25-year anniversary of the match which ended a 40-year World Cup drought for the Americans. That's the day they played their first group match at Italia '90.
It didn’t go well – John Harkes, Eric Wynalda, Tony Meola and Co. lost 5-1 to the Czech Republic – but it set the stage for what was to come for the USMNT: Six straight subsequent World Cup qualifications, with four appearances in the knockout round.
The Guardian put together a retrospective on the US’s Italia 90 team to mark the anniversary, talking to Harkes, team captain Mike Windischmann and forward Bruce Murray for a fine video feature. Check it out above.