A version of this article was first published on ESPN in 2006.
FIFA's decision to choose the United States as hosts of the 1994 World Cup was greeted with scepticism elsewhere across the globe. But despite "soccer" being way down the American sporting popularity list at the time, the tournament saw full houses throughout and it is still the best attended of any finals.
After a Hollywood-style opening ceremony in which soul diva Diana Ross (rather prophetically) missed a penalty, Germany beat Bolivia in rather unconvincing fashion. That too was to prove prophetic.