Landon Donovan probably wouldn’t have scored that goal against Algeria in 2010 if Paul Caligiuri didn’t score this one against Trinidad and Tobago in 1989.
Caligiuri scored a monumental goal in U.S. Soccer history 25 years ago Wednesday, as his “Shot Heard Round the World” earned visiting Team USA a 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago on Nov. 19, 1989. The victory gave the United States a second-place finish in the 1989 CONCACAF Championship, which secured qualification to the 1990 FIFA World Cup and ended Team USA’s 40-year exile from world soccer’s greatest spectacle.
The U.S. Soccer federation marked the 25th anniversary of Calgiuri’s goal by releasing a highlight package of the historic game.
Calgiuri’s goal, which you also can see below, kicked the U.S. men’s national soccer team into the modern era. The United States was a soccer minnow in 1990, but it has since established itself as a player in the world’s game, having qualified for each of the next six successive World Cups.
Caligiuri helped launch that forward momentum in Port of Spain, Trinidad, with a shimmy and a long drive from 30 yards out.
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