Summary

FIFA's decision to hold the event in the United States over the bids of Morocco and Brazil surprised many due to the common perception that the United States had a relative lack of soccer fans. FIFA hoped that by staging the world's premier soccer tournament there, it would lead to America's growth of interest in the sport. (One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional soccer league, as Major League Soccer started play in 1996.) Despite these misgivings, in terms of attendance the event was a success. The average attendance of nearly 69,000 shattered a record that had stood since 1950, due to the bigger capacities of the American stadiums compared to those of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition to 32 teams in 1998. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the USA were seeded for the final draw that took place in Las Vegas, on 19 December 1993.
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The format of the competition stayed the same as in 1990: 24 teams qualified, divided into six groups of four. Sixteen teams would qualify for the knockout competition: the six group winners, the six group runners-up, and the four third-placed teams with the best records. This was the last time this format was used, due to the expansion of the finals tournament in 1998 to 32 teams. This World Cup was the first in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two. FIFA instituted this feature to encourage attacking football after the defensive display of many teams at Italia '90.
Germany's Lothar Matthäus scoring a penalty kick against Bulgaria in the 10 July quarter-final at Giants Stadium. Bulgaria came back to win the match.
The tournament saw the end of Diego Maradona's World Cup career. Hero in 1986 as he led Argentina to the World Cup title, he was expelled from the tournament after he failed a drug test. Maradona was found to have ephedrine, a weight loss drug, in his blood. Colombia's Andrés Escobar was another tragic figure of this tournament. In a first-round match with the United States, he scored an own goal as the USA went on win, 2-1. As a result of this defeat, Colombia, billed by many as the dark horse to win this World Cup, went out in the group stage and Escobar paid for the own goal when he was shot to death outside a bar in a Medellín suburb only 10 days after the match.
On the field, the biggest surprise of the tournament was Bulgaria. The Bulgarians had previously never won a match in the finals but, led by the goal-scoring of Hristo Stoichkov, they made a surprising run; Bulgaria won two of their three group matches to qualify for the second round where a 3-1 penalty shoout-out win over Mexico set them up with reigning world champions, Germany, in the quarter-finals. This was the game for which this Bulgarian side would be remembered as goals from Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov gave them a 2-1 victory. Bulgaria eventually finished in fourth place. The United States advanced to the second round as one of the best third-place teams. There they played Brazil and despite a 1-0 defeat, the USA's performance was considered a great success.
Brazil's win over the USA helped take them to the final against Italy. While Brazil's path was relatively smooth as they defeated the Netherlands in the quarter-finals and Sweden in the semis (it was the second game between Sweden and Brazil in the tournament, the first ending 1-1), the Italians had made hard work of reaching the final game. During the group stage the Italian team struggled and narrowly advanced to the next round, despite losing 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland. Roberto Baggio, who was expected to be the shining star, had not scored a goal. During the Round of 16 match against Nigeria, Italy was trailing 1-0 in the dying minutes when Baggio scored the equalizer forcing the game into extra time. There, he scored again with a penalty kick to send Italy through. Baggio carried the Italians from there, scoring the game-winning goal in the quarter-final against Spain, and both goals in Italy's semi-final victory over Bulgaria.
The final match at the Rose Bowl was tense but devoid of scoring chances. Despite the strategies disposed by the FIFA to promote offensive play, both teams failed to produce a goal. After 120 goalless minutes, the World Cup was decided for the first time by a penalty shoot-out. After four rounds, Brazil led 3-2, and Baggio, playing injured, had to score to keep Italy's hopes alive. He missed by shooting it over the bar, and Brazil were crowned champions. The Brazilian national team dedicated the title to the deceased Brazilian F1 champion Ayrton Senna, who had died two and a half months prior.
The third-place playoff was set between Bulgaria and Sweden, the team which scored more goals than any other in this World Cup. Sweden won convincingly with a 4-0 victory. One of Sweden's players - Thomas Brolin - was named to the All-star team.
The tournament's Golden Boot went jointly to Bulgaria's Stoichkov and Oleg Salenko of Russia, who scored a record five goals in their match against Cameroon. Both players scored six goals in the tournament. Brazil's Romário, with five goals, won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player.