Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
The shot heard around the world
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December 19, 2019
9 minutes
Available for over a year
In November 1989, the USA qualified for the football World Cup for the first time in the modern era with a nail-biting 1-0 away win in Trinidad and Tobago. The winning goal was a 30-yard screamer scored by Paul Caligiuri, one of the few professionals in the American team. It is credited with boosting the popularity of the game in the US, and was nicknamed “The Shot Around the World”. Paul Caligiuri talks to Ashley Byrne.
(Photo: The US team at the 1990 World Cup. Credit: Getty Images)