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The California Report

Former USMNT Player on How the '94 World Cup Popularized U.S. Soccer

Christopher Alam
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 04: The Starting IX for the United States: Tony Meola #1, Mike Sorber #16, Earnie Stewart #8, Alexi Lalas #22, Marcelo Balboa #17, Hugo Perez #7, Tab Ramos #9, Paul Caligiuri #20, Thomas Dooley #5, Cobi Jones #13, and Fernando Clavijo #21 of the United States line up for a photo before a 1994 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 game between the United States and Brazil at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California on July 4, 1994. (Photo by J.Brett Whitesell/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images) (J.Brett Whitesell/ISI Photos via Getty Images )

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, June 11, 2026

  • This week, the FBI served a search warrant at the GKN Aerospace plant in Orange County. That’s the facility where a near-explosion triggered an evacuation of more than 50-thousand residents last month.
  • The California Department of Fish & Wildlife is celebrating the survival of five rehabilitated bear cubs. CDFW says the orphaned black bears were released last November and have successfully hibernated through the winter and returned healthy and active.
  • The U-S Men’s Soccer Team takes the field this evening [[fri]] at SoFi Stadium for their opening World Cup match. They’ll be taking on Paraguay. It’s the first time the U-S has hosted the global event since 1994. Cobi Jones was a midfielder for that 1994 team, before starring with Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy. Jones spoke with my California Report colleague Keith Mizuguchi about his experiences in 1994.

The chemical that caused the Garden Grove evacuations is stored all over California

 

In Alameda County in Hayward and in the Los Angeles County cities of Compton, Commerce, and Torrance, four other companies store at least 100,000 pounds of the chemical methylmethacrylate, according to federal data.

That chemical can react to heat and become highly flammable and explosive.

The companies all say they follow environmental and safety requirements, but CalMatters found that state and federal safety programs meant to protect against industrial accidents mostly leave this chemical out.

The search warrant served this week at GKN Aerospace indicates the FBI is investigating criminal violations of environmental laws, though it’s not clear which ones might apply.

The facility says that it’s cooperating with the investigation

 

Experimental Bear Release Program Bodes Well

 

The bears were part of an experiment to test releasing rehabilitated young black bears in the fall instead of the typical spring release. Peter Tira [[TIER-uh]] with CDFW says releasing them sooner means less time in a facility around humans.

All five bears were tagged, microchipped, and fitted with GPS collars for study and identification. Based on collar data, all five bears successfully established dens, hibernated during the winter, and reemerged this spring.

With successes in Washington and Nevada, CDFW began to test the fall releases for their cohort of bears. Peter Tira with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says the fall season allows cubs to drastically reduce their time spent in a facility over the winter, teaching them natural survival skills that can’t be learned in a cage. It also keeps them uncomfortable around humans.

Tira said, “Probably the ultimate survival skill Black Bear can have in California is the healthy fear of human beings.”

CDFW hopes to have more release opportunities later this fall.

 

“That ’94 team was the foundation…”

 

Cobi Jones says before that World Cup, soccer didn’t have the audience in the States that it does now.

“I look back at that time and it truly is amazing what we were able to accomplish when we’re talking about a sport that really hadn’t taken hold yet here within the United States. So it was a bunch of college kids and some pros from overseas. We did the impossible because no one thought that we were gonna make it out of our group. And a lot of the pressure was we didn’t wanna be the first host nation not to get out of the group.”

But even back then, there was a swell in support from American fans.

“It was fantastic to see the turnout. I understand at that time it was an event, so everybody wanted to be a part of it and check it out. But I don’t think we could have imagined that we would have gotten that type of turnout and that much support. It was something that I look back on and just think that we created something that we could build off of. And one of the things that was great was to see that it was in LA, we had great support.  So it just showed me that the sport was building, it had a great base and that people were interested in it and that no matter where you go, you’re going to find those US fans that are going to support this team no matter what.”

Today, with the U.S. being one of the hosts of the global tournament  once again,  Jones looks back at that year as the base on which U.S. soccer was built on going forward.

“And yes, there was the U.S. National team before. You know, we see the 1990 team, we see the women’s team before that. But the success of the ‘94 team created a solid foundation to build everything else off of.  If you go back and you look at some of the articles, they’re trying to explain what a striker is. They’re trying to tell people what a center back is and actually explaining what’s on the field. So it’s a big difference. It’s an understanding that back then, people were saying, well, this soccer thing, yeah, there’s nothing to it. It’s never gonna survive, it’s never going to happen. But the success of ‘94 showed that there are people that wanted to see this game, that it helped launch MLS in ‘96, that helped build this sport to what we see. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong, but the billion dollar soccer business within the United States.”

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