OXYMORON - Top Ten Lists

As a part of my Oxymoron research I compiled ridiculously detailed lists of matches I have attended using programs, ticket stubs, and other forms of research to get the facts pretty well right. My accounts and memories of these games may be off, but the dates, scores, and locations are correct.

Yes, I can remember all of this.

Sometimes that bugs me too.


Top Ten WINS (with a rooting interest - defined as more than just liking a team from another city like Lakers or Raiders fans that were born and raised in Seattle)

1) USA 2 Colombia 1 – 6/22/94 – Pasadena CA – Rose Bowl – 1994 World Cup First Round
- First win for US Men in World Cup play since the 1950 World Cup magical win over England, Andres Escobar’s own goal led to his murder days later, largest crowd for a sporting event I have ever been a part of in a stadium

2) USA 1 Costa Rica 0 – 9/7/97 – Portland OR – Civic Stadium – 1998 World Cup CONCACAF Qualifying Final Round
- days after the tragic death of my cousin Brian on I-5, this game served as a form of scream therapy, and when Tab Ramos scored it pretty well cemented the trip to France, and my brother got heat stroke

2) Seattle Sounders 1 Richmond Kickers 1 (5-4 PK) - 10/1/05 - Seattle WA – Qwest Field – USL Division 1 Championship
- had to miss the 96 final due to Pullman commitments, saw them lose in 77, finally saw the boys win the cup in front of me, and then I went dancing since I was being pestered with text messages from the start of the 2nd half through OT


4) FC Seattle Storm 5 San Jose Earthquakes 0 – 7/30/88 - Seattle WA – Memorial Stadium – Western Soccer Alliance Championship
- First time a team I had a genuine rooting interest in won the title in front of me. The rarity of championships was firmly etched in my psyche

5) USA 2 Canada 0 – 10/20/76 – Seattle WA – Kingdome – 1978 World Cup CONCACAF Qualifying
- the night I discovered what the World Cup is, that Canada is a different country, and that sometimes you have to root against your favorite player when he plays for the other team, also FIFA would not sanction a match on carpet these days

6) Seattle Sounders 1 San Jose Earthquakes 0 – 8/5/03 – Seattle WA – Husky Soccer Field – US Open Cup 4th Round
- SRO, a rocking crowd, San Jose tried to light a fire by bringing in Landon Donovan as a sub, but Sounder keeper Rich Cullen played the game of his life

7) Seattle Sounders 1 Cosmos 0 – 7/10/77 – Seattle WA – Kingdome – NASL Regular Season
- The mighty Cosmos of Pele and Beckenbauer were shut out on offense and beaten by one Jockey Scott shot, regular season games are rarely this festive in any sport

8) Tacoma Stars 5 Dallas Sidekicks 4 (OT) – 2/7/86 - Tacoma WA – Tacoma Dome – MISL Regular Season
- first game of the Steve Zungul era in Tacoma, which led to the Stars being a hot ticket for a couple of years (and the owner of one of the great collapses in sports history in 1987), but on this night, it was fun and the Stars won

9) USA 9 Panama 0 – 11/2/02 – Seattle WA – Safeco Field – CONCACAF Gold Cup First Round
- My only USA Women full fan cap, game served a double purpose as a World Cup Qualifier, but Mia Hamm did not play, still nursing a knee injury, but did jog a bit.

10) Seattle Sounders 2 Vancouver Whitecaps 0 – 8/10/77 – Vancouver BC – Empire Stadium – NASL Playoffs
- the first of two Northwest road trips in August of 1977, Chursky got hurt, the Sounders still won


11) FC Seattle Storm 10 Arizona Condors 0 – 6/2/90 – Seattle WA – Memorial Stadium – APSL Regular Season
- I had two choices that night, the M’s or my Storm ticket, I saw 10 goals, but I missed RJ’s no-no the same night

12) Tacoma Stars 11 New York Cosmos 4 – 2/16/85 – Tacoma WA – Tacoma Dome – MISL Regular Season
- what was left of the once mighty Cosmos was an awful indoor team in MISL that folded weeks later and did not finish the season

Hardest Ten Losses to Take

1) Seattle Sounders 1 Cosmos 2 – 8/28/77 – Portland OR – Civic Stadium – NASL Soccer Bowl
- Chursky’s gaff, Pele’s last real game, and a 10 year old boy who got too close to the sideline

2) USA 1 Czechoslovakia 5 – 6/10/90 – Florence IT – Stadio Communale – 1990 World Cup First Round
- the day after the first elections in Czechoslovakia was very emotional for the traveling fans, the American fan next to me seemed genuinely surprised that we weren’t favored, this was ugly early, and I still think they let us score, after the game an old man and I exchanged flags and I still have that flag

3) USA 0 Italy 1 – 6/14/90 – Rome IT – Stadio Olimpico – 1990 World Cup First Round
- Massimo and I were interviewed on live Portugese television, running around with our respective flags, and the book All Played Out has an account of this match I wish I’d have written myself

4) Seattle Sounders 3 San Jose Earthquakes 4 (2OT) – 7/17/02 - Seattle WA – Interbay Stadium – US Open Cup 4th Round
- a man held up a "need tickets" sign outside a sold out Sounders game at a small college field, we heckled Landon Donovan about Britney Spears rumors (he actually looked back at me while waiting to throw in a ball 6 or 7 feet away), and the Sounders lost in double OT

5) Seattle Sounders 1 Los Angeles Galaxy 5 – 8/27/03 – Seattle WA – Qwest Field – US Open Cup Quarterfinals
- over early when the ref hosed the Sounders Defense by awarding a PK in the first couple minutes, a great crowd was immediately taken out of this one and it was over early

6) USA 1 USSR 3 – 2/3/79 – Seattle WA – Kingdome – International Friendly
- we walked around a lot, but it was cool to see the Cold War in person

7) FC Seattle Storm 2 Canada 3 – 4/24/86 – Shoreline WA – Shoreline HS Stadium – International Friendly
- just two months prior to Mexico 86 Canada had to settle for matches like this to prepare, many of their players were still playing indoor, it is not hard to understand why they didn’t score in three matches in Mexico

8) Washington State 0 North Carolina 4 – 8/29/03 – Seattle WA – Husky Soccer Field – Husky Classic
- Even without two players missing for World Cup duty, UNC just rolled over a pretty good Cougar team

9) Seattle Sounders 1 Colorado Rapids 4 – 6/21/98 – Marysville WA – Marysville-Pilchuk HS Stadium – Club Friendly
- Father’s Day, the USA had just lost to Iran in France hours earlier, Paz gave Jacob his tee shirt after the game, and it was the first game I saw with an MLS team in person

10) USA 2 World All-Stars 11 – 12/12/99 – Tacoma WA – Tacoma Dome – Indoor Exhibition
- no Mia Hamm, a pretty good crowd, and an all-star team that went on a tear took the crowd right out of this victory tour indoor exhibition

Best Neutral Matches

1) UCLA 1 American University 0 (8OT) – 12/14/85 – Seattle WA – Kingdome – NCAA Division 1 Championship
- EIGHT OVERTIMES, the NCAA changed to PK’s moments after this ended, the American fans got stranded in Seattle because the flight left, even though the PA announcer made many announcements that they might want to go

2) Vancouver 86ers 5 Toronto Rockets 3 – 10/6/91 – Burnaby BC – Swangard Stadium – CSL Championship
- spent the day with my cousin Brian in BC, then saw a weird game with two early goals, tv timeouts that were booed, and a trophy for the home team

3) Manchester United 4 Glasgow Celtic 0 – 7/22/03 – Seattle WA – Qwest Field – Club Friendly
- Seattle’s finest had bikes, motorcycles, horses, cars, and cops on foot as a show of force in Pioneer Square, mostly this was just a great show by Man U and their stars, just weeks after Beckham was sold to Real Madrid

4) USSR 0 Argentina 2 – 6/13/90 – Naples IT – Stadio San Paulo – 1990 World Cup First Round
- I went to see the goalies, instead, the Soviet keeper was benched and the Argentine broke his leg a dozen minutes in, with a pudgy Maradona playing in his club’s stadium in Italy, it was like a home game for Argentina, but I did get to spend the day with the most beautiful woman at the train station, just ask my friend

5) Los Angeles Galaxy 2 San Jose Earthquakes 3 – 4/7/01 – Pasadena CA – Rose Bowl – MLS Regular Season
- Landon Donovan’s MLS debut, early goals by the home team, and great Mexican food for the gringo that braved the Spanish speaking line

6) DC United 1 Real Madrid 1 – 8/14/06 – Seattle WA – Qwest Field – Club Friendly
- DCU decided to make this a game and did so, the crowd finally got to see Beckham in Seattle, and the girl who walked him out to the field holding his hand looked like she was about to explode at any moment

7) Canada 1 China 0 – 10/2/03 – Portland OR – PGE Park – 2003 World Cup Quarterfinal
- very possibly the greatest game in terms of excitement I have ever seen, if ever a team played out of their minds and over their heads it was these Canadian women on this night, and Tim and I got to heckle real live Communists and Canadians

8) Metrostars 0 Dallas Burn 2 – 6/5/04 – East Rutherford NJ – Giants Stadium – MLS Regular Season
- neither team is still named what they were named on this night, and Dallas’ keeper finally acknowledged our heckling with a broad grin our way as the game ended

9) Minnesota Kicks 0 Toronto Metros 3 – 8/28/76 – Seattle WA – Kingdome – NASL Soccer Bowl
- my first ever cup final, and a doozy of a second half, but neither the hometown team nor the mighty Cosmos made it, that was the next year in Portland

10) Dallas Sidekicks 11 Indiana Twisters 4 – 8/16/96 – Dallas TX – Reunion Arena – CISL Regular Season
- I’ve been to Dallas twice and only saw the Burn in New Jersey, so I saw Tatu break the indoor goal scoring record instead that night

11) Portland Pilots 2 USF 0 – 10/30/04 – Portland OR – Merlo Field – West Coast Conference Regular Season
- finally got to go to Merlo Field, a great college stadium, worth the trip but Tim had to deliver pizza in Longview and missed it, which was sad

12) Sweden 2 Cameroon 2 – 6/19/94 – Pasadena CA – Rose Bowl – 1994 World Cup First Round - I got there 4 hours early because I was afraid of LA traffic and roasted alone in the sun at the Rose Bowl until the game finally started

13) UCLA 3 Portland Pilots 1 – 9/13/91 – Bellevue WA – Interlake HS Stadium – Husky Classic
- the two goalies in this 1991 college clash were Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel, other players included Cobi Jones, who I chatted with and seemed like a good guy, too many bees in the bleachers

*** I could have included the 1986 Gold Cup at the LA Coliseum with Roma, 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup matches at Qwest, the other half of the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup match at Safeco Field, 1984 NCAA Championship in the Kingdome I went to with the Peelers, the 1999 World Cup with Tim in Portland, or the other 2003 World Cup Quarterfinal with Germany showing why they were going to go on to win it … ***

Trivia about these lists

- Landon Donovan played in games on all 3 lists
- There are both men’s and women’s World Cup Qualifiers and Finals matches
- Seattle area stadiums include HS, College, and Pro facilities like Husky Field, Interbay, Kingdome, Qwest Field, Safeco Field, Tacoma Dome, Memorial, Marysville HS, and Shoreline HS
- games were played in the following states; WA, OR, CA, TX, NJ
- games were played in the following countries; USA, Canada, Italy
- Rose Bowl appears three times
- 6 of the 7 Cup Finals I have ever been to are listed
- Paul Caligiuri shows up in college, pro, and internationals
- Pele twice
- San Jose Earthquakes show up in different forms in different leagues
- indoor soccer is represented on all three lists
- Mia Hamm did not play in either USA Women match listed
- MLS teams appear on all three lists
- College games are both men’s and women’s
- OT occurs several times, but PK’s only occur once
- my brother was at matches starting in 1976
- Tim went to matches from 1997 forward
- there are photos or web accounts of many games
- Tony Chursky is a major figure, I finally got to meet him in 94 at a Sounders practice in the Tacoma Dome
- despite numerous women’s matches, no WUSA teams are represented
- club vs. country
- no Oceana teams, but I have seen an Australian men’s pro hoops team once
- I didn’t include many clubs and countries like Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, Cardiff, Pumas, or Dundee United
- games include Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, and other greats
- US HOF players, future HOF members, and HOF snubs like Zungul
- Kingdome matches include college, pro, international, but not the indoor game I went to once
- the USSR appears twice