“The Mexican fans were yelling ‘Olé‘ every time we passed the ball,” said Vermes. “We gained a lot of respect that day and I believe that’s where the real birth of this rivalry started.”
After sprinting through four games in just seven days, it made sense as to why players were later exhausted in the final against Honduras. Scoreless after 90 minutes and extra time, the championship was then set to be decided through penalty kicks.
Tied 2-2 after five rounds of penalties, the shootout then went to sudden death. Both shots were saved in round six, both were made in round seven, but after American indoor player Fernando Clavijo (midfielder, 1990-1994) scored to make it 4-3, Honduras’ Juan Carlos Espinoza sent his attempt off target during the eighth shootout round, providing the USMNT with their first-ever Gold Cup title.
History, in American men’s soccer, had been made.
“It was a big step towards us having, well, being respected more,” said Perez about the title. “In our region, it was the first tournament that we won and that marked, for me, a big change for the future of soccer here.”
“We changed, basically, the way we perceive how we wanted to play football.”
Ushering in the early stages of a new modern era, the 1991 tournament helped reshape the expectations and respect for the USMNT that are still growing today. With larger ambitions in mind for the current program that wants to be part of the global elite, it’s easy to forget that it all stems back from a group of guys who had to take shared taxis to their first Gold Cup game.
“I saw it as this big step in the right direction of where the U.S. men’s national team could be going … that really laid the foundation,” Vermes said. “It gave us a tremendous amount of confidence moving forward.”
