Episode 1: The Dream (On) Team

You may have heard by now: There’s a World Cup this year. It’s in Russia so the geopolitical stakes couldn’t be higher...the Cold War heats up again on the pitch! Only one problem -- the United States won’t be there. The Americans were eliminated on the final day of qualification by Trinidad and Tobago.

It all reminds Roger Bennett of another dramatic American soccer failure, one that happened 20 years ago. The Americans, still scrappy underdogs back then, began to believe they could be a dark horse contender at the 1998 World Cup. Maybe, just maybe, they could win it all.

Spoiler alert: they didn’t. And the way they went about it, according to Roger, is a gripping story of hubris and heartbreak, and an abject lesson in how not to win a World Cup

But wait: Why should you let Roger tell you this story? And why should you care what he has to say about soccer? Well, Roger’s a phenomenon that -- like America itself -- started in England before fleeing across the pond.

Today, Roger is co-host of the beloved show Men In Blazers, a podcast and TV program about soccer, “America’s sport of the future … as it has been since 1972.” He grew up in Liverpool, rooting for the local club Everton and living his life in four-year cycles dictated by the World Cup.

The only thing that rivaled his love for football was his obsession with all things American. The walls of his childhood bedroom were painted red, white, and blue -- and covered with posters of Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bears, and American team pennants. He built Coke-can pyramids on his bookshelves. 

Roger Bennett's childhood bedroom

He loved John Hughes movies and Starsky & Hutch. “I studied the Love Boat like it was a religious text,” Roger says.

He moved to the U.S. and settled first in Chicago, where he learned to call his favorite sport ‘soccer.’ This was back in 1993, when there wasn’t much soccer to be found in America, especially on television. He was crushed ... and then inspired.

Roger started looking into the American soccer story. At the very first World Cup in 1930, the U.S. made it to the semi-finals. Then, two decades of nothing followed. In 1950, a ragtag team of amateurs -- including a minor league baseball player, a paint-stripper, and a dishwasher -- defeated England in one of the greatest international upsets ever.

Again: Crickets. It took the U.S. nearly 40 years to qualify again. This was the dark age of American soccer.

In 1989, the U.S. snapped the losing streak by qualifying for the following year’s World Cup in Italy. The team celebrated in the most American way possible: With an ill-advised, short-lived rap video called “Victory.” In it, team members dance shirtless on a Malibu beach, then go hang out in a recording studio with O.J. Simpson.

The Americans lost badly in the 1990 tournament. Yet things were looking brighter than ever. For the first time, U.S. was set to host the World Cup in four years’ time.

At the 1994 World Cup, America pulled out all the stops. Oprah emceed the opening ceremonies! Bill Clinton showed up! Richard Marx sang the national anthem! In the end, the U.S. beat a very good Colombia team, advanced to the knockout round, and then died with honor at the hands of the eventual tournament winners, Brazil. On the Fourth of July, no less. U-S-A! U-S-A!

That’s when things began to change for the sport. The World Cup brought new revenue and attention into American soccer. The arrival of a new league, Major League Soccer, offered stable, stateside professional careers to players. Meanwhile, they were getting endorsement deals and TV commercials. Some were even getting offers to play in top-flight leagues around the world.

It was inevitable: The idea of winning a World Cup didn’t seem so far-fetched. Maybe…in 1998?

Again, the U.S. did not win the World Cup in 1998. But how they didn’t win is one of the most captivating stories you’ll hear in a podcast this year. And to truly know the nature of a nation -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- you have to watch it lose.

At the end of the Dark Age of Soccer in the United States, when the world’s favorite sport was a punchline, there came a ray of light: The U.S. was chosen to host the 1994 World Cup. Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers introduces the underdog American team and its Star Wars cantina of characters, as they take center stage at soccer’s biggest event.