Imagine a side named Team America having but a handful of American citizens on its roster – and then you can begin to understand the challenges the host team faced in the Bicentennial Cup four decades ago.

The tournament was created by the North American Soccer League in 1976 to celebrate the United States’ 200th birthday, inviting three of the world’s best national teams, Brazil, Italy and England, who had won a combined six World Cups through 10 competitions.

Because the US national team was weak at that time, the best NASL players, regardless of their nationalities, were selected to represent the USA. It was a controversial decision, even if the team used such respected names as Pele (Brazil), Bobby Moore (England) and Giorgio Chinaglia (Italy).



The team was derisively nicknamed Team Imports and Team Melting Pot in what was the biggest competition involving national teams in the States until then.

“It was an all-star selection of the foreign players and they threw some American guys in so they could call it Team America, I guess,” said New York Cosmos defender Bobby Smith, one of the Americans. “That’s kind of the way, it seems. Why not have Bobby Moore, George Best, Pele and Chinaglia, those big-shot guys on Team America? They’re playing here now. So it was Team America. It didn’t necessarily have to be Team American-born.”

Team America and Cosmos goalkeeper Bob Rigby added: “We were afterthoughts.”

Their opponents brought over their A teams.

The Italians had a roster that would feature several key performers in their 1982 World Cup-winning team – goalkeeper Dino Zoff, defenders Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea, and midfielder Marco Tardelli.

The Brazilians boasted Rivellino, the only remaining member of the 1970 World Cup winners, Zico, who was about to launch into stardom, and a series of talented youngsters, as they tried to rebuild from a disappointing showing in West Germany in 1974.

The English, 10 years after their only World Cup victory, brought a squad that was preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Finland the next week. Ray Clemence, Trevor Brooking and Kevin Keegan were among the standouts.

“With the exception of Germany and Argentina, and Holland was kind of coming into things then, they’re the top echelon of world soccer, and they had been established at that level,” Rigby told the Guardian. “That’s no small accomplishment, because in those times of television packages and crowds, it was an uphill climb. To get teams of that caliber, it’s a brilliant idea.”

There was even optimism that the hosts would field a competitive side.

NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam told Kick, the league’s official magazine: “Believe it or not, the United States could have the strongest side of the tournament.”

Then again, maybe not. At the first practice, two of the league’s most skilful players and showmen were no-shows – Tampa Bay Rowdies’ Rodney Marsh and Los Angeles Aztecs’ George Best – and they were cut.

The Americans needed all the help they could get.

“There was no continuity in that team,” Rigby said. “Kind of like an all-star team.”

Just getting an opportunity to play in the NASL was a feat for many Americans, since there was a rule requiring all teams to have at least one US citizen on the field at all times.

With talented Americans a rare commodity, it was decided that Team America would house the best NASL players. Only five US citizens were selected – Peter Chandler (Hartford Bicentennials), Alex Skotarek (Chicago Sting), Arnold Mausser (Tampa Bay Rowdies) and Rigby and Smith.

The rest of the squad was composed of five Englishmen, two from Scotland, two from Northern Ireland and one player each from Brazil, Italy, Poland, Peru and Trinidad & Tobago.

“We’re not likely to have much loyalty, but all of the foreign players realize that the future of the game is here,” coach Ken Furphy told the New York Times.

Compared to Copa America Centenario, an official 16-team, 32-game tournament held in 10 cities over 24 days, the Cup was a mini-competition with four teams playing in six cities over three dates and eight days.

America kicked off against Italy at RFK Stadium in Washington on 23 May. Pele played before hurrying to a nearby TV studio so he could serve as an analyst for O Globo TV for the England-Brazil game at the LA Coliseum later that day. That encounter produced a dramatic ending as Roberto Dinamite scored with less than a minute remaining in a 1-0 victory before 32,495 spectators.

Dino Zoff saves from Pele in the opening game between Team America and Italy. Photograph: Anonymous/AP

Any drama in the RFK encounter was squashed early as Fabio Capello – yes, that one – converted a rebound off a Rigby save in the 15th minute in a 4-0 rout in front of 33,455.

“Very inexperienced,” Moore said. “You cannot put a team together like that in short time.” A clash of styles hindered the team.

“We only practiced together twice,” Pele told the Washington Post. “There was a great deal of confusion because we weren’t used to each other, particularly on the defense. Most of our players come from England, where they play more high ball. I’m used to keeping the ball low.”

Paolino Pulici converted a 22nd-minute penalty kick. Francesco Graziani and right-back Francesco Rocca added goals to make it four.

Three weeks after Lazio had sold him to the Cosmos for $500,000, Chinaglia already was mired in controversy, playing against his former national team.

Capello gave a message to his ex-teammate with a hard kick. “He turned his back on Italy,” he told the New York Daily News.

Chinaglia’s rejoinder: “Jealousy is a bad thing. Many of the Italian players resent that I came here for: money. But that doesn’t bother me. I have no use for people like that.”

Italian Football Federation president Artemio Franchi asked US Soccer Federation president Gene Edwards that Chinaglia not play against his countrymen.

“Ah, they don’t want me to play because I’ll score goals against them,” said Chinaglia, who actually found the back of the net with a second-half header, but the goal was disallowed because of a foul.

“I could have had two, three goals,” he added, previewing the arrogance he would display during his eight-year Cosmos tenure. “But my team-mates had some trouble getting me the ball.”

Match Day Two on Friday 28 May could have been called Field Day. Italy and England tussled at the refurbished Yankee Stadium, which featured a dirt infield that players had to navigate. Team America faced Brazil on the artificial surface in the new Kingdome in Seattle.

Pele did not do commentary in that game. Then again, he did not do much of anything, sitting the bench because he didn’t want to play against his national team.

Despite playing on artificial turf for the first time, the Brazilians’ skill won out over Team America’s determination, 2-0. Gilberto Alves scored in the 29th and 89th minutes.

It wasn’t a goal that was burned into Rigby’s memory, but rather when Tommy Smith, who forged his reputation as a legendary – and uncompromising – Liverpool defender, tried to tackle Rivellino.

“Smitty, he’d run through a wall, kick you as soon as look at you,” Rigby, who played with Smith at the LA Aztecs, said. “The [artificial turf] back in those days – if you went down, you left about a pound of flesh because it was just like sandpaper. Rivellino just swiveled. Smitty [tried] a two-footed tackle, both legs up around the knees. He never touched him. He [Rivellino] put it through his legs. The Brazilians were almost wetting themselves laughing.

“I was sitting next to Pele on the bench. Pele was always the diplomat, a gentleman. He almost had a hernia laughing.”

Some 3,000 miles east in New York, controversy stirred before the England-Italy affair. England coach Don Revie decided to rest striker Kevin Keegan because he was “just too tired”. That did not go over well with Italian technical director Fulvio Bernardini, who felt England was withholding Keegan until a World Cup qualifier between the sides in November.

“If Don Revie is trying to hide Keegan then there’s a double-edged sword because we will hide the defense we plan to use to stop Keegan,” Bernardini told the Daily News.

Italy rolled to a 2-0 half-time advantage behind goals from Graziani, before England broke down the stubborn Azzurri defense behind three goals within four minutes. Mick Channon sandwiched goals (47th and 51st) around Phil Thompson’s 48th-minute score before 40,650 – still one of the largest soccer crowds at the stadium.

“I find it hard to remember when Italy had a two-goal advantage at the half and then looked so poor in the late game,” Italian manager Enzo Bearzot told the New York Post. “We should have put them away by four or five goals because the English were not a stable team either on offense or defense.”

Rigby, a former Philadelphia Atom, admitted he wasn’t supposed to start in the third match at JFK Stadium in Philly on May 31.

“The way I thought it was set-up, each goalkeeper was going to get a game,” he said. “I opened up against Italy. Eric Martin played in Seattle and then I assumed that Arnie would play against England. Ticket sales were so poor in Philadelphia. I was surprised I ended up playing. It certainly didn’t help ticket sales if that was the intent.”

He then laughed.

“JFK held 100,000 people so the absence was more prominent than the crowd.”

For the record, 16,231 fans showed, and it probably didn’t matter who was in goal. Keegan connected for a brace before Gerry Francis made it 3-0. Substitute Stewart Scullion saved some face for the Americans, scoring their only goal of the tournament late on off a Chinaglia feed.

“What more can you ask from these players?” Furphy told the Washington Post. “I’m not putting the blame anywhere. These teams have played together years. We’ve been together seven days. It’s only a game. Not death.”

Tell that to Brazil and Italy, who battled for the championship before 36,096 and secretary of state Henry Kissinger at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut. The Brazilians prevailed, 4-1, the same score in which they defeated the Italians in the 1970 World Cup final.

This confrontation hardly resembled the beautiful game. In a foul-ridden match, referee Ruiz Barnetto gave three players their marching orders (two on Italy, one on Brazil) and slapped five others with yellow cards.

“The hacking and all the fouls called were really not good example of European soccer,” Bernardini told the Bridgeport Post. “It was just hot out there. The teams are rivals and tempers were hot.”

For the second successive match, Italy uncharacteristically lost the lead after Capello scored 65 seconds into the match. Then it was all Brazil. Gil connected twice (29th and 52nd) before Zico (73rd) and Dinamite (75th) sealed it.

Brazil (3-0-0, 6 points) finished first (they awarded two, not three points for a win in those days), followed by England (2-1-0, 4), Italy (1-2-0, 2) and the USA (0-3-0, 0).

“We are ready to get to the top of the world again,” Brazil coach Oswaldo Brandao said.

While American soccer did not take a giant step because of the tournament, every little step helped.

“You’ve got a chance to see these guys,” Bobby Smith said. “If that doesn’t register with the soccer community, then just fold up the tent and go home. Did a hundred people go to every NASL game after that? I don’t know. It was a pretty cool thing for this country to see the Brazil, Italy, England national teams. Why wouldn’t that have a positive effect?”

It certainly was for Rigby, who said the cup was “an amazing experience” and a metaphor for his career.

“With all the ups and downs and the travails we had, the pioneers if you will, we wouldn’t change one thing because what a phenomenal ride that was,” he said. “I never lost the awe and the wonderment of the players I got to know to play with, to play against, to have relationships with. Those are the things that last, that are timeless [when] everything else comes and goes. If there is a young kid, I would wish [him] the same opportunity to just have so many of your dreams come true. That was the most lasting thing for me. Team America was a snippet of that.”

And worth it.