MEMENTO

Soccer Digest, Nov, 2001 by Joseph D'Hippolito

Paul Caligiuri will retire following the MLS season, but this American soccer star's legacy should endure

FEW PLAYERS HAVE COMPETED in two World Cups, one of the world's best leagues, and more than 100 international matches. Fewer still have made a radical, lasting impact on their nation's athletic fortunes. But defender Paul Caligiuri, who will retire from the Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the MLS season, accomplished all of those things. More than that, Caligiuri played perhaps the pivotal role in the United States' transformation from soccer backwater to regional force.

After all, it was Caligiuri who scored the goal that qualified the United States for the 1990 World Cup, the Americans' first appearance in that tournament in 40 years. U.S. Soccer before and after that shot is like night and day. That goal allowed the U.S. to experience a World Cup, sure, but it also validated the U.S.'s 1994 World Cup bid (which it, of course, won), and produced an exponential rise in funding for U.S. Soccer, the creation of MLS and Project-40, and--thanks to MLS's groundwork--the logistical validity of the WUSA.

In short, it changed everything.

Yet Caligiuri's influence extends even beyond that moment. When Caligiuri joined the national team in 1984, he represented a better, tougher kind of player than the United States had been producing--someone good enough to become the first American to sign with a club in Germany's Bundesliga.

Caligiuri also helped mold the core of native-born players who would become synonymous with American soccer throughout the 1990s, a group that included Marcelo Balboa, John Harkes, Eric Wynalda, and Tab Ramos. "Paul was an example to everyone because of his professionalism," says Ramos, who joined the national team four years after Caligiuri. "He was always prepared for games. A lot of us were younger and he was someone to look up to, even though he wasn't old.

"He's one of the pioneers. He was a very important part of the whole development of U.S. soccer, one of the leaders of a group of pioneers that stayed together for a long time."

Now, at 37, Caligiuri becomes the first significant member of that group to retire. "I really feel like I'm in my 20s," he says. "I feel I could play for a few more years. I'm sure it's going to be hard to walk away from the game, but I'm doing it on my own terms and I feel good about my longevity."

Caligiuri, who shifted between the back and the midfield, will--barring a testimonial match--finish with 110 appearances for the United States. He played in the 1988 Olympics, started every game in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, and performed more years for the national team than any other player (1984-98).

Yet Caligiuri's career was born on a whim. When he was six years old, a neighbor's son bragged to Paul and his older brother John about registering for a local AYSO team. That night Paul and John begged their father to play. "I didn't know what soccer was," Caligiuri says with a smile. "I guess I was a bandwagon guy."

When the Caligiuri brothers arrived at their first practice, their coach had all the players perform a dribbling drill. "I loved the game from that moment on," says Caligiuri. "I just loved playing with the ball. Every day I would kick the ball against the wall, the garage, the stairs, against my sister's back while she ate Oreos on the floor and watched soap operas. I put the ball through chairs in the kitchen to practice nutmegs. It was just a true passion."

Caligiuri's passion resulted in one collegiate honor after another. As UCLA's captain, he helped the Bruins win their first NCAA championship in 1985, was the U.S. Soccer male athlete of the year in 1986, and twice earned All-America honors.

Rick Davis, the U.S. captain throughout the 1980s, knew he was seeing the future of U.S. Soccer when Caligiuri made his international debut. "Paul clearly had abilities and attributes that the bulk of the rest of us did not," says Davis. "He already understood the game at a level that you couldn't learn if you didn't play professionally or internationally."

Caligiuri also had "an indomitable spirit," says Davis. "When he was challenged by players on the other team or in practices, he stood up to the challenge and even pushed back. You don't see that very often."

But when Caligiuri joined the national team, it never played more than 10 games a year. Sophisticated training centers didn't exist. Junior college stadiums served as home sites for World Cup qualifiers. "At that time, U.S. soccer was really at a low," says Caligiuri. "We didn't have a professional league. Players were coming out of college, finances were minimal, and there weren't a lot of sponsorships. That really was the era when players were playing strictly for the passion of the game."

Nevertheless, Caligiuri soon received an unprecedented opportunity. After playing in the 1986 FIFA All-Star Game, Caligiuri accepted an offer to join the Bundesliga's Hamburg SV in 1987. Thus began a career in Germany that would take Caligiuri to four clubs in eight years.