The 2018 World Cup begins on June 14th and with the first game to be played next week, a look back to 1994 when the eyes of the world were on The Silverdome.

The United States hosted the biggest tournament in the World.   As the host country, the USA didn't have to qualify so they were automatically in.   According to FIFA dot com, the 1994 World Cup had 9 cities across the country hosting matches.

The cities that hosted matches were Pasadena, Stanford, East Rutherford, Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, Foxborough, Washington D.C. and Pontiac.

The Pontiac Silverdome was the venue that hosted the least amount of matches only four first round matches were played there.

USA and Switzerland was the first ever World Cup match to be played indoors. Romania and Switzerland, Sweden and Russia, Brazil and Sweden were the other matches held in the dome.

Two games ended in a draw while Switzerland dominated Romania and Sweden had no issues with Russia.

Even though their game in the dome ended in a 1-1 tie, the USA ended up getting into the second stage.  They had earned enough points in the group stage to move on where they lost to the eventual 1994 World Cup champions from Brazil.

Team USA that year featured names like Alexi Lalas, Tony Meola, John Harkes, Tab Ramos and Eric Wynalda. Names that helped build interest in the sport across the country.

1994 World Cup was a success and the interest from the World Cup helped the launch of Major League Soccer, which is still going strong today.

Did you attend any of the games at the Silverdome in 1994?

World Cup 1994 Pontiac Silverdome

Bonus Video: