The Hollywood star who ridiculed Blatter and why Pelé was banned: the pearls of the 94 World Cup draw

Almost 30 years ago, the football world was looking forward to a new edition of the men's World Cup. And as will happen in November with the World Cup in Qatar, the question was raised in the environment with what was going to happen in the United States. Marked on the map as the land of the NFL, baseball and the NBA, which suffered after Michael Jordan's first retirement, the repeated question was what organization would be like in a country with almost no tradition in the discipline.

Time was responsible for showing that USA 1994 left lavish stadiums, miles of trips between the venues and the warmth of an audience that enjoyed the maximum football competition as a sporting spectacle never seen. But, beyond what the tournament left, and that definition by penalties that gave Brazil the title after equalizing goalless against Italy in the final, what deserves to be remembered as a special on the old VHS films is what the group stage draw was.

We did say that the pre-World Cup event in Spain 82 was embarrassing, what happened at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas touched the tragicomic. On December 19, 93, a few days after the Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations, the City of Sin was visited gala (never better said) to welcome stars of all kinds. Under the leadership of Josep Blatter, the then Secretary General of FIFA, football icons, together with film and song figures took to a stage that had an actor like Man of the Match of the day.

With historic American TV animator Dick Clark and actress Faye Dunaway as hosts, music legends such as James Brown, Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder were part of the show. Other protagonists were model Carol Alt and actor Beau Bridges, who were mixed with the names of great players such as Frenchman Michel Platini, Cameroonian Roger Milla and Dutchman Marco Van Basten.

Several of them were positioned among the drums that determined the locations of the selected ones in the groups. Others, such as the world champion coach with Germany in Italy 90, Franz Beckenbauer, were encouraged to take the balls out of a bucket that defined the chosen ones from pot 3. A similar figure occupied the heavyweight champion boxer Evander Holyfield, who several years later lost part of his ear after Mike Tyson's bite in the same venue.

But as if it were a Hollywood blockbuster film, FIFA and the Organizing Committee led by Executive Director Alan Rothenberg defined that the actor chosen to get the last balls of the evening was none other than Miss Doubtfire. He is also known for voicing Aladdin in the Disney animated film, among other great roles that led him to stardom. After half an hour of the show, the one who stole the show was Robin Williams. The comedian entered the scene and revolutionized the audience present in the World Cup draw. And he also got Blatter himself out of his mind.

“Mr Bladder, it's a pleasure to meet you after feeling it for so many years. It's nice to have it,” was the first thing the actor said to the giveaway manager in mockery. Of course, instead of calling the giveaway manager by name he changed it to the reference of an organ of the human body: he said “Bladder”, which in English means bladder.

“You are complete, I imagine”, he retired before looking at the giant screen where the draw groups were showing themselves and repeating: “The biggest keno game in the world”, in relation to its resemblance to bingo or the lottery played in casinos. Seconds later, the actor who knew how to star in great films of the time such as Good Morning, Vietnam; The Society of Dead Poets and Hook, wore a white glove on his right hand to ensure the “cleanliness” of in his choice of balls.

“We are at the end of the draw but it is very important and we are very happy to have you, Robin, or I have to say 'Miss Doubtfire',” Blatter told the actor, echoing the leading role in which Williams excelled in the film where she dressed like an older woman to enter his ex-wife's house and be able to visit his children. “Oh, thank you Mr Bladder,” Robin retracted, in a play that decreed widespread laughter in the auditorium. Before the farewell, he took the last ball of his ciborium, destined for Switzerland, bowed and bowed to the host of a show that was more a comedy step than an event related to a sporting event.

Once the actor said goodbye, with him also left the applause that was repeated later when Blatter showed the final areas of the World Cup in the United States. In Group A, the hosts were left along with Switzerland, Colombia and Romania. Brazil, Russia, Cameroon and Sweden were chosen for Zone B, while Group C was led by world champions Germany followed by Bolivia, Spain and South Korea. In the D, the protagonists were Argentina, Greece, Nigeria and Bulgaria. Zone E was destined for Italy, Ireland, Norway and Mexico, while Group F closed with Belgium, Morocco, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

Beyond the show that was having one of the best actors of the moment, and what determined the draw, the preview of the World Cup in the USA had other condiments. One of them was related to the venue of the event. Yes, it was in Las Vegas, but several had proposed other big cities to host the formation of the group stage.

“FIFA was concerned about the progress of the tournament organization,” Rothenberg said long ago in an interview. “As hard as it may seem to believe it now, the United States was struggling to prove its legitimacy in terms of football, and I was desperate to make sure that the draw was a great success. We knew we had to organize the best World Cup in history.”

“We considered New York, Los Angeles and even Hawaii, but Guido Tognoni (member of the organization) loved Las Vegas and planted the idea in FIFA's mind... And they urged us to keep it there,” recalled Rothenberg, who at the same time stated that doing so in that city was key to raising public awareness of the tournament and creating an energy that ultimately drove the birth of MLS. “Las Vegas fit because it is associated with glitz,” added the manager.

The chronicles of the time marked, in addition to what was experienced at the presentation of the World Cup, that there was a stellar protagonist who was not from the game and his absence generated astonishment in the football environment. Firstly, because until that moment he was considered together with Diego Maradona as the best player of all time. And secondly, because of his close relationship with FIFA and his past as a player in the old American football league.

Pelé did not step on the stage of the draw at the exclusive hotel and casino and made headlines all over the world. What happened? A confrontation between O Rei and the then president of FIFA and also of Brazilian origin, Joao Havelange, deprived the audience of having a central character in the history of football.

“The idea of holding a draw in this country or in any other country in the world without Pelé's participation is inconceivable,” Rothenberg said the day before the ceremony. According to the chronicles of the time, the confrontation began when the star and the Spanish group Dorna offered five million dollars to the Brazilian confederation for television rights to the 1993 Brazilian championship. Once the federation granted the rights to the Globo and Bandeirantes networks for less money (about $4 million), the former Santos figure claimed that the reason was that her investment group had refused to pay a bribe of one million dollars to Ricardo Teixeira, president of CBF and Havelange's son-in-law.

“FIFA is an institution and the draw belongs to it. FIFA chooses the people who are invited to participate, and it has no obligation to invite A, B or C,” the FIFA boss revealed in a brief contact with the media on the day of the draw. Beyond the decision by the entity that directs the football destinies not to show Pelé, it was also chosen that Havelange not appear in the group stage presentation.

But despite the conflict, O Rei was present at Caesars Palace. “We were forbidden to use Pelé in the draw. Somehow I got him a credential prominently in the audience, which didn't win me Havelange's affection, but I needed Pele. It was the only name that the American public recognized in the draw,” Rothenberg said of the man who made football history in the United States with the Cosmos shirt.

Every World Cup draw has its charm. The one from USA 94 will be remembered as the day when a movie star made a fool of one of the tycoons as if he were part of one of the best comedy series on TV. But also how the world lost a world football figure to internal conflicts that later exploded in Brazil and other parts of the planet as one of the biggest scandals in sports history.

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