The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.
During the 1980s and 1990s, it wasn’t uncommon for a professional sports teams to create a music video to celebrate a championship or promote its players. Think of the Chicago Bears’ “Super Bowl Shuffle,” the Cincinnati Reds’ “Red Hot,” the Portland Trail Blazers’ “Bust a Bucket” and the San Francisco 49ers’ “Team of the Eighties,” among many others.
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They were corny, yes, but they were also memorable — time capsules of an era featuring bad dancing, classic beats, sometimes a vibrant horn section and lyrics that have stayed within pop culture for decades.
When the United States men’s national team qualified for the 1990 World Cup — their first in 40 years — it was only fitting they get in on the trend of making their own campy music video.
The Azoff connection
Paul Caligiuri may have scored the biggest goal in U.S. men’s soccer history, but he can also be credited with playing a part in the creation of “Victory.”
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When Caligiuri met Shelli Azoff, the wife of music executive Irving Azoff, their relationship evolved from Shelli helping the team renegotiate their contracts with the U.S. Soccer to having a role in the song’s creation.
Togetherness and unity means victory in Italy /
With dedication, heart, and soul, you have the tools to achieve your goal
Azoff used her contacts in the music industry to rope in Jeff Fortson, aka Def Jef, to write the lyrics for what would be the U.S. anthem for Italia ’90.
“My knowledge of soccer doesn’t extend beyond Pelé or the Spice Girl’s husband,” Fortson told the New Yorker in 2014.
Italian defender Paolo Maldini is tackled by U.S. midfielder Paul Caligiuri during their 1990 World Cup match in Rome.
Beach dancing, bad rapping and O.J. Simpson
Once the lyrics were finished, the next task was to create a music video. Marty Callner, who had directed numerous music videos, including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again,” Poison’s “Every Rose Has a Thorn,” and Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” among others, was hired to make the video magic.
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Caligiuri, Tony Meola, John Harkes and Desmond Armstrong were among the players who hit Carbon Beach in Malibu, danced like no one was watching (or recording) and performed while juggling a soccer ball.
The video also shows the players recording lyrics inside the Azoff’s studio. A number of celebrities made appearances with the players, including Marcus Allen, Luc Robitaille and O.J. Simpson.
The video didn’t have the desired effect. It didn’t last long playing on MTV and the players did not become overnight sensations around the U.S.
“I think we thought we were going to ride a wave and people were going to follow us — but nobody cared,” Armstrong told the BBC in 2023.
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From time to time, Meola says he will be sent a clip of the beach dancing or the in-studio time with celebrities. But to this day, he’s yet to watch the entire video from start to finish.
While it is now the subject of comedy, back then it was thought to be needed in helping get the country interested in the World Cup.
“It was just one more piece in promoting the sport in this country,” Meola, who currently is a host on SiriusXM FC, told Yahoo Sports. “That’s what you did back then. These guys don’t have to worry about that stuff now. They just gotta go out and play and let the guys before them do music videos, I guess.”
