Champions
Argentina used this tournament as a useful dress rehearsal
for the 1993 Copa América in Ecuador and the 1994 FIFA World Cup
USA
™. Coach Alfio Basile had a plethora of talented
players at his disposal, with Sergio Goycochea, Oscar Ruggeri,
Fernando Redondo, Leonardo Rodríguez, Diego Simeone, Claudio
Caniggia and Gabriel Batistuta all making the long trip. Their
first encounter with Côte d'Ivoire was over as a contest inside
10 minutes, Batistuta striking twice to ease the
"Albiceleste" into the competition. Ricardo Altamirano
and Alberto Acosta made it 4-0 in the second half, and the score
could have been much higher had the South Americans not taken their
foot off the gas towards the end. The FIFA World Cup finalists of
two years earlier then defeated the hosts 3-1 with goals from
Rodríguez, Simeone and Caniggia to lift the trophy and extend their
unbeaten run to 20 matches.
Surprises
The King Fahd Cup, as the tournament was originally called,
had a straightforward four-team format on its first showing. The
teams were drawn into two semi-finals: Argentina v Côte
d'Ivoire and USA v Saudi Arabia. The winners met in the Final
four days later, with the losers going on to compete for third
place. Bora Milutinovic's USA side, with Tony Meola, Marcelo
Balboa and Tabaré Ramos in its ranks, lost to Saudi Arabia in their
semi, but beat Côte d'Ivoire 5-2 to earn a place on the podium.
Participants
Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Côte d'Ivoire and the United
States.
Host cities
All the matches were played in Riyadh.
Top scorers
- Gabriel Batistuta (ARG), Bruce Murray (USA), 2 goals
- Al-Muwallid, Khalid Mussad (KSA), 1 goal
Spectators
169,500 spectators
Average attendance
42,375 spectators
