The 2000 Nike United States Cup (U.S. Cup), a Nike-sponsored, United States Soccer Federation (USSF)-organized international football tournament, took place in June 2000. It was the seventh and last U.S. Cup in the series, which began in 1992.
The four teams in the competition were the United States team, Ireland, South Africa and Mexico. Of the three teams invited, Ireland was playing its third cup, Mexico its fifth (plus one U.S. Women's Cup) and South Africa its first. Ireland played in the inaugural cup in 1992 while Mexico won three straight Cups before the 2000 tournament. South Africa was the second African team to compete, after Nigeria in 1995.
Pre-tournament controversy
The USSF had deliberately scheduled the 2000 U.S. Cup to fall during the 2000 European Championship. USSF hoped to attract two European nations from the pool of countries that failed to qualify for the Euro Cup. Once Euro Cup qualifications determined the final competitors, the USSF invited Ireland, Russia and Scotland, but only Ireland accepted the offer. The USSF then invited South Africa, an African Cup semi-finalist six months earlier. However, South Africa elected to use the U.S. Cup to give several younger players international experience and therefore did not bring its full senior team. While both the lack of European participation and South Africa's decision on player selection disappointed USSF, these paled in comparison to the controversy surrounding Mexico's participation.
After the 1999 U.S. Cup, USSF had negotiated a three-year contract with the Mexican Soccer Federation, obliging Mexico to send its full international team to the next three U.S. Cups. By the time the 2000 Cup was staged, three major developments threatened Mexico's participation. First, in May 2000 Alberto de la Torre became the new Mexican Football Association president. He took control of a federation which had just failed to qualify for the Summer Olympics and had lost badly at the Gold Cup. He quickly fired Hugo Enrique Kiese, chief of the national team commission and the official most responsible for Mexico's three-year contract with USSF. De la Torre was publicly critical of both Kiese and the U.S. Cup contract. To make matters worse, the Mexican League had also extended its season due to weathered out games. This meant that many of the top Mexican players would still be in the post-season during the tournament. Finally, FIFA had pressured CONCACAF to alter its World Cup qualification schedule, making the games earlier than anticipated. In fact, the United States and Mexican teams would leave the U.S. Cup and go immediately into preparation for those games. This meant that Mexican players, coming from their domestic league schedule, would have no time to rest before beginning a World Cup qualification campaign. Therefore, de la Torre, just weeks before the cup, asked USSF to reschedule it for August. With Ireland and South Africa confirmed and stadiums scheduled, USSF refused. De la Torre then told USSF that he would refuse to send the Mexican team, but USSF threatened a lawsuit, as well as FIFA sanctions. De la Torre brought Kiese back into the Mexican Federation and sent him to break the news to USSF, Mexico would send its "national team", but it would look a lot like the UNAM Pumas. After the tournament, USSF considered canceling its U.S. Cup contract with Mexico, a point which became moot as the 2000 tournament was the last played.
June 3: Opening Day
The 2000 U.S. Cup opened with two games on 3 June 2000. The first match pitted South Africa against the host United States in Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium. While the United States team had typically drawn well at RFK Stadium in the past, only 16,750 fans arrived for a game played on a clear, day. The USSF later blamed the low turnout to poor marketing by the local professional club D.C. United with which USSF had contracted, but this was merely one in a series of mis-steps associated with this cup. On the field, the United States dominated South Africa. In the 36th minute, Cobi Jones took a pass from Chris Armas, and cut from right to left across the box. As Jones recalls it, "As I was dribbling across the box, the player who was marking me said, 'Shoot it! Shoot it!' So I said, 'OK, I'll shoot it.' I think he was a little bit surprised after the fact." Jones scored again, then assisted on second half goals by Claudio Reyna and Ben Olsen. The game was also notable as United States defender Jeff Agoos reached his 100th cap.