Among the St. Louis contingent heading to the World Cup is, for the first time, a referee: Prudencio “Pete” Garcia. Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Garcia (pictured) will become the first United States referee to officiate a World Cup game.

Goalkeeper Mike Winter (pictured) chills the Toronto Metros while Steve Frank, Pat McBride, Al Trost and Denny Vaninger combine to provide the goals in the St. Louis Stars’ 2-1 North American Soccer League win in Toronto.

St. Louis native Tim Ream is named player of the season for Fulham, one of England’s most historic clubs, just two years after Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic had told Ream there probably would be no place for him on the team.

Steve Trittschuh is a big winner even though the U.S. loses, 5-1, to Czechoslovakia in the teams’ opening match in Group A of the World Cup in Florence, Italy. The Granite City, Ill., native catches the eye of Czechoslovakia’s assistant coach and will sign with Sparta of Prague, where he will help Sparta win its league title during the 1990-91 season.

Kutis earns its place in U.S. soccer history by winning the U.S. Amateur Cup with a 1-0 victory over the Rochester (N.J.) Ukrainians. Coupled with its earlier capture of the U.S. Open Cup, Kutis becomes the third team to win both cups in the same year, a feat not repeated since.

Mike Seerey (pictured later in his career) scores a goal and assists on two others as defending champion St. Philip Neri gains the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Cup with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Schwabens in Chicago. St. Philip Neri will go on to win its second consecutive Junior Cup, and many of its players will reach the college and pro levels.

Taylor Twellman reaches the century mark in MLS goal-scoring faster than anyone, driving in No. 100 (and 101) in his 174th and last MLS game.

Teamwork takes Kutis to its seventh U.S. Amateur Cup by defeating Cleveland Inter-Italian, 4-1, in Cleveland. “We started as a team and we finished as a team,” says Kutis coach Friedel Geissert after the game. “All season long this is what I teach: teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.”

The St. Louis Stars score four goals — two for the opposition — and lose to the Denver Dynamos, 3-2, in an NASL match at Busch Stadium. Denny Vaninger and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Al Trost have big nights for the Stars, each with a goal and an assist. But Denver scores on shots that deflect off the Stars’ Tom Howe and player-coach John Sewell (pictured).

Mike Sorber plays at home for the first time since his college days at St. Louis U. and is called “a badly needed steadying influence” at midfield as the U.S. Men’s National Team and Paraguay play to a scoreless result at the Soccer Park.

Former Anheuser-Busch president Denny Long (pictured) says he and St. Louis attorney and former St. Louis Stars player Steve Frank have joined forces with Milan Mandaric of San Diego to try to save the MISL’s St. Louis Steamers. The Steamers are close to $1 million in debt, according to Joe Farrell, the team’s chairman.

Duchesne High School’s girls’ soccer team defeats Pembroke Hill, 4-1, in the Missouri Class 2 championship game at Swope Park Soccer Village in Kansas City to become the first boys’ or girls’ team to win four consecutive Missouri state high school soccer championships.

St. Louisan Josh Sargent equals the U.S. scoring record in the U-20 World Cup with his fourth goal of the tournament as the United States beats New Zealand, 6-0, in the round of 16 at Incheon, South Korea.

In the first post-World War II visit by a major foreign club to St. Louis, Liverpool overwhelms the St. Louis All-Stars, 5-1, at Public Schools Stadium before a crowd of 12,493.

St. Louisan David Brcic posts a shutout as the U.S. Men’s National Team shocks 1982 World Cup champion Italy, 0-0, in an international friendly at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Glasgow Celtic gets a tougher-than-expected fight from the St. Louis CYC All-Stars, but still prevails, 3-0, at Public Schools Stadium during its late-spring series of friendlies in North America.

The first known soccer-like game is played in St. Louis at the Grand Avenue Baseball Park (renamed Sportsman’s Park a few years later.) The game matches two teams of lawyers — the Blondes and the Brunettes — with proceeds benefiting the Newsboys Home. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat will devote a 700-word story on the event in its May 29 edition.

The St. Louis Athletica folds six games into its Women’s Professional Soccer schedule. The reported pullout of European investors in owner Jeff Cooper’s soccer operations leads to the Athletica’s untimely end. The Athletica are in their second season. Cooper’s other professional team, the men’s AC St. Louis, will cease operations after the 2010 season.

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Bill Looby scores both goals as Kutis clips Schwaben of Chicago, 2-1, in the Amateur Cup semifinals. Kutis, which already had won the Open Cup, will go on to become the last team in U.S. Soccer history to win both cups in the same year.

The NASL’s Team America is less than four minutes from upsetting the Soviet Union’s Dynamo Minsk when the Soviets are awarded a controversial penalty kick that results in the tying goal in a 2-2 deadlock at Busch Stadium. Three St.Louisas connect for Team America’s first goal: Perry Van Der Beck’s corner kick is deflected by Greg Villa to John Hayes (pictured), who scores.