Tony Meola, the multi-talented American goalkeeper
Not many Brighton and Hove Albion players have gone onto captain their country at a World Cup – in fact, only one man to date has: Tony Meola.
American goalkeeper Meola led the USA on home soil at the 1994 tournament, one of a host of achievements that he has racked up that no other ex-Brighton players have.
He is the only former Seagull to have signed for an NFL team for example, playing for the New York Jets as a punter in 1995.
Nobody else has been drafted for the New York Yankees, like he was in 1987. No other ex-Albion player has appeared in an off-Broadway play, Meola having a 12-week run in Tony and Tina’s Wedding.
There are not many who have appeared in a film either. Meola starred alongside Sam Elliott of A Star Is Born fame in The Desperate Trial. He was even drummer for MUSHMOUTH, a band described as “New Jersey’s hottest cover band”. Jurgen Locadia, eat your heart out.
The multi-talented Meola arrived at the Goldstone Ground in August 1990, fresh from having played in all three of the USA’s games at the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy.
Despite conceding eight goals as the Stars and Stripes lost 5-1 to Czechoslovakia, 2-1 to Austria and a narrow 1-0 defeat to the hosts, the 21-year-old impressed and it looked like he had sealed a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon.
Instead though, Tony Meola decided that he wanted to try his luck in England and Brighton boss Barry Lloyd was only too happy to give him the opportunity.
It was not hard to see why Lloyd was impressed by his CV. Meola was voted All-American goalkeeper by a magazine while at high school, won the Hermann Trophy for best college player while starring for the University of Virginia and had established himself as the USA’s number one by the age of 19.
Following the sale of John Keeley to Oldham Athletic for £240,000, Lloyd wanted Tony Meola to compete with Perry Digweed for the number one shirt.
Somewhat ironically, Digweed is one of the few other Brighton players to have been in a film. He appeared alongside Vinnie Jones in Mean Machine, giving the Albion two goalkeepers with movie star credentials.
Meola got his chance early in the 1990-91 Division Two campaign. Digweed was unexpectedly side with the season only two games old and so in came Meola for his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers visited the Goldstone on Saturday 1st September 1990.
With a ridiculous curly mullet and a flamboyant style of goalkeeper, he made an instant impression on the Seagulls faithful as the Albion drew 1-1 via a Mike Small penalty to pick up their first point of the season.
It was an encouraging first showing, Meola winning man-of-the-match against a Wolves outfit who themselves had a player fresh from World Cup exploits.
The formidable Steve Bull had been part of England’s squad that reached the semi finals despite being a second tier player, a sign of the ability Molineux’s favourite son possessed.
Meola retained his place for the trip to the County Ground to face Northampton Town three days later in the League Cup first round second leg.
The first meeting between the two had seen the bottom tier Cobblers inflict an embarrassing defeat on the Albion, winning 2-0 at the Goldstone.
That meant the 1-1 draw in Northamptonshire was not enough to save Lloyd’s side from the ignominy of exiting the competition to a club from two divisions below them, even though Meola again gave a solid account of himself.
Sadly, that was to be the last time that the American was seen in action for the Albion. Digweed returned for the 1-0 away win at Watford and six days later, Meola himself was making the move to the Hornets despite having impressed Lloyd with his work rate in his brief month at the club.
“He was a tremendous athlete,” the former Albion boss said in an interview in 2002. “He worked like a Trojan in training and he did okay but didn’t really give me long enough to assess him before he was off to Watford. That was disappointing.”
Not as disappointing as Meola’s spell at Vicarage Road. He managed just one appearance for the Hornets before being rejected for a work permit, forcing him to return across the pond to join Fort Lauderdale Strikers at the same time as launching his acting career.
Not that his links with England ended with his booting out of the country. Meola was the USA’s outstanding player in their famous 2-0 win over Graham Taylor’s hapless Three Lions in 1993, after which The Sun ran the headline “Yanks 2-0 Planks”.
Meola then captained his nation on their run to the last 16 of their home 1994 World Cup, including their 2-1 win against Colombia.
That was the game in which Andres Escobar scored the own goal which would lead to him being shot dead on his return home from the tournament.
After the World Cup, Meola went onto play for the wonderfully named Long Island Ruff Riders before joining the New York Metrostars for the launch season of the MLS.
He moved to the Kansas City Wizards and captained them to the MLS Cup in 2000, went to another World Cup in 2002 as third choice behind Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller and earned his 100th cap for the USA in 2006, the same year in which he retired.
