June 23, 1994 – Highest attendance (54,456) for World Cup match at Foxboro Stadium. Bolivia 0:0 South Korea

The crowd turned out to be among the most impressive of the World Cup group stage matches at Foxboro Stadium as Bolivia and South Korea went all out in a futile attempt to advance in Group C.

Bolivia’s Portugal-based midfielder Erwin “Platini” Sanchez had several free kick attempts and South Korea’s Hwang Sun-hong missed a first half open goal. Scottish referee Leslie Mottram added eight minutes to the second half, which seemed excessive, and several Korean players collapsed after the final whistle on a “perfect night,” according to my Boston Globe story. The story noted the result likely cost each team a chance to advance; both lost their final group match, the Bolivians against Spain (2-1) and the South Koreans versus Germany (3-2).

Sanchez, who was playing for Boavista, went on to coach Boavista, then managed Bolivia’s national team from 2006-09.

Hwang, now coaching FC Seoul, scored against Germany and became one of South Korea’s all-time best strikers. Hwang began his career along with Hong Myong-Bo, who went on to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2003-04 and managed South Korea in the 2014 World Cup. Both Hwang and Hong played key roles as South Korea reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup.

Foxboro Stadium hosted six World Cup matches, attracting more than 324,000 attendance from June 21-July 9, 1994.

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