October 14 - October 20
Intercontinental Champions Cup Saudi Arabia 1992™
Intercontinental Championship for the King Fahd Cup 1992™
Final Tournament Standing
About
Argentina get the ball rolling
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 ten 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 USA
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