The FIFF folded in 1972, and therefore stopped organizing the unofficial World Cups they had put on in the previous two years. However, women’s soccer leagues continued throwing and participating in Mundialitos, or ‘little world cups’, which were smaller, invitational tournaments.

The US Women's National Team played their first ever international games at one of these Mundialitos in Italy in 1985. The US team had been selected from a pool of players in Florida just a few weeks before and had only trained together in New York for three days before heading to Italy to participate in the tournament wearing oversized, hand-me-down men’s kits that simply read “USA” on the back.