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- BRANDI CHASTAIN BACKYARD SOCCER MLS EDITION PROFESSIONAL
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"I wish I had been older to properly understand the '94 World Cup. "It opened my eyes to the bigger world of soccer besides playing club soccer or playing in my backyard," he said. Landon Donovan, one of the best if not the best American men's player ever, was 12 years old in 1994 and said the Argentina-Romania matchup that year was the first game he'd ever watched live. For me, that indicates progress and evolution." "I often talk to young players nowadays, and they have no idea what it was like - and I'm proud of that. "I think everybody kind of looked to the summer of '94 as that moment that would hopefully change everything," Lalas said. They were salesmen in cleats, eager to interest their neighbors in the sport that already captivated so much of the world. They weren't trying to prove something to the world. Alexi Lalas, a defender on the national team that year, said American players took the field carrying a heavy burden. It started with 1994, when FIFA plopped the planet's biggest single sports tournament in a country that preferred helmets, hoops and wooden bats. "Wait 20 years and you will see the" men's "national team become champion. "In the United States, the base is much more prepared and much stronger than in a lot of countries," he said in a recent interview.
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Pele, the Brazilian legend who helped introduce soccer to a generation of Americans three decades ago, has seen the United States' relationship with the sport slowly evolve over time and still predicts a brighter future. national team will look to show the world how that progress translates to the pitch. "Now that doesn't mean I'm satisfied with where we are - we still have long way to go - but you look at all that we've done, and not a lot of countries did that much in 20 years." "I'm pretty sure if somebody said to me in '93 or '94, this is what it could look like 20 years, I would take where we are in a heart beat," said Gulati, who also serves on the executive committee of FIFA, the sport's international governing body. Soccer Federation, is quick to point out the long list of successes the sport has seen in the past 20 years, noting that, with progress, the room for growth shrinks with time. And while more adults are playing than ever before, the number of young players - among those age 6-12 and 13-17 - have fallen below their 1994 marks.įor fans, the sport is more accessible than ever, with 19 Major League Soccer teams spread across North America and international matches available on cable television at all hours of the day. But since then, the number of players has slipped to 12.7 million. More than 12.2 million Americans played soccer in 1994, a number that rose to nearly 13.8 million by 2004, according to research from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Soccer participation has also seen changes in the past 20 years. Some 28 percent identify themselves as fans today, compared with 31 percent on the eve of the 1994 World Cup.
BRANDI CHASTAIN BACKYARD SOCCER MLS EDITION PROFESSIONAL
In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 46 percent of Americans said they feel the sport will become more popular in the next decade, but there has been little change in the number who consider themselves fans of professional soccer over the past two decades. The so-called sleeping giant has certainly stirred since the 1994 tournament catapulted the sport into American consciousness, but its strides have been uneven and at times sluggish. Twenty years after the United States hosted the tournament, fandom here has grown to levels large enough to sustain a men's professional league, command lucrative television contracts and give millions of young boys and girls something to dream about.īut the state of soccer in the United States is still a complicated subject.
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"It's too much."Īs the World Cup gets underway this week in Brazil, the world's most popular game is years removed from being an American curiosity or even a niche sport.
BRANDI CHASTAIN BACKYARD SOCCER MLS EDITION TV
Today finding live soccer on TV requires a remote control and a thumb. Bruce Arena, the veteran coach, recalls a time when maybe one soccer game a year appeared on American television. Star player Brandi Chastain learned to kick a ball before the world's top women players even had a World Cup tournament of their own. Tommy Smyth, the longtime ESPN analyst, remembers having to rack up big long-distance charges calling overseas to learn scores of soccer matches.