Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer in a Football World: The Story of America's Forgotten Game (David Wangerin)

Chapter 5: Moving the Goalposts

Wangerin follows up on the growth of youth and scholastic soccer he touches on at the end of Chapter 4 with an observation that that growth didn't translate to more support for professional soccer in the U.S.

In 1974, though, two changes occurred to help improve soccer in the U.S. First, the newly-named U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) appointed a full-time coach for its men's national team for the first time. And second, the North American Soccer League (NASL) saw its expansionist plans for up to 32 teams at least help them gain a coast-to-coast presence for the first time. 

But 1975 was the big year for growth of soccer in the U.S., thanks to Pele's decision to come out of retirement to "not just play for the [New York] Cosmos [but] it is to promote soccer in America."

The rest of the chapter is about the Pele experiment in the NASL, which has echoes of Major League Soccer League's experiences with the signings of David Beckham in 2017 and Leo Messi in 2023.