Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 11)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 11: Take Me Out to the Soccer-Specific Facility

Wangerin closes his 2006 book with a recap of the U.S. Men's National Team's run in the 2002 World Cup, and an appraisal of American soccer in the mid-2000s.

Wangerin followed up this book with a similar effort in 2008, when he wrote Distant Corners: American Soccer's History of Missed Opportunities and Lost Causes. 

And his passing from cancer in 2012 at the age of 50 is grievous for many reasons, including the fact that we're unable to benefit from his thorough and sharp research and writing skills to help us better understand the state of American soccer in 2026.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 10: Momentary Insanity

Wangerin bookends his penultimate chapter with the 1999 and 2003 women's World Cups, both hosted in the United States.

In between, he writes about MLS's growing pains in the early 2000s and the failure of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in the same timeframe.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 9: Clash and Burn

Wangerin documents the founding of Major League Soccer in the mid-1990s, and he highlights key events and key people associated with the U.S. Men's National Team through the 1998 FIFA Men's World Cup. 

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 8: Revenge of the Commie Pansies

Wangerin tracks the key events and people from the inaugural CONCACAF Men's Gold Cup in 1991 to the culmination of the 1994 FIFA Men's World Cup, which was a "remarkable success, devoid of crowd disturbances, empty stadiums or embarrassing performances from the host nation." 

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 7)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 7: A Foot in the Door

Wangerin surveys the wilderness of high-level soccer in the U.S. throughout the 1980s, with looks at the faltering NASL, the rise (and fall) of indoor soccer, collegiate soccer, and the ramshackle state of U.S. Soccer and the U.S. Men's National Team.

Toward the end of the chapter, though, Wangerin focuses on the U.S. team's qualification for the 1990 World Cup (Caliguri!), and the 1990 USSF presidential election in which Alan Rothenberg defeats Werner Fricker and sets the stage for the 1994 World Cup and subsequent launch of Major League Soccer.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 6)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 6: Shoutout to the Death

Wangerin's survey of the post-Pele NASL from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s shows that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme:

• Dueling domestic professional leagues
• Domestic professional leagues with soft TV viewership numbers
• Domestic professional leagues that appear to have little use for American collegiate players
• Domestic professional leagues with complicated relationships with the U.S. Soccer Federation and its national teams
• Domestic professional leagues that gain a reputation for prioritizing international players, especially marketable international players playing in the U.S. late in their careers
• Domestic professional leagues that are continuously trying to strike the balance between Americanizing the sport and adhering to international standards and best practices
• Domestic professional leagues that are continuously trying to strike the balance between bold ambition to match the global standard on and off the field and cautious pragmatism that ensures the leagues and their clubs are sustainable over time

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 Lionel Messi in 2023.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 4: 'We Will Become Phenomenal'

Wangerin analyzes how television revenue and jet travel in the 1960s served as the foundations for modern sports in the U.S., including soccer.

Specifically, the efficiency of air travel allowed internationally-known clubs like Celtic, Manchester United, Munich 1860, and Napoli to complete well-attended tours in the U.S. in a matter of weeks instead of months. And the success of those tours led to the International Soccer League, a U.S.-based summer league that existed 1960-1965 and mostly featured middling European sides. 

And when it came to the potential promise of television riches, well-known entrepreneurs like Jack Kent Cooke and Lamar Hunt submitted one of three proposals for a domestic soccer league that was considered by today's equivalent of the U.S. Soccer Federation. After some backroom intrigue featuring negotiations between the federation and prospective leagues, the North American Soccer League backed by Cooke and Hunt was selected as the preferred league in 1967.

Subsequently the NASL engaged in the now-familiar soccer wars among leagues in the U.S. with the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL), a battle that included competition for mostly foreign players to populate their rosters, a name change for one of the leagues (the NASL briefly renamed itself the patriotically-themed United Soccer Association), and an ever-constant fight for the hearts and minds (and eyeballs) of American fans.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 3: Strangers on a Boat

In this chapter, Wangerin continues to focus on the American soccer community's struggle to crack into the "Big Three" sports of the early 20th century (e.g., baseball, boxing, and college soccer), but looks at that struggle through the prism of the U.S. men's national team.

Wangerin specifically focuses on the era between the United States men's national team's first official international competition in 1916 and 1950s--most notably, the program's historic 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup.

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 2: Tangled Roots

Wangerin writes about how the American Soccer League (ASL) tried to wedge itself into the 1920s U.S. sports landscape dominated by baseball, boxing, and college football.

Looking back, the ASL's peak represented the golden age of soccer in the U.S. in the early 20th century, but it was still marred by familiar "soccer wars" among clubs, federations, and leagues. The fourth iteration of the league folded in 1933, but some of its clubs, personalities, and players are still talked about today. 

Bookshelf: Soccer in a Football World (Chapter 1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Chapter 1: A Game of Its Own

Wangerin opens with a summary of sporting history in the U.S. during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and he traces the history of soccer within that context from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.