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10. The Hope for a World Cup
US Soccer officials had for a long time seen the hosting of a world
cup in the united States as a last hope for establishing outdoor soccer
in the country. The USSF had been promoting this idea for many years,
most notably during the waning days of the NASL, when a serious bid
for the 1986 World Cup was made, after the original host, Columbia
was disqualified. This gambit nearly succeeded. The success of the
NASL proved that a large fan base existed, as did the high numbers
of Americans with strong ethnic ties to their ancestral countries.
A natural fan base would exist not only for the American team, but
also for many of the other teams that would most likely make the cut.
The US was second to none in terms of infrastructure with an overabundance
of large stadiums, albeit ones with less than ideal gridiron field
configurations, many containing Astroturf fields. Despite these drawbacks,
the US made it to the semifinalist stage, and it was felt they were
rejected in favor of Columbia, primarily by skepticism about the US
market, and the financial problems of the declining NASL. It was felt
the World Cup would never sell in the US because of the lack of success
at the professional level. Less than a year after the US lost their
bid, the soccer competition at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles broke
all records for the Olympic competition, making Soccer the most heavily
attended competition in the entire Olympics. This despite an almost
complete lack of coverage in the US media.
Another major problem hampering US efforts was the disarray of the
National team. With a disappointing performance in the Olympics, the
demise of the NASL, the disastrous 1986 World Cup qualifying performance,
and a general lack of leadership, the National team almost became
dormant in the mid 1980's, playing only two full internationals in
1986, and a mixed bag of games in 1987, starting with a disappointing
0-2 loss to Canada in their first Olympic qualifier, but finishing
with a respectable performance in the Pan-American games. Clearly,
the National team was in danger of becoming irrelevant if it continued
to miss out on qualifying for major international tournaments, and
it could not afford to continue in this manner.
The outdoor game achieved a modest revival after 1986. The Lone
Star Soccer Alliance made its debut in 1987, with teams in Texas and
nearby states, and the Western League continued its slow growth, extending
down the west coast into California. These two leagues operated at
a modest, basically division 3 level. A more ambitious effort was
the third American Soccer League, which had as its goal the return
of 1st division soccer in America. This league, operating along the
east coast in major cities, was able to attract some of the more prominent
American players, including a number on the National Team, and drew
crowds comparable to the final years of the ASL II. Finally, another
small, almost unnoticed event that would later become significant
was the meeting of some western arena owners who, looking for a sport
to keep their rinks open during the off-season, joined together under
the leadership of Francisco Marcos to form the Southwest Indoor Soccer
League. This low-level indoor league would grow in increments through
the rest of the 20th century to become a major cornerstone of the
entire US soccer structure by the end of the century.
Other historic segments:
- Origins,
1609-1862
- The
College Era, and Rules Consolidation, 1862-1875
- The
Working-Class and Immigrant Eras, 1875-1894
- The
Doldrums, 1895-1913
- The
First Dynasties, 1913-1921
- The
Golden Era, 1921-1933
- The
Ethnic Period, 1933-1960
- The
Birth of the American Soccer Renaissance The 1960's
- Outdoor
soccer reaches a low: 1985
- The
Hope for a World Cup Mid 1980's
- A
Change in Fortunes, 1988
- The
Rebirth of Outdoor Soccer, 1988-1994
- The
Indoor Soccer Wars, 1990-1992
- The
Road to the World Cup 1989-1994
- The
World Cup comes to America 1994
- From
World Cup to Major League Soccer 1995-1996
- The
Here and Now, 1996-present
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