Generation Zero: Founding Fathers, Hidden Histories & the Making of Soccer in America

The Modern Creation Story American Soccer Didn't Know It Had

By the late 1980s, U.S. soccer had solidified its reputation as a global laughingstock, a sporting oxymoron akin to Jamaican bobsledding:

• Starting in 1950, the richest, most powerful nation on Earth had gone 0 for 9 trying to qualify for the World Cup.
• Once the North American Soccer League petered out, U.S. sporting culture proved unable/unwilling to replace it.
• Soccer on TV? Post-1984, only the odd indoor match might be found ...