When did you first start following US soccer?

[USsoccerfan79]

Since there seems to be no news from camp (or I'm just too blind to find it) and I cannot take staring at the same threads anymore, I was just curious as to when and at what age everyone began following US soccer.

I played soccer growing up but really had no idea that the USMNT even existed until my uncle came by continously during WC 94. He had no cable (he still lived at my Grandparents house) so he would come by and we would watch the games together. I guess I was just shy of 14 at the time. I remember three things vividly from watching WC 94: Taco Bell used to have this 99 cent bean dip that came with blue chips. Everyday when my uncle would come over, we'd eat this before watching the games; I really enjoyed spending time with my uncle; and my uncle comments after Columbia crept back to 2-1. He was pissed that we were going to win on an own goal.

Looking back, I'm really lucky that my uncle got me exposed to soccer and especially the USMNT. While it sucks that we cannot watch a game together without hearing berating comments ranging from there being too many black players (my uncle's racist views sometimes make it hard for me to understand him) to the players' technical inability to know when to make an off-the-ball run, without him, I would have never experienced the pure esctasy of drunkenly pouring a cup of water over my head when US v Portugal ended.

Anyone else have a story?

[Sneever Flion]

It was also the '94 WC for me. My brother got us tickets to the US/Switzerland game at the Pontiac Silverdome for my birthday. I had been there the previous year to watch Germany/England as a precurser to the WC. But this game really set my fandom in motion. I remembered thinking how exciting it was to finally see the sport that I had played for most of my life, on a real stage. Keep in mind, this was '94. None of my friends followed the game. There was virtually no media coverage. Wanting to follow the game required some real effort.

I don't think I would have caught on until after '98 had my brother not gotten us tickets.

I will always seeing that sweet free kick from Waldo that tied the game.

But the win over Columbia damn near brought me to tears. I couldn't figure out why. But I just had so much emotion wrapped up in that game.

I was in the military two very short years later and living in Okinawa when MLS started. I felt like I missed out.

[JoeDub83]

I started watching the USMNT during WC 94, I was 11 then and was hooked since then.I didnt attend my first match until Feb of 1999 when we trampled the Germans 3-0. God I love this game.

[Kevin Etzel]

I first became aware of our team during the 1990 WC, when I was 34. I didn't see any of the games, but I read that they played fairly well taking into account that it was their first WC in 40 years. I really started following the team closely during the 1994 WC and then became fanatical in the qualifying leading up to the 1998 WC. During this period, before widespread access to the internet, it was lucky for me that I had access to a Bloomberg terminal at work to keep informed about the team's progress.

[TTweLLMan]

************! lol we got some oldies....

I started following in 98, when i was 8 years old...wow... and i kinda got interested and then, when we lost to Iran, I learned my first swear word :D my family was all dropping f-bombs and stuff...hahah it was great... but JMM on the revs was the main reason for me.

[Mark Coker]

I started during the qualifications for WC90...probably '88 or '89 I'd guess (my late 20s). I was just hanging out a friend's house and during our channel surfing discovered a qualifying match (it was against one of the central american countries). David Vanole stopped a PK late in the match to preserve the draw. By the "standards" of the day, ESPN did a pretty good job of covering the qualifying run. IIRC even the T&T-USA match (Caligiuri's "shot heard 'round the world) was shown live.

Even as recently as the late 80s, home matches were in the four-figure range and in relatively small venues in Torrance, CA, Saint Louis, and New Haven, CT.

Finally got my first live look at the nats in January '94 when they played in front of 40000 on astroturf in the Kingdome (1-1 draw with Lalas scoring for USA).

And for those of you who go back to 1990...how awful were those telecasts on TNT?

[Grady08]

For me it was back around '92...I can't even remember how I found them...maybe on the TV or some article I read, but from there I was hooked, and then with the WC here and everything, it just took off. I've been fortunate enough to see a few games and meet some of the players in the past few years so it means even more when we play, regardless of whether or not it's a friendly or a qualifier.

Don't you just love this sport?

Cheers....

[Poachin_Goalz]

I watched both the 1990 and 1994 World Cups but really didn't become a rabid fan until the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup. Then I went down to see the U.S.A. take on Holland in Miami in early 1998 and I was hooked.

[The Creeper]

Believe it or not, but the USA - Iran friendly in 2000 was the first game I ever really watched.

And now here I am......

[Casper]

1986 World Cup. Yes, I know we weren't in it, but it didn't seem to bother my teammates that we weren't; they just accepted that as perfectly normal. I started seeking out National team information after that. And it wasn't easy to find.

And if those born after Caligiuri's goal against Trinidad could refrain from calling the rest of us "oldies," that would be fine with me.

[Thomas A Fina]

Originally posted by Casper
1986 World Cup. Yes, I know we weren't in it, but it didn't seem to bother my teammates that we weren't; they just accepted that as perfectly normal. I started seeking out National team information after that. And it wasn't easy to find.

And if those born after Caligiuri's goal against Trinidad could refrain from calling the rest of us "oldies," that would be fine with me.

Agreed. I remember watching some soccer on Univision back in the 80s, but as far as the US team, I would say that I didn't start following them in earnest until the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
If tehy had done something in 86, I probably would have started but by the time I got really interested, they were eliminated.

[ButlerBob]

I started following US soccer back in the early 80's first was the Youth National team that qualified for the Youth Championships in Mexico. This was the team that had a 16 year old Tab Ramos. The main reason I followed them was I playd against one of the players (Troy Snyder)in high school. This was considered the first US team to really make a impact. The first US national team game that I went to was during the qualifing for the '86 World Cup. It was in I think New Haven and I can't remember who the playd (one of the Central American teams).

Other then US soccer, when I was in grade school I used to Soccer Made in Germany and some English highlight show on PBS. Also when we first got cable, one of the channels was WOR from New York and I used to watch the Cosmos. But also back then at different times the NASL was on both ESPN and USANetwork.

The first World Cup I remember watching was in '82. In '86 I was at college during the summer and would watch the games religously even skipping a few classes to do so.

[jordsosa]

I watched the 1990 World Cup and rooted for us (which was a thankless task) but didn't get into watching soccer again until I started watching EPL highlights on the MSG network during the 1993-1994 season (my junior year of high school). I tried to follow the '94 World Cup hype and saw a few friendlies on late-night cable before the World Cup. I bought Michael Lewis' World Cup preview book which explained a lot of world soccer and had good write-ups on all the participating teams.

Since World Cup '94, I have been an avid follower of the Nats and followed MLS from Day One.

[michael greene]

Originally posted by ButlerBob

Other then US soccer, when I was in grade school I used to Soccer Made in Germany and some English highlight show on PBS. Also when we first got cable, one of the channels was WOR from New York and I used to watch the Cosmos. But also back then at different times the NASL was on both ESPN and USANetwork.

The first World Cup I remember watching was in '82. In '86 I was at college during the summer and would watch the games religously even skipping a few classes to do so.


You took the words right out of my mouth. I grew up in NY, and watched Soccer Made in Germany on PBS. That was my only option actually, as my Mom was too mean/cheap to buy cable for us. She still doesn't have it, by the way, which means I do not visit when the USMNT is playing. Sort of followed the '82 Cup, but '86 I really got hooked as one of my best friends at college was a huge soccer fan from Malaysia and he bought a package of games from the local cable company.

[BigLarr]

1986

My youth team had tickets to the Kansas City Comets - Minnesota Strikers game.

I was hooked ever since.

[NER_MCFC]

My first period of interest in soccer was in the late 70s/early 80s (my teens), so the US team wasn't even really on my radar.

Although, I was aware of the USA qualifying for Italia '90, and I followed the results, I don't remember actually watching any of the games.

The first time I actually watched the USA was the game in Chicago against Germany in the US Cup in 1992 (I think). The final was 4-3 (or was it 5-4?), and everyone was happy that the US didn't get blown out. It's delightful to see how things have changed in the last decade!

[goosegg]

I found out that the US had a team that in 1990. I always followed the Argentine team since I was brought up watching the world cup every 4 years. I always wondered why the US was never in it. I was happy to finally be able to root for the home team. 13 years later and it's just getting better every year. Although I do remember wincing when watching the 1990 team play, I just kept thinking now I can buy a Nats team jersey.

[wjarrettc]

Although I played soccer as a kid, I was never really aware of the international game until 1994. At that time, I was a junior in college and home for the summer. I watched the US vs. Switzerland and US vs. Columbia WC94 matches on TV mainly because they were on, and I was bored. The day after the Columbia match I left for a summer abroad study program in London for six weeks.

There were college students there from all over the world and every night after classes, they would flood into the commons room to watch the world cup. Being social, I joined them each day and that's when I started to become aware of the passion of international soccer. After watching the Brazil v. Italy final with native brazilians and italians, I knew that international soccer was a sport I wanted to learn more about.

I started following the USMNT as they started qualifying for WC98 and I don't think I've missed a televised match (free or PPV) since WC98.

Since that time, I've managed to make it to 2 friendlies (Mexico in NYC, Netherlands in Foxboro) as well as the WC02 qualifying match in DC against Honduras (what an atmosphere). Now that I'm living on the East Coast (recently moved from Texas), I hope to take in quite a few more games in person!

[bmurphyfl]

I grew up playing youth soccer and going to Cosmos games. My sister is eight years older than me and could drive, so she would take me to Giants Stadium occasionally to watch the Cosmos in the late 70's. I was only about 10 years old so it felt cool to just ride in a car and hang with my sister all afternoon without any parents around. The soccer was almost a background event to the fun of hanging out with her.

Then I went to the Univ of Buckingham in England for my junior year of college. I had largely forgotten about soccer by this point but one of my friends there was a huge Southampton fan. He would rave about the games for hours in the bar and finally took me to a Norwich-Southampton match in Norwich. I can still remember it vividly today. The match wasn't anything special but the whole scene surrounding the match was intoxicating.

Then in 1990, I was going to summer school which meant that I had a ton of free time available. My friends and I were all big sports fans thought it would be fun to get into the WC with all of our free time. It was a blast. For the rest of the summer, we would periodically just scream "Schillaaaaaaaaaaaaaciiiii!!! and start running around our house or the bar"

But while I was now interested in soccer, my fever for it didn't explode into the passion it is today until WC 94 and the start of MLS in 96. Lastly, the final piece of the puzzle was finding the NAS mailing list in 1997 (maybe early 98) and now BigSoccer. The ability to discuss soccer events with other passionate fans should not be underestimated in a vehicle for spurring interest in the game.

Murf

[nobody]

I grew up watching soccer, but mostly rooting for the German team since the US never qualified for the cup and the US "team" was never on TV. Watched some NASL and a lot of Soccer Made in Germany. Chicago Sting and Bayern were my teams. Karl-Heinz Granitza rocks. It was tough when the Cosmos had Beckenbauer.

Cought the fledgling US team live a couple times in the early 80s when they'd play exhibitions, and often loose, to mediocre club teams. I remember watching them play to a tie with one of the better Russian club teams at the time and everyone was very happy with the result.

I was really happy when they finally did qualify for the cup in 90. I've watched everything I could from there on out, and what little was on before.