US Soccer Hotbeds

[Bill Schmidt]

Where are the hotspots for soccer in the U.S.? Places that have lots of fans, produce many NCAA and professional players, and where soccer is generally incredibly popular as a participant and spectator sport?

I know California is, and I would say Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is. Where else?

[afgrijselijkheid]

historically st. louis is the spot

here's a good article - http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/saintlouis.html

current USMNT players from the loo:
chris klein
steve ralston
taylor twellman

other current MLSers from the loo:
bobby rhine
bras davis
brian kamler
pat noonan

in addition, brian mcbride went to st. louis university

SLU has won more NCAA soccer titles than any other school with 10 (including ons shared with michigan st. in '68 and not including a final loss in '72 to howard who later had their title stripped)

other area schools with NCAA titles:
D1
southern illinois edwardsville '79

D2
SIU edwardsville '72
U of missouri-st. louis '73

NAIA
quincy a record 11 times

Njunior collegeAA
florissant valley JC a record 8 times
meramec CC 2 times

the US open cup won by stl teams:
stix, baer & fuller 2 times
scullen steel 2 times
kutis 2 times
busch 1 time
simpkins ford 1 time
ben miller 1 times

st louis teams also have 10 runner up finishes

at one point in the '50's, the US national team was really just a st. louis all-star team and the famous win over england in the 1950 WC was by a side of about half st. louisians

[pwhitdog]

I know this may sound strange but what about the Northwest? When I moved to the Seattle area I was in a state of shock to see so many people there playing soccer on a regular basis.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by CobblestoneFootball
I know California is, and I would say Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is. Where else?

Well, while it doesn't suck, I wouldn't consider Western PA a hotbed, either. At least not since the Mill and Mine semi-pro leagues faded away with the mills and the mines.


I would also mention Kearny (sp?) New Jersey. Home of Tony Meola and several other national team mainstays from the early 90s who were crucial to bringing the game out of its decades'-long slump in the US.

[jamison]

Originally posted by Dr. Wankler
I would also mention Kearny (sp?) New Jersey. Home of Tony Meola and several other national team mainstays from the early 90s who were crucial to bringing the game out of its decades'-long slump in the US.

Reyna and Harkes are from Kearny as well. Plus, Berhalter is from Tenafly, about 20 minutes away. Gaven (Hamilton), Eskandarian (Montvale) and Szetela (Clifton) are also from Jersey. Tim Howard, of course, if from Brunswick, and Phil Marfuggi (U-17 gk) is from Jersey. And Bob Bradley is from Princeton (roughly). So that's 9 guys (w/meola) and a coach from within an hour of Giants Stadium.

All of Jersey plays soccer. Sometimes I think there are more junior level soccer teams than fans at Metro games, though, some nights that doesn't take a lot.

I'm not a big Jersey guy, but they do pretty well. Still way behind California, but you could argue they are the second best state in terms of production. I won't, but you could.

I am from NY, with really Armas, Buddle and Petke to claim, though Kotschau is from Strong Island as well.

[Excape Goat]

Originally posted by jamison
Reyna and Harkes are from Kearny as well. Plus, Berhalter is from Tenafly, about 20 minutes away. Gaven (Hamilton), Eskandarian (Montvale) and Szetela (Clifton) are also from Jersey. Tim Howard, of course, if from Brunswick, and Phil Marfuggi (U-17 gk) is from Jersey. And Bob Bradley is from Princeton (roughly). So that's 9 guys (w/meola) and a coach from within an hour of Giants Stadium.




You listed everybody, but you forgot the most important New jersey player -- Tab Ramos of Kearny, NJ. :)

[Pyro]

Overriding rule:
Everywhere is a hotbed until it is expected to put 16K butts in seats 16 times a year rooting for an MLS side.

Fmr hotbets:
Tampa
Miami
San Jose

[Mglnbea]

Originally posted by pwhitdog
I know this may sound strange but what about the Northwest? When I moved to the Seattle area I was in a state of shock to see so many people there playing soccer on a regular basis.

I could be wrong about this, but I believe Portland was dubbed (or dubbed itself) "Soccer City, USA" during the NASL, and Portland Timbers, days. I believe this was the first US city to so name itself thusly.

Didn't both the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers have strong support during those days?

[Bill Schmidt]

pyro,
good point about the "former" hotbeds. Certainly it's true that having a larger youth participation base and/or lots of professional players does not equal great MLS or A-league attendance.
pwhitdog,
I was surprised to see Seattle selected for the Manchester United tour this summer, and that the stadium sold out. Since then I've learned a lot more about soccer in the area. So it doesn't take great weather for soccer to be popular in an area.

[elainemichelle]

I think areas with diverse groups of people (aka people from big soccer countries) seem to do better. DC's still doing well as is Chicago, as far as I know.

[nicodemus]

In addition to calling itself the "Football Capital of the South," Birmingham also refers to itself as the "Soccer Capital of the South." We may not be producing a lot of players (there's only one Alabamian in MLS, and one on the women's national team), but we put some serious people in the stands for meaningless friendlies, hosted 80,000+ sellouts during Olympic soccer in '96 and even had some U-17 international tournaments that drew very well (pre-Adu) and in the last decade have had a consistenly good college team (UAB.)