[soccermaul]

2009: The Year Soccer Arrived in America
HuffingtonPost
A great read from Huffington Post.

[Revolt]

Hmm. I thought 1977 was the year soccer arrived. (or whatever year it was when I first started going to the Meadowlands to see Pele).

[soccermaul]

Originally Posted by Revolt

Hmm. I thought 1977 was the year soccer arrived. (or whatever year it was when I first started going to the Meadowlands to see Pele).

Damn, you're old.

[Mr. Warmth]

Originally Posted by Revolt

Hmm. I thought 1977 was the year soccer arrived. (or whatever year it was when I first started going to the Meadowlands to see Pele).

It's kinda like that whole "Discovery of the New World" thing

Columbus bumped into a continent in 1492 (Pele)

Jamestown Founded 1607 (MLS Begins)

Pilgrims land at Plymouth 1620 (CCS Opens)

9/11 Terrorist attacks (Seattle enters MLS)

[arkjayback]

Love. It. Though, I think it was really the summer of '09 when soccer boomed in America:

US's success in the Confederations Cup, the World Football Challenge, Grant Wahl's book, the subsequent media attention to Beckham and Donovan, Onyewu signing with AC Milan, Davies transferred to Sochaux, Altidore loaned to the biggest league in the world, ESPN picking up the rights to EPL and La Liga, FSC bidding war for the Champions League, the subsequent expanded coverage and imminent switch to HD, etc.

This entire year has been great, but during the summer, there were soccer headlines every day for all media. Soccer was in your face and you couldn't avoid it.

No offense to Salt Lake and Houston, but a Chicago/LA final featuring Beckham and Blanco in front of 67,000 fans on ESPNHD in primetime would be a fitting end to the greatest year of soccer in the US.

[DCU1996]

I was assuming you were a Seattle fan when clicking the thread.

[anotherbodymurdered]

mega lolz @ all of this

[rand al'thor]

just goes to show how big of an impact seattle has had already. article not even about us, and yet we're still the first ones people think of. awesome!

[Mr. Warmth]

Originally Posted by rand al'thor

just goes to show how big of an impact seattle has had already. article not even about us, and yet we're still the first ones people think of. awesome!

Somewhere, DC fans are sobbing silently because no one care about them anymore

[Prester John]

2009 has been a good year to be an American soccer fan, but it's difficult for me to claim that soccer has "arrived" when 42,000 show up for Inter/AC Milan yet ignore the Revs and the national team is playing road games against Honduras in the Second Freaking City. If the HuffPo types want to hail the arrival of soccer in America, they could at least do more to acknowledge their fledgling domestic league. Instead, they don't even tag MLS for the article.