When will American soccer begin to overtake the big three American sports—football, baseball and basketball—and compete for America's best athletes?
No discussion in American soccer carries the enormous implications of this question. Soccer fans figure it has to happen, eventually. The soccer haters take it as a sign of the sport's impotence that we're still asking the question.
After the 1994 World Cup shattered tournament attendance records, soccer fans were certain that the glorious rise of the beautiful game in America was imminent.
Major League Soccer attempted to ride this wave of interest to re-launch professional soccer in the U.S. However, MLS soon faltered as attendance dropped and the league was forced to close two franchises in 2001.
The national team's quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup once again created a wave of enthusiasm. This time the strategies of MLS and U.S. soccer focused on building a foundation for slow and steady growth rather than trying to ride the wave of a brief fad.
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