Building Soccer in America: Three Stories of Struggle and Success
01 June 2010
D.C. United players, in black, battle for the ball against A.C. Milan during a friendly match in May
FAITH LAPIDUS: I’m Faith Lapidus.
DOUG JOHNSON: And I’m Doug Johnson with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the highest level of men’s soccer in the United States — Major League Soccer. We hear from three players who have links to Washington, D.C.
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Ben Olsen and Curt Onalfo had great careers as professional players. Now, they are passing on their knowledge as coaches with D.C. United. Mike Banner plays for the Chicago Fire, but started in Washington. Their stories tell a lot about the past, present and future of professional soccer in America.
FAITH LAPIDUS: In nineteen ninety-three, soccer in the United States started on a new road. It had been almost ten years since the last major soccer league in the United States had closed down. The North American Soccer League lasted from nineteen sixty-eight to nineteen eighty-four.
The NASL had some notable successes. One team signed two of the most famous players in soccer history: Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany. Both stars played for the New York Cosmos in front of big crowds. At the time, their best playing days were behind them. Yet foreign players like these planted the seeds of renewed interest in soccer in America.
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