Three days before the World Cup began, I attended a high school playoff doubleheader featuring the top two teams in Virginia. The first game had just finished, and as I waited in line at the snack bar, a member of the winning team stood behind me. I offered him a copy of Soccer America, our World Cup preview issue.
''No thanks,'' he said.
''It's free,'' I replied.
''Nah.''
Who turns down free stuff? I had to find out more.
''You don't follow soccer?''
''No, I just play.''
Cringing at his answer, I fell silent. Yet his outlook seems painfully common.
A few weeks later, during a conversation with my best friend from childhood, arrived my favorite moment of the World Cup. We played youth soccer together, starting at age 5. We went to Washington Diplomats games at RFK when we were too young to appreciate them. Pro soccer soon dried up, but we still followed the national team and the World Cup. He played Division I ball, moved to Baltimore after college and became an avid fan of every sport except soccer, it seemed, until the World Cup. He called me after the USA-Germany quarterfinal.
''Now I feel like I know some of these guys on the U.S. team,'' he said. ''Now I have a reason to go see an MLS game. They're goodplayers! I knew a few of the names before, like Mathis and Pope, but DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, even McBride – I'd pay to watch these guys.''
Amen.
His words were music to my ears, because I can't help but feel my friend is representative of the masses who love soccer on some level but have remained mostly lethargic about MLS since 1996.
This time around, the World Cup has piqued his interest in MLS – for good reason. The landmark achievement of the 2002 U.S. team is a resounding endorsement for the level of play in the league. Beasley, Donovan, Mastroeni, Mathis, McBride and Wolff proved that MLS is, indeed, quality soccer. It can prepare our players for the international game.
Since his first day as U.S. coach, Bruce Arena has repeated that one of the best ways to help the national team is to support the nearest MLS club. Now is the time for those who only have seen a handful of games since 1996 to get to the stadium.
I know, the league seems too small. Some fields are subpar. Single-entity seems weird. The salary cap is too restrictive. But the only way these things will change is if more fans start going.
The bottom line: The soccer is good. The games are entertaining. The stars of the next U.S. World Cup team are on display. The better MLS does, the better the national team will do. Period.
If this U.S. team gripped you, inspired you or made you proud to be a soccer player in this country, make the time to keep the ball rolling.
Go.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Will Kuhns