Never in the history of American soccer has such a collection of talent been assembled in one place at one time.

On the same weekend, the U.S. senior men’s and women’s teams gathered in Florida, along with aspiring players from their youth teams and college all-stars at the Umbro Select Classic.

The focal point was Ft. Lauderdale, site of the MLS SuperDraft and USA-Norway women’s game, wherein lies the problem.

In MLS cities, papers came out of hibernation to offer decent if not “super” coverage of the fifth annual draft.

In the two papers that arrive on our doorstep each day, the SuperDraft still took second fiddle to the women’s game. April Heinrichs’ debut led in the morning paper’s soccer hole; it dominated (12 paragraphs to four) in the afternoon paper.

On the national scene, the difference in coverage was more noticeable.

The Sunday night sports cable shows all offered highlights of Norway’s come-from-behind win. I didn’t seen any mention of Steve Shak or any of the other draftees.

In USA Today, Heinrichs was featured in the sports section on page 3; MLS’s draft was relegated to the back of the sports section.

Whether they know it or not, MLS and any new pro women’s league that comes along in the next year are on a collision course.

They’ll face a battle for space and air time in the media.

WNBA ù which gets generally good coverage ù and the NBA don’t fight for space in part because they play at different times of the year.

Soccer isn’t so lucky.

It isn’t big enough yet that its news hole will expand considerably for ongoing coverage for two leagues.

Women’s soccer has a big advantage right now. The women’s game is hot, and it has considerable support among “Olympic” writers on big papers.

It has coverage MLS would die for.

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