Style over Structure: A comparison of Brazil and US Soccer Philosophy

VS

The future success of US Soccer must start at the bottom. American players are missing the intangibles: creativity, desire, and confidence. All of these are set in motion at an early age and not instilled via coaching at the top level.

The Brazilian National team is always considered one of the top teams in international soccer competitions and have been for quite some time. The Brazilians have won 5 World Cup competitions in 19 appearances (the only team to play in every World Cup). The Brazilian team has produced numerous international stars including the best to ever play futbol, Pele. From current national team members Robinho and Kaka to up and coming superstar Neymar, there is never a lack of talent being produced by Brazil.

In Brazil the focus is not on coaching but rather playing the “beautiful game”. Style, skill, and passion are encouraged and expressed by the national players from Brazil with much less emphasis on structure and power. In comparison the US Soccer program has continued to fail in its goal to produce a competitive international soccer squad due to its dependence on the model American athlete. Most sports that youth in America participate in require size, strength, and power the desired attributes of an “athlete”. However, as Brazil continues to demonstrate, this may not be the correct area of focus when it comes to building a winning soccer team and successful coaching philosophy.

In their youth Brazilian children can be seen with a ball at their feet no matter what the field conditions are, constantly playing the ‘beautiful game’. This open play is the key to developing creativity and skill without any coaching whatsoever. Compare this scenario to that of a suburban soccer complex in America: turf fields, top of the line equipment, and multiple coaches (and unfortunately parents) dissecting and interjecting at the first sight of a players’ “mistake”. We focus our coaching on technical, tactical, psychological and of course physical skills. Not mentioned is creativity, passion, or individuality.

If US Soccer where to study successful international teams from around the globe and attempt to blend their winning formulas for developing talented players and competitive teams they may have a better chance at success.

The true measure of success for a national soccer team is measured in wins and not corporate sponsorship money or T.V. coverage/revenue. For the game of soccer to finally take hold of the American audience the team must first WIN. Face it, Americans love WINNERS. Remember back not long ago to the 2010 World Cup and the attention our country paid to the results of the US Soccer team and captain Landon Donovan when they were playing well and advancing in the tournament.



Then remember how quickly that attention faded once the team was eliminated.



In Brazil where the love of futbol is introduced along with a bottle at birth the success of the national team unites an entire country. In the US the sport of soccer is an afterthought to many. With an open mind and willingness to change philosophy, the US Soccer program would have the opportunity to embrace the youth of America with a sport that is not only the most popular sport in the world but is also accessible to any race, religion, color, gender, and class.

Americans are innately independent soles. This is why democracy and capitalism are encouraged and defended in our country. Start with our youth and encourage them to develop their independent spirit through the beautiful game and we may soon see the results on display during the most widely viewed sporting event in the world. And who knows, with a little help from FIFA that might even be on US soil as soon as 2018 or 2022.

Top 3 Obstacles for WPS Success

On September 26, 2010 FC Gold Pride will host the WPS Championship game and the second WPS Champion will be crowned. For the second year in a row the best women’s soccer player in the world will be playing in the leagues championship game which will be shown live on Fox Sports Net.

For the WPS to have the sports best player and championship game broadcast live on television should indicate the Women’s league is on stable ground and poised to remain in existence. However following the 2009 season making the WPS championship game, being in the country’s second largest media market, and having Marta on their roster was not enough to keep the Los Angeles Sol from ceasing operations. Ending in nearly identical fashion for its second season, WPS will again showcase Marta on television battling for the championship on a team based in California.

With average per game attendance figures continuing to fall from 2009 to 2010 and having one of its teams (St. Louis Atletica) cease operations mid-season the focus is on how or if the league will survive.

The predecessor to the WPS, WUSA, completed just three full seasons before closing down shop. Even with the star power of the still popular Mia Hamm and her 1999 World Cup teammates the WUSA was unable to find the resources needed to be a profitable sports league in America.

  

Compare some of the issues that plagued the WUSA to those of the current incarnation of professional women’s soccer and you will see they are identical with one exception. The WUSA had much better attendance figures. In 2001, its inaugural season, the WUSA had an average of 8,116 per game which dropped to 6,667 per game in 2003 its final season. Currently the WPS is averaging 3,611 per game for the 2010 season, down 23% from the 4,684 in 2009.

Along with having much lower ticket sales than the WUSA, the WPS is facing three of the same demons that eventually forced the previous league out of the business of professional soccer in America. Other than PUMA the WPS faces a lack of major corporate sponsorships along with a lack of much needed television and media coverage. Combine the lack of much needed revenue from lowering ticket sales and sponsors and you can see how as a business the WPS may be in dire straits.

Already on the outside looking in, soccer in America is simply not as popular among professional sports as the ‘top three’ Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Although the participation numbers in youth soccer are near the top of any sport it has yet to translate to the numbers necessary to maintain a professional sports league. Major League Soccer has battled for recognition and respect as a league both in America and within the international soccer world. Even after 14 years in existence MLS struggles for its share of the professional sports market behind not just the three major sports but the NHL as well.

The obstacles are easily recognizable by all those involved in the WPS from the management level (GM’s) to the players on the field. I recently asked players, GM’s, and WPS employees past and present for the top 3 obstacles the WPS will need to overcome to become a financially profitable business and successful profession sports league. Not surprisingly most of them pointed out the following three areas the league will need to focus on immediately:

1. Increased ticket sales
2. The need for major sponsorship deals
3. Increased TV/Media coverage

If you are a fan of the WPS and professional women’s sports in general, do you think the WPS will be able to continue on for a third season and/or even surpass the 3 year mark of the WUSA? Do you believe our daughters or sisters in college, high school, and in the youth levels of soccer have a realistic dream of one day playing professional soccer in America whether in the WPS or some future version of the league?

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References:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/wusa/2003-09-15-wusa-folds_x.htm
All White Kit WPS Article: Bruised Battered but still Kicking
WPS 2010 Schedule

Has U.S. Soccer Bought Future Success or Mediocrity with Bob Bradley Extension?

USSOCCER.com announced Monday, August 30, that Bob Bradley has signed a four-year contract extension to remain the coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team through the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Following the 2010 World Cup there had been a lot of talk on soccer message boards and around the Internet regarding rumors of Bradley coaching a European team (i.e. Fulham, Aston Villa). There was also plenty "experts" debating whether or not Bradley was the right coach for the USMNT moving forward and was he solely responsible for their performance and the US teams results in South Africa at the 2010 World Cup?

American Soccer Wants YOU!

In my opinion Bob Bradley did the best he could have done with a very small talent pool (most soccer fans would agree the US is still having trouble producing international level talent with exception of Goalkeepers). Add to the limited availability of quality players the fact that Oguchi Onyewu, the defenses anchor, was still recovering from his ruptured patellae tendon injury and Charlie Davies did not fully recover from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in October 2009 causing him to not even be selected for the World Cup roster. Bradley was forced to fill his roster with unproven players in Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez. Neither of whom made much of an impact.

Some may say that the coaches that have come before Bradley like Bruce Arena (1998–2006), Steve Sampson (1995–1998), and Bora Milutinović (1991–1995) had even less talent to draw from. I agree that the level of US soccer talent has grown over the last 20 years but so has the rest of the world which means Bob Bradley's teams faced tougher international competition. Bradley led the US team to an excellent performance in the 2009 Confederations Cup with a win over Spain who is playing in the World Cup Final. So I say lets recognize the excellent job done by Bob Bradley (51.92% of poll voters agree) and hope that the US Men's team can continue to develop a deeper and more talented roster for future international competitions so that soccer/football/futbol will finally get some respect here in America.

• Bradley coached U.S. to First Place in Group C at 2010 FIFA World Cup, Captured 2007 Gold Cup and First Place in CONCACAF Qualifying
• Holds Career Record of 38-21-8; Led U.S. to First FIFA Tournament in Final at 2009 Confederations Cup

VOTE FOR BEST US MNT COACH!

The Revolution Has Begun (American Soccer Revolution)

This is a guest post by J. Palmer. He is the Philanthropist of the American Game and is promoting an American Soccer Revolution.

Follow:
Twitter: @thebeauTfulgame
Facebook: facebook.com/Philanthropist.of.the.American.Game

The United States is 2 or 3 World Cups away from being serious contenders, if we change the way we play the game, now. We need to bring America to the beautiful game. Our country has always made its own way, but when it comes to soccer we are trying to find our place within the world’s game. Not only will we not win like this. It will continue to be difficult to bring in better athletes and new fans.

Soccer is one of the first sports our youth play. Where are we losing them and why? I believe it has to do with the way it is presented. Soccer is the game you play when you first decide to play organized sports. It gives the kids a chance to run around but, no one really takes it seriously. When children are first introduced to football, basketball, baseball etc., it is intense from the word go. We have to do the same with soccer.
In a country where football is the game of choice, we can’t have players diving; rolling on the ground when the replay shows they weren’t even touched. It goes back to the old American sayings “rub some dirt on it” or “walk it off.” This is what is meant by bringing America to the beautiful game.

The Philanthropist of the American Game (P.A.G.) is committed to doing this, giving the American game an identity. Every sport in America has had some sort of innovation. It’s time to innovate soccer. I refuse to believe that our play in the 2010 World Cup is the best we can do. We can play with skill on the ball; have dangerous free kick takers, beautiful passes and the toughness we as Americans are known for. We just don’t teach it that way, until now.

How do I plan on spreading the message? I will spread the message through websites such as VaSoccerNews, FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube commercials if I have to. The style of play and mentality that will be presented is one that entices “athletes” to come play the sport, not just soccer players. What is the style? The style will be fast, physical, athletic and smart. Soon you will have the mind of Peyton Manning commanding the Midfield, the athleticism of Dwayne Wade at the Striker position and the range and leadership of Derek Jeter at Center Back. And they will play and stay in America.

The long term goal for P.A.G. is to be a symbol of American soccer. By wearing it either on your uniforms or just your day to day attire, it will mean you believe in a better brand of soccer. A brand only we as Americans are capable of playing.

The long term goal for me is to coach. I will teach the game. I am a firm believer of leading by example. If I want my team in shape, I will be in shape. If I want them to remain calm under adversity, I must do the same.

The 2010 World Cup showed us we are ready to compete. It’s time to take the next step.

I am the Philanthropist of the American Game. You can be too.

The Revolution Has Begun

American Soccer Didn't Start with Pele: Part 4 of 7 Playing With the Big Guys: Amateur Soccer in the Early 1950s

Playing with the Big Guys: Amateur Soccer in the Early 1950's

Moving Up

Club teams normally moved up to the Second and First Division amateur ranks in Philadelphia. Our Lighthouse Junior team took a different path. We left the Lighthouse Club to play under the banner of the professional Philadelphia Nationals. We played as the Fairhlll S.C., kids playing against seasoned veterans, many who had learned soccer in their native lands. Whenever l am asked today by anxious parents if their kids should “play up,” I give the Fairhlll S.C. example. Some of us were only 16 years old playing against 30-year old men. We won the Second Division and then went on to win the citywide, prestigious Palmer Cup, symbolic of soccer supremacy in amateur soccer in Philadelphia.

Systems of Play

We often trained with the Philadelphia Nationals, observing and emulating the pros, and our skills and sense of the game grew apace. We never discussed tactics. By this time we had adopted the stopper or “Third Back,” known as the “W-M” system, a change introduced by Charlie Buchan, skipper of the great Arsenal teams in England in the early ‘30s. The W-M was designed to counteract the new Offside Law, and lasted for three decades until the Brazilians introduced the world to the 4-2-4 in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. As a young GI, I saw Brazil play in that World Cup in Gothenburg, marveling at their skills with the ball, their dexterity, and their unusual formation with only two halfbacks.

Without coaching schools, soccer newsletters, papers like Soccer America and the NSCAA’s Soccer Journal, and almost all volunteer coaches--ex-players who coached from intuition, innovations took a long time to become reality. Soccer traditions die slowly, as we see even today as FIFA tinkers with the laws to increase scoring.

The Philadelphia Club Structure

Just as today, whole families involved themselves with soccer, but it was still a male-dominated sport. When the Fairhill S.C. met the First Division champion Kensington Bluebells in the Palmer Cup Final in 1950, we were the kids playing against the team of our fathers and uncles. The final, played at old Holmes Stadium went into double overtime when the younger legs prevailed 5-3. Our fathers and uncles talked about that game for years.

It eased the pain when some of us first-generation Scots-Americans played for the Bluebells the following year. The Bluebells discarded their veterans and filled the ranks with the kids. My brother and I were finally united with our father, the Bluebells’ trainer. We had taken another step up the soccer ladder--all within the Philadelphia club structure.

With the Bluebells in our first year, 1950-51, we were thrown into competition with seasoned players of Italian, Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Armenian, and German descent. Just a few years removed from the end of World War II, soccer in Philadelphia took on an even more ethnic flavor as European immigrants flowed into the city. Many of the players had played top-level competition in “the old country” and immediately raised the caliber of play in Philadelphia’s amateur ranks. We now signed USSF forms, but with no cards and no photos, registration showed a more casual approach to the game than found today.

The Philadelphia First Division clubs had their share of characters in those days, seemingly missing from our do-it-by-the-book soccer of today. We seem unable to tolerate strong individualism, with players like “Cocky” O’Kane, whose crossed eyes became disconcerting to defenders trying to predict the direction of his passes. But call him “Cocky’ and you had an immediate brawl. There was “Chippy” McLaren, known for the deadly accuracy of his chipped passes, or “Sox” Flynn whose socks never stayed up, and “Dutch” from Germany. Even the team names had an international flavor--Juventus, Pulaski, Inter, Celtics, and the Polish Falcons.

The Foreign Touring Teams

This was a time in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s when the American Soccer League sponsored foreign touring teams, so we could see Liverpool F.C with the great Billy Liddell in 1948 and his long, weaving runs down the wing. But our real heroes were Bahr and McLaughlin who led the Philadelphia Nationals to three titles in four years, Hynes of the New York Americans, another Hall of Famer, and Ray McFaul and Gil Schuerholz of the old Baltimore Americans. Just a few years later in the mid-’50s, we were playing with Bahr and McLaughlin, the best players of their day. We were playing against the likes of Johnny Carey, great right half of the touring Manchester United and Max Morlock, German international with Nuremberg F.C. Nuremberg defeated the Philadelphia All-Stars in 1955 before 5,000 spectators by an 8-5 score, with Morlock scoring 4 goals against me. As youngsters, like the players on our U-23s and our US National Team today, playing against this level of competition gave us the confidence to take on anyone.

(purchase: The American Soccer League,
The Golden Years of American Soccer 1921-1931)

Trying Out for the Olympics

Some of us were selected to compete in the 1952 Olympic tryouts in New York and St. Louis for the team to go to Helsinki. National teams in those days were selected by a USSF National Selection Committee which conducted the tryouts. No ODP programs, no state or regional select teams, no U-17 or U-20 teams, no women’s teams--just a Committee with all the major regions, the colleges, and the Armed Forces represented. The Committee members selected players for the tryouts from their knowledge of the players’ innate talents and the Committee’s awareness of the need for geographic representation. Politics also played a role--”You put my player on and we’ll take care of yours.”

In the ’52 Olympic final tryouts in St. Louis, I played with Jack Dunn and Lefty Didriksen from our original Lighthouse team in a tough, two-game series representing the East squad. We played on the same team with John and Eddie Sousa, players I had watched in awe as a youngster when Ponta Delgada came to town. They impressed me with their willingness to share the ball, their soccer smarts with “the kids” in the tryouts, and their encouraging play. I made alternate-and felt proud to be there.

Throughout my youth career in soccer, I had played only two systems, either the 2-3-5 or the W-M with the stopper back. The 4-2-4, the 4-4-2. and the 4-3-3 were still to be invented. Coaches were ex-players, and coaching meant putting a team on the field. We always knew what we had to do. We never discussed systems of play or tactical play. With the amateurs we received spending money and even with the pros, we never received more than $35 a game. We were fit, technically adept, and competitive. We loved to play and most of us continued in long careers into our 30s. Cub soccer honed our skills, but school and college soccer brought us glory, brought out the spectators, and provided us with the education we needed to have a life beyond soccer.

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Part 1 - “Street Soccer” Memories
Part 2 - Youth Soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club
Part 3 - Philadelphia Junior Soccer in the 1940's
Part 4 - Playing With the Big Guys: Amateur Soccer in the Early 1950's
Part 5 - High School and College Soccer--Products of the Clubs
Part 6 - The Pro Game in the Early 50's
Part 7 - In Retrospect

American Soccer Didn't Start with Pele: Part 3 of 7 - Philadelphia Junior Soccer in the 1940s

Philadelphia Junior Soccer in the 1940's

Neighborhood Teams

We didn’t call them “travel” or select teams then, just Lighthouse Juniors playing in the 20-team, two-tiered Philadelphia Third Division, or Junior League. We played a full season, non-stop, from September to June, with few games called for inclement weather--a schedule that gave us close to 4O games a year, equivalent to any European youth program.

Since Philadelphia was a neighborhood city, populated by ethnic groups attracted by job opportunities, particularly in the textile mills, along with plentiful housing, organized soccer in the city reflected the city’s ethnic/neighborhood mix. Teams came from Cardington in West Philadelphia, Nicetown in the North Philadelphia area, Germantown in the Northwest, and numerous neighborhoods like Kensington and Harrogate in the hotbed of soccer, Northeast Philadelphia, with its large concentration of immigrants. As the ethnics moved out of the city to the suburbs north of the city, teams like the Erzgebirge Club for the Germans and the Ukrainian Cub grew up to serve their youngsters.

Playing “Junior Soccer”

Unlike our modern youth soccer breakdown of U-l9, U-17, U-16, and so on, the Philadelphia Third Division simply went up to 18 years old; anyone younger could play whatever his age. The League was affiliated with the Philadelphia Soccer League composed of three divisions--Juniors, Second Division, and the First Division--the top amateur grouping. No USYSA, no AYSO, no state youth soccer associations unlinked with the top-level amateur clubs. Once you started with the Juniors, you were expected to move up the ladder--there were always older teams to play for. The Eastern Pennsylvania District was affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation, founded in 1913 to oversee soccer in the US and the FIFA-sanctioned body for soccer in our country.

Our team was coached by my cousin, Tom Oliver, a star with the Philadelphia Nationals pro team. We received little instruction, no overlapping or diagonal off-the-ball runs, no “numbers’ down” games, no Coerver moves. We built these features into our game by instinct, without instruction. We had only one system of play--the old 2-3-5, with a great workload falling on the inside forwards and the halfbacks, specially the center half. Our practices were simply a continuation of street soccer--we played, practiced moves, and played some more. No stretching, no drills, no warmups, no cones, no manuals, no pennies-just play, experiment, and always go for goal. We were rugged, urban kids who wanted to win and had the skills to back up our cockiness. We won two straight Philadelphia Junior League titles, going on to win two consecutive National Junior Cup titles in 1948 and 1949, running up a string of 36 straight victories.

In those days, the referees, all former players, let us play. No cards, just occasional verbal warnings to “Hold it down” to keep control or to ensure fairness. But you had to be tough. There was a lot of intimidation, occasional fights, lots of heckling from the sidelines. But the referees knew us and knew the dynamic of the game--we settled matters on the field with our feet. Some of the refs had colorful names like “Offsides Smitty,” known in his playing days as the forward who couldn’t stay onside. Since we didn’t have registration cards with photos, we would tell a ref new to us that the first scorer’s name was “Bill Zook,” who incidentally came in second in League scoring one year--and didn’t exist!

Toughness on the field and backing down from no one helped me later when I was playing against international teams, or playing overseas, taking the bruising tackles and giving it back--knowing the fouls would not be called. Today, our kids seem surprised when they go overseas where fouls that would be called in the U.S. are overlooked in the course of play overseas.

The National Junior Cup competition pitted city against city in one-game knockout competitions. We hosted the Schumacher Club of St. Louis in 1948, winning 1-0 on a direct corner kick before 2,000 fans at Holmes Stadium, and then defended our title the following year by defeating the Windsor S.C. 2-1 in a rain swept night game before 250 fans at St. Louis’ Public Schools Stadium. This game stands out as a lasting soccer memory. Windsor scored with two minutes remaining. Somehow we came back with two goals in one minute in the mud, forcing our way into the box to win our second title--a truly memorable soccer moment for a 14-year old player. After two years in the Junior Division, we were ready to move up to the next level of competition. That’s the way it was done--when you were ready, you played up.

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Part 1 - “Street Soccer” Memories
Part 2 - Youth Soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club
Part 3 - Philadelphia Junior Soccer in the 1940's
Part 4 - Playing With the Big Guys: Amateur Soccer in the Early 1950's
Part 5 - High School and College Soccer--Products of the Clubs
Part 6 - The Pro Game in the Early 50's
Part 7 - In Retrospect

American Soccer Didn't Start with Pele: Part 2 of 7 - Youth Soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club

Youth Soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club

The Lighthouse Experience

Lighthouse was founded in 1897 by Mrs. Robert Bradford, a Philadelphia socialite. This was a time when Jane Addams and other social reformers were establishing their settlement houses and neighborhood centers to help the wave of European immigrants and their youngsters cope with urban life. Lighthouse capitalized on its Scottish, Irish, and English neighbors’ passion for soccer and early on created a soccer foothold in the Kensington community. Most boys started with the Club at 9-10 years of age, often staying with the Lighthouse teams until they were ready for play in Philadelphia’s top First Division or the pros. For years Lighthouse had provided the senior amateur teams and the pros with top class, home-grown American talent. For example, the 1936 Olympic Soccer Team had four former Lighthouse players in its ranks, a tradition that went back to the 1912 Olympics.

Lighthouse offered us age divisions, a club for practices, a large field complex, and retired English and Scottish players to coach “the lads.” My first coach, Ozzie Lynn, a wrinkled, stolid Englishman who could still drive a ball 60 yards, appeared every Saturday morning, rain or shine, in the same old, patched green sweater to put us on the field. By this time, we had mastered the basic techniques from our years of intense street soccer, so Ozzie’s task was to instruct us: “Don’t hold on to the ball,” “Get it up the field,” or “Put it in the net.” We did this with regularity, often ignoring his exhortations to play “the English game.”

Coach Ozzie told us where to play, still in the traditional 2-3-5, and we did it. We changed in a one-room, timbered clubhouse with no showers or heat, often shivering until we moved onto the field and started running. We always walked the three miles to the field, arriving ready to play without warmup or stretching, and walking home afterwards, our boots over our shoulders. Raw, tough, hard soccer where we honed our skills, applying what we had learned in the streets to real, full-sided games. We now started to learn positions, heading (seldom done in street soccer), and gaining a tactical sense of the game.

We were low-income kids, so our equipment consisted of the hand-me-down high top Mansfields or Hotspurs--the only shoes available, colored sweatshirts for uniforms, and usually Popular Mechanics or some other pulp magazine for shin guards. They made good reading at half time. The Club supplied one ball per game and an older player to referee. We came with a love of the game and good technique and skills, but we had to learn to play on the larger field with a full team
But the street soccer moves paid off.

What We Learned About the Game

Just a few years later we were playing against some of the best players in the country, and I made it to the U.S. Olympic Team final tryouts in St Louis in 1952 at the age of 18. When I think of our years in the streets, unsupervised, I wonder if we would have been better players with trained coaches, as many youngsters, both boys and girls, have today? Probably. Would we have faced the twin dangers of being overcoached while being discouraged from taking risks and working on new moves on the field? Possibly. Did we gain an appreciation for the game, confidence in our skills, and a competitive drive that would last a lifetime? Absolutely.

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Part 1 - “Street Soccer” Memories
Part 2 - Youth Soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club
Part 3 - Philadelphia Junior Soccer in the 1940's
Part 4 - Playing With the Big Guys: Amateur Soccer in the Early 1950's
Part 5 - High School and College Soccer--Products of the Clubs
Part 6 - The Pro Game in the Early 50's
Part 7 - In Retrospect

American Soccer History older than you might think.

By Chris Wimmer 

For many fans of soccer in America the farthest back their knowledge goes might be the New York Cosmos of the defunct NASL (North American Soccer League). Many U.S. soccer fans also believe the first soccer hero of America might have been Pele, though some may have even heard of Joe Gaetjens but probably not before the 2010 World Cup.

Well for those fans that would like to learn a bit more about the "true" history of soccer in America head on over to http://www.pothunting.com/ and check out some of their great Retro soccer t-shirts.

Originally growing up in both L.A. and Orange County, California I really appreciated the L.A. Aztecs design. See if you might be able to find a team you forgot existed or even better one you may have never even heard of.

Support soccer in America and learn as much about the "true" history of the sport so you can intelligently defend the sport against all of the bandwagon 'soccer haters' out there.