Ten things you didn't know about US Soccer
We all know that Americans resolutely refuse to call football football. But what else do we know about US Soccer? Impress your friends down the pub this weekend with these nuggets of sporting wisdom.
1. Rumour has it that when the Pilgrim Fathers settled at Plymouth Rock they found American Indians along the Massachusetts coast playing a form of football. The Indians called it “Pasuckquakkohowog,” which means “they gather to play football.”
2. The Oneidas of Boston were the first official football club in America. So good were the team that they pulled off an unbeaten run of three years between 1862-65. A monument to the team still stands on Boston Common.
3. The USA fielded a team at the first World Cup in Uruguay. Striker Bert Patenaude was the third highest scoring player, chalking up a total of three goals.
4. Throughout its 90-year history, the US Soccer Federation has been known by three different titles, the US Football Association, 1913-1944, the US Soccer Football Association, 1945-1973 and its current incarnation as the US Soccer Federation.
5. The US Soccer Hall of Fame welcomed its first inductees in 1950. In total, 122 players are now listed.
6. The word soccer is a slang corruption of the abbreviation assoc.
7. In the United States about 20 million people play soccer. Almost every urban community has at least one amateur association, and many rural communities do as well. Local leagues are governed by their state’s soccer association. The 50 state associations fall under the control of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body for all U.S. soccer. The USSF in turn falls under FIFA.
8. The Major League Soccer season runs from April to September, followed by an eight-team playoff. The top two teams to emerge square off in the championship match, called the MLS Cup.
9. LA Galaxy are owned by sports and entertainment giants AEG, who are also partners in Beckham's soccer academy in Los Angeles.
10. Beckham’s new team mates include Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Josh Gardner and Guillermo Gonzalez.