History of Soccer in US. The Teams and the Kit.

History of Soccer in the US

The history of soccer in US is not as short as most people tend to think. US Soccer began life as the US Football Federation which was a merger of the American Football Association and American Amateur Football Association. The perception of American soccer is that it is fairly new but the US become on of the earliest members of FIFA around 1913.

Obviously in America football is an entirely different sport which led the adoption of the name US Soccer Football Association in 1945. This led to further confusion but the word football was not dropped until 1974 which led to the formation of the US Soccer Federation.

The US international soccer team was actually invited to participate in the first world cup in 1930 and surprisingly came in third. The US also qualified for the 1934 competition but the most memorable result was a 1-0 win against England who were among the world’s best sides at the time.

It was to be 1990 before the US made an impression on the world stage by qualifying for the world cup. Having hosted the 1994 competition the natural progression in the game was not achieved with the national side coming last of 32 teams in 1998. The pinnacle in the History of soccer in US so far for (I am convinced that they will surpass that achievement in the not too distant future) the US national team was a quarter final place in the 2002 World cup in Japan.

On the domestic front the MLS (Major League Soccer) is the top professional league in the country comprising of 13 teams. With the arrival of David Beckham MLS soccer shirts on sale around the world have increased with LA Galaxy being thrust into the limelight. Although now the highest profile club in the league LA Galaxy are overshadowed in terms of power by the strong east coast teams such as DC United.

The league is split into two conferences with each team playing. This Season there is a 13 team league. A league with an uneven number of teams is never a good idea but with 13 I feel that could be tempting fate slightly. It is no surprise that The MLS are to rectify that in 2008 with the addition of San Jose Earthquake into the league.

MLS Conferences

The MLS League is split up into two conferences.

The Eastern Conference hosts Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Kansas City Wizards, New England Revolution, Red Bull New York and the new boys Toronto FC.

It is great to see the newer US teams now taking on the more traditional names associated with soccer around the world as opposed to the more unusual names associated with American teams in the history of soccer in the US.

This will no doubt make the football tops of the MLS teams more appealing to the world audience. If you would like more information on these teams in the US click on the icon below to find out more info on your favourite MLS team.