Soccer: Still Waiting for That Winning Kick

The World Cup helped, but pro soccer just isn't scoring

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October 21, 2002 at 4:00 AM UTC

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America loves soccer. It's fast, unisex, and inexpensive to play. Soccer leagues sprawl across suburbia as more than 9 million kids ages 6 to 17 kick the ball around. The demographics are enviable, with lots of high-income families participating. The sport is so prevalent that it even spawned a political category: "soccer moms." Besides all that, the America-hosted 1999 Women's World Cup and 1994 Men's World Cup were huge successes.

Still, the two U.S. pro organizations --Major League Soccer, which on Oct. 20 wraps up its seventh season with the MLS Cup in Foxboro, Mass., and the two-year-old Women's United Soccer Assn. (WUSA)--have yet to become more than marginal attractions.