The U.S. Soccer or Football

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INTRO
In the U.S soccer or football hasn't caught on quite just yet. Even though the American people have had recent success like in the 2002 World Cup and the 2009 Confederations Cup. Though extremely popular in European countries, soccer took a long time to gain momentum in the United States because Americans put more money and attention into other sports like baseball, football, and basketball. Soccer eventually became popular in the 1970s, but then lost popularity again when the National League went bankrupt.
U.S soccer started when the English settlers came to populate America. The game was originally played across an entire town with two nets at either end. Players tackled each other to get the ball to one end of the town and in a net. It was much like modern day rugby. The Native Americans were also playing a game similar to football. It was called pasuckquakkohowag. In the 1820s more and more colleges, such as Harvard and the University of Maryland, started having soccer teams. (confirm these facts)
Though soccer may have been the earliest organized sport in the British colonies and early United States, it soon had to compete with baseball, football, and basketball. The first baseball game was on June 9th, 1846. People liked it because younger people could play. It was very popular among immigrants from England, Germany, and Ireland. In 1857 the National Association of Baseball Players was started. Then December 5th, 1856 a newspaper called baseball the “national pastime.” Then by the late 1800s American football, which combined rugby and Boston soccer, became increasingly popular. Three presidents played or coached football: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Basketball was not invented until t...

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...ball has a long and interesting history. For example, the Oneida Club of Boston was founded in 1862, making it the oldest outside England.” Encyclopedia of Soccer, page 71

Works Cited

Dower, John, and Mark Monroe. “Once in A Lifetime” (video). Accessed April 22, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBR8jN_SyE0. July 7, 2006

Lineker, Gary. Soccer The Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Soccer. London, Great Britain: Carlton Books Ltd, 1994

Litterer, David. The Year in American Soccer. Sover.Net, Web. Accessed 22 Apr. 2014. . 7 Mar. 2014

Kornheiser, Tony. “Americans Have Adopted Soccer, No Longer an ‘Immigrant’ Sport.” The New York Times. July 5, 1977.

Sellin, Eric. The Inner Game of Soccer. Mountain View, CA: World Publications 1977.

Sullivan, George. This Is Pro Soccer. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1979.

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