Podcasts about united soccer association

We celebrate the 94th birthday of legendary Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner (The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer; Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer) with this special archive re-release (and our 6th-ever episode!) from 2017. The universally acknowledged "dean" of American soccer writers waxes nostalgic on his unlikely journey from fledgling British pharmacist to the States' most persistently influential commentator on the "beautiful game."  Gardner: Recounts the chaotic formation of the modern professional game in the U.S. during the 1960s; Recalls how ambitious sports entrepreneurs like the International Soccer League's Bill Cox, and greedy corporate owners like the United Soccer Association's Madison Square Garden were quickly chagrined by the machinations of soccer's international governing body; Describes how a complex Welsh-born, player-turned-NASL-commissioner curiously nudged him into national TV game commentating; Remembers when he first recognized pro soccer had finally “arrived” in America (ironically, while out of the country); and Suggests that a revised U.S. corporate tax code may have helped hasten the demise of an already-wobbly NASL as the 1980s beckoned. + + +   SUPPORT THE SHOW: Buy Us a Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/goodseatsstillavailable "Good Seats" Merch: http://tee.pub/lic/RdiDZzQeHSY   SPONSOR THANKS: Old School Shirts.com (promo code: GOODSEATS) https://oldschoolshirts.com/goodseats Royal Retros (promo code: SEATS): https://www.503-sports.com?aff=2   BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer (1996): https://amzn.to/3yhjJFc Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer (1999): https://amzn.to/44AoHsV   FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStill Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@goodseatsstillavailable Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable

The 1960s were a tumultuous, but crucial period in the development of professional soccer in the United States and Canada - with teams from Scotland, of all places, playing a particularly interesting role. The dividing line for the modern North American pro game, of course, was the breakthrough, near-live (two-hour-delayed) NBC-TV network telecast of the 1966 World Cup final between eventual champion England and West Germany - the first-ever national standalone broadcast of the sport. Prior to that watershed, it was sports entrepreneur Bill Cox's International Soccer League that imported full major European & South American teams to play in a senior-level competition in largely East Coast urban centers and first-generation immigrant communities. Among the ISL's regulars were three Scottish sides - including Kilmarnock FC, which played four seasons and made the 1960 final. Immediately after the World Cup, no fewer than three groups of eager sports owners sought to launch a full-fledged domestic North American league; by 1967, two competing circuits bowed - including a hastily-assembled United Soccer Association, featuring full-team ISL-like imports - but under noms de plume of North American cities.  Front and center were Scottish stalwarts Aberdeen FC - masquerading as the District of Columbia's "Washington Whips." UK football writer Mark Poole ("99 Iconic Moments in Scottish Football: From the Famous to the Obscure, Scotland's Glorious, Unusual and Cult Games, Players and Events") tells us the stories behind these two curious Scottish contributions to US pro soccer history. + + +  SPONSOR THANKS: DraftKings Sportsbook (promo code: GOODSEATS): https://myaccount.draftkings.com/login    BUY/READ EARLY & OFTEN: "99 Iconic Moments in Scottish Football: From the Famous to the Obscure, Scotland's Glorious, Unusual and Cult Games, Players and Events" (2023)   FIND & FOLLOW: Website: https://goodseatsstillavailable.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodSeatsStill Instagram (+ Threads): https://www.instagram.com/goodseatsstillavailable/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodSeatsStillAvailable/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@goodseatsstillavailable

History: Kelly Golebiowski, Matildas Cap 97Matildas Debut: 1996 (played for the national team until 2005)Appearances: 66Position: MidfielderDebuted at age 14 and spent time playing in the Australian Women's National Soccer League. Kelly also played in the USA for Washington Freedom (Women's United Soccer Association, USL W-League).Hot TopicsNewsCanberra United name Njegosh Popovich as their new A-League Women Head CoachKat Smith announced as WS Wanderers Head CoachKat Smith and Tom Sermanni named in the FIFA's Coach Mentorship programWomen Onside RoadshowMatildasParaMatildas win Silver at the CP Women's World CupChloe Logarzo reaches a rehab milestoneSignings: Around the World – Aussies/NZ AbroadAround the WorldUEFA Women's Champions League FinalBarcelona 1-3 Lyon (Ellie Carpenter)EuropeNetherlands – Eredivisie (27 of 27)NordicNorwaySweden – Damallsvenkan Rounds 9 & 10Elitettan: Round 8Denmark Iceland – Urvalsdeild Round 5US – NWSLState FootballACTNSWQLDVIC – Round 8 of 21Queens of the WeekCheryl – Amandine Henry for that ooh la la goal in the UEFA Women's Champions League FinalDale – Sonja Bompastor became the first woman to win the UEFA Women's Champions League as a player and as a coachEric – Ashlie Crofts scored four goals as Blacktown Spartans defeated Emerging JetsMaj – Souths United's Dominique Spampanato scored a banger to equalise in their game against Gold Coast UnitedSteffen – Ellie Carpenter received her second UEFA Champions League Winners' Medal See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Former USWNT Defender Thori Bryan joins Benched Host Jules Micchia to discuss the past, present, and future of women's soccer in the U.S. Thori talks about what made her want to pursue soccer professionally (1:56), her experience with the national team (3:22), and the folding of the Women's United Soccer Association (10:33). Later, Thori speaks on the financial struggles many female professional players face (16:40), and her goal to improve the sport at the youth level and beyond (20:33).

Laurie Stefanowicz is a Wealth Manager and Partner for Crestwood Advisors. Before that she played college soccer at Vanderbilt and later played professional soccer for the Atlanta Beat in the inaugural season of the Women’s United Soccer Association.  She joins Pass The Mic to share her views on how her sports background prepared her to work in the wealth management industry. 

For the first time since Episode 47 with Dennis Seese, we dial back to US pro soccer's optimistic but tenuous late 1960's reboot, with Derek Liecty - the founding general manager of one the period's most successful (yet historically overlooked) teams, the Oakland (née California) Clippers.   One of ten inaugural franchises in the renegade National Professional Soccer League - one of two competing attempts to launch true "Division One"  soccer in North America (the other being an officially FIFA-sanctioned 12-team United Soccer Association) in the spring of 1967 - the Clippers were unquestionably the NPSL's best club. Stocked with a pipeline of top Yugoslavian imports (including NPSL All-Stars Ilija Mitic and Mirko Stojanovic), the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum-based club captured the regular season title with 19-8-5 record (23 points better than the second-best Baltimore Bays), and were undefeated at home.  The Clippers bested the Bays in the two-game NPSL championship final (4-2 on aggregate) and also claimed an unprecedented "treble" by defeating the division runner-up St. Louis Stars for the league's post-championship "Commissioner's Cup." Survivors of an off-season NPSL-USA merger, the Clippers continued their winning ways in the new 17-team North American Soccer League - tying for most wins (18), scoring the most goals (71), posting the second-best point total (185), and sending five players to the 1968 NASL All-Star team.  But due to a quirk in the league's distortional divisional points system, the club oddly missed the four-team playoff cut - and were denied a chance to defend its NPSL title.    When the NASL contracted to just five clubs at season's end, Oakland owners Joseph O'Neill and H.T. Hilliard opted instead for a more lucrative series of independent international exhibitions; renamed again as the California Clippers, the team played top teams such as Atlas, Chivas, USSR champion Dynamo Kiev, and Italian champion Fiorentina at stadiums across the state (including LA's Memorial Coliseum).   O'Neill and Hillard pulled the plug for good in June 1969, when the US Soccer Federation refused to sanction further matches.

ABOUT CHRISTIE PEARCE RAMPONEOne of the most legendary players in the history of international soccer, Christie Pearce Rampone retired as a professional player in 2017 and currently works as a broadcast analyst for FOX Sports.A native of Point Pleasant, N.J., Pearce Rampone attended Monmouth University on a basketball scholarship and was their starting point guard. During her senior year, then U.S. Women's National Team head coach Tony DiCicco called her into the U.S. WNT in January of 1997, just months after the USA had won its first Olympic gold medal. With nothing guaranteed, she chose to miss several basketball games for a shot at the National Team. A high-scoring forward for Monmouth, tallying 79 goals in her college career, DiCicco brought her into camp for a run at playing defender. After playing well in her first training camp in San Diego, she made the roster for a trip to Australia.Pearce Rampone came off the bench in her first game, playing the second half, then started her second match. Aside from injuries and the birth of her two daughters (Rylie, born in September of 2005, and Reece, born in March of 2010), she was rarely out of the starting lineup for the next 19 years, starting in 272 of her 311 caps. She played 24,011 minutes in a U.S. uniform, second-most in U.S. history. Her 311 caps are the second highest total in the history of international soccer (Kristine Lilly), men or women.Pearce Rampone was the captain of the U.S. WNT during two gold medal runs and one FIFA Women's World Cup title. She played in 19 total Women's World Cup matches, tied for sixth best all-time, and played in 22 Olympic matches, more than any U.S. player. During her tenure with the U.S. WNT, Pearce Rampone captained the USA on 113 occasions.Pearce Rampone finishes as the U.S. WNT's only four-time Olympian, a three-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2008, 2012) and an Olympic silver medalist (2000). She also finishes as a two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, winning in 1999 and 2015, and is the eighth woman in U.S. history with two World Cup titles on her resume.She and Kristine Lilly are the only two U.S. players to have played in five FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments. Pearce Rampone was a starter in seven of the nine world championships she played, serving as a reserve only in her first in 1999 and her last in 2015.Pearce Rampone, who began her professional career in 2001, played in all three iterations of the U.S. professional leagues. She played for the New York Power in the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001-03, played for Sky Blue FC and magicJack SC in Women's Professional Soccer, and she then played for her home state Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League from 2013-17.During the 2009 inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer, Pearce Rampone took over as Sky Blue FC player/head coach for the final stretch of the season, leading the team to an improbable run to the WPS Championship.Since hanging up her boots, Pearce Rampone has begun doing broadcast work for FOX Sports in its coverage of the U.S. WNT, and she is currently penning a book with renowned brain health expert Dr. Kristine Keane. Additionally, she conducts speaking engagements on a variety of topics throughout the country, and she also runs group training sessions through a series of soccer camps and clinics.ABOUT HER BOOK BE ALL IN: RAISING KIDS FOR SUCCESS IN SPORTS AND LIFESoccer star and Olympic gold medalist Christie Pearce Rampone and sports neuropsychologist Dr. Kristine Keane share the best practices that athletes, parents, and coaches can use to turn the lessons learned through sports into lifelong skills.Sports offer a vital path for children to get healthy, self-confident, and social. In Be All In, three-time Olympic gold medalist, World Cup Champion, and US team captain Christie Pearce Rampone and sports neuropsychologist and brain health expert Dr. Kristine Keane offer practical, real world advice on how to handle the pressures felt by youth athletes, parents, and coaches today and provide kids with their best shot at reaching their dreams.In contrast to outdated adages like "no pain, no gain," the ethos of "be all in" is about being authentically present in everything you do, on and off the field. Through a unique blend of neuroscience, parenting strategies, and wisdom gleaned from the extraordinary experiences of a world-class athlete, this transformative book explains how to create realistic expectations for kids, help them succeed in all aspects of their life, improve game day performance, and reduce the stress of dealing with their coaches, ambitions and losses.With invaluable insight into parenting behaviors that may derail children's performance despite best intentions, and concrete strategies for teaching accountability, confidence, self-efficacy, and resiliency, this fundamental guide has tips to support athletes of any age, sport, or level of competition.For more interviews visit: www.iamrefocusedradio.comRadio Sponsor: DOCUmation is a family-owned technology solutions company that provides IT, print, and software-managed services to business and other organizations throughout Texas. Headquartered in San Antonio, TX, our company has been serving customers for nearly 30 years.https://www.mation.com/who-we-are/Podcast Sponsors:Rockafellas Barber Shop San AntonioRico Rodriguez (Owner)www.facebook.com/Rockafellas-Barber-Shop-105026620034718/?ref=page_internal1733 BabcockSan Antonio, Texas 78229Phone: (210) 782-5188The Dear Agency specializes in helping you understand your coverage BEFORE you need it!We offer all lines of personal and commercial insurance, including Auto, Home and Life.Contact Dawn Dear at 210-507-2169 and visit us at 7529 N Loop 1604 in Live Oak, TX or farmersagent.com/ddear

ABOUT CHRISTIE PEARCE RAMPONEOne of the most legendary players in the history of international soccer, Christie Pearce Rampone retired as a professional player in 2017 and currently works as a broadcast analyst for FOX Sports.A native of Point Pleasant, N.J., Pearce Rampone attended Monmouth University on a basketball scholarship and was their starting point guard. During her senior year, then U.S. Women's National Team head coach Tony DiCicco called her into the U.S. WNT in January of 1997, just months after the USA had won its first Olympic gold medal. With nothing guaranteed, she chose to miss several basketball games for a shot at the National Team. A high-scoring forward for Monmouth, tallying 79 goals in her college career, DiCicco brought her into camp for a run at playing defender. After playing well in her first training camp in San Diego, she made the roster for a trip to Australia.Pearce Rampone came off the bench in her first game, playing the second half, then started her second match. Aside from injuries and the birth of her two daughters (Rylie, born in September of 2005, and Reece, born in March of 2010), she was rarely out of the starting lineup for the next 19 years, starting in 272 of her 311 caps. She played 24,011 minutes in a U.S. uniform, second-most in U.S. history. Her 311 caps are the second highest total in the history of international soccer (Kristine Lilly), men or women.Pearce Rampone was the captain of the U.S. WNT during two gold medal runs and one FIFA Women's World Cup title. She played in 19 total Women's World Cup matches, tied for sixth best all-time, and played in 22 Olympic matches, more than any U.S. player. During her tenure with the U.S. WNT, Pearce Rampone captained the USA on 113 occasions.Pearce Rampone finishes as the U.S. WNT's only four-time Olympian, a three-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2008, 2012) and an Olympic silver medalist (2000). She also finishes as a two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, winning in 1999 and 2015, and is the eighth woman in U.S. history with two World Cup titles on her resume.She and Kristine Lilly are the only two U.S. players to have played in five FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments. Pearce Rampone was a starter in seven of the nine world championships she played, serving as a reserve only in her first in 1999 and her last in 2015.Pearce Rampone, who began her professional career in 2001, played in all three iterations of the U.S. professional leagues. She played for the New York Power in the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001-03, played for Sky Blue FC and magicJack SC in Women's Professional Soccer, and she then played for her home state Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League from 2013-17.During the 2009 inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer, Pearce Rampone took over as Sky Blue FC player/head coach for the final stretch of the season, leading the team to an improbable run to the WPS Championship.Since hanging up her boots, Pearce Rampone has begun doing broadcast work for FOX Sports in its coverage of the U.S. WNT, and she is currently penning a book with renowned brain health expert Dr. Kristine Keane. Additionally, she conducts speaking engagements on a variety of topics throughout the country, and she also runs group training sessions through a series of soccer camps and clinics.ABOUT HER BOOK BE ALL IN: RAISING KIDS FOR SUCCESS IN SPORTS AND LIFESoccer star and Olympic gold medalist Christie Pearce Rampone and sports neuropsychologist Dr. Kristine Keane share the best practices that athletes, parents, and coaches can use to turn the lessons learned through sports into lifelong skills.Sports offer a vital path for children to get healthy, self-confident, and social. In Be All In, three-time Olympic gold medalist, World Cup Champion, and US team captain Christie Pearce Rampone and sports neuropsychologist and brain health expert Dr. Kristine Keane offer practical, real world advice on how to handle the pressures felt by youth athletes, parents, and coaches today and provide kids with their best shot at reaching their dreams.In contrast to outdated adages like "no pain, no gain," the ethos of "be all in" is about being authentically present in everything you do, on and off the field. Through a unique blend of neuroscience, parenting strategies, and wisdom gleaned from the extraordinary experiences of a world-class athlete, this transformative book explains how to create realistic expectations for kids, help them succeed in all aspects of their life, improve game day performance, and reduce the stress of dealing with their coaches, ambitions and losses.With invaluable insight into parenting behaviors that may derail children's performance despite best intentions, and concrete strategies for teaching accountability, confidence, self-efficacy, and resiliency, this fundamental guide has tips to support athletes of any age, sport, or level of competition.For more interviews visit: www.iamrefocusedradio.comRadio Sponsor: DOCUmation is a family-owned technology solutions company that provides IT, print, and software-managed services to business and other organizations throughout Texas. Headquartered in San Antonio, TX, our company has been serving customers for nearly 30 years.https://www.mation.com/who-we-are/Podcast Sponsors:Rockafellas Barber Shop San AntonioRico Rodriguez (Owner)www.facebook.com/Rockafellas-Barber-Shop-105026620034718/?ref=page_internal1733 BabcockSan Antonio, Texas 78229Phone: (210) 782-5188The Dear Agency specializes in helping you understand your coverage BEFORE you need it!We offer all lines of personal and commercial insurance, including Auto, Home and Life.Contact Dawn Dear at 210-507-2169 and visit us at 7529 N Loop 1604 in Live Oak, TX or farmersagent.com/ddear

Saskia Webber was a goalkeeper for the US Women’s National Team from 1992 through 1999. She played professionally in Japan as well as for the Women’s United Soccer Association. She currently supports the UCLA Women’s Soccer program as the Goalkeeper coach and has coached GK’s at all levels of the game.

Though he was born in Germany and still retains the distinctive vocal stylings to prove it, National Soccer Hall of Fame player/coach great Willy Roy has always been a Chicago kid in both heart and heritage.    A post-WWII transplant to the Windy City at the age of six, Roy became a standout youth and young adult player in his adopted hometown – and by the mid-1960s, was honing his scoring skills and drawing national attention in the hard-nosed, Chicago-based National Soccer League with the multi-title winning club Hansa. A few call-ups to a rag-tag US National Team soon followed (eventually notching nine goals in 20 caps over nine years and two World Cup qualifying cycles) – and, ultimately, an invitation to play with the Soldier Field-domiciled Chicago Spurs of the new 1967 National Professional Soccer League.  One of only eight US citizens across ten franchises, Roy became the NPSL’s second-leading scorer (17G, 5A), made the league All-Star team and won Rookie of the Year honors. When the NPSL merged with the rival United Soccer Association to form the successor North American Soccer League the following year, Roy followed the relocated Spurs to Kansas City – and by 1971 had cemented an anchor role with the NASL’s American-heavy St. Louis Stars, commuting regularly from Chicago to do so. But it was an eventual move to the league’s expansion Chicago Sting in 1975 – first as a player, then as an assistant coach, and finally as head coach (ten games into the 1978 season) – where Roy cemented his legacy as one of the NASL’s winningest coaches, including two memorable championship seasons (1981, 1984) that long-time Second City sports fans still remember fondly today.

Our World Cup fever has yet to break, and we spend this week reveling in some of the heretofore unexplored (at least on this podcast) nooks and crannies of modern-day American pro soccer history with one of its most unsung front office heroes.  In a career spanning over four decades, sports PR and event management executive Thom Meredith has proverbially “seen it all” across some of US sports’ most remarkable leagues, franchises and governing bodies – including remarkable (and sometimes dubious) assignments like: handling press for the woeful NFL expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers of 1976-77; managing communications for Lamar Hunt’s World Championship Tennis circuit of the early 1980s; and directing a litany of events for the fast-growing (and World Cup USA-fueled) US Soccer Federation of the 1990s.  But it’s Meredith’s work across some of the most exciting (and exasperating) teams of the late 1970s/early 1980s North American Soccer League – the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Washington Diplomats, Philadelphia Fury, and Dallas Tornado – as well as the enormously well-funded, but ultimately ill-fated Women’s United Soccer Association of the early 2000s, that really piques our obsessive interests. In this episode, we journey back with Meredith – the consummate professional soccer management insider – as he recounts priceless moments shared in the trenches with a veritable Who’s Who of the modern American game’s most indelible personalities, including: Shep Messing, Francisco Marcos, Al Miller, Phil Woosnam, Jim Karvellas, Seamus Malin, Alec Papadakis, John Hendricks, Timo Liekoski, Dick Berg, Tony DiCicco, Pele – and, of course, the incomparable investor-patron Hunt. We thank Podfly, SportsHistoryCollectibles.com, and Audible for their support of this week’s show!

With a career spanning more than four decades, the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s 2017 Colin Jose Media Award-winner Jim Trecker has been part of the American sports media relations landscape since the late 1960’s.  After a chance part-time undergrad job in Columbia University’s modest sports information department, Trecker traded his initial career ambitions in French language education for what ultimately became an unmatched professional journey in public relations at the highest levels of international sports. After cutting his PR teeth with various post-grad pro sports gigs around New York (including work for the Madison Square Garden-owned New York Skyliners [actually Uruguay’s C.A. Cerro] of the 1967 United Soccer Association), Trecker helped manage media relations for the “Broadway” Joe Namath-era AFL-then-NFL New York Jets – a whirling dervish of major league sports information management that transfixed both the Gotham and national press corps, especially in the wake of a surprising Super Bowl III championship. But it was the arrival of international soccer superstar Pelé to the fledgling New York Cosmos in 1975 that ultimately took Trecker – and the steeply ascendant North American Soccer League – into a stratospheric professional orbit, as the increasingly star-studded team, league and sport exploded onto the local, national and global sports scenes during the latter half of the decade.  Soccer’s first true international “super club,” the Cosmos became nothing short of an international sports and cultural phenomenon, and Trecker’s job was to manage all of the media’s intense interest in everything related to them – no easy feat. Trecker joins host Tim Hanlon to recount some of the most memorable events during the heyday of the Cosmos, as well as his subsequent PR leadership roles with the NASL’s Washington Diplomats, the league office itself, and his mega role as head of media relations for the wildly successful USA-hosted 1994 World Cup.  PLUS: we discuss Trecker’s role behind the upcoming NASL 50th Anniversary, to be held in conjunction with the re-launch of the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, TX on October 16-18, 2018! Thanks to Audible, SportsHistoryCollectibles.com and Podfly for their support of the show!

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was established in 2012 as a successor to Women’s Professional Soccer (2007–2012), which was itself the successor to Women’s United Soccer Association (2001–2003). The league began play in 2013 with eight teams, four of which were former members of Women’s Professional Soccer. With the addition of two expansion teams […] The post Episode 23 – National Women’s Soccer League appeared first on Trebl Soccer.

The history of professional soccer in the United States is richer and far more complex than today’s generation of Major League Soccer fans might realize.  Multiple ethnically-infused pro leagues existed as far back as the early 1900s – but when the American Soccer Association collapsed in Depression-Era 1933, it wasn’t until the mid-1960s when the next serious attempt to bring full-fledged, top-flight Division One professional soccer to US shores was pursued in earnest. In 1966, suddenly and incredibly, no fewer than three separate groups of well-heeled American sports businessmen coalesced around the same idea, each attempting to draft off of attention-generating events like entrepreneur Bill Cox’s International Soccer League tournaments and NBC’s surprisingly high-rated, near-live national TV broadcast of the World Cup Final from England. According to research librarian (and unwitting soccer historian) Dennis Seese (The Rebirth of Professional Soccer in America: The Strange Days of the United Soccer Association), it was a tumultuous revival that ultimately yielded two hastily-assembled competing leagues the following year – the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association (featuring whole-cloth international clubs pseudonymously representing 12 American cities), and the “outlaw” National Professional Soccer League (boasting a national CBS television contract and a one-month-earlier start for its ten teams) –  that rushed to beat each other to the American public with their pro versions of the “world’s game.” What resulted was near-disaster: sparse crowds, dubious refereeing, anemic ratings, and a shotgun post-season merger to form a successor North American Soccer League in 1968 – which, despite its inherited broadcast TV coverage and official international governing body approval, sputtered mightily itself.  By the end of the merged NASL’s first season, only five teams remained – and the future of American professional soccer was very much in doubt.  Thanks to our sponsors Sports History Collectible, Podfy and Audible!

The author of the acclaimed 'Summer of 67', a book detailing the United Soccer Association tournament in 1967, Ian Thomson joins us to recount the Dons run to the final of that competition, as well as a review of an awkward first leg versus Siroki Brijeg.

Legendary Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner (The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer; Soccer Talk: Paul Gardner on Soccer) joins Tim Hanlon to wax nostalgic on his unlikely journey from fledgling British pharmacist to America’s most persistently influential soccer commentator. Gardner recounts the chaotic formation of the modern professional game in the U.S. during the 1960s; recalls how ambitious sports entrepreneurs like the International Soccer League’s Bill Cox, and greedy corporate owners like the United Soccer Association’s Madison Square Garden were quickly chagrined by the machinations of soccer’s international governing body; describes how a complex Welsh-born, player-turned-NASL-commissioner curiously nudged him into national TV game commentating; remembers when he first recognized pro soccer had finally “arrived” in America (ironically, while out of the country); and suggests that a revised U.S. corporate tax code may have helped hasten the demise of an already-wobbly NASL as the 1980s beckoned