![]() ![]() It's revealing that when it came time to make an American version of Fever Pitch, the fever was switched from Nick Hornby's for Arsenal to a more comprehensible mania for the Red Sox. This is yet another way in which America differs from the rest of the world, where "football" is easily the dominant sport. We always hear how soccer is about to break out, but it never does. Nor has soccer fared any better in America since. But when they unceremoniously dumped Messing and later it got hard to keep decent players in the States the team and the league quickly lost what fans they had. ![]() And that's very much what the crowds were like-an ethnic mix rooting according to the country of origin of each player, not for the team. ![]() ![]() I used to like to go and sit with the Yugoslavian fans and cheer for Vito Dimitrijevic and against Chinaglia. After Pele retired the team's most prolific scorer was Giorgio Chinaglia, who was so selfish and played so little defense that only the Italian fans at the game rooted for him. When I was in high school the NASL (North American Soccer League) started up and our local team, the New York Cosmos, famously brought in such international stars as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and others, along with the brash young American goalie, Shep Messing, offering a new enough and buzzworthy enough spectacle to periodically fill Giants Stadium. ![]()
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