SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — I’m sorry, but I was unfamiliar with your game – or, at least, with breadth and scope of your beautiful game, if you’re a soccer player in the United States. Don’t get me wrong. I love the World Cup.
Take me out to a good high school soccer match any day. I’ve written about MLS, NWSL, CONCACAF and NCAA action. My kid is in AYSO.
His buddies are on club teams. The neighbors play Sunday pickup. But only lately did I realize that was scratching the surface, and just how much soccer is happening between the domestic big leagues and college ball.
That there are thousands more footballers among us, plying their trade and honing their skills, competing. Seriously competing. And that the pool of players is growing, that pathway widening along with a loose network of leagues.
Makes you think the United States is a soccer nation. Or that it could be – should be? There’s the United Soccer League , which oversees three men’s leagues and two women’s leagues and counts more than 200 clubs among its membership. The National Premier Soccer League , with 90-plus teams.
MLS Next Pro , the 29-team league (27 reserve sides of MLS clubs and two independents) associated with the sport’s literal major league. And the National Independent Soccer Association , which operates an amateur division that’s more than 380 clubs strong and, more recently, an entry-level professional division. That’s where the Capistrano Football Club – aka Capo FC – has lan.
