All over the world, soccer is known as -the Beautiful Game- and is the most popular sport. But in the United States, professional soccer still has a hard time catching on. It has had some successes here. The American Soccer League of the 1920s, Pele and other international stars in the North American Soccer League's glamorous 1970s, the indoor soccer phenomenon of the 1980s, and the U.S. women's win in the Women's World Cup of 1999 all hinted that the American public is ready to embrace pro soccer. In its short history, Major League Soccer (MLS) has survived and even started to thrive,...

All sports require resilience and perseverance. Women's soccer requires more than most. Two U.S. leagues have disappeared in the past decade. Players have put in countless hours of work for limited opportunities. For this book, veteran women's soccer writer Beau Dure tracked the Washington Spirit through its debut season, from the first league draft to chilly early-season practices and the frustrations of a long winless streak. He watched a young team react to a coaching change, injuries, bus rides that were longer than they should have been, hundreds of autograph-seekers at every game, the...

Soccer is a fun, healthy activity for children. It's also a battleground for adults who want to take the sport several different directions. Is youth soccer a breeding ground to grow the USA's talent pool for future World Cup wins? If so, should we be herding talented players into elite groups away from their friends at early ages? And can soccer clubs meet the "elite" needs while also serving the community? Beau Dure, author of Long Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer and Enduring Spirit: Restoring Professional Women's Soccer to Washington, first encountered these issues as...