Not the US pastime, but 'beautiful game' grows for Americans ahead of World Cup

NEW YORK :With one year left to go until the 2026 World Cup, U.S. host cities and soccer fanatics hope the record-breaking quadrennial spectacle will elevate the "beautiful game" for American fans traditionally more keen on a different type of football.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said three years ago he expected soccer to become the region's top sport when the largest-ever edition of the tournament plays out in North America in 2026, with Mexico and Canada co-hosting with the U.S. 

While the sport has a long way to go to loosen the vice-grip that the men's "Big Four" professional sports leagues have on U.S. fans, the quadrennial spectacle will play out in a country transformed from its last hosting gig in 1994.

Professional soccer was a relative non-entity in the U.S. at that point, with Major League Soccer two years out from its debut season.

And while 94,194 turned up in the Rose Bowl stands for an underwhelming 0-0 draw in the final - Brazil ultimately beat Italy 3-2 on penalties - the sport took time to capture mainstream American interest from that point.

"There's no way anybody would have thought that it would be at the level that it is now," said Eddie Pope, who played in the MLS from its first season, beginning with D.C. United, before moving to the then-New York/New Jersey MetroStars and Real Salt Lake.

"(In) my days at Real Salt Lake, we literally - our locker room was in a strip mall. And you didn't know where we were going to train in some days."

The retired defender is now helping develop the next generation as chief sporting officer at Carolina Core FC, an MLS Next Pro club that hopes its new 11,000 square-foot (1,022 square-metre) training facility could serve as a base camp in the World Cup.

"For kids that