Despite being a semi-finalist in the original World Cup in 1930, the USA’s quarter final appearance in 2002 was arguably the country’s highest sporting achievement on the international stage, yet many of that country’s citizens were unaware there was even a World Cup taking place let alone that the USA was doing so well in it.

Someone from another planet doing an unbiased survey of life on earth would probably find this odd that a country that has spread its cultural, commercial, military and technical fingers into every corner of the world seems immune from a sport that grips almost all countries with apparent boundless enthusiasm.

Once in a Lifetime

Yet it could all have been so different if the events of twenty to thirty years ago had had another outcome. The story of those days was told well in the 2006 film called Once in a Lifetime. This was the story of the rise and fall of the US football team the New York Cosmos.