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FIFA member: Qatar World Cup should be given to another country

BERLIN (AP) - A member of FIFA's executive committee says awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was a "blatant mistake'' and that even moving it to avoid searing summer temperatures wouldn't be ideal.

Former German soccer federation president Theo Zwanziger tells SportBild that a suggestion by FIFA President Sepp Blatter to play the tournament in winter would seriously affect the European leagues and threaten the "unity of German football.''

Blatter plans to ask the committee to consider the switch - going back on his previous position of insisting on a summer tournament in a country where the temperature regularly exceeds 100 degrees.

"If this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can't play football in the summer,'' Blatter said. "You can cool down the stadiums but you can't cool down the whole country.''

Zwanziger said Blatter's U-turn showed that most of the executive committee had voted "against a fair awarding procedure'' in giving the World Cup to Qatar in 2010.

The 68-year-old former tax inspector said that rather than rescheduling the tournament, it should be awarded to another country.

"If the decision at the time was really wrong you have to cancel it and avoid burdens on those previously uninvolved,'' Zwanziger said.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Arsenal fans, players caught up in the transfer window frenzy

In most walks of life, if you can buy something for less than it's worth, it's considered a positive. If you see a painting in a second-hand shop, hand over $10 for it and it looks good in your hallway, you've done well; if it turns out to be by a noted artist and you can sell it at a profit, even better. If you find a grocery shop that sells vegetables a little bit cheaper than at the supermarket down the road, you shop there. Cheap is good. But soccer, especially in the transfer window, is a game of bluff and counter-bluff, when image is at least as important as the reality, and value seems something that is only considered long after the fact.

The transfer window has become like some bizarre reality show. Transfer deadline day, with its ticking clock, rumors of players and agents being spotted in unlikely locations, rushed medicals and last-gasp deals is a strangely compelling live-action soap opera, the action crammed into a single day. At first there seemed a level of irony to it, this artificial adjunct to the actual business of playing the game but now transfer deadline day has become a highlight in itself. You hear fans -- not all of them, but a bewildering number -- speaking of disappointment if their club is not involved in the frenzy.

But here's the thing, the really obvious thing: if you plan your transfer policy properly, you're not left scrabbling about on deadline day. You've already bought the players you want, allowing them the maximum possible time to settle in. Look at, say, Tottenham, which habitually waits until the last minute, as its chairman Daniel Levy squeezes every last penny out of deals. It's admirable in some ways but it also means Tottenham habitually starts the season poorly: last season it took just two points from its first three games; the year before it lost 3-0 to Manchester United and 5-1 to Manchester City in its first two matches; and the year before that its first four games yielded only five points.

But it's not just deadline day when the desire to be involved asserts itself. Some fans, certainly of the big clubs, also seem to demand a big transfer, a large fee, as though to persuade themselves that theirs is a big club. When Manchester United signed Shinji Kagawa for £18 million last season, there was significant grumbling, less about the player signed or about whether he was worth that figure (to which the answer would probably be: yes, in terms of potential; no, in terms of what he actually delivered last season) than about the fact he wasn't a £30m+ megastar.

Now, of course, there are times when a club needs to spend big to assert itself. Paris St-Germain and Monaco have made astonishing, record-breaking signings deliberately to make a noise, to raise the world's awareness that they exist and that they are serious players, just as a nouveau riche businessman may buy a flashy sports car to announce that he has arrived. Signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Radamel Falcao were statements of intent that were to an extent reinforced by the high fees.

That has always been the case but what is strange now is when a club like Arsenal, for so long a model of prudence, is suddenly desperate not just to spend but to spend big -- as though the frustrations of fans playing the highest prices in the Premier League but without a trophy in eight years have finally reached a critical point. Something, the logic, seems to run, must be done, and that something, now that Arsene Wenger has accepted economic reality and abandoned his policy of developing youth and hoping commitment to the cause will keep them at the Emirates, is buying big.

Even players seem to have been caught by the bug. "The club have said they are going to be very ambitious in the market and have got the financial resources to get big players," said Mikel Arteta last week. "I think it's about time. When you compare us to the other top English clubs and the money they have paid, we are very far apart. The value of this club is the class and what it means is very difficult to match. Now, financially, they are very strong so maybe we will be more aggressive in the transfer market. There has never been a tradition at Arsenal to pay crazy, crazy money. I am excited. They made it public that they are going to go big and the sort of players they have been linked with makes me happy. It creates a good atmosphere and we need to do something because the other teams are doing it, and I think we will."

But making pubic your intention to "go big" simply inflates fees and expectations. Arsenal have registered interest in Wayne Rooney, made a bid for Luis Suarez and seemed to have reached agreement for Gonzalo Higuain. Rooney's future remains unclear, it's far from certain Suarez would want to join another English club and Real Madrid seem to be playing Arsenal off against Napoli for Higuain. So far Arsenal has signed only Yaya Sanogo, a France youth international of the type it has been signing for years.

Arsenal's squad is decent. After a summer of flux at United, City and Chelsea, it probably only needs two or three signings to be able to mount a realistic challenge for the title. But the problem is that by announcing its intentions so boldly, it now desperately needs signings if the season is not to begin amid an atmosphere of despondency and mounting fan anger. It has talked itself into a position where it needs to spend a lot of money on somebody, almost irrespective of who that player is. And that makes it vulnerable to selling clubs.

Is Chivas USA a Racist Soccer Team?

If a soccer team only hires Mexicans, is it racist?

That is the question that will be tackled on Tuesday night on the HBO show Real Sports, which takes a look at the recent history of Chivas USA.

The LA-based Major League Soccer team was always designed to cater to the city's considerable Mexican community. Its owner, Jorge Vergara, also owns the famous Mexican league team Chivas de Guadalajara -- and both clubs wear the same uniform.

Unlike Chivas Guadalajara, which has had no foreign players in its century-long history, Chivas USA actually hired players of all sorts of backgrounds for several years. But after three losing seasons and a dismal showing in 2012, Chivas USA has, in the words of its owner, "gone back to its roots" -- packing its roster with players of Mexican descent or citizenship for the 2013 season, and firing most of its non-Mexican players and coaching staff.

Two Caucasian former coaches for the team recently filed a discrimination suit, claiming that Chivas USA has become a racist squad. Real Sports reporter Soledad O'Brien also seems to think that there's foul play.

"I think it's pretty shocking to think that in 2013, there is a major league sport in America where the players and the coaches are alleging discrimination. It's stunning," O'Brien says in the trailer for Tuesday's report.

On the other hand, the Mexicanization of Chivas USA could be part of a smart marketing strategy, designed to reinforce a team identity that is distinct from that of other MLS squads -- and that sets Chivas apart from its local rival, the LA Galaxy.

Considering the size of the Mexican community in the U.S. and its contributions to American soccer, some folks may even argue that it is justified for Mexican-Americans to have "their own" team in the MLS.

There is also somewhat of a precedent for nationalistic hiring practices in the world of soccer, with several clubs in Europe, Latin America and Asia that have historically decided to field players from just one nationality, one religion, or one part of a country.

Such teams are definitely the exception to the rule. And they go against the general logic of most clubs (and companies) nowadays, which is to get the best talent available for your money, whatever country that talent may come from.

Here is a list of soccer teams that only take players of one nationality. Let us know in the comments if you think it's appropriate for Chivas USA to do the same.

Serious Investment and Savvy Marketing Revive Soccer in Kansas City

There are, of course, no official records, but it is generally accepted that the introduction of the Zardmeister was the low point in Kansas City soccer history.

A high-strung gentleman with a memorably awful haircut, the Zardmeister roamed the paltry crowds at Arrowhead Stadium in 2003, ostensibly whipping his fellow Wizards fans into a froth. Since Tony Meola was the team's goalkeeper, the Zardmeister shrieked, "Me Likey!" and then waited for fans to respond - presumably without choking - "Me-ola!" The Zardmeister also attempted to lead groups of fans in a clownish chant that went, "I'm a Zard, you're a Zard, we all are Zards!"

"I actually heard him misspell Zard one time," Mike Gaughan, a season-ticket holder since 1997 and a former president of the team's supporters' club, said recently. "It was a disaster."

There was no anger in Gaughan's voice, only a bit of mirth a decade later. In a reversal that Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber calls "one of the great sports turnarounds in the history of soccer in America," Kansas City - which will host the M.L.S. All-Star Game on July 31 - has become an unlikely hotbed for professional soccer. The rise of the sport in the heart of the United States has been so sharp, observers say, that it now rivals the standard set by the league's two most prominent success stories in Seattle and Portland, Ore.

Attendance at Kansas City's new soccer stadium, Sporting Park, is at capacity. The United States national team has made the area a regular part of its rotation for important international matches. Even television ratings, which have long been disappointing for M.L.S., are at least increasing on a relative scale.

The turnaround has been startling: as recently as seven years ago, Wizards merchandise sales ranked last in M.L.S., behind even the sales of items featuring only the league's generic logo. As recently as four years ago, the team played on a field that was shoehorned into a minor-league baseball stadium. As recently as three years ago, the number of people watching games on television frequently came in at numbers that one might be only slightly above those for public-access shows.

"I've seen a lot of teams get new stadiums, including the Red Bulls in my own backyard, and it's no guarantee that everything gets fixed," said Meola, a New Jersey resident who played 10 years in M.L.S. "But in Kansas City they're pushing the right buttons."

'A Lot of Screaming Kids'

The history of soccer in Kansas City is not particularly rich. Yes, there was a time when the local indoor team, the Comets, actually outdrew the city's N.B.A. team (the Kansas City Kings subsequently moved to Sacramento in 1985), but St. Louis was typically seen as the region's more soccer-crazy city, primarily because of its concentration of high-quality youth clubs and high school teams.

Soccer participation in Kansas City, though, was always prominent. When Lamar Hunt, who owned the N.F.L.'s Chiefs, purchased the right to operate an original M.L.S. team in 1996, the thinking was simple: tap into the large number of families involved in youth soccer and get them to Arrowhead.

"What I really remember is a lot of screaming kids," said Laura Hendricks, a longtime fan whose family has attended the franchise's games since the league's first season. "There was no real investment. They were there because it was something to do."

Often, the team's performance on the field felt secondary. In the early years, team executives met each Thursday before a Saturday game to discuss that weekend's promotional gimmick. One official recounted a day when heavy rain began near the end of the first half, prompting another anxious executive to screech over the team's in-house walkie-talkie system that "whatever we do, don't cancel the mini-ponies!" that had been rented to give rides to fans at halftime.

"To be fair, a lot of that was happening all across the league early on," said Chris Klein, who played for the Wizards from 1998 to 2005 and is now the president of the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Everyone was trying to figure out where M.L.S. fit into the American culture and how to make it work."

In the standings, the Wizards actually had a measure of success. They even won the M.L.S. championship in 2000, but the club still struggled to embed itself in the community. Rob Thomson, the team's executive vice president for communications, recalled driving home from work once in the early 2000s and seeing another car with a Wizards bumper sticker. Thomson excitedly sped up to try and wave at the person in the other car. "I pulled up alongside and it was someone I worked with," he said.

By 2004, with attendance languishing despite good results from the team, the Hunts - who also owned M.L.S. teams in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio - began exploring a possible sale. Given the commercial struggles of the club, there was persistent speculation that the team might be moved (Philadelphia was often suggested), and Garber acknowledged that relocation was considered.

Ultimately, the club stayed put after the Hunts found interest from a six-man, locally based group led by the co-owners of an electronic medical systems company. The sale of the team was completed in 2006 and the goal, Garber said, "was an immediate sea change" in approach. The new group set out to rejuvenate operations, with a stadium designed for soccer at the heart of the plan.

A New Approach

By the summer of 2010, Robb Heineman, the team's president and one of the six new owners, knew the coming six months would be crucial. The Wizards had spent the previous four years playing in a minor-league baseball stadium, essentially treading water while waiting for their transformation.

As the 2011 season approached, the new stadium was nearing completion and a rebranding - including the team's name, colors, logo and uniform - was imminent. With those tangible changes nearly in place and a financial outlay that ended up being close to $300 million on the line, club officials talked often about the need to find lasting relevance in the community.

"In a lot of ways, that summer of 2010 was really a tipping point for us," Heineman said in recent interview. "It was a combination of good timing and good planning."

First, the team organized watch parties for the World Cup matches in South Africa that summer, taking over the popular Power & Light District area downtown and attracting young professionals as opposed to the families that had been the focus of marketing efforts for so many years.

The team hoped for a decent turnout at the parties as a way to build a presence ahead of the rebranding; instead, thousands of fans went to the outdoor plaza area, and for games involving the United States team the crowds swelled to as large as 12,000. When ESPN showed highlights of American fans watching games back home, Kansas City was often portrayed as the hub; the crowd's histrionics after Landon Donovan's last-second goal against Algeria were captured in a plethora of YouTube montages.

Less than a month later, the Wizards played an exhibition against Manchester United at Arrowhead Stadium. More than 50,000 fans bought tickets, but most appeared to be wearing the English team's colors and cheering for the visitors.

That situation was standard for a match between an M.L.S. team and a European club at the time and yet, despite the crowd's apparent rooting interest and despite Kansas City's having a player ejected after only a half-hour, the Wizards pulled off a stunning upset, beating United by 2-1. At the final whistle, the fans - many still wearing Manchester United gear - exploded with glee. "The next day our phones literally went down because so many people were calling," Heineman said.

Determined to capitalize, the club increased its attention on attracting younger fans. Its approach was simple: in a city where the Chiefs and the Royals play in older stadiums and have played poorly for a long time, "the 18-to-35 demographic here didn't grow up with much success from those brands," Heineman said.

He added, "We thought we could give them something different."

The connection was multilayered. Greg Cotton, the team's general counsel and chief of staff, had been a longtime member of the team's main supporters' club, known as the Cauldron, so during the transition Cotton was a constant voice for the fans. Team executives even enlisted help from the Cauldron when designing areas for the supporters' groups in the new stadium. Like many European teams have done, a members' bar for the supporters' club was built at the stadium to encourage more time on site.

Technology was critical, too. Two of the team's owners, Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson, were the co-founders of Cerner Corporation, a leading provider of electronic medical systems. With that software background, it was not surprising that Sporting Park was built with a strong Wi-Fi presence, constant social media connections among fans, and stadium video boards and advanced camera systems that made for more entertaining replays.

The team also embraced social media away from the stadium, with Heineman often asking questions of fans on Twitter to help guide club decisions.

"It was like apples and oranges from before," Gaughan said. "There was a deeper commitment to building a connection. It wasn't just a 'you-buy-tickets' thing. It was more."

That thinking went into the team's name change as well. As the club approached its rebranding in the winter of 2010, it considered a number of traditional American sports team names proposed by a consulting agency. Among the top suggestions was the Kansas City Bees because, the consultants said, the bee is the official insect of both Missouri and Kansas.

Instead, the club opted for Sporting Kansas City, a European-sounding name that was emblematic of its hope of becoming more than just a soccer team. The Sporting name also dovetailed with the club's European-style soccer stadium and concerted effort to appeal to the serious soccer fan.

For the most part, it has worked. In 2011, the first year at Sporting Park, the team's average attendance was 17,810. In 2012, it was 19,017. This season, it is 19,709, and Sporting has a streak of 27 consecutive league match sellouts as it has surged to a four-point lead atop the Eastern Conference behind players like midfielder Graham Zusi and defender Matt Besler, who are also becoming fixtures on the national team.

Everything is not perfect. While the team trumpets its significant television ratings increase, the numbers are relative: ratings this season have generally been around 1.1 or so, which is up from the 0.1 that was standard in 2010 but still far below, say, the 5.8 that the Royals are averaging this season despite being six games under .500.

Still, Sporting's relevance cannot be denied. Segments on local sports talk radio are now dedicated to soccer - something unimaginable in the past - and Thomson, the executive who recalled his excitement (and subsequent disappointment) at seeing a Wizards bumper sticker on a car years ago, said he was especially heartened when he pulled up at a drive-thru window recently and was immediately serenaded with one of Sporting's fan chants from the employees inside. "They saw the logo on my shirt," Thomson said.

Hendricks, the longtime fan, said that she, too, has reveled in the way Sporting has moved into the mainstream consciousness, but she also occasionally wonders what will happen if the team, which has won its division each of the past two seasons, begins to struggle.

Sports are cyclical, she said, and there will surely come a time when Sporting begins to falter. Will the interest wane then? Will the crowds diminish? Could there even come a time when the Zardmeister, or at least a distant relative, resurfaces?

Hendricks laughed. "I think those days are long gone," she said. "It's not manufactured here anymore. It's real."

Maragos: Return of Cosmos soccer team could mean millions for Nassau

The return of the New York Cosmos soccer team to Long Island next month could generate up to $19 million in new annual revenues for local restaurants, hotels, retail stores and other businesses, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos said Tuesday.

The Cosmos, a prominent professional team in the 1970s and 1980s, will play 14 home games at Hofstra's 15,000-seat James M. Shuart Stadium beginning on Aug. 3.

The games would generate $18.9 million in annual economic activity if the team attracts capacity crowds to the stadium, Maragos said in a report. That figure would drop to $9.4 million if the stadium were half filled, and $4.7 million at 25 percent capacity.

"The Cosmos' return will give not only our local economy a boost but also a huge boost to the sport's popularity amongst our youth, who can now aspire to professional play," Maragos said in a statement.

Nassau County is expected to receive $55,000 at 25-percent capacity, $111,000 at half capacity and $223,000 at full capacity in sales taxes from Cosmos games, the report said.

Cosmos games are exempt from the Nassau County's entertainment surcharge of $1.50 per ticket because games are played at a university facility.

The Cosmos have proposed a $400 million, privately funded, 25,000-seat stadium at Belmont Park where they hope to begin playing in 2016. The Cosmos will play in the new North American Soccer League, which is a level below the more established Major League Soccer, where the New York Red Bulls play.

The Cosmos' plan is competing with two other proposals that include supermarkets, retail and restaurants.

The state Empire State Development Corp, which is reviewing the plans, said it will make a decision in the coming weeks.

On Monday, Assemb. Michaelle Solages and her brother, Legis. Carrié Solages, both Democrats from Elmont, held a protest against the proposed stadium, arguing it would be detrimental to the area's quality of life, reduce property values and put a strain on public safety resources.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans), whose district includes about 50,000 voters in Elmont, also announced his opposition to the stadium, citing the lack of community support.

"This plan completely disregards the needs of the residents and would cripple community resources rather than contribute to much-needed investment in infrastructure," said Michaelle Solages.

Cosmos chief executive Erik Stover said the stadium and other related Belmont development "will have important and lasting economic and community benefits for the people of Long Island.We look forward to the upcoming season at Hofstra and to working with the community to create thousands of jobs and revitalize the area for Elmont families."

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Soccer in the US Heartland: Kansas City Transformed

There are, of course, no official records, but it is generally accepted that the introduction of the Zardmeister was the low point in Kansas City soccer history.

A high-strung gentleman with a memorably awful haircut, the Zardmeister roamed the paltry Wizards crowds at Arrowhead Stadium in 2003, ostensibly whipping his fellow fans into a froth. Since Tony Meola was the team's goalkeeper, the Zardmeister shrieked, "Me Likey!" and then waited for fans to respond - presumably without choking - "Me-ola!" The Zardmeister also attempted to lead groups of fans in a clownish chant that went, "I'm a Zard, You're a Zard, We All Are Zards!"

"I actually heard him misspell 'Zard' one time," Mike Gaughan, a season-ticket holder since 1997 and a former president of the team's supporters' club, said recently. "It was a disaster."

There was no anger in Gaughan's voice though, only a bit of mirth a decade later. In a reversal that Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber calls "one of the great sports turnarounds in the history of soccer in America," Kansas City - which will host the M.L.S. All-Star Game on July 31 - has become a seemingly unlikely hotbed for professional soccer. The rise of the sport in the heart of the United States has been so sharp, observers say, that it now rivals the standard set by the league's two most prominent success stories in Seattle and Portland, Ore.

Attendance at Kansas City's new soccer stadium, Sporting Park, is at capacity. The United States national team has made the area a regular part of its rotation for important international matches. Even television ratings, which have long been disappointing for M.L.S., are at least increasing on a relative scale.

The turnaround has been startling: as recently as seven years ago, Wizards merchandise sales ranked dead-last in M.L.S., behind even the sales of items featuring only the league's generic logo. As recently as four years ago, the team played on a field that was shoehorned into a minor-league baseball stadium. As recently as three years ago, the number of people watching games on TV frequently came in at numbers one might think would be only slightly above public-access shows.

"I've seen a lot of teams get new stadiums, including the Red Bulls in my own backyard and it's no guarantee that everything gets fixed," said Meola, a New Jersey resident who played 10 years in M.L.S. "But in Kansas City they're pushing the right buttons."

'A Lot of Screaming Kids'

The history of soccer in Kansas City is not particularly auspicious. Yes, there was a time when the local indoor team, the Comets, actually outdrew the city's N.B.A. team (the Kansas City Kings subsequently moved to Sacramento in 1985), but St. Louis was typically seen as the region's more soccer-crazy city, primarily because of its concentration of high-quality youth clubs and high-school teams.

Soccer participation in Kansas City, though, was always prominent. When Lamar Hunt, who owned the N.F.L.'s Chiefs, purchased the right to operate an original M.L.S. team in 1996, the thinking was simple: tap into the large number of families involved in youth soccer and get them to Arrowhead.

"What I really remember is a lot of screaming kids," said Laura Hendricks, a longtime fan whose family has attended games since the team's first season. "There was no real investment. They were there because it was something to do."

Often, the team's performance on the field felt secondary. In the early years, team executives met each Thursday before a Saturday game to discuss that weekend's promotional gimmick. One official recounted a day when heavy rain began near the end of the first half, prompting another anxious executive to screech over the team's in-house walkie-talkie system that "whatever we do, don't cancel the mini-ponies!" that had been rented to give rides to fans at halftime.

"To be fair, a lot of that was happening all across the league early on," said Chris Klein, who played for the Wizards from 1998 to 2005 and is now the president of the Los Angeles Galaxy. "Everyone was trying to figure out where M.L.S. fit into the American culture and how to make it work."

In the standings, the Wizards actually had a measure of success. They even won the M.L.S. championship in 2000 but the club still struggled to embed itself in the community. Rob Thomson, the team's executive vice president for communications, recalled driving home from work once in the early 2000's and seeing another car with a Wizards bumper sticker. Thomson excitedly sped up to try and wave at the person in the other car. "I pulled up alongside and it was someone I worked with," he said.

By 2004, with attendance languishing despite good results from the team, the Hunts - who also owned M.L.S. teams in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio - began exploring a possible sale. Given the commercial struggles of the club, there was persistent speculation that the team might be moved (Philadelphia was often suggested), and Garber admitted that relocation was considered.

Ultimately, the club stayed put after the Hunts found interest from a six-man, locally based group led by the co-owners of an electronic medical systems company. The sale of the team was completed in 2006 and the goal, Garber said, "was an immediate sea change" in approach as the new group set out to rejuvenate operations with a stadium designed for soccer at the heart of the plan.

New Owners, New Approach

During the summer of 2010, Robb Heineman, the team's president and one of the six new owners, knew the coming six months would be crucial. The Wizards had spent the previous four years playing in a minor-league baseball stadium, essentially treading water while waiting for their transformation.

As the 2011 season approached, however, the new stadium was nearing completion and a rebranding - including the team's name, colors, logo and uniform - was imminent. With those tangible changes nearly in place and a financial outlay that ended up being close to $300 million on the line, club officials talked often about the need to find a lasting relevancy in the community.

"In a lot of ways, that summer of 2010 was really a tipping point for us," Heineman said in recent interview. "It was a combination of good timing and good planning."

First, the team organized watch parties for the World Cup matches that summer, taking over the popular Power & Light District area downtown and attracting young professionals as opposed to the families that had been the focus of marketing efforts for so many years early on.

The team hoped for a decent turnout at the parties as a way to build a presence ahead of the rebranding; instead, thousands of fans went to the outdoor plaza area, and for games involving the United States team the crowds swelled to as large as 12,000. When ESPN showed highlights of American fans watching games back home, Kansas City was often portrayed as the hub; the crowd's histrionics after Landon Donovan's last-second goal against Algeria were captured in a plethora of YouTube montages.

Then, less than a month later, the Wizards played an exhibition against Manchester United at Arrowhead Stadium. More than 50,000 fans bought tickets but a majority appeared to be wearing the English team's colors and cheering for the visitors at the start.

That situation was standard for a match between an M.L.S. team and a European power at the time and yet, despite the crowd and despite having a player ejected after only a half-hour, the Wizards pulled off a stunning upset, beating United by 2-1. At the final whistle, the fans - many still wearing Manchester United gear - exploded with glee. "The next day our phones literally went down because so many people were calling," Heineman said.

Determined to capitalize on the soccer surge, the club increased its attention on attracting younger fans. Its approach was simple: in a city where the Chiefs and Royals play in older stadiums and have played poorly for a long time, "the 18-to-35 demographic here didn't grow up with much success from those brands," Heineman said.

He added, "We thought we could give them something different."

The connection was multilayered. Greg Cotton, the team's general counsel and chief of staff, had been a longtime member of the team's main supporters' club, known as the Cauldron, so during the transition Cotton was a constant voice for the fans. Team executives even enlisted help from the Cauldron when designing areas for the supporters' groups in the new stadium. Like many European teams have done, a members' bar for the supporters' club was built at the stadium to encourage more time on site.

Technology was critical, too. Two of the team's new owners, Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson, were the co-founders of Cerner Corporation, a leading provider of electronic medical systems. With that software background, it was not surprising that Sporting Park came with a strong Wi-Fi presence, constant social media connections among fans, and the stadium's video boards and advanced camera systems that made for more entertaining replays.

The team also embraced social media away from the stadium, with Heineman often asking questions of fans on Twitter to help guide club decisions.

"It was like apples and oranges from before," Gaughan said. "There was a deeper commitment to building a connection. It wasn't just a 'you-buy-tickets' thing. It was more."

That thinking went into the team's name change as well. As the club approached its rebranding in the winter of 2010, it mulled a number of traditional American sports team names proposed by a consulting agency. Among the top suggestions was the Kansas City Bees because, the consultants said, the bee is the official insect of both Missouri and Kansas.

Instead, the club opted for Sporting Kansas City, a European-sounding name that was emblematic of its hope of becoming more than just a soccer team. The Sporting name also dovetailed with the club's European-style soccer stadium and concerted effort to appeal to the serious soccer fan.

For the most part, it has worked. In 2011, the first year at Sporting Park, the team's average attendance was 17,810. In 2012, it was 19,017. This season, it is 19,709 and Sporting has a streak of 27 consecutive league match sellouts as it has surged to a four-point lead atop the Eastern Conference.

To be sure, everything is not perfect. While the team trumpets its significant television ratings increase, the numbers are relative: ratings this season have generally been around 1.1 or so, which is up from the 0.1 that was standard in 2010 but still far below, say, the 5.8 that the Royals are averaging this season despite being six games under .500.

Still, Sporting's relevance cannot be denied. Segments on local sports talk radio are now dedicated to soccer - something that was unimaginable in the past - and Thomson, the executive who recalled his excitement (and subsequent disappointment) at seeing a Wizards bumper sticker on the car in front of him years ago, said he was especially heartened when he pulled up at a drive-thru window recently and was immediately serenaded with one of Sporting's fan chants from the employees inside. "They saw the logo on my shirt," Thomson said.

Hendricks, the longtime fan, said that she too has reveled in the way Sporting has moved into the mainstream consciousness, but she also occasionally wonders what will happen if the team, which has won its division each of the past two seasons, begins to struggle.

Sports are cyclical, she said, and there will surely come a time when Sporting begins to falter. Will the interest wane then? Will the crowds diminish? Could there even come a time when the Zardmeister, or at least a distant relative, resurfaces?

Hendricks laughed. "I think those days are long gone," she said. "It's not manufactured here anymore. It's real."

It's Not More Science, but Magic, That Soccer Needs

LONDON - When Romelu Lukaku was scoring goals as a boy against men in the Belgian league, he had visions of growing into the next Didier Drogba.

There is an uncanny physical resemblance. And over the past week, the 20-year-old Lukaku, has scored wearing Drogba's old color - Chelsea blue - against teams in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

"Leave Didier where he is, at the top of Chelsea's history," Coach José Mourinho told journalists who were following the team's preseason tour this week in Asia. "And leave Lukaku to work hard. The kid is good." So far, so thrillingly good.

Lukaku was a prodigy when he was bought by Anderlecht, the Brussels club, when he was 16. He was sold for £10 million to Chelsea when he was 18, and last season he was loaned out to another English Premier League club.

Lukaku is still a developing talent. He is, perhaps, fully grown in the physical sense: at 1.91 meters, or 6-foot-3, he is pretty close to the muscular presence that Drogba was. And though he scored 17 goals in 35 games for West Brom last season (many of them as a match-winning or match-saving substitute), he will have to move mountains to get game time at Chelsea.

There is Fernando Torres, Spain's World Cup winning striker, who cost Chelsea £50 million, now worth about $76 million.

There is Demba Ba, the 28-year-old and much-traveled Senegalese forward.

There may soon be Wayne Rooney if, as Mourinho intends, Chelsea persuades Manchester United to accept £30 million for Rooney's signature this month or next.

Above all else, there is Mourinho himself. He is a coach, a Special One by his own estimation, who demands conformity. "Because training sessions are closed," he told reporters in Asia this week, "you cannot feel what we are transferring to the matches. But I can, and I see things on a defensive and attacking point of view that we are working on. That's important for me - for the players to trust the methodology." The methodology. Mourinho says it as though sport is a science.

In relation to Lukaku, or to Torres, Ba or, if he gets him, Rooney, Mourinho wants absolute compliance. "We don't want the striker just aiming between the central defenders," the coach said Monday. "We want movements, sometimes between midfield or moving wide.

"Lukaku," he added, "is very open to learn the kind of movement we want." And the player said: "He is a manager with a vision of the way he wants to play. The players have to improve to do that. He is very direct and in your face, and I love that."

Perhaps that is where things went wrong in his final season at Real Madrid.

A coach is only as good as his players make him appear to be, and in that third and final season, Madrid fell way short of the club's standards, never mind Mourinho's.

For some of us, the method will always be secondary to the skill. Soccer, like most sports, comes to life when players do the unexpected, when a Messi, a Neymar, a Ronaldo or a budding Lukaku obeys his instinct and improvises.

Mourinho isn't the first man to think that the structure is more important than the individual within it. English soccer developed a doctrine way back in the 1950s that its founder, a former Royal Air Force commander, Charles Reep, called the POMO - Position of Maximum Opportunity.

It became, by another name, the long-ball theory. Aim the ball long and high, fight for it when it drops, and score. Reep was an accountant before he joined the air force, and another of his theories was the "three-pass optimization rule."

He claimed, and the Football Association followed, that statistically more goals came from just three movements, rather than all the possession that Brazil and Hungary made so beautiful. As for Barcelona and Spain, with their obsessive pass, pass, pass? There would be no place for that in the wing commander's thesis.

One is tempted to look at England's declining place in the world rankings of the game it invented.

One is tempted, too, to observe that although Castrol paid scientists to make a beguiling promotional video about what makes Cristiano Ronaldo the perfect specimen to play soccer, he keeps on being eclipsed by that little fellow Lionel Messi.

Yes, Ronaldo is a fantastic athlete. Yes, he does things that, as the science shows, require exceptional ball-to-brain coordination. But Messi, and the emerging Neymar, sometimes do things that, regardless of their physical limitations, just leave us spellbound.

It is called genius, and it works best coming out of the minds or the free spirit of players.

Even so, there are coaches who believe they can improve on or manipulate what players have inside of them. Almost a decade ago, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, then in charge of Santos in Brazil, wired up a player to a one-way earpiece so that he could instruct the player on how to time his runs on attacks.

The Brazilian federation took this contraption away from him.

But Luxemburgo - possibly the most nomadic coach, even in Brazil, with 28 jobs since 1983 - tried it again when he briefly managed Real Madrid.

He tried, but failed, to convince Raúl Gonzalez, arguably the most successful striker in Spain at that time, to wear the earpiece in training. Raúl, the team captain, either switched it off or ignored the messages.

Luxemburgo is temporarily unemployed after recently being sacked after his team, Grêmio, brawled on the field. But just imagine this coach getting hold of Google Glass, a tiny invention that can relay visual instructions to someone out there on the right frequency.

It is being tested as we speak, but when it comes onto the market, imagine the gold rush in sports. Not just in Luxemburgo or Mourinho's world, but, say, between Andy Murray and his coach Ivan Lendl, or with a top golfer, swimmer or any other athlete who has to use mind and body simultaneously. A coach's dream, and a sci-fi nightmare for the players and fans.

Street soccer 'empowerment' for homeless

For Nicole Chisolm of the Bronx, turning her life around was as simple as playing soccer and being around positive people who inspired her to get back on her feet and out of a homeless shelter.

On Monday, Chisolm, 28, joined 200 men, women and teenagers from across the country -- many of them homeless -- on a mini pitch set up in Times Square by Street Soccer USA.

The nonprofit group, which was set up to help the homeless improve their lives through competitive soccer, held its National Cup tournament in the heart of Manhattan. Several of the players will be picked for the Street Soccer USA national team that will compete in the Homeless World Cup in Poland next month.

Chisolm, 28, said competing Monday is another way she has turned her life around.

"This is my second year," said Chisolm, who was putting on her shin guards in preparation for her match. "Soccer actually helped me get my mind off of it [being homeless]."

Chisolm said her soccer team and its organizers at Street Soccer USA became "my family. It's not only about playing soccer but supporting each other and being part of something."

Under a steamy hot sun, the soccer event had teams from 16 American cities play against each other on a pitch that was shorter than a basketball court.

Dozens of spectators stopped to watch the refereed games where players sweated it out on the hard street surface set up as soccer field. Plays were being highlighted by a sports announcer as a backdrop of vibrating hip-hop music played.

The Times Square event was designed to raise enough money to send a team of eight men and eight women to the international competition next month, said Lawrence Cann, 34, the founder and president of Street Soccer USA.

The goal, Cann said, is to help those on the street who think they have no hope to repair their lives get a second chance. "It's healing," Cann said.

Last year's champions were from Chile and played in Mexico.

Enzo Blanco, 20, of Santiago, Chile, a member of the team, attended Monday's competition and said a neighborhood soccer group in his home country helped him stay focused on school and now he is applying for college scholarships.

"I always had a home but there was not always enough to go around. My father works in construction and my mother works in a mini market," said Blanco, who sells two-liter water bottles for $1 on Santiago's busy city streets.

Being in Times Square was an experience he never imagined, he said.

"I never thought I would be here with all my good friends. It makes me feel good and that changes the way I feel about my life," Blanco said.

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Joe Corona: The New Face of US Soccer

Every two years, the CONCACAF Gold Cup takes place to determine the champion of the North American, Central American, and Caribbean region. There are four teams remaining this year, including two-time consecutive champ, Mexico.

Five out of the last 10 championship matches have been U.S. vs Mexico. Throughout the last four years, the U.S. has fallen short against Mexico in the Gold Cup. In 2011, Mexico dominated the U.S. in a 4-2 victory.

Both countries are once again making their way through the tournament, with the U.S. clinching a spot in the semifinals after a win against El Salvador this past Sunday in Baltimore.

This is a different U.S. team, with younger faces, a new captain, DaMarcus Beasley, and a new coach, Juergen Klinsmann. And one of the most prominent faces of American success is Joe Benny Corona, born in California, and who is half-Mexican and half-Salvadoran.

With two goals during the Gold Cup run, Corona is becoming a prominent midfielder for the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT). Making his first start for the USMNT senior team at 23 years old, Corona helped defeat El Salvador, his mother's home country, by scoring a goal in the 29th minute.

Corona is representing the U.S. in his international debut, but is a soccer player for the Xolos, a professional Mexican soccer club in Tijuana. He considers himself both Mexican and American, first playing the game on a dirt field when he was six years old in a town called La Gloria, just outside of Tijuana. He moved to San Diego when he was 11, and has lived there since.

Corona embodies a new shift in U.S. men's soccer, who now has six players who currently play for professional Mexican soccer teams on their roster, the most ever.

Addressing this shift in an interview with ESPN, coach Klinsmann said, "The senior national team will look like what America looks like. It's a melting pot. And I think this is wonderful."

The U.S. team is now preparing for their next match on Wednesday, July 24th against Honduras. With the Gold Cup tournament unraveling, there is a possibility in the horizon of another U.S.-Mexico Gold Cup re-match. And Corona will be playing, wearing red, white, and blue.

FIFA world rankings may be flawed, but they're not meaningless

ARLINGTON, Texas -- A lot of soccer people complain about the FIFA world rankings -- and that's if they care enough to even have an opinion. I get it. Once a month FIFA releases the new list, and once a month I post the link on Twitter, and once a month my followers respond with creative new ways to say it doesn't have much credibility. It's the same way with polls and computer rankings in a lot of other sports, like college football and basketball.

But one thing you can't say is that the FIFA rankings are meaningless. If FIFA continues its policy from World Cup 2010, the rankings will be used to determine the top-seeded teams in seven of the eight World Cup groups next year (the host gets the other one, in this case Brazil). And if you're a top group seed, that means you can avoid any of the other heavyweights in the World Cup group stage.

So instead of just complaining, over the last few days I took a deep dive into how the FIFA rankings work. The timing seemed right, since the CONCACAF Gold Cup is in full swing and the tournament will have a big influence on where the U.S. and Mexico and the region's other teams stand in the next rankings. In a rare display of transparency, FIFA also makes it easy enough for everyone by posting the formula it uses for the rankings.

But before we get to that, some news I picked up from plugging in the latest numbers on my spreadsheet: Heading into Wednesday's Gold Cup semifinals, the U.S. has passed archrival Mexico in the FIFA rankings for the first time in 26 months -- or to be more specific, for the first time since Mexico's paradigm-shifting 4-2 win over the U.S. in the 2011 Gold Cup final.

The U.S. (which was No. 22 in the most recent FIFA release) now has 911 points in the rankings compared to 903 for Mexico (which was No. 20 entering the Gold Cup). As recently as August 2012, Mexico was No. 18 and 18 spots ahead of the No. 36 U.S. in the rankings. But honestly, I think the U.S.'s rise and Mexico's drop paint a fairly accurate picture of how these two teams have played over the last year. The U.S. is in first place in the World Cup qualifying Hexagonal and has won an all-time-record nine straight games.

Meanwhile, Mexico has won just once in six games and is in third place in the Hex. Head-to-head, the U.S. tied Mexico in a road World Cup qualifier in March and beat El Tri in an away friendly last August. And there could be two more U.S.-Mexico showdowns in the next six weeks: A potential Gold Cup final this Sunday and a World Cup qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 10.

Whether you care about the U.S. passing Mexico in the rankings is another matter. When I asked U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann the other day, the look on his face was of someone who just encountered a very bad smell. He shook his head and didn't say a single word.

DaMarcus Beasley was more forthcoming on Sunday. "We always strive to be the best team in CONCACAF," said Beasley, who plays in Mexico for Puebla. "It doesn't matter if it's Mexico or Panama or whoever, and it doesn't matter if it's a World Cup year or a qualifying year. We always want to be in front of Mexico. That's our biggest rival. The games aren't as crazy as they were when I was younger, but at the same time Mexico is a great team. We don't look too much at the FIFA rankings, but it's always nice to hear that we're ahead of them."

One thing I will say about FIFA's current rankings system: It's a heck of a lot better than the formula that was in place as recently as World Cup 2006, which produced clangingly tone-deaf results. (Do you remember that the U.S. was No. 4 in the world heading into that World Cup? Yikes.) Today's rankings formula passes the smell test in most ways, though not in the way that it penalizes the upcoming World Cup host for not playing in any World Cup qualifiers.

Anyway, here are some of the big-picture things I learned on my dive into the FIFA rankings:

* The rankings produce a point total for every senior national team game played, which is comprised of four factors: the result of the game; the importance of the game (friendly, World Cup qualifier, continental championship/Confederations Cup, World Cup finals game); the ranking of the opponent; and a multiplier taking into account the confederation(s) of the two teams involved.

* As a result, the FIFA rankings do not take into account the goal margin in a game or whether a game is played at home or on the road. I'm not a math genius, but that's a problem. My preferred rankings formula at Eloratings.net (which is based on a system first used to rank chess grandmasters) does use goal margin and game venues, which gives them a big gold star.

* In the FIFA rankings, average points-per-game results from the last 48 months are taken into account, but they're weighted in a way that makes sense. Games from the past 12 months matter more than those from the 12 months before that, and so on.

* Even this B-team CONCACAF Gold Cup matters more in the FIFA rankings than the A-team World Cup qualifiers taking place this year. That seems silly. In fact, the U.S.'s Gold Cup group-stage win over Costa Rica last week -- in a match where both teams already knew they were advancing -- produced the Americans' second-highest single-game points total of the 65 matches the U.S. has played in the last 48 months. The 1,275 points the U.S. picked up in that Costa Rica win were exceeded by only the U.S.'s World Cup 2010 victory against Algeria (1,775).

Does this Gold Cup have a chance of artificially enhancing the U.S.'s FIFA ranking? The answer is yes, especially if the Americans win the tournament.

* The most persuasively designed national team rankings I've seen are by Nate Silver, the political and sports statistics expert who was just hired away by ESPN from the New York Times on Monday. In 2009, Silver launched his Soccer Power Index for ESPN. His formula is complex, but it seeks to be predictive, not backward-looking, when it comes to forecasting how national teams would fare against each other with their A squads.

WAHL: Landon Donovan proves he belongs as U.S. routs El Salvador

Dealing With Cancer Amid Elite Soccer's Pressure Cooker

Sport has no refuge from two possibly related human conditions: stress and sickness.

A little more than a year ago, Pep Guardiola left Barcelona, where he had built perhaps the most thrilling team in soccer outside of the Hungarian national team of the 1950s and the Brazil squad of 1970. He cited stress, the onus of responsibility for leaving a club that had won 14 of the 19 trophies it competed for in his four-year tenure as the coach.

On Friday, Tito Vilanova - Guardiola's friend for more than 20 years, his assistant during that gluttony of achievement and his successor for one season - stepped down.

Vilanova has throat cancer.

He might have been able to handle the job as coach - the joy of pairing up Lionel Messi with Neymar and the task of trying to win the Champions League again. But as Vilanova wrote in a letter to the club and its fans over the weekend: "In the opinion of the doctors, and due to the treatment I have to follow, I can't spend the time that a team like Barcelona would require as first coach to do my tasks. I'm calm, strong, and I will face this new stage in the process of my illness with full confidence that everything is going to be O.K."

Everything was not O.K. One could see that from the ashen faces of the players Friday when they heard the news from the club's president, Sandro Rosell, that their coach was leaving.

All the preseason planning and the conjecturing about new players yet to sign or teammates like Cesc Fàbregas possibly leaving became secondary to the realization that cancer strikes in every walk of life.

Vilanova is 44. He is a quiet man, private even in the glare of publicity that surrounds Barça. He has persevered from being a Barcelona youth team player who never made the first team to a coach who, as recently as Friday morning, was in his element watching and directing one of the world's finest collections of players.

And they, so comfortable on the field and under the spotlight, didn't know how to respond to this moment, either.

"Stay strong, Tito," Messi posted on Facebook. "We are all with you in this fight!"

Vilanova wrote Saturday about "the human quality of this football team that can go through any obstacle" and of a club he hopes to continue to serve in another capacity. "Once I stop being the coach of the club," he said, "I hope to have the tranquillity and privacy me and my family need right now."

Tranquillity in the face of an illness that seemed to arrive almost as soon as he stepped into Guardiola's shoes. Tranquillity when two operations and months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment in New York left him working by remote control, sometimes by video link across the Atlantic.

Barcelona and Vilanova held their season together to win back the Liga title from Real Madrid, equaling the record total of 100 points in the process. But with Vilanova so far from the training grounds, and with Messi and the captain Carles Puyol and others injured at crucial times, Barça was eclipsed, exposed by an aggregate score of 7-0 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League this spring.

The response to that devastation was to buy Neymar and to seek at least one top-notch defender. Barcelona has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to acquire Thiago Silva from Paris Saint-Germain and David Luiz from Chelsea.

How untimely the change of coach must be. Soccer is challenging at the best of times, and Rosell said on Spanish television Tuesday that the club was in the process of making the tough calls on which players to buy and which players to let go to continue its cycle of success.

Rosell had discussed the departures of striker David Villa and the playmaker Thiago Alcântara, the arrival of Neymar, and the efforts to sign defenders. He was asked about the coach. "Tito Vilanova," he said, "he's very eager and has a lot of energy."

On Wednesday, Barça will play at Bayern Munich in a charity friendly.

That would have been an intriguing night even without the weekend's news. Bayern's new coach is Guardiola, who is not on the best of terms with Rosell. As a result, the comradeship between Guardiola and Vilanova has not been as strong.

Earlier this month, Rosell told Spanish reporters that even though Vilanova spent two months having treatment in New York, where Guardiola was taking his sabbatical, the two men did not meet up there. Vilanova corrected that, saying they did meet, but only once, at the beginning of his treatment.

"It wasn't because I didn't want to," Vilanova added. "I was the one suffering, I was the one being left alone. In those moments, I needed him."

All of this seems at odds with the friendship that prompted Guardiola to call Vilanova back to Barcelona as his assistant five years ago. And it runs counter to the admirable qualities of trust and sharing that have marked Guardiola's career.

In the farewell letter he wrote Saturday, Vilanova thanked everyone at the club but did not mention Guardiola. At the same time, Guardiola was asked by journalists in Munich for a message to Vilanova.

"It's hard to talk to a friend like Tito in German," he said. "I love him so much. I wish the best for him and his family to tackle this stage with strength. This is very, very hard for me."

The cancer, and the competitive strains of sports, are hard for everyone.

Life in the New Kabul, With Soccer, Schools, and Taliban Attacks

The first thing I do when I arrive in Kabul is to try to get up on a roof. I am in most ways a respectful guest, but this is a city that places a premium on privacy that I routinely disregard. It is a place where people have long prized discretion, so homes were built behind walls, those walls now have walls built on top of them, and the whole thing is often garnished with concertina wire and corrugated tin sniper shields, the idea being that people may shoot at you, but they'll be shooting blind. This is a city that's always enclosed its people and does so now more than ever, so my first inclination is to get above, to climb up and see and hear and smell the things I'm not supposed to. I'm a voyeur here, I guess.

From up here, the city feels denser than ever before. Kabul is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, but there's something more. There are more voices screaming at a volleyball game in the distance, more whistles, more bicycle-mounted ice cream vendors playing their groaning, god-awful jingles that sound like children's toys whose batteries are dying. There are more muezzins at prayer time, it seems; more voices that mix and swirl and echo around the valley so that it feels as though the mountains themselves were telling us to pray. ISAF surveillance blimps hang tethered to the ground and unmoving. Afghans believe these blimps are miraculous things that can see everyone in the city, all at the same time, and who knows, maybe they can.

Today in Kabul there are more and taller buildings, a new mall where I buy a cell phone the vendor swears is both not a Chinese knock-off ("Real from Germany!" he says, though the manufacturer is Canadian), and brand-new. "Not a refresh!" The mall has a tiny movie theater that shows horror films, a little bumper car track, and a Taliban warning or two. The city's trees are more plentiful and healthier looking. There is still far too much evidence of draught here, but I'm struck by parks which look sort of like parks, by a main thoroughfare which has been under construction the last four or five times I've been here, but which now has a planter running down the median with little trees defying climate. This road has traffic lights, a couple of pedestrian bridges, no potholes, and a new petrol station. There are solar-powered street lamps.

On a recent Friday, I took this road to attend a meeting of Afghan technocrats, ostensibly to help one prepare for a lecture series, but probably to help him prepare for a presidential run. Influential people arrived with fancy sunglasses in fancy cars and well-fed guards carrying big guns, all to spend their days off passing around flow charts with titles like "Optics;" "Legitimacy;" "Group Identity and Subnational Issues." And I think: either all of these people, cherry-picked from the finest minds in the country, are irretrievably naïve, or they know there's enough progress here that it's worth their time to stay and fix the broken things.

And as I look around from the rooftop, there are more signs of normalcy than I've ever recognized before. My neighbor has a couple of unfriendly pet mutts, a trampoline, and an inflatable pool. I have never seen any of these things in Kabul before, and I've been back and forth to this place in various capacities since 2007.

There are tall red blinking radio antennas multiplying a few miles out, like I remember from growing up in Philadelphia, when winter stripped the trees and I would notice things in the distance I'd forgotten since last season. And where once ethnic and religious schisms felt to me like wounds so wide and deep they'd never close, I now wonder, cautiously, whether time may indeed be able to salve them. Kabul is still a segregated city, but it is also a city squeezed together by mountains, and even as squatter houses creep higher and higher up the hillsides like they're trying to escape, it's harder for people to isolate themselves. A leader of one ethnic group once told me I should not write too much about ethnic conflict here, because his country wasn't ready, those wounds had to heal before they could be examined. "It took ten years, didn't it," he said, "for people to begin calling what the Nazis did the Holocaust?" I found that troubling, but coded in his admonishment was the notion that someday his country would be ready, and that that day was in the imaginable future. There are signs now that unevenly, haltingly, the day may be approaching.

There are still darker moments, when people I admire will say revolting things about other races, and it will make me believe that these resentments will neverend. I spent a peaceful early Ramazan day at a park with a big-hearted young man I've been close to for five years and watched him become alternately animated and emotional talking about his two small daughters. Afterwards, he insisted I drive his old sedan home, because to him, entrusting me with his finest piece of property was the most selfless gesture he could think of. But as I drove, we passed through a neighborhood inhabited mostly by members of an ethnic group that is not his own. I heard him tut-tutting, and when I asked, he didn't hesitate. "I hate these people," he said, and then he pointed to one of the portraits of the martyred commander they've deified, mounted on storefronts and Toyotas all over the neighborhood. He began recounting all of the animalistic things he'd heard this commander had done. He said he'd never forgive the commander, nor would he the people who had sanctified him.

But here, as time passes and one generation gives way to the next, another change is happening thatmay--just may--be starting to heal these resentments. To hate someone now because they're the wrong race means you have to hate the way your grandparents do, and while it's hard for 20-somethings anywhere to listen to their elders, it's harder still when your generation is, by every objective measure, better-educated than the last.

***

On the day in late June I'd climbed up to the roof, the Taliban launched a highly coordinated attack in Kabul, an assault whose purpose seemed as much to show what they're capable of as it was to eliminate any target in particular--indeed, the Taliban seems increasingly strategic in its violence. They used counterfeit security passes to breech the fortified diplomatic zone and killed three people before the attack was neutralized, but they got within shooting distance of the Presidential Palace, a CIA station, a handful of embassies, and other high value and supposedly impregnable targets. And there are some parts of the country, I'm told by the security community, that the Taliban will take within days of bases closing; hours even. There are some parts of the country, including provinces enveloping Kabul, which they won't even need to "take," because they already effectively have them. They're active enough there now that Taliban control wouldn't look a hell of a lot different from whatever you'd call what's happening now. In the provinces just over the mountains from Kabul, Talibs come out in the afternoon and control roads, as if the real government and the shadow one held the same job, just in different shifts.

And yet up here on the roof in Kabul, just hours after the boldest kind of attack, the city seems unfazed. I hear people playing and singing; I see a woman with her burkha flung over her shoulder, pumping water. I can smell kabobs being grilled and trash being burned. I see a boy skipping home with a stack of fresh naan. Perhaps I'm seeing validation of all the commentary that's issued forth over the past twelve years on the resilience of the Afghan spirit, but I've always found that explanation to be insulting and dumb. As if people here are more primitive and therefore better equipped to deal with savagery. Or else that they have become immune to violence by witnessing so much of it. They aren't; they don't. They come up with ways to mask their suffering--gallows humor, for example--but they don't suffer less than the rest of us would. Probably more.

So rather, the feeling I have is that the Taliban is facing a simple numbers problem. There are just too many people who've built houses here, too many people opening restaurants, too many people playing soccer, too many people learning new languages, too many people, for the Taliban to do more than insert slivers of violence info city life, to serve as a disruptive criminal syndicate settling scores, capable of terrific violence and trauma, but not of every really coming back. Not of taking the country; not of any kind of writ beyond the places in the provinces where they have it now.

This is not to minimize the threat they pose, a threat which they are making good on with so much frequency that when a few days pass without an attack there's a palpable feeling in the air that's not altogether different from abandonment; suspense at least. And yet, on this night, Afghanistan is still out playing soccer and volleyball, getting stuck in rush hour, praying along to the soundtrack of the competing muezzin. So I allow myself this thought: maybe this is what winning will have to look like.

Homeless Soccer Takes Over Times Square

Stephanie Norris / Street Soccer USA

The spectacle in Times Square on Monday could look like another one of New York's many flash-mob activities. On first sight, few would guess that it is the national cup for a soccer league of homeless athletes. Each July for the past two years, Street Soccer USA has been holding its final round in a small arena-sized soccer field in the middle of Manhattan.

To enter, the rules are simple: you must be homeless, willing at least to learn how to work with others, and able to show up to practices.

This is how Lawrence Cann founded Street Soccer in 2007; he would visit shelters and youth homes to find anyone who might be willing give the sport a try, and then would pay to enter the team into local adult soccer leagues. Cann and his brother Rob, who began working with Street Soccer shortly after it was founded, both played Division I soccer. Today, Street Soccer has scores of teams in dozens of cities, and runs its own league in San Francisco.

( MORE: Stars Who Were Once Homeless)

Typically the players "are without basic soft skills, have suffered trauma, and almost always have problems with anger management," Cann said last week as he helped drive equipment to set up the field for Street Soccer's semi-final round.

In soccer, Cann saw an opportunity to encourage homeless men and women, most of whom were between the ages of 18 and 25, to take a risk. He could teach them to show up to regular practices and develop schedules. He could make them feel confident, teach them to deal with outbursts of anger, to help support their friends - to make friends at all.

"It's about trust," Cann said "We make them feel comfortable. We get them to trust us, and we use that trust to help them move up." Soccer gives order to their lives that have none.

Talk to 23-year-old Dennis Diaz, who was once homeless, and the effects of Street Soccer become abundantly clear.

"I had been incarcerated," he said, "I was in a shelter. I knew I needed to be better." Diaz, who had started working with the transitional program Ready, Willing & Able, learned about Street Soccer when Cann's team visited the shelter where he was staying. Diaz said that his initial apprehensions about soccer disappeared after becoming familiar with the sport and the other players.

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"I became more motivated when I played soccer," he said. "I was proud of myself, so when I became a stronger player, I also became a better person."

Diaz recently started working as a security guard and is no longer homeless. He plans to return to school and study to become a paramedic.

According to Cann, the players have often been neglected. Many have gone without receiving even the most basic care. At practice, a coach will put the players through difficult triangle passing drills, and then later will ask them about triangles in their own lives: "We connect people to their motivations, we try to understand them and work with them, and as we do that, intractable problems become manageable," Cann said.

"We also help build their social networks. Many have no friends at first, and then they are able to build relationships, and they always have a team," Cann said.

"Sometimes your family isn't there, and you need others to make a new one," said Brenda Johnson, 22, who joined Street Soccer when she was living in a shelter. "I went to a couple practices and people cared."

Diaz and Johnson both said that during practices they learned to communicate with each others. Shelter life has an isolating, punitive effect, they said, from which Cann sought to offer a refuge. His players are glad for it.

Last year a former BBC soccer announcer rattled off the names of players as they dribbled the ball between teammates at the National Cup in Times Square. There were no red or yellow cards called, unlike in a typical FIFA match, and players were quick to help an injured opponent, a rarity in professional soccer. Cann said that the competitors were living in shelters or on the street, but each July, they run through one of the world's most visited places, playing for all of New York City.

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Street Soccer Tourney Helps Fight Homelessness

A tournament on the West Side this weekend is using soccer to help keep people off the streets.

Teams of homeless men and women from 20 cities across the U.S. are competing in the Street Soccer National Cup at Pier 54.

It's put on by Help USA, a group that fights homelessness.

Organizers say the program helps as many as 75 percent of the players find jobs, housing, or further education.

"I was recently incarcerated and after I got out I found this program called the Doe Fund, Ready, Willing and Able. And that's where I found Street Soccer, through that. And never played soccer a day in my life and I started playing and a year later I'm here now. Successful, I have my own job now with the Doe Fund, my own living, I'm living by myself now so everything is great," said Dennis Dias, a tournament player.

This is the competition's eighth year, the championship is tomorrow in Times Square.

Players also earn spots on U.S. Homeless World Cup teams based on performance on and off the field.

Boise Nationals girls soccer club is ready for nationals

Italia U15 squad consisting of players from eight high schools will compete in eight-team tourney next week in Kansas.

- Most Idaho teams wrapped up the club soccer season with the Idaho State Cup in late May.

Just five ventured a bit further, qualifying for the US Youth Soccer Far West Regionals in Hawaii last month.

Since then, one team has been working during summer break. The Boise Nationals Italia 15-and-under girls are the first Idaho team to advance to the US Youth Soccer National Championships.

The team finished second at Far West, but because Carlsbad Elite (California South) is a national league champion, its place in the eight-team national tournament was already secure. The Nationals' 3-0 loss to Carlsbad in the Far West title game was inconsequential.

"They are starting to believe that they can play with anybody," coach Mark Prince said. "All these girls just want a chance to prove themselves. ... Their soccer will never be the same."

The Nationals (21-3-1) open nationals against Tennessee Soccer Club 16 on Tuesday in Overland Park, Kan. The Boise squad will have gone a stretch of 30 days between games.

"We've just been practicing over and over. We really want this," said striker Sierra Smith, whose team has outscored opponents 97-15. "We know it's an honor to be able to go to nationals. We are ready to play."

In addition to the long stretch of practices, the Nationals are venturing into uncharted territory. It's an exciting - and scary - moment for the mostly soon-to-be high school sophomores.

"Nationals, I think that's crazy," goalkeeper Celeste Santangelo said. "It's a dream come true. I knew we had it in us."

Putting mental toughness to the test has been a common occurrence for many players.

Christa Lewis drives to practices each week from Mountain Home, Karli Stone was a kicker for the Eagle High varsity football team last fall, and Santangelo recovered from the removal of a benign three-pound tumor in time for Far West.

With Santangelo out six weeks, Alexandra Ward stepped in at goalkeeper and helped the team win State Cup without allowing a goal.

"Really, the only thing I was thinking about is, 'When am I going to get to play soccer again?' " Santangelo said. "The doctor actually released me a week early so I could go and play in Hawaii during regionals. I only had about two practices before we left."

Santangelo sat out the first game against Hawaii at regionals, but played in the second half of their second game and never came out again.

"We won state when I was out, so I was obviously really proud of them for winning," Santangelo said. "To go to regionals and do that well, I mean, you know your team is good and you know you're a strong team and can work together well. But when you go and play at that level and you win, you're just like, 'Wow, I had no idea.' "

To keep things from getting boring during four straight weeks without a game, Prince has varied practices by bringing in other coaches, or trying new drills and activities.

Boise Nationals director and Northwest Nazarene men's coach Coe Michaelson has run several practices.

"These guys come in and add a different flair and make it fun," Prince said. "The girls are still having fun and not getting burnt out on soccer, but they're still focused on getting better, moving the ball and getting some touches. That way it's not always boring Mark doing the same thing over and over again."

A core group of players have been on the same club team the past four seasons, helping the group go from back-to-back third-place finishes at state to an unprecedented national tournament appearance.

"Every single year we've had a lot of heart and hard work, but with the new players, we got even more," Rachael Schoonover said. "I guess we gained more trust in our coach and ourselves. That really pulled us together as a team."

Players from Timberline, Rocky Mountain, Mountain Home, Boise, Kuna, Eagle, Borah and Mountain View high schools make up the team. Despite being rivals during the high school season, the girls don't have any issues coming together for the Nationals.

"It's been neat. They've just really grown together," Prince said. "No matter what school they go to, they are all going to play against each other, and they are going to see each other and run across the field and give each other hugs. That's what this sport - well, any sport - should be about."

Rachel Roberts: 377-6422, Twitter: @IDS_VarsityX

Soccer: Stuart Holden making way back on US team

Ninety minutes.

That's how long any soccer player who starts a game expects to be on the field. For Stuart Holden, playing a full match had become anything but routine.

-

Gold Cup quarterfinals

Sunday, 2 p.m.

The midfielder who has fought a severe knee injury for 2½ years finally got in a full 90 for the first time since September 2011 on Tuesday when the United States beat Costa Rica 1-0 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He played well enough, although he wasn't much of a factor as the Americans won their eighth straight match for the first time ever.

Still, just being able to go the distance was a major achievement for the 27-year-old Holden, who plays for Bolton in England's second-tier League Championship and was a member of the 2010 U.S. World Cup squad.

"That was my first 90 in an official game, and it felt great," he said. "I still had plenty of gas in the tank at the end, and it's something you wonder about until you play the full match.

"I want to play every minute of every game. I thought I had a pretty good game and contributed in different ways."

Holden's recent history has been a painful one. He broke his right leg on a vicious tackle by the Netherlands' Nigel de Jong in March 2010. He hurt his left knee against Manchester United from a Jonny Evans tackle a year later. Holden returned from surgery for a League Cup match against Aston Villa that September, then needed more surgery eight days later.

He was out until January of this year, returning for three substitute appearances for Bolton, then four starts during a one-month loan to Sheffield Wednesday and another last-minute cameo for Bolton.

"I've been dealing with injuries and now it's over and I have been moving on," Holden said. "I want to be at my best as soon as I can, but if I am at 90 percent, I will give everything I have.

"Playing soccer again, being on the team and around the guys, it's what I have been working for."

Any hopes of making another World Cup team depend not only on Holden getting and staying healthy, but making an impression on coach Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff.

Klinsmann has been using the Gold Cup to look at veterans such as Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu and DaMarcus Beasley who have been maintstays of past U.S. teams, and to gauge the skills of youngsters such as Mix Diskerud, Joe Corona and Brek Shea.

Holden falls in the middle of those groups. He also faces stiff competition in the midfield, a particularly strong position right now.

Fortunately, he has a fan in Klinsmann, who has shown a willingness to give every candidate a chance to impress during the countdown to Brazil 2014.

"Stuart is a work in progress," Klinsmann said. "We started with that after his season was over in England and we had many talks, and we said we'd take it one day at a time. He's a workaholic and he can't get enough. We've got to build him and that's what we're doing.

"Going 90 minutes, and even in the last 10 minutes chasing down people, it was great to see. It gives us a very valuable option going forward at midfield. I'm glad about his progress."

So are Holden's teammates. Beasley, a member of the last three World Cup squads, praises Holden's "fighting spirit." Donovan, coming off a self-imposed four-month hiatus from the sport but still a key to American fortunes on the world stage, calls Holden "relentless." Klinsmann thinks Holden's outgoing, encouraging personality helps the group.

At his best, Holden sparks the offense with long diagonal passes and penetrating runs. He hasn't shown much of that in the Gold Cup - his passing was solid against Costa Rica, though - and it's probably unfair to expect too much from him this soon.

Just being on the field for his national team, which plays El Salvador on Sunday at Baltimore in the quarterfinals, is a huge step.

Soccer community mourns passing of former NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam

Phil Woosnam, the longtime commissioner of the original North American Soccer League, passed away on Friday night. He was 80 years old.

Woosnam, who was born in Wales, enjoyed a long and accomplished career in the English leagues, suiting up for West Ham United and Aston Villa, among others, before coming to America in 1967 to play for the Atlanta Chiefs. He later became the club's coach.

Over the next 15 years, he had a major impact on the growth and development of professional soccer in North America. In 1968, he became the commissioner of the NASL, having helped found the league.

Under Woosnam's leadership, the nascent league grew into a national phenomonen, particularly after he helped facillitate the founding of the New York Cosmos with Clive Toye in 1971.

"Phil was one of the pioneers of professional soccer in North America," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said on Saturday. "When we started MLS, Phil was always willing to share with us his time and his experiences with the NASL. We will always remember his passion for, and his contributions to, our sport. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Woosnam was remembered by many in the soccer community on Saturday. Ted Howard, who served as executive director and deputy commissioner of the NASL under Woosnam and is now CONCACAF deputy general secretary, called Woosnam "the father of professional soccer in this country," according to BigAppleSoccer.com.

Longtime soccer commentator Paul Gardner, who worked with Woosnam in the early 1970s, remembered him as being supremely "quick, sharp, and devoted to soccer."

Scorching Temperatures Don't Slow Kids Playing In Jones Beach Soccer ...

WANTAGH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Despite the blistering heat, over 100 children at Jones Beach played in an outdoor soccer tournament on Saturday, and didn't seem to mind the temperature.

"It kinda feels like my thing," 9-year-old Danielle told WCBS 880′s Sophia Hall. Some of the kids playing soccer said they don't mind the weather at all.

"All I want to do is play soccer," said 9-year-old Taylor.

Olivia, also 9-years-old, shared her secret to keeping cool while staying active.

"I drink a lot of water," she said.

Saturday marks the seventh day of high temperatures in the area.

Some relief is on the way, meteorologists say. Though temperatures are expected to hit the 90s again on Saturday, a cold front Saturday night, with the potential to produce severe thunderstorms, is expected to send temperatures throughout the region dropping to the mid-80s on Sunday.

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How big can MLS get? Cities vie to get in expansion line

On Thursday morning, a Miami Herald column made the rounds in which the writer suggested that retired superstar David Beckham should exercise his MLS ownership option and field a team in South Beach.

It would be "fun and exciting and sexy," the Herald argued -- a "surefire MLS success story."

That evening in Sacramento, a continent and a culture away, more than 14,000 people gathered at Raley Field for an exhibition doubleheader during which the city's new professional soccer team unveiled its name and logo. Sacramento Republic FC will compete in USL Pro in 2014 but has no plans to remain in the sport's third tier. Club president Warren Smith has said he hopes to take his team to MLS within five years. Preki Radosavljevic, a former MLS coach of the year, greeted fans on Thursday by saying, "I just want to ask you one question, Sacramento. Do you want to go to MLS?"

In other words, Thursday was a pretty typical weekday in American pro soccer, where conversation and conjecture can focus as much on who's going to be playing in MLS in 2016 as who's playing on Saturday. A decade ago, AEG and the Hunt family were keeping the league afloat and an MLS club could be had for cheap -- Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA each spent only $7.5 million to join in 2005.

Two years ago, as the Montreal Impact were preparing to enter as the 19th club and the pursuit of an expansion team New York City heated up, MLS seemed poised to pause and take a deep breath.

"Our focus right now is the 20th team in New York and we have not yet set a timeline for expansion beyond that, or even if we're going to expand beyond that," MLS president Mark Abbott said in late 2011. "There's no place we need to be. Even at the size we are, we have a tremendous national footprint and are at the size that soccer leagues typically are. We feel good about the size we're at. Other markets could be very successful as MLS markets, but [expanding beyond 20] wouldn't be out of need. We don't need to grow beyond where we are."

Now it appears that MLS will blow by 20 without a backwards glance. Beckham's ownership option, which he reportedly can exercise at a discounted rate of around $25 million, ensures a minimum of 21. And there is no shortage of suitors for additional clubs despite the significant hike in the buy-in (Manchester City and the New York Yankees paid $100 million for the right to launch New York City FC in 2015). The list of markets recently linked to MLS expansion efforts includes, but is not limited to, Atlanta, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Ottawa, Phoenix, San Antonio, Sacramento and St. Louis.

"From what I've heard, they envision somewhere between 24 and 26 teams. Who knows if that's where they'll end up," Smith told SI.com. "Frankly, the league is at a point where it can monetize some of these franchise areas."

Abbott, recently promoted to president and deputy commissioner, addressed the subject again this week. He said that while MLS hasn't set specific targets or timelines, executives are beginning to envision a league larger than 20 teams -- the standard first-division size around the world. Whether it's NFL owners in Minnesota or Atlanta looking to fit soccer into new stadiums or ambitious minor league clubs like Orlando City or the San Antonio Scorpions that imagine becoming the next Portland Timbers, MLS is now awash in suitors.

"What we always said was that we had a plan to get to 20 and then we would evaluate what we would do when we got there," Abbott said. "As you think about what the expansion plans after 20 should be, you have real-world markets and people and stadiums that you can be dealing with as you think about that strategy. It's no longer an abstract issue. There are very credible ownership groups and stadium plans and markets that are expressing interest."

As a result, the league now is "evaluating what the plan for expansion beyond 20 will be," Abbott said, adding that he envisions no fundamental change in the competition structure (such as an East-West split or a tiered system with promotion and relegation).

"We have not yet determined the number of teams and the ultimate size in the league. That's the process we're undertaking."

Reports out of England this week suggested that Beckham stated his intention to reveal his MLS plans "in a few months". The English icon made a very public visit to South Florida in early June and met with Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure, who owns Miami-based wireless company Brightstar Corp. and 18-time Bolivian champion Club Bolívar.

Abbott said, "We've talked to (Beckham) about Miami. That has clearly become a focal point."

MLS commissioner Don Garber has said that a presence in the Southeast "isn't an if, it's a matter of when," and that MLS might even plant two flags in Florida if Orlando City, which has been a massive success at the USL level, can finalize a deal on a downtown stadium.

Smith hopes to see Sacramento in that position in the next couple of years.

"We recognize that there's competition and we're competing against cities that are also trying to attract MLS," he said. "Orlando is a good example of what we're trying to implement. They're very, very close and now have a well-heeled owner [Brazilian entrepreneur Flavio Augusto da Silva] who can help them buy into the league."

Smith is relatively new to soccer and a new believer in MLS. He was part of the group that sold the Portland Timbers to Merritt Paulson back in 2007. He remembers thinking Paulson's MLS ambitions were "crazy".

Now Smith understands why he has so much expansion competition.

"The league, to its credit, has finally got a foundation that's investable, whereas it might have been a little bit more speculative back then," Smith said.

There's growth. There's more cost certainty because of MLS's single-entity structure and salary budget. There are favorable demographics -- Smith cited last year's ESPN study that found that pro soccer was the second-favorite sport among Americans aged 12-24. And for those like Smith who believe that sports teams are a public asset, MLS is by far the most accessible, even if there's a $100 million entry fee.

"It's a civic amenity that brings people together and provides value in the community," he said. "It's a sport where you don't have to build a $400 million stadium to compete. It allows cities interested in quality of life in their community an additional amenity that isn't as risky or as difficult as some of the other sports."

And so the race is on.