The equality of play was a surprise-it was the most competitive race in the seven-year history of MLS.

It isnt easy to put all of the ingredients together and one of the key things is this is the first time theres been a real, significant governmental body participation. In our case, its Collin County and the City of Frisco, the Frisco Economic Development group and the Frisco Independent School District. Those bodies, and Hunt Sports Group, obviously, put money into the project, and that has helped make it work.

I get asked this a lot: Why has soccer not succeeded? My answer is, soccer has succeeded. It is already the fastest growing youth participation sport in the U.S. It has already succeeded at the youth level, no question.

I wish continued success to the Foundation. You're doing an important job to help what is called 'the beautiful game'. You're helping it to expand at every level. I will always remember this very special night in Washington, D.C.

Well, we've made huge strides since the 1990 World Cup, USA '94, and obviously since '98. Unfortunately, those strides only register with the public once every four years.

He is not someone who went off to play in Europe and only a few Americans follow. He has the potential to be on magazine covers and more newspaper coverage.

You can't compare a Super Bowl crowd, which tends to be more polite and a little more neutral to that. The Super Bowl only has 7,000 to 8,000 fans for each team.