The depression came but soccer was big in the USA in the 1920s.
The Secret History of American Soccer
In the 1920s, soccer was on the cusp of becoming a major sport in the United States. Then it all crashed and burned.
In the 1920s, soccer was big in America. Not big in the way that baseball was big (this was the era of Ruth and Gehrig) or college football was big (these were the days when Ivy League rivalries played out as violent eruptions in the mud), but at its height, the top American soccer league had tens of thousands of fans, featured some of the world's best players, and looked set to challenge the fledgling NFL in the competition to supply the nation with a post-October pastime. ------------------------------
SELECT WINNERS, USA OPEN CUP
1914 May 16 Brooklyn Field Club
1915 May 1 Bethlehem Steel
1916 May 6 Bethlehem Steel
1917 May 5 Fall River Rovers
1918 May 4 Bethlehem Steel
1919 Apr 19 Bethlehem Steel
....
1928 Apr 8 New York Nationals
1929 Mar 31 New York Hakoah (Jewish club)
....
1935 Apr 28 St. Louis Central Breweries
1936 Apr 26 Philadelphia German-American
1938 Apr 17 Chicago Sparta
...
1939 Apr 30 Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic
So actually, as opposed to what people say, it's been around forever.
USA Olympic Team, 1984
"Soccer, USA vs. Italy, Rose Bowl, Pasadena. Soccer surprisingly proved to be a very popular sport during these Olympics, with the Rose Bowl selling out many times, despite having a seating capacity of over 100,000 and Americans' usual lack of enthusiasm for the sport. This success led to the US' desire to host the World Cup in 1994, which it of course did. The Rose Bowl was also the stadium for the final game deciding the 1st place winner of the 1994 World Cup."
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For the record, I actually have this game on video tape. Good game. Something about the innocence of the sport back then and our players is great. Yes, nowadays, league soccer may sometimes leave something to be desired actually as it is commercial with overpaid primadonnas.
The video itself is when the network chose to air the game but didn't even use announcers as it has done a few times with NFL teams.