9781422278307

The first intercollegiate soccer match in the United States took place at Rutgers University against arch-rival Princeton in 1869

the West Coast. In 1884, the American Football Association (AFA) was founded in Newark, New Jersey, and was the first attempt at establishing a governing body for the sport, although its membership was limited to the surrounding region. The first United States national team played its first international match against Canada in 1885. Another governing body calling itself the American Amateur Football Association (AAFA) formed in 1911, but this one had national aspirations . Several member groups defected from the AFA to the AAFA, and the AAFA rebranded itself as the United States Football Association (USFA) in 1913. That year, it was the USFA that was recognized by soccer’s international governing body, the Swiss-based FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). In 1916, the first-ever USFA national team traveled to Europe, playing six matches in Sweden and Norway. It won three of the six matches it played, including a 3–2 win over Sweden to open the tour.

The next major international splash for the national team came at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. This was the first Olympic tournament for

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