For years, Americans have heard the same trope over and over: Give soccer a chance; the rest of the world can't be wrong. To some, it has been perceived as a polite suggestion. Others have felt as if "the other football" was being crammed down their throats. Regardless, sports historians will likely recall 2002 as the year soccer finally became a credible spectator sport in the United States. Their World Cup opener was just 36 minutes old and already the Yanks -- fresh from finishing dead last in 1998 -- had scored three goals against Portugal, a squad whose star, Luis Figo, has a market value exceeding that of the entire U.S. team. The good times didn't end there. The U.S. team sank archrival Mexico, 2-0 (pronounced two-nil) and suddenly was not only in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1930 but also had fared better than Argentina, Italy and France, the defending champs. The Americans eventually fell to powerhouse Germany, but by that point notice had been served: U.S. soccer isn't just some gimmicky permutation of the European and South American game. The U.S. is producing the kind of exciting, young players -- led by 20-year-olds Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley -- who aren't intimidated by the world stage. At least partial credit for this rise should go to Major League Soccer, which is developing a raft of precocious Americans. (For one, the league's leading scorer this year was 22-year-old St. Louis native Taylor Twellman.) Year seven was the MLS' finest since its maiden season. Average attendance was up and the level of play has never been higher. A crowd of more than 61,000 converged on Gillette Stadium to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the New England Revolution 1-0 in the MLS Cup. No, the league isn't making money yet, but, backed by billionaire Philip Anschutz, it's clear that the league is here to stay. And so too it is clear that soccer has, at long last, arrived in the U.S. public consciousness.

--Jon Wertheim

Photographs by Ben Radford/Getty Images, Gary M. Prior/Getty Images, Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images, Brian Bahr/Getty Images