Team America (NASL)
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| Full name | Team America |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Team America |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Dissolved | 1983 |
| Stadium |
RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. |
| Capacity | 55,677 |
| Chairman | Robert Lifton |
| Manager | Alketas Panagoulias |
| League | North American Soccer League |
| 1983 | 10–20, Last Place |
Team America was a professional version of the United States men's national soccer team which played as a franchise in the defunct North American Soccer League (NASL) during the 1983 season. The team was based in Washington, D.C., played its home games at RFK Stadium, and was intended by the NASL and the United States Soccer Federation to build fan support for the league and create a cohesive and internationally competitive national team. It did not accomplish these objectives.
A "Team America" also played an unofficial exhibition match against England in 1976, to commemorate the bicentenary of American Independence. The players were drawn from North American Soccer League clubs and included Pele and Bobby Moore. The match was played in Philadelphia, and finished 3–1 to England.
The origins of Team America came with the ascension of Howard Samuels to the positions of president and CEO of NASL on June 25, 1982. At the time, the league was on the verge of collapsing. The league had 21 teams at the end of the 1981 season, but began the 1982 season with only 14. Attendance was dropping and the league had lost its television contract. To reverse these trends, Samuels proposed turning the league’s focus away from international stars to domestic players in order to create a larger fan base. Samuels’ concept dovetailed with a desire on the part of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to build a more successful national team program. In order to fulfill the twin objectives of nurturing new U.S. talent to reach a greater fan base while feeding that talent into the national team, Samuels and the USSF decided to enter the national team into NASL as a franchise. At the time, U.S. players found it difficult to compete for roster spots against the foreigners who stocked most of the league’s teams. In theory, Team America would only feature U.S. players who would train with each other, fostering a sense of team cohesion which would pay dividends when the U.S. played international games. The name Team America was a reference to both the U.S. national team as well as the 1976 Team America, a team which combined U.S. national team players with the addition of several NASL international stars, which played in the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament.
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