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Andrew Helms and Matt Pentz wrote "Own Goal:The Inside Story of how the US Men's National Team Missed The World Cup."
安德鲁·赫尔姆斯和马特·潘茨两人写了一篇名为“乌龙球：美国男子国家队如何错过世界杯的内幕”的文章。
The actual own goal that doomed the US in 2018 becomes a metaphor for bad mismanagement, poor development, and infighting that doomed the US Men's bid to qualify in the World Cup.
2018年那颗搞砸了美国足球队的乌龙球现在已经成了造成美国男子国家队未能拿到世界杯门票的管理不善，发展落后以及内讧等问题的代名词。
That analysis and reporting is great and it hits at the big problems with American soccer today.
文章中的分析和报道都非常棒，直接命中了美国足球当前存在的主要问题。
But the US soccer problem goes back a lot further than that.
然而，美国足球的问题已经不是一天两天的事了。
This chart shows US Men's National Team's World Cup record.
这张图显示了美国男子国家队参加世界杯的纪录。
At the top are the best finishes.
上面是美国队的最好成绩。
The highest dot? It's third place.
最上面的那个点是？第3名。
At the bottom? 16th place.
最底下的那个呢？第16名。
And all these dots?
那这些点呢？
These are the times the third most populous country, with the largest global wealth, failed to even qualify.
这些是世界上人口第三大国，全世界最富有的国家世界杯连进都没能进的时候。
This is bigger than an own goal.
没打进世界杯比乌龙还严重。
And it's not because soccer isn't as American as apple pie.
之所以这样并不是因为足球在美国不像苹果派那样流行。
We have proof.
我们有证据的。
Americans suck at the game they call soccer.
美国人在他们称之为足球的比赛中实在是逊毙了。
But they're also the best in the world.
但他们也是世界上最好的。
These are the US women's World Cup performances since play started in 1991.
这些是自1991年比赛开始以来美国女子世界杯的成绩。
Champs, champs, champs.
冠军，冠军，还是冠军。
It's not about American culture. It's about the American men's game.
所以，美国踢不进世界杯不是美国文化的问题，而是美国男子足球的问题。
When you stop looking at the present and start looking to the past, you find a lost golden age of American soccer.
当我们不再纠结现在而放眼过去时，我们就会发现一个失落的美国足球的黄金时代。
You also find the reason it's been doomed for almost a hundred years.
以及美国足球为什么会沉寂一个世纪的原因。
In 1926, 46,000 Americans crowded into a Manhattan stadium to see Hakoah, an All-Star European soccer team, lose to Americans.
1926年，4.6万名美国人涌入曼哈顿体育场，为的就是看欧洲全明星球队Hakoah输给美国队。
In the paper that same day, a season high Yankees baseball game - that 4,000 fewer people went to see.
据当天的报纸显示，去看正值旺季的洋基队棒球赛的人只有4.2万人。
The 1920s was American soccer's golden age.
20世纪20年代是美国足球的黄金时代。
But to understand it, you have to go even further back.
但要真正了解美国足球的历史，我们还得往前追溯。
In the 1860s, soccer and rugby existed on a bit of a continuum — people played a little bit of everything.
十九世纪六十年代，足球和橄榄球可以说是一个连续体 - 两种球人们多多少少都会踢。
In 1863, rules were finally established in England to build a game that played more like the soccer we know.
1863年，英格兰终于制定了规则，要组建一个更像我们今天所说的那种足球的比赛。
The US diverged from the English soccer game with the first Harvard-Yale football game -- which would quickly turn into American football.
从第一场哈佛 - 耶鲁足球比赛开始，美国就和英式足球分道扬镳了 - - 这种足球很快就发展成了美式橄榄球。
Until then, Ivy league colleges had played a more soccer-like game,
在此之前，常春藤大学踢的球更接近足球，
but Harvard challenged Yale to a rugby-style game they'd learned from McGill in Canada.
但这次哈佛向耶鲁发出了挑战，要踢的却是他们从加拿大的麦吉尔学来的橄榄球风格的比赛。
That game was a hit, and Ivies like Princeton quickly picked it up.
那场比赛大受欢迎，像普林斯顿这样的常春藤盟校很快也效仿起来。
That was the first split between European and American football culture.
这是欧洲和美国足球文化之间的第一次分裂。
By 1905, soccer was still being "tested" in America as "college football" took off.
到1905年，足球在美国仍然还处于“测试”的阶段，而“大学橄榄球”已经是发展得风生水起了。
But the tragedy of World War I slowed down European sports culture.
但一战的悲剧放缓了欧洲体育文化的发展。
