World Cup Win Re-Energizes Female Soccer in San Diego

Soccer fever hit San Diego hard after the United States’ World Cup win in 1999 and has continued to surge here, coaches say.

On Sunday, 23 million Americans watched the U.S. Women’s National Team defeat Japan 5-2 and San Diego was one of the markets where the most viewers tuned in.

A lot of those viewers were young girls, like 10-year-old Maggie Taitano, who attends a soccer camp at University of San Diego.

She watches every U.S. game and even went to two World Cup matches in Vancouver, B.C.

“She tested the goalie on her third goal for a hat trick and that was really good,” Maggie said of the United States' star midfielder Carli Lloyd.

Many of the young girls who spoke to NBC 7 on Monday could rattle off the lineup of the women’s national team without hesitation. The popularity of female soccer has been felt all over the United States, as our country boast the second highest number of female soccer players in the world, according to FIFA.

Ada Greenwood, the head coach of USD’s women’s soccer team, runs a youth soccer camp every year. He saw a huge uptick in popularity of soccer after the 1999 World Cup win.

Sunday’s victory will energize the next generation of female athletes and keep that momentum going, he said.

“The numbers, the ratings on TV have been going way up over here,” he said. “The coverage has been good, so it’s been very, very positive. It’s going to have a massive effect on women’s soccer and youth soccer all over the country.”

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