Ronaldo and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers: a Florida soccer project turned sour

When the Strikers were bought by an ownership group that included the World Cup winner, hopes were high. But many are now disenchanted with the project

Few names in American sport spark a reaction like the original North American Soccer League of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, a subject to be revisited each time the need arises for a lesson on how badly things can go wrong for football in the United States.

The kitschy sexiness of the old NASL essentially collapsed under its own weight, a failed attempt to ramp up popularity for a very European brand of football in a recalcitrant United States. Some of those team names still cling on to life, in the MLS and modern incarnation of NASL: the New York Cosmos, one-time home of Pele. The Tampa Bay Rowdies, who played host to prolific English striker Rodney Marsh. And the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a late 70s playground of Northern Irish great George Best.

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