Born in the Northeast: the forgotten history of soccer-specific stadiums in the U.S.
In 1862, a group known as the Oneida Football Club gathered at Boston Common for a historic function: the first recorded soccer match on American soil. Their match, which predated the formation of the English Football Association by a year, was a sign of things to come for soccer in the region.
The Northeastern United States became a hotbed for American soccer in the early 1900s, and the game thrived among the communities of European immigrants that populated the burgeoning industrial centers of the eastern seaboard.