Every kid who has ever picked up a basketball has been Michael Jordan at one time or another. In their eyes their backyard transformed into the United Center, their watch was the game clock counting down from five seconds to four to three and their opponent guarding them mirrored the image of Craig Ehlo or Bryon Russell. Every basketball playing-hoop dreaming-Just Do It-kid has that moment.

But what if you're a soccer player? Who do you pretend to be?

For soccer players, like current Southern Cayuga boys soccer head coach Terry Underwood, Pele was about the only player that he and soccer fans across America could look up to. Still, Pele wasn't American and he just played briefly in the states until the North American Soccer League folded in 1984. Soccer without role model athletes is like Christmas without Santa Claus.

That all changed when the U.S. men advanced into the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 2002. The Landon Donovans, Brian McBrides and Eddie Popes of the sport came into the national spotlight as did the game as a whole. That run by the surging Americans not only turned heads internationally but sparked enthusiasm for the game in America.

“When I was younger you hardly ever heard about soccer, you played it in school but that's about it,” said Mark Soutar, special events coordinator and coach in the Fingerlakes Youth Soccer League. “In the last five years it's just exploded. You have a lot more idols and heroes in the game.”

The first-ever quarterfinal appearance for the U.S. team in 2002 made household names of American soccer players for the first time. The media attention continued after the World Cup, as ABC and ESPN paid $100 million for the English-language rights to World Cup matches through 2014. Soccer has been regularly available on television in America recently for the first time ever, as FOX, ABC, ESPN and DirecTV have all broadcast non-World Cup matches for Major League Soccer and European Leagues, such as the English Premier League.

That money was well invested, as the national team's first match of this year's World Cup drew in the highest rating of the year for ESPN2, which broadcast the game. ABC's broadcast of U.S.-Italy match received a 5.2 rating, the highest for a World Cup match since the 1998 Final. And you don't have to look far for who's watching. While coaching at Moravia, Jim Myers has always heard his team chattering about the likes of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and David Beckham #) all international stars. But now his team is talking about American players just as regularly.

That media coverage has spurred on local youths to give soccer a shot. Soutar, whose children have been involved in the game for six years, has seen increases in organized league play the past few years. Perhaps the most impressive turnout has been recreational, he said, with more and more youths playing at the parks and in their backyards.

That's consistent with the national trend, as the number of varsity soccer players has nearly doubled in the last 15 years to more than 650,000, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

“I've seen a lot of improvement in programs in other districts and we're just starting to see the increase here in Jordan-Elbridge,” said J-E boys soccer head coach Dan Bondgren. “I haven't seen a time like this, the kids all know the players' names, the club teams they are on. They are taking a real interest in the game.”

Unfortunately for U.S. soccer fans, the Americans were ousted in the first round of the 2006 World Cup.

After three lackluster performances, the future of the team is in question. While the national team didn't make its mark this year in Germany, the impact from 2002 is still being felt here in the states.