The Longest Soccer Game in America?

It was a 180-minute marathon in Queens. With the return of the Open Cup tonight, we look back at how the 1958 quarterfinal set an unbeatable time record. Plus, we revisit the Soccer Bowl of ‘78, examine a worrying Club World Cup dilemma, and much more.

This week’s stories:

• 🎳 Soccer Bowl ‘78

• 👋 Bye Bye Draft

• ⌛ The Longest Soccer Game in America?

• 📺 Match of the Decade

• 🗳️ Poll + Last Week’s Answers

• ➡️ And More

OUR HISTORY
Soccer Bowl ‘78

On this day in 1978, the New York Cosmos and Tampa Bay Rowdies faced off in the Soccer Bowl to determine the winner of that year’s NASL season.

The match was played at the mythical Giants Stadium, drawing a Soccer Bowl-record 74,901 fans. To date, it remains the largest crowd for a professional club soccer championship game in North America.

In the end, the New York Cosmos defeated the Rowdies 3-1 to become back-to-back NASL champions and clinch their third title in seven years. What a time to be alive. 

BUSINESS
Bye Bye Draft

It’s as American as apple pie. The Draft is a staple in all professional sports leagues in this country. But now, it seems like the NWSL is ready to break tradition.

The league has chosen to scrap its Draft and move to unrestricted free agency, making the NWSL align with most other leagues around the world.

The move comes as part of the new CBA introduced last week, and it’s yet another example of the NWSL being a trailblazer in the American sports landscape. There are many reasons for this move and various consequences that will hopefully benefit players and the league in the long term.

COVER STORY
The Longest Soccer Game in America?

Determining the longest soccer game in American history is no easy task. But some games are just so outlandish that they immediately stick out and stand the test of time.

Initially, some thought the 1985 NCAA Final held the record at 166 minutes and 5 seconds, but it turns out a US Open Cup game from 1958 might take the honor with a staggering 180 minutes of playing time.

It was the second leg of the quarterfinal between Pompei SC and Sport Club Eintracht of Queens, and both teams were locked in a battle for the ages. Eintracht overcame a three-goal aggregate deficit to force extra time, and that’s when all hell broke loose.

Back then, most second legs of cup games were set to be played “to finish,” which meant an additional 30 minutes of extra time would be played until someone won. Usually, a team would successfully get a lead and close out the extra time period with ease.

In this case, though, both teams were locked in an endless back-and-forth. Every time one of them would get ahead, the other would equalize in dramatic fashion. In the end, it would take three periods of extra time to finally determine a winner — an extra 90 minutes in total.

Just when it looked like all players were ready to collapse, Pompei SC scored a decisive goal in the 177th minute that gave them the victory. It was heartbreak for the 5,000 Eintracht fans in attendance, but at least they essentially got an extra “game” out of the whole affair. More soccer is always a good thing I suppose.

To date, this is considered one of the longest soccer matches in American history, although it is difficult to trace whether others might have surpassed it in the past due to gaps in recordkeeping.

What’s certain, though, is that this 180-minute match will never be topped. The introduction of penalty shootouts in the early 1970s eliminated all possibility of something like it ever happening again. Thankfully, we can still relive this notable match between Pompei and Eintracht thanks to modern retellings. 

TELEVISION
Match of the Decade

This is our Super Bowl. The chance for a USL team to qualify to the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Only the Montreal Impact and Puerto Rico Islanders have done it before (through their respective domestic cups). But this was more than 15 years ago, mind you.

Here is everything that needs to happen tonight for Indy Eleven to make history. What a sight it’d be to see a Division 2 side compete at that level.

With how much the league has grown in recent years, one can only wonder how they’d stack up against Liga MX sides and other historic clubs from around the region.

CLUBELEVEN
The Supporters Section

Drop your opinions and hot takes. We’ll highlight your best answers next week.

CLUBELEVEN
Aggregates

No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn: It’s almost here. Brooklyn FC’s inaugural USL Super League match takes place this Saturday. You can attend for under $20.

Let It Happen: Who would’ve thought Des Moines would get a $23 million soccer stadium? It’s so close to becoming a reality.

Dream Debut: It was out of a Hollywood blockbuster. Marco Reus made a splash in his first game for the LA Galaxy.

Baby Come Back: The GOAT has been out since that unfortunate injury against Colombia in the Copa America Final. Thankfully, Martino finally gave an update on Messi’s return.

Tour de la Bay: One of the best releases this year. Neighborhood Sports Club knocked it out of the park with their latest kit drop. 

LAW
Club World Cup Dilemma

The field is almost set. This past week, Gianni Infantino introduced Boca Juniors as the latest participant in the 2025 Club World Cup to be hosted in the US.

So far, these are all the star-studded clubs coming to our shores next summer. There’s just one little problem.

FIFA has said that apart from the Seattle Sounders (2022 Concacaf Champions Cup Winners), there will be one other team selected to participate from the host country. Yet, less than one year out from the competition, there is still no word on how that American club will qualify. Some people think they’ll try to sneak in Inter Miami somehow.

FASHION
Kit Stories

Music and soccer. They’ve always gone together.

In the latest edition of Forty-One Mag’s Kit Stories, Atlanta-based musician Gillian Williams discusses her foray into the soccer space as a connector between music and the beautiful game, her love for kits, and her pride over what it means to be Jamaican.

For more grassroots soccer stories from around the Concacaf region, you can subscribe to Forty-One Mag right here. Can’t recommend it enough.

CLUBELEVEN
Your Takes 🗯️ 

Last week, we asked you who you thought was the best USMNT manager of all time. Here are some of your answers:

• “Bob Bradley - constantly had teams punching above their weight. Klinsmann was perhaps the most important manager/figure for USMNT, but he wasn't a great day-to-day manager by any means. BB was overall the best.” - Daniel

• “Pochettino, without even officially being announced, has probably done more for USMNT World Cup enthusiasm than anyone that has come before. I have a personal animosity for Klinsmann. Setting aside his lack of understanding that his ego was not as important as having the best US player on the 2014 team, he changed the youth team age structure to birth year. The change split up my kids' teams that were in line with academic cohorts, and it caused one of my kids to play with teammates who were almost a year older. At any U-level, a child playing with teammates 8-12 months older is not as fun. I do remember Arena saying this about the Donovan omission from the team: (paraphrasing) ‘If we have 23 players better than Donovan, we should win the World Cup.’ Klinsmann should not be on this list as ‘best manager.’ Maybe ‘best-lost opportunity manager.’” - Manny

In the poll, “Bruce Arena” won with 41% of the vote, while “Pochettino” came in second with 23% of the vote. Finishing that high without even managing a game speaks volumes about how much the USMNT fanbase values this appointment.

UP NEXT
Reclaim It

It was mortifying. As promised last week, I made it all the way out to Boston Common to see the memorial for the first soccer club in America, and I couldn’t believe it.

They’d in fact changed the ball at the top to look like an American football. Upon doing further research, I learned a local Massachusetts man had it redone after the city refurbished the monument with a soccer ball following the 1994 World Cup. Horrific. Maybe we should change it back to a sphere ahead of 2026?

Pass It Along

Make sure to forward this email to a friend and help us spread the soccer gospel far and wide! We’ll see you next week with even more untold stories of soccer.

Have a great Tuesday!

Pablo