LOS ANGELES — From watching highlights of Pele in 1970 on an old projector to staying up late to watch the U.S. qualify in 1990 on a Paul Caliguiri goal, my household has always made a big deal about the World Cup.
My grandfather was my connection to soccer. He was born in the Canary Islands, and at an early age, he boarded a ship bound for Argentina to play balompié, as he would call it. His boat docked in Cuba and he ended up staying on the island and eventually became a referee in the early version of the Cuban professional soccer leagues. His brother stayed in Spain and would later become the first Canario to referee in the Spanish first division.
But during my childhood in the 1980s, soccer hadn't really taken hold in the U.S. There was the North American Soccer League for a bit and a weekly "Soccer Made in Germany" highlight show, and that was it. But every four years, fútbol would dominate the talk around the dinner table.
