North America becoming friendlier to soccer

LOS ANGELES - Is "the beautiful game" finally ready to break into the mainstream of North American sports?

Every few years there's another bold prediction that soccer is close to challenging American football, basketball, baseball and hockey, but it never happens.

Still, awarding the 2026 World Cup to the United States, Canada and Mexico follows an explosion in soccer's popularity across the region that can be traced directly to the 1994 finals staged in the US.