In return for winning the right to host the 1994 World Cup, the US were obliged to establish a professional domestic league.
The country had been without one since the collapse of the North American Soccer League in 1984.
When the USA qualified for the World Cup in 1990 - partly facilitated by the exclusion of Mexico for fielding overaged players in the Olympics - the team was drawn from the ranks of the college soccer circuit.
They lost all three group games, shipping a bad beating against the Czechs but claiming a moral victory (not, sadly, recognised as a category of victory by mainstream US sports fans) against the Italians. Four years later, there were fears the same would happen but the team held their own, reaching the last sixteen.
The inaugural MLS game was played on 4 April 1996. San Jose Clash beat DC United 1-0 thanks to a beautifully curled goal from marquee World Cup star Eric Wynalda.
Pandering to the native disdain for 'ties', they proposed 'run-in penalties' in the event of a draw in normal time. This experiment, which did not succeed in winning over mainstream sports fans in the US and attracted ridicule from European observers, was abandoned at the turn of the decade.
Three Irishmen were part of the inaugural MLS season in 1996.
Frank Stapleton was hired as coach of New England Revolution by Jonathan Kraft, a scion of the family which also owns the New England Patriots. According to US soccer writer, Stapleton's 'Irish background was thought to be a perfect fit with Boston's Irish community.'
Kraft told the late George Kimball of the Boston Herald (and the Irish Times's man in America);
We interviewed a wide range of coaches, including some very high profile people who were very interested in coaching the Revolution. We were most impressed with Frank Stapleton, and feel he understands the challenges ahead for this new league; while sharing our family's commitment to putting a championship team on the field in Foxboro.
Stapleton, who signed a two-year contract worth a reported $125,000 a year, told Kimball that Paul McGrath had even sounded him out about the possibility of joining his team in Foxboro.
Alexie Lalas was the Revolution's most high profile player. Unsurprisingly, he was rather excited when the prospect of McGrath's arrival was dangled in front of them.
'I spoke to Alexie about Paul at breakfast, and he's quite excited. But we've still got to have somebody who can put the ball in the net,' said Stapleton to Kimball.
McGrath stayed away and Stapleton would end up falling out with his star player in the course of an unhappy year.
Stapleton hadn't set the world alight as manager of Bradford. After two years at Valley Parade, he left the team roughly where he found it, mired in third tier irrelevance. His experience at New England Revolution made that look like a resounding success.
New England won only nine matches out of 32 (remember, no draws) and finished second from bottom in the table. Lalas, signed from Serie A strugglers Padova was left on the bench in a 4-0 loss to the Metrostars. He fumed after the game;
This is a joke today has been a difficult day to say the least. The audacity of someone to question my commitment to the New England Revolution boggles my mind.
Stapleton was gone at the end of the season.
While McGrath eventually opted for the more humdrum environment of Derby, one Irishman who did head for football's newest frontier was Paul Keegan.
In fact, he had already headed out that way. At the age of 19, he was offered a soccer scholarship with Boston College in 1992. He played for the college team for four years before being drafted by his countryman in the college draft. He stayed there much longer than Stapleton, winning Boston 'Sportsman of the Year' award in 2000.
The seasons were short enough to allow to return home for loan spells with St. Pat's and Bray Wanderers in the late 1990s.
He returned home at the turn of the century, winning a League of Ireland title with Bohemians in 2003 and an FAI Cup with Longford Town in 2004.
Ian Hennessy had played with Cork City in their first season in the League of Ireland in 1983-84. While studying for a PhD in Seton Hall University, Hennessy played in the inaugural MLS season for the awkwardly titled New York/New Jersey Metro Stars.
Prior to that, Hennessy had played for the Boston Bulls and the New York Fever in the American Professional Soccer League (This league had existed in the early 1990s but was not accorded Level 1/Division 1 status by FIFA).
A young tyke at Arsenal in the 1980s, he emigrated to the US altogether after failing to make the grade. He has never really left. All his professional career was spent in the US. He later coached in Delaware University and currently works as a scout for the US Soccer Federation.
