Soccer's growth in the US couldn't have happened without a boost from foreign-born players.

Beyond bringing attention to Major League Soccer, many international players who represented countries from Europe and Latin America in the World Cup have also placed a personal and financial stake in the growth of sport here in the US.

Players, coaches, owners, investors, MLS, the United Soccer League, Major League and Soccer League, so many levels of the US soccer structure.

[music] Have you ever heard of the Greater LA Soccer League?

No.

Greater Los Angeles Soccer League?

Yes.

No, I haven't.

No, I don't know.

How much do you know about the history of soccer in LA?

Not much.

Not much at all.

Okay.

One individual who was part of the early days of soccer here in LA is Hugo Salcedo.

Originally from Mexico, he eventually played for the US soccer team in the 1972 Olympic Games, and he's worked in a number of executive positions within the US Soccer Federation and with FIFA for three decades.

[music] Out here at Daniels Field with the living legend himself, Mr.

Hugo Salcedo.

[chuckles] Okay.

I like that.

That's the right amount of praise.

[chuckles] I like that.

I noticed when you walked in that this goal right here started trembling in fear of you when it saw you.

[chuckles] I scored a couple here.

I scored a couple here.

How many goals was that, do you think?

I was a midfielder, so I only scored three or four, a couple penalty kicks, basically.

I was pretty good touch with the ball.

That was with which team was that?

It was San Pedro Croats.

It was one of the top teams at that time.

It was very amazing the way that they brought players together from different nationalities.

Let's go back.

What brought you to play for the San Pedro Croats of the Greater LA Soccer League?

I was thinking about it as to really how I came into play with them because I basically started my career in the California Soccer League, which was based in East Los Angeles.

I remember that once a year, the All-Star team from the California League used to play against the All-Star team from the Greater Los Angeles League.

I believe, that's my only memory that I have about someone seeing me play for my league.

They asked me to come.

I was still in college.

They offered me $50 a game.

I said, $50 for a student, it was a lot of money.

I came to San Pedro to play.

Okay, okay.

You said the California League, that was in East-- East LA.

Are you from East LA?

No.

I'm very proud to say that I was born in Mexico.

I came to the United States.

Actually, I came to Los Angeles at age 14.

I started playing with them in East Los Angeles.

I was 14.

There were no youth leagues, so I had to play with the adults at that time.

I was the youngest player in the whole league.

None really didn't have the age to play in the league.

They had to do a little bit of maneuvering with the numbers to show that I was 15, so that's how I started my career.

By comparison, the Greater LA Soccer League was an amateur league that played on Sundays.

What truly set it apart was its roster of teams.

Most every team, if not all, was named after one of the many diasporic immigrant groups in Los Angeles.

Each team served as a de facto community group.

Let me just do the timeline.

You're from Mexico.

You come to the US in the 1960s.

You're playing soccer in East LA.

You play with the Croats for a year.

A few years later, you're playing Olympic soccer for United States.

That's quite the experience.

How many games do you think you played for the Croats?

At that time, there was 12 teams.

We used to play 11 home games and 11 away games.

Oh, wow.

It was an average of 22-plus playoffs.

There was what was called the State Cup.

We have two Argentinians, one Uruguayan, myself, another Mexican goalkeeper.

I like hearing how the teams are very diverse.

In our research, we know that a lot of these teams that were founded, especially after the Second World War, were founded by immigrants from Eastern Europe.

It's very cool to hear that also they met with other immigrants, such as yourself, and said, "Oh, bring them on board too."

That's what I remember the most because it was the first Mexican, actually.

The same thing that the Europeans were doing in this side of town-- Well, they were all over the place, the Montebello, they were Armenians.

Anyway, but in East LA, it was mostly, I would say 99.9% Hispanic and mostly Mexicans and then Salvadorians and so on., It was like two different worlds.

The other side and then this side, basically.

In East LA, we didn't have a clubhouse.

We just went to somebody's home.

It was that-- In my first team, we carried 24 players, 22 of our players in East LA were from the same hometown.

It was good to see the love that they have for the country, and at the same time, doing something for the communities here.

One such team was the San Pedro Yugoslavs, founded by Gabe Cucuk.

The team became a home away from home.

Cucuk and the team also provided a pathway for citizenship for Yugoslavians and other foreign-born players on the team.

Over 100 players received a path to citizenship.

Well, nowadays, as you see the World Cup coming and everybody's talking about who started it and who did this, whatever.

Quietly, I feel proud that we did something for the game here.

We created something.

The Greater LA Soccer League was the forerunner of what we see now with internationalism, with importing players, with teams representing different communities.

You may say, yes, it's not up to MLS level, but without that, there would be no MLS, there would be no foundation to build on.

We caught up with some of the kids playing soccer today to ask them a few questions, like who's your favorite player?

My favorite professional soccer player is Ronaldo.

He's my favorite player because he's just really fast and he scores a lot of goals.

My favorite soccer player is Lamine Yamal.

For a bootleg, Lewandowski Barcelona.

My favorite soccer player is Abby Wambach.

Yes, Messi.

Yes, Messi.

I like Lamine Yamal and Alyssa Thompson.

Soccer was long treated as a foreign game by its haters, but this so-called foreign game helped immigrants thrive in the US while also providing them with an avenue to maintain their cultural ties from back home.

Many of these immigrant players and teams would also make their mark on US soccer history.

If you want to see more about Southern California soccer, let us know in the comments, and be sure to like and subscribe.