He was the last surviving member of the first World Cup final in 1930, between Uruguay and Argentina in which Uruguay took the honors 4-2.

The forward banged in 194 goals during his Boca Juniors career, cut short at the age of 30 because of injury. Current striker Martin Palermo has just taken over the Boca Juniors scoring record.

Francisco Varallo said about that first World Cup final in an interview with FIFA to celebrate his 100th birthday, ”With all due respect for my teammates, we weren’t gutsy enough.

“How I cried that day. Even now when I look back it still makes me angry.”

MR Varallo, we salute you, a true legend has passed, but not forgotten.

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Summer’s almost over, and millions of kids are getting ready to hit the books. We thought it would be fitting to give our readers a little history lesson – soccer history, of course. So class, school is now in session, and today’s topic is Soccer in America 101.

Roughly 30 years ago, the New York Cosmos were the best and worst of what soccer had to offer in the United States. The whole idea of the Cosmos and soccer in America would have never happened without Steve Ross, known as ‘The Godfather of American Soccer.’  Ross was a part-time creator of Warner Communications, and a part-time sports nut who wanted nothing more than to build a sport here in the States from the ground up.

The club was founded by both Steve Ross and a wealthy set of Turkish brothers, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, president and vice-president of Atlantic records and founders of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1971, the Cosmos were formed and an English player-coach named Gordon Bradley was acquired as head coach.  At this time, most of the squad was comprised of players in New York amateur leagues.  Players were paid very little and all had second jobs to support themselves.  At this time, no one in America cared about the sport or even knew how to spell the word ‘soccer.’

The Cosmos knew that there was only one player in the world who could force Americans to take notice of this foreign sport – Brazilian soccer god Pele.  In 1974, Pele announced retirement from his life-long club Santos and made his way to the Big Apple.

At the time, Hall of Fame legend Hank Aaron was the highest-paid baseball player, earning $200,000 a year. Pele trumped Aaron and signed with the Cosmos for millions of dollars, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world.  Soccer had officially arrived in the States.

Despite the addition of the greatest player the world has ever seen, the team struggled to achieve the success. New York is a city that likes winners, so to satisfy its disillusioned fans, the Cosmos sought out Italian scoring sensation Giorgio Chinaglia.

Chinaglia was an outspoken striker who was despised by everyone around him, but he knew how to find the back of the net better than anyone.  The year he arrived, Chinaglia netted 19 goals in 19 games, while Pele led the league is assists.

Now, you’d think that having two soccer phenoms on the same squad would be a recipe for success, but the very different personalities of Chinaglia and Pele mixed like oil and vinegar.  Pele was used to being the star, and Chinaglia couldn’t stand to be in anyone’s shadow.  Rather quickly, the Cosmos locker room just wasn’t big enough for both egos.

Soccer in the states was different in those days. To make the sport more appealing to Americans used to high-energy, high-scoring sports, NASL games always had a winner.  A match that ended in a tie would go on to a shoot-out, upping the intensity of the game.  Cheerleaders, mascots, and half-time shows were common occurrences in those days, and fans found themselves growing more and more fond of the sport.

Germany’s two-time European Player of the Year Franz Beckenbauer was signed by the Cosmos during the pinnacle of his career in 1977, but the ever-competitive Steve Ross still wanted more.

The world of soccer had quickly turned into the rock-star lifestyle.  More than 75,000 fans were attending games including actors, actresses, models, and musicians.  It seemed as though the Cosmos had gone from playing to empty seats to selling out the Giants Stadium overnight.

The Cosmos, still determined to draw in more fans and popularity, signed Brazilian national team captain Carlos Alberto with four games remaining in the 1977 season.  Later that year, the Cosmos were crowned champions as Pele wrapped up his career in New York.

In 1978, the NASL added six more teams making it a 24-team league and diluted the level of play.  All teams were trying to emulate Steve Ross and the Cosmos, but clearly, the league was getting too big too fast.  The Cosmos would be named kings of the NASL in 1978 for the second straight year behind the controversial Chinaglia.

League attendance peaked in 1980, but faltered soon thereafter.  First, the league lost their television network deal with ABC, then Chinaglia became president of the Cosmos and bankrupt the team with inflated salaries. Essentially, the lunatic was running the asylum.

In one last try to salvage the sport, Steve Ross attempted to have the 1986 World Cup played in the United States.  However, it was Mexico that was  given the tournament, and by 1984, the team dissolved, the league crumbled, and soccer died.

Two years following the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., soccer was again born with a 10-team league.  Today, Major League Soccer has 16 teams and expansions planned for years to come.  Both the league and the sport are growing, and it looks as though the beautiful game is here to stay.

Twelve years ago after a poor showing by the United States in the ‘98 World Cup, a plan was devised.  The plan was called Project 2010, and the goal was to “have USA positioned… to win the World Cup in 2010.”

When discussing the project, US Soccer President, Sunil Gulati stated, “The idea wasn’t to be arrogant.  We aimed big, we drempt big, and still what we dream about.”

Project 2010 is a player development program that was built with the ultimate goal to win this year’s World Cup.  The 1999 inaugural class included future national team members Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, and Kyle Beckerman.

Other national team members, Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard, and Clint Dempsey were part of Project 2010’s other development initiative called Project 40, which is now called Generation Adidas.  Project 40 was set up to find the 40 best soccer players coming out of high school who would step into the pros rather than attend college.

While the U.S. is not picked by too many to win this year’s World Cup, I guess it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.  Last year, the United States did pull off a victory against Spain, a favorite to win the 2010 World Cup, in the Confederation’s Cup.  While Spain is clearly a more dominant team, the point is that it is not out of the question for any of the 32 teams to land an upset and be crowned as champions.

While Cruyff had probably perfected what would be known as the “Cruyff Turn” long before the 1974 World Cup, it was here that this move was put on the main stage for soccer fans to admire.

During the second Group 3 of the ’74 World Cup, Netherlands would take on Sweden.  Jan Olsson was embarrassed by Cruyff as he put on his famous turn and left Olsson watching as he made a dash for the net.

After retiring from the game in 1984, Cruyff achieved great success as a manager for both Ajax and Barcelona.  He now manages for Catalonia which he took over in 2009.

Zinedine Zidane is one of the greatest footballers of all-time, no doubt about it.  In 1998 he led France to a World Cup title and later a Euro title in 2000.  Not to mention that he helped Real Madrid come away with a 2002 UEFA Champions League crown.  He is one of just two players who have ever been awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year Award on three separate occasions.

Zidane went out with a bang after being ejected from the ’06 World Cup match following his headbutt to Italian defender Marco Materazzi after Materazzi had made highly offensive remarks about Zidane’s family.

While jogging down the field in the 110th minute of a 1-1 tie game, Materazzi made his remarks and Zidane quickly did a 180-degree turn to drive his bald crown into the Italians chest, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

“Zidane being sent off changed everything,” France coach Raymond Domenech said.  “Even in extra time the Italian team was waiting for only one thing, and that was penalties.”

However, Zidane recently came out and said he that “would rather die” than apologize to Materazzi for the headbutt in the final.

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This own goal occurred on June 22, 1994, in the second match of Group A, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for the Americans and an exit for the Colombians.

On July 2, 1994, Escobar was shot and killed in Medellin outside “El Indio” bar, located in a Medellin suburb.  It’s believed by many that he was killed due to his own-goal in the ’94 World Cup, which resulted in gambling losses to several powerful dug lords.  It has also been reported that after Escobar was shot, the killer yelled “Goal!” after each of the 12 bullets fired, just like an announcer would during a soccer match.

Escobar’s funeral was attended by more than 120,000 people and a statue was built in his honor.

However, only seven minutes later, Ronaldinho was sent off for a foul on England’s Danny Mills.  Ronaldinho was suspended for the seminfinal match, but would later return for Brazil’s 5th World Cup final victory over Germany.

Ronaldinho appeared in five matches and scored two goals in his first World Cup appearance.

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Well, if you’re an Argentina fan, you probably love him for bringing home the cup and being arguably one of the greatest players of all-time.  If you’re not an Argentina fan, you may have some issues with the current Argenitine head coach.

Maradona netted his first goal only six minutes into the second half of the game by hitting the ball with his fist into the back of the net.  That’s right… it was a hand ball that was the game’s difference-maker.  Referee, Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser, didn’t see the hand ball and allowed it to count as a goal.

After the game, Maradona reflected back on the play by saying, “I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me, and no one came… I told them, ‘Come hug me, or the referee isn’t going to allow it.’”

Maradona would then go on to describe his contraversial goal as “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”  On August 22, 2005, Maradona admitted that he had purposely hit the ball with his hand and immediately knew that the goal should have been overturned.  Well, it wasn’t and he would later lead his team to the 1986 World Cup victory.

What he is most famous for, however, is his shot that sailed over the crossbar during the World Cup finals shoot out in ’94.  His shot was crucial and would end up costing his country a World Cup title.