Here's the problem with that plan: The New York area already has a sparkling stadium in an area filled with soccer-crazed immigrants that is a cheap, 20-minute train ride from Manhattan.

WSJ: Why Not Manhattan?

Then, like a middle-income couple with young children, the league decided Manhattan was too crowded and too expensive, and it spent the past year closing in on a deal for a stadium in Queens in an area filled with soccer-crazed immigrants that would be a cheap, 20-minute train ride from Manhattan.

WSJ: Why Not Manhattan?

To counteract this, Kabban started the Peacebuilders League, a soccer league open to everyone in the area.

CNN: Soccer helping young refugees find footing in U.S.

The concept of a second MLS team in the New York area is nothing new to American soccer fans.

FORBES: Can The Wilpons Support An MLS Team? At Twice The Usual Cost, Maybe Not

Henry and Cooper are also finishing nearly half of all the opportunities that fall to them in the penalty area, according to OPTA, a company that tracks soccer statistics.

WSJ: Not Bullish on Defense

But Eddie Johnson, the Seattle Sounder and U.S. men's national team player, says there's one area in which MLS is at least the equal of Europe's top soccer leagues: the stadiums.

WSJ: Seattle Sounders: Does It Rain a Lot in Manchester, Too?

The Sounders and NASL may have folded, but the spirit of the recreational and semi-professional players in the area would keep the sport alive until it was readmitted to top-flight soccer twenty five years later.

FORBES: E Pluribus Sounders (Part 1): Immigrant & NASL Roots

His arms and legs in chains, he was allowed to kick a soccer ball around a small exercise area.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | The Long Way Home