TORONTO — Thirty-five years ago Portuguese legend Eusebio was part of a European exodus that brought the game of soccer to an untapped North American market.
Less than two years later, his ability to seemingly score at will brought Toronto Metro-Croatia a North American Soccer League (NASL) title in Soccer Bowl ’76.
Tuesday he was back in Toronto, and not surprised that the city is still under the spell of the Beautiful Game.
“It is a great place to play and visit,” Eusebio told sportsnet.ca at a media event Tuesday. “Teams from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany – they all come to play here.”
Eusebio did just that in 1975, and like many of his peers he left behind a legacy of scoring—727 goals in 715 games for Portuguese club team Benfica—to play under the bright lights in America. After a trio of brief stops he scored 18 goals in 21 games for Toronto Metro-Croatia, winning a NASL title before chronic knee problems slowed his then 35-year-old legs.
He would be forced to retire in 1978.
The NASL imploded less than a decade later, taking the interest of the general public with it. The game of soccer would carry on, but always in the shadows of the other professional sports. It wasn’t until David Beckham announced he was joining the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer in 2007 that interest was once again piqued and the sport began to enjoy a renaissance.
In Eusebio’s mind, it was only a matter of time.
“Good players love the idea of playing in North America,” he explained. “It is good to see more people watching the game because of it, and not just baseball, football and ice hockey.”
While Eusebio retired from the game long ago, he can be relied upon to offer up an opinion on the state of the Portuguese national team, especially as it prepares for the World Cup in South Africa.
“The World Cup is short, not a lot of time to make an impression. Portugal will need to get together as a team quickly.”