The United States will try to establish itself as a soccer power next month when the World Cup is held in Germany. After reaching the quarterfinal round in 2002 the Americans will head overseas as the fifth ranked team in the world.

Drake soccer coach Sean Holmes says it reflects the added following the sport had generated here. Holmes says soccer continues to grow and the challenge is to get the more older people interested in soccer.

Holmes says while soccer has been popular at the youth level for some time the U.S. is doing a better job of developing its top players. He says there wasn’t even a pro league a few years ago and now things have developed.

Holmes says soccer is attracting better athletes and the national team is beginning to reflect that. Holmes says in every other country in the world the best athletes are going to soccer, but in the U.S. there’s football and basketball and other sports. He says though some of the top athletes are moving into soccer.

The schedule makers were not kind to the U.S. team which is in a pool that includes three of the top 12 ranked teams in the world. They open the World Cup June 12th against the second ranked Czech Republic.