There's been a lot of speculation recently about which cities offer the best mix of market,
facilities, owners and fanbase for Major League Soccer's twentieth club. Commonly mooted names are
New York, Miami, Atlanta, but I know that none of these are right. Even dark horses like San
Antonio, Nashville, and Saint Louis fall short of the mark.
With a little help from the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, here's a list I've compiled
of the all-time leading goalscorers in American outdoor soccer leagues, going back to the
primordial soup days.
Player Goals Archie Stark 253 Johnny Nelson 223 Giorgio Chinaglia 193 Dave Brown 189 Bill Patterson
152 Andy Stevens 150 Jerry Best 138 Bart McGhee 137 Harold Brittain 135 Jaime Moreno 132 Bobby
Blair 131 Werner Nilsen 131 Alan Willey 129 Karl-Heinz Granitza 128 Tommy Florie 126 Jeff
Cunningham 124 Tec White 124 Ron Futcher 119 Bart Patenaude 118 Ante Razov 114 Jason Kreis 108 Mike
McLeavey 108 Herbert Carlson 107 Paul Child 102 Illja Mitic 101 Taylor Twellman 101 Steve David 100
Archie Stark was a star of the Bethlehem Steel FC teams that were powerful in
the 1920s.
