"I want to see soccer do well," Balboa said. "Sometimes you have to take a step back to move two steps forward."

 There were so many backward steps over the year in soccer, in the United States and abroad. Some were indeed followed by steps forward: The U.S. men's national team, on its heels after a three-game losing streak, recovered just in time to qualify for next year's World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

 It was a yearlong, 10-game toil that ended after a 2-1 victory over Jamaica on Oct. 7. Players, still on the field, watched the results from the other games flash on the scoreboard and realized they were in.

 "We have so many kids playing soccer," said Joe-Max Moore, who scored the winning goal that day. "For them not having this team in the World Cup would have been devastating."

 But just getting to the World Cup isn't really a step forward -- it just gets the United States back to where it was four years ago. Still, it gives the Americans a chance to erase the painful memories of a last-place finish at the World Cup in France.

 "There was some bad taste left over from 1998 with a lot of players," coach Bruce Arena said.

 There was another small step forward in early December when the U.S. team was put into one of the weaker World Cup groups along with South Korea, which has never won a game in five World Cup appearances. Eight days later, a small step backward: The Americans, playing in one of the new World Cup venues, lost an exhibition game to the Koreans.

 Back home, the sport continued to sputter. MLS, which has provided a deep pool of players to improve the national team, was so much in the red that it finally posed the less-is-more question: Should it follow baseball's lead and eliminate some teams to save money?

 In the old days, it was called "folding," and previous soccer leagues did it a lot. MLS had been proud that no team had folded or moved since its inception in 1996, but commissioner Don Garber finally conceded teams that are "not adding to the overall value of the league" might not be worth keeping.

 Five of the 12 MLS franchises -- Tampa Bay, Miami, Dallas, Kansas City and Colorado -- were subjects of contraction reports.

 Step forward? Perennial loser San Jose broke through and won its first MLS title. Step backward? San Jose fell to last place in attendance, averaging 9,635. But at least the Earthquakes are expected back next year.

 Chicago and Colorado have stadium issues, the league hasn't attracted a new investor in years. Billionaire Philip Anschutz bought the rights to yet another team and now controls five. If he ever decides to quit being a soccer fan and pulls his money out, the league is done.

 Also trying to gain footing was the new women's league, the WUSA. Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and the investors kept their expectations modest by playing in small stadiums, so the average attendance of 8,200 was considered a great start.

 "It exceeded our expectations. Now what we need to do is improve on that," said Hamm, selected as the first FIFA Women's Player of the Year despite a mediocre season by her standards. "Considering the financial mood of the world right now, it's going to be a tough, but everyone's committed to it. We want to make the thing work."

 The WUSA's biggest problem was a hard-to-follow television package, something it fixed at the end of the year by scrapping the remaining three years of its TNT-CNN Sports Illustrated deal and signing instead with PAX, which plans to show live games in a regular Saturday afternoon time slot.

 Hamm's alma mater, North Carolina, didn't win the women's NCAA title for the first time in three years, losing to Santa Clara in the final. However, the Tarheels compensated by winning the men's championship for the first time, beating Indiana in the final.

 While soccer had its missteps in the United States, they were nothing compared with the problems the game had on the world scene.

 There was the usual fan violence, notably in Italy, and more disturbing reports of player violence. An English player was convicted of taking part in a drunken street fight, bringing more shame on the game. Several European stars tested positive for steroids, but all claimed innocence.

 As in American sports, spending on players seemed out of control. Zinedine Zidane, France's hero of the last World Cup, went from Juventus to Real Madrid in a transfer worth a record $65 million.

 FIFA filed bankruptcy proceedings against its marketing partner, showing there were problems even at the top. The World Club Championship in Spain, which was supposed to include an MLS team, never happened because of a lack of sponsorship and TV rights.

 As in the United States, the drama of World Cup qualifying was a welcome respite from off-field news. Germany barely qualified and lost 5-1 at home to England.

 Soccer enters 2002 needing a successful World Cup, and the United States would like to reach the second round, at least.

 "I will be disappointed if we do not," said Sunil Gulati, executive vice president of U.S. Soccer. "And my dream is to reach the quarterfinals."

 That would be a giant leap.