听力题 In the 1970s, the famous Brazilian football player Pele retired from the national team of Brazil and became a professional player for a team in New York. Football, or soccer, wasn’t very popular in the United States at that time. Few North Americans knew anything about this fast-moving sport. There was no money to pay professional players and there was little interest in football in high schools and colleges. When Pele and other international stars began playing in various US cities, people saw how interesting the game was and began to go to the matches. It is now common for important games to have fifty to sixty thousand fans. Support from the fans is important to the football. The fans cheer enthusiastically for their favorite players and teams, who respond by playing better than before. In most World Cups, the hom. e team, or the team from the host country usually plays better than most people expect. In 1966, 1974 and 1978, the home teams of England, West Germany and Argentina all won the World Cup. The World Cup is called that because teams from every continent have played in it. However, since the Cup began, all of the winning teams have been from Europe or South America. Teams from Asia or Africa always do well but they haven’t yet won,Mexico played surprisingly well in the 1970 Cup, which it hosted, but it wasn’t among the 4 final teams.