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Soccer Season Opens By ESPN Kids Writer

Are you ready for some...soccer?

While most of the country is busy filling out their March Madness brackets or waiting for baseball to start, some of the world's best athletes are preparing to start another season. It's springtime and that means the beginning of the Major League Soccer season.

Professional soccer in America doesn't get as much as attention as other pro sports, like baseball and football. While MLS players might not be as well known as Derek Jeter or Tom Brady, that doesn't mean that MLS players don't work just as hard as athletes in other sports. As many readers know from playing soccer, the sport demands great endurance, strength and mental toughness.

Pro soccer is a very popular sport elsewhere in the world. Major League Soccer is making an effort to make the sport popular here in the United States too, by making sure that every team has a certain number of players born in America.

One of the most popular American players is Landon Donovan of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Donovan led the league in scoring with 20 goals last season. He also had nine assists, the seventh-best assist total in the league. Donovan also plays for the United States in international competitions, like the World Cup, and is America's all-time leading scorer in goals and assists.

Another good, young, American player to watch is Kenny Cooper, who plays for FC Dallas. He scored 18 goals last year and finished second in scoring to Donovan. Some people think that there isn't enough scoring in soccer. Well, the 24-year-old Cooper is a major offensive force. In 30 games he took 119 shots on goal in 2008, the most of any player in MLS.

For young soccer fans in the country, Major League Soccer is a great place to find good role models. It is a league full of great players and kids can learn a lot from watching them play.

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