New owner Ronaldo vows big things for NASL's Strikers

Miami (AFP) - Brazilian football legend Ronaldo is promising great things for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers after becoming part owner of the North American Soccer League club.

"I will be very involved with the management of the team and have already started to make introductions that will certainly help us to turn the Strikers into a global powerhouse," Ronaldo said in a statement last week, when his ownership stake was announced.

"There are no doubts the beautiful game is growing exponentially in the United States, and I guarantee you that the NASL will play a key role in the rise of professional soccer here."

The NASL, now a second-tier league behind Major League Soccer, enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s, when such global icons as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best and Giorgio Chinaglia were lured Stateside to spread the gospel of soccer.

A match between the Strikers and the New York Cosmos drew a crowd of 77,691, and the Cosmos last year launched their own reincarnation with a 2-1 win over the Strikers in a match attended by a host of the Cosmos' 1970s stars.

In October, the Cosmos announced the signing of Real Madrid legend Raul, but it remains to be seen just how much celebrity ownership and the presence of brilliant, if aging, names on the squads will boost the NASL's influence.

In New York, the re-booted Cosmos will compete for fans with MLS's New York Red Bulls and a new MLS rival owned by English Premier League side Manchester City and baseball's New York Yankees.

The Strikers could eventually face MLS competition in South Florida as well, although England icon David Beckham is still trying to get his planned Miami MLS club off the ground.