UC Irvine Coach Cano Caught Soccer Fever Before It Was Contagious : College: An early participant in U.S. youth organization, he is tapping his enthusiasm for the game to boost the Anteaters’ programs.

As the World Cup pushes soccer fever higher in the United States, Marine Cano watches and smiles.

Cano has watched soccer grow from fledgling status to become one of the most popular sports among American youths.

Although a professional career in Europe never materialized and a brief stint on the U.S. national team didn’t produce a World Cup appearance, Cano has no regrets.

The world’s best are in his neighborhood now, and Cano, UC Irvine’s soccer director and women’s head coach, knows the World Cup’s presence will only boost the sport’s recognition in the United States.

“It’s like if you lived in Germany and the Super Bowl comes there,” Cano said. “Right now, we have the best players from the best soccer countries in the world playing in our back yards.

“But the only way you can really grasp it is to be in a stadium, with all of the fanfare. I don’t care if you’ve never seen a soccer game in your life, if you are in that atmosphere, you will enjoy it.”

Soccer has given Cano a lifetime of enjoyment, and he spreads his unbridled enthusiasm for “the greatest game in the world” to anyone who will listen.

Thirty years ago, soccer awareness was low in the United States, but that didn’t stop Cano from trying the sport. When his family moved to Torrance in 1964, at age 9, he joined the American Youth Soccer Organization.

“I was there when AYSO was founded and I’ve seen it come full cycle,” Cano said. “I was on one of the first two teams ever formed and I was the first AYSO player to sign a professional contract.

“Now there are more than 450,000 participants in AYSO, and there are more youths playing soccer than playing football, basketball and baseball combined.”

A much different world than the one in which Cano grew up.

Cano pointed out that current U.S. national team members, John Harkes and Ernie Stewart among others, play soccer in Europe. But 18 years ago, it was much tougher for Americans overseas.

In many of the European leagues, Cano said the structure of the sport is similar to professional baseball.

The clubs have reserve teams--a mini farm system--backing their top team. Towns and cities sponsor teams and the best teams play in a premier division. Teams can advance to that top division by playing well in lower divisions, but teams that play poorly can also be relegated to a lower division.

“I was fortunate that a lot of my teammates--from the 1976 Los Angeles Skyhawks of the American Soccer League--were of English descent,” Cano said. “So I went to England following that season and played for Portsmouth for a year.”

Cano, a goalkeeper, played for Portsmouth’s reserve team when its top team was trying to stay in the third division.

“At the time, the first-string goalie was struggling and they wanted to give me shot on the first team, but I needed a work permit,” Cano said. “Portsmouth was trying to avoid relegation, and it would have cost the club too much money to get a permit for me.

“I was frustrated in the sense that I knew was just as good as the other goalkeepers. Your mind plays funny tricks sometimes, but I don’t feel the hand I was dealt was a bad hand. I feel God has a plan for me.”

Part of the plan was playing professional soccer in the United States for nine years. Cano played in a variety of leagues, ranging from the country’s most successful--the North American Soccer League, which featured superstars such as Pele--and the Major Indoor Soccer League.

“I absorbed the good and bad from my playing career,” Cano said. “That has molded me into a coach that can teach players about the good things about life, not just soccer. Looking back I don’t regret anything. I always felt I never quit.”

That fighting spirit is something Cano hopes to pass along to his players.

Before he arrived at Irvine, Cano spent 10 years at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where his men’s and women’s teams won five California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships, and the women’s team won the NCAA Division II title in 1991.

Cano’s expectations are just as high for Irvine. Cano’s goal is to bring a soccer national championship to Irvine.

Despite budgetary restrictions, which currently limit Irvine to only 2 1/2 scholarships for each soccer team, Cano hopes to boost that to five per team by next season. The NCAA allows 10 scholarships for men’s soccer and 11 for women’s soccer.

“My job is not just to coach and recruit but to raise funds,” Cano said. “We have to get out in the community and give back to them if we want any support.”

Cano’s support for his players includes his strong belief in education.

“A player in this community has to know that No. 1, they can get a quality education here,” Cano said. “The icing on the cake is knowing they have a program where they can develop as a player and have a chance to win. You can see with the success of youth soccer, the talent is there.”

Cano’s job is to bring that talent to Irvine.