Awhile back I was asked to name the three greatest sportsmen I'd seen play in person. I was happy with my trio: Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Pele.

I was lucky enough to have seen Jordan at the peak of his powers, in Portland, as he wreaked havoc on the Trail Blazers' title aspirations. He was the best. He knew it and we knew it.

Gretzky was also in his prime. I used to routinely make six-hour round trips from Seattle to Vancouver to see "The Great One" and his record-setting Edmonton Oiler teams. Even Canucks' fans appreciated what they were watching.

Pele, however, was different.

The Pele I saw, while still a legend, was 37 years old. He was playing for the Cosmos in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the league that came and went like Halley's Comet. If you've seen the movie "Once In A Lifetime," (if you haven't, download it now) you know how big the NASL was at the time. And you know how quickly it flamed out.

But he was still Pele and he still sold out stadiums across the United States. I saw him play in Portland's Civic Stadium, in the "Soccer Bowl," the NASL championship, against the Seattle Sounders. If memory serves me correctly, 35,000 people jammed the old venue to watch Pele go out a winner on the dark green Tartan turf.

That was more than thirty years ago, and US soccer has seen a lot of ups and downs since then. Until recently, the 1999 World Cup victory by the women's team - remember Brandi Chastain and the sports bra celebration? - was probably the high-water mark.

But in the past few years, the unthinkable has happened. Major League Soccer (MLS), the domestic league has boomed, with attendance increasing by 7 per cent (to 18,500 per game), television ratings on the rise and general awareness of the league at an all time high.

This has transpired through hard work, perseverance and good planning by MLS Commissioner Don Garber and his staff, as well as the clubs themselves. The league's careful expansion policy - which is reaping the benefits of newest members Seattle, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Portland - has been abetted by well-negotiated television deals that have been crucial to the league's growth.

And of course, there's David Beckham.

When Beckham came on board in 2007, it gave MLS instant credibility and made headlines even in the notoriously anti-soccer mainstream media.

The power of his "global brand" was a boost for the Galaxy and the MLS. People around the world who had given little thought to the American domestic competition found themselves following Beckham's exploits. It also didn't hurt that his wife Victoria was an international personality in her own right.

Like any venture, there were good times and bad. Some Americans baulked when Beckham went on loan to AC Milan, many of them not understanding the nuances of world soccer transfers and loans.

There was "The Beckham Experiment," the book written by respected journalist Grant Wahl that discussed internal squabbling at the club, particularly because of Beckham's huge salary and the fact that the captaincy and been taken away from the Galaxy's other superstar, American Landon Donovan.

And then, of course, there was the on-field "failure." LA didn't make the playoffs in Beckham's first two seasons, lost in the MLS Cup final in 2009, then lost in the semifinals in 2010.

That's why this year's MLS Cup win over Houston was so monumental. There is now tangible justification - beyond the marketing and selling - for the millions of dollars spent on bringing Beckham to Tinseltown. By going out a winner, Beckham foiled every cynical sportswriter preparing to script a "Millions of dollars for nothing" piece.

As the Galaxy rolls into Melbourne, it's important to realise how much the sport has grown in the United States. When Pele (and Beckenbauer and Cruyff and Best) came to the US in the 1970's as part of the NASL, the country was not quite ready for soccer. The crowds that packed the parks to see these ageing European stars were coming to see something special, like fans who flock to watch touring teams in Australia.

There was little, if any, basis for a lasting league. Games were played on Astro-turf, there were "shootouts" instead of draws and teams had names like the San Diego Soccers and the Caribou of Colorado. Yep, it was pretty unsophisticated.

These days, thanks to ESPN and Fox Soccer, the profile of "the world game" continues to rise in the United States. Fifteen years ago your average American could probably have named only one or two English Premier League teams. Now the EPL is beamed into living rooms on a weekly basis, live and in High Definition.

And MLS, while far from perfect (it still hasn't turned a profit) is establishing itself as a legitimate American professional sports league. David Beckham was a crucial part of that revolution and no matter how you look at it, was certainly worth the money. In fact, the bigger question - assuming he leaves for Europe - is who will carry the torch now?