Has soccer finally made it to the U.S. That was the headline of a July Wall Street Journal story.

The U.S. victory over Japan in the Women’s World Cup final that month drew 26.7 million U.S. viewers — the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history. So, yes, apparently soccer has made it here.

It’s not football, baseball or basketball, but the sport has taken root. Spend some time at Hansel King Sportsplex and you’ll agree. There are hundreds of youngsters playing soccer, dozens of coaches yelling direction and encouragement, and countless parents and grandparents watching.

Most American high schools now have a soccer team. My own rural high school added soccer when I was in the ninth grade. Before that, there was one or two years that we had rec soccer for children. I played as a small child and learned absolutely nothing about the sport. I’m guessing those moms and dads who volunteered as coaches then knew nothing about the sport.

I played “front goalie.” We also had a “back goalie” who stood in the goal. I hung out in the goalie box and tried not to get knocked over by the mass of swarming children who followed the ball. I learned later this is not a real position, further cementing my impression that our coaches were clueless.

I played pickup soccer games as a high schooler and even into college. But there was little knowledge of the actual game — we just tried to get the ball in the goal without killing each other.

I took those unhelpful experiences with me last week to the soccer fields of Hansel King as a substitute coach for a 9-year-old team. Both of my son’s actual coaches couldn’t be there, so I was tasked with making the chaos that is youth soccer somewhat orderly. I had help from another kid’s dad.

Even though I’ve watched my children play the sports for years and played some as a youth and teen, I had no clue. I had to ask how many kids we could put on the field. It’s eight, by the way. I also had to decide who was going to play where. I based most of those decisions on how high the kids raised their hands when I asked who wanted to play offense and who wanted to play defense. Of course, everyone wanted to play offense.

There was also quite a bit of interest in being goalie. I relied on another parent’s suggestion for filling that position. We also had to sub kids in and out since our team has more than eight athletes. There was a method to our substitution madness, but it probably didn’t look that way to the parents hoping their kids would get back in the game.

Thankfully, the coach of the team we were playing was helpful. She explained some of the nuances of the game that aren’t obvious when you’re watching as a parent.  The officials were also kind enough to help out.

We lost the game (I take full responsibility), but everyone played and had a good time. That’s a win in my book. I’m just hoping the parents saw it that way.

Luke Horton is the publisher of The Daily Leader.