So right now, you said in your summary: "The rise of the US mens national soccer team and the increasing amount of support at home for the sport." What I would suggest would be to keep the idea of your thesis at "The rise of the US mens nation soccer team" and have the 'increasing amount of support at home for the sport' be one of your body paragraphs. Or little clips inside your other paragraphs for when the team gets its victories or failures.

'Throughout history, many sports teams have faced difficult odds in their rise to glory. Few teams, however have faced the opposition and harsh criticism from home and abroad than the United States National Soccer team.'

I like these two sentences. They begin the paper very well by first giving a general reference about difficult odds and then narrowing it down on your topic: the rise of the US mens national soccer team. The rest of what you have in the first thirteen isn't much of an opener to a research paper. It looks more to be the first body paragraph. If your going about the paper in a linear time sense (this is what it was like in the beginning, this in the middle, and now like this today) just use that information in the first body paragraph. You're getting too specific for the introduction.

However, this is just my take on the first thirteen lines. I may have completely missed the point, which might be bad for both of us, I'm not sure. Although I wouldn't mind helping you with the rest, I don't have the time to read through your whole paper at this time. But keep up the good work.

Read that sentence aloud, and you'll hear the error in it. The word "than" by itself isn't what you need here.

Perhaps something like: Few teams have faced the opposition and harsh criticism, from home and abroad, than that faced by the United States National Soccer team.

If it were my sentence, I'd restructure it so you aren't using the word "faced" twice, but this gives you a sample of what I mean.

Formidable opposition and harsh criticism from home are just two of the many obstacles the United States National Soccer team has had to overcome to prove itself on the world soccer scene.

First you have to have a thesis - a single sentence which is what you wish to prove with the paper you write.

Then write the body of the paper, don't write the introduction at this point at all.

When you have completed the body of the paper, write a conclusion to review how you have proved your thesis.

Then re-write the whole thing, do not do the intro as yet.

Only when you've finished the whole paper should you write the introduction. Now you KNOW what you have said, and how you have proved your point. Now is the time to introduce the paper with the proper style.