Kevin Orr brought his entire youth-league soccer team to the Show Me Center Sunday afternoon to watch the final game of the World Cup soccer tournament on the big screen.

"We got everyone signed up for the fall season today," said Orr, who volunteers his time as a coach for both his son's and his daughter's soccer teams. "They're real excited. They're all cheering for Brazil."

About 500 soccer fans were at the Show Me Center Sunday for the showing of the final match up of the World Cup soccer tournament. Soccer enthusiasts watched the larger-than-life action between teams from Brazil and Italy on a projection-screen television.

During half-time, parents wandered over to the dimly-lit registration tables, to sign up anxious children for the fall Cape Area Youth Soccer Association (CAYSA) League.

"Soccer has caught on an awful lot in this area in the past couple of years," said Bob Roeger, vice president of CAYSA. "And with the popularity and publicity surrounding the World Cup this year, we expect even more sign ups for the fall."

One of the advantages of soccer is that participants can start at virtually any age, and skills can be learned.

"If you can walk without falling down, you can play soccer," said Roeger. "Soccer is a non-threatening sport that you can learn through experience.

"And for the first time in the young person's life, mom and dad are no longer the authority figures, the coach is," he said. "Children also learn how to interact with other kids in a team sport."

The competitive nature of the sport is downplayed for the first three years. The youngest soccer players tend to remember the soda or ice cream following the game, before they remember the score, Roeger said.

Although the league extends to high school students, enrollment in the league begins to decline after players reach fifth grade.

"Football starts in fifth grade, and that takes a lot of kids away from the league," said Roeger. "They also start making decisions on their own about that age, and some tend to pull away for their own reasons."

But the strength of the league's high school program is what is keeping several soccer players enrolled throughout the system. Some of the boys and girls who started with the kindergarten league in the 1980s, have come full circle to the high school program.

In the spring league, nearly 900 area youth were involved in the soccer leagues. With the popularity of the World Cup games, organizers expect that number to soar.

For many area parents, soccer is something new, something different.

"My boy still plays baseball, but has been playing soccer since kindergarten," said Reed Willen. "It seems like a great sport.

"I played little league baseball as a kid -- we didn't have soccer leagues then," he said. "I guess it's just really caught on. It's a sport where size and strength doesn't matter and everyone can play."

Orr said his son asked to play soccer. His daughter followed suit a couple years later.

"I told them that I would help coach, but I had never played soccer before," said Orr. "It's been a real learning experience for all of us."

Paul O'Brien, who sat with members of his soccer league team Sunday, said he followed the World Cup games as much as he could in recent weeks.

"I want to learn how to do a bicycle kick," O'Brien said. "They make it look so easy. We all know it's not."

Jason Jones watched the World Cup games, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of his friends.

"Some of my friends got to go to the games with their parents," said Jones. "So when I'm not practicing -- and my mom lets me -- I watch the soccer games to see if I can see someone I know."