The elder Rooney met Obama at a rally in Pittsburgh that April, and then built his support for the c. When the franchise briefly stumbled during the turn of the millennium, missing the playoffs each year from 1998-2000, the Steelers signed Cowher to an extension. ofessional soccer in the US took its first tentative steps with the foundation of the NPSL. “Our objective is to become the pre-eminent sport in the USA,” he says, bristling with enthusiasm.