Milwaukee United

The team in Milwaukee was once two teams. The Croatian Eagles and Milwaukee Bavarians were established in the 1920s. They were a part of some Mid West leagues for several years, but they both saw an opportunity to jump to the top league in the country, situated in the North East. The travel costs would hurt whoever gets accepted, so the Croatians and Germans merged their club to form a super team and attack the established powers. The team's half blue half red kits were seen as a joke by teams because it was so different from anything they've seen. They picked up the nickname "Harlequins" in the late 30s. It took till 1951 to win their first piece of hardware. In 1951 they won the US Open and the league. The team brought over a lot of talent from Europe after the war and it showed, because the next year they won another US Open. The year after that they won the league title. Smaller market Milwaukee has always had trouble building up teams because they had no choice but to sell their players. Often mediocre, United had only played outside the APL for 4 seasons since 1937. They were relegated, then promoted the next year in the early 70s. Then again in 1979, and they didn't climb back up until 1982. In the 33 years since, the only trophy they won was a run to the US Open Cup in 1999. The team has a great fan base, and they've known to demand the best from their owners, despite only 3 playoff appearances in the last 15 years.