Bad news for all those soccer detractors out there. Ignorance is no longer bliss. Professional soccer is now the second most popular sport in the USA in the key 12-24 age group. The NFL tops the list and Major League Baseball has slipped to fourth behind the NBA. The poll findings, conducted by ESPN/Luker, comes on the eve of the opening of Major League Soccer's season this Saturday. The United States Men's National Team sets out on the road to the 2014 Brazil World Cup this summer. The hoopla begins.
So why is soccer popular with American youth? Shouldn't nativists be starting a "stop soccer" campaign, or Rush Limbaugh be penning a tome "The War On American Sports!" Too late. Blame globalization. Blame Landon Donovan for setting off "U.S.A!" chants heard across the nation during the last World Cup. Soccer is plugged into a world feed, the global consciousness and a massive social network -- it matches the times. Combine this with the fruition of the suburban soccer game known to millions of American families and the on-going success of MLS, built from the ground up -- a good example of American craft and creativity. Un-American is no longer a charge that sticks to soccer.
What of the other indictments?
Soccer is Boring
Hardly. A game that moves for 90 minutes compared to sports where sitting down is a large part of the player action. Football has about 11 minutes of actual play. The rest of the time is filled with TV ads and replays. No question that football and baseball are great sports. But the soccer haters in those camps, increasingly a minority, need to take a look in the same-old mirror and ask themselves: Do I have time to order another Dominos pizza? Yes, you do. Crossover fans to soccer from the big two sports, an increasing number, appreciate watching a sport on TV that is not dissected by products being jammed down your throat every two minutes. That is boring.
All those low scores
The insistence on large totals of points or runs increasingly looks like an empty high-calorie diet leading to bloat and Mark McGwire's Michelin Man costume during baseball's steroid era. Appreciate soccer as a gestation -- a formation that may only deliver once but may produce the most beautiful moment. Patience, expectation, labored breathing, brushes with anxiety, angst -- at any moment they can sweep through soccer crowds. It is not up and down. Or on and off. Or even win and lose. It is not a product to be consumed like happy blind fun. Best-selling author, Nick Hornby, in his 1992 soccer memoir Fever Pitch, writes "The natural state of the football fan is bitter disappointment, no matter what the score." While this may be too somber an assessment in this age of attacking flair from the likes of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, it reflects the measure of soccer being more true to life, less like a dream, more of a struggle. These days, it seems rather apt.
The MLS season kicks off on Saturday, March 10th.
Follow Alan Black on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footyheader
As of American success in the game, it is clearly on the rise. It starts with top young athletes choosing soccer over football and baseball. This is relatively recent. The next step is to send 15-16 year olds to professional academies. The NCAA is a very poor development program by comparison.
First of all one of the biggest surprize of world cup was usa when win england in 50 after that usa disappeared and we see them in 1990 italia when the team go well fight in 1994 at home very bad at 1998 great surpize and good at 2002 average and bad at 2006 and 2010 for me doing very mach but really do better.
The subject is why?I dont believe that america havent players with talent,yoyr players have talent and play in europe and know those match the problem for me is that yoy dont love this sport when yoy love it usa will doing a lot of things and is better for mls to play young players than players from europe at 35 and 38 years old
Maybe because I played it as a kid, and realized how hard it was? It's far more difficult than "our" sports, which I played in school, which are easy for me. ( elementary-high school basketball, football, baseball). Played hockey after high school, but that's not as easy as the big three ones, at least for me. Played soccer to keep fit for the other sports, and realized it was a lot harder than it appeared. I get how people just think it's a bunch of dudes kicking a ball aimlessly, but, it's a far more subtle skill set.
Oh well, soccer haters loss, our gain.
In our sports, as we all know , we use our hands. Using hands is more natural than trying to do something with your feet. I prove this by tossing a ball at a 3 year old - lightly of course, and the first thing it does is involuntarily raise it's hands. It's easier to play a game with your hands. Look at how long it takes to develop a good first touch in soccer, and even look at how hard it is to absorb the ball from a long or heavily weighted pass- it's something that a lot of American kids and adults have problems with.
The sport is far more difficult for me to pull off than playing any of our other sports. I'm not exceptional by any means, but, hand eye coordination is something that is natural, attempting to use your feet to do something is definitely not.
But, to each his own.
For examples of great recent football games packed with emotion, skill, excitement and goals; check out: Chelsea 3 - Man Utd 3 (5th Feb 2012), Arsenal 5 - 2 Tottenham (26th Feb 2012), Barcelona 5 - 0 Real Madrid (29th Nov 2010).
If you can somehow find the full 90mins I implore you to watch those games. They are examples of the best football has to offer. If you can't enjoy them then maybe football just isn't for you :)
Nb. Apologies for these examples are European-centric - It speaks to my knowledge of the US game, rather than the quality of the MLS.
But for someone who has tried to play, found how hard it is, it is wonderful to behold
how tactics, competitive fire, speed, skill, and movement combine to make for a truly beautiful game
Point is that referees have too much power given that they can so often capricious in their decisions. This caprice in a game where players routinely try to pander to the whims of the referee by "diving" and writhing as if in their death throes should be curbed.
First, instead of 2 yellow cards for a send-off, why not have 3 cards instead. And a hard foul should not be worth an immediate send-off, so what about 1 red and 1 yellow for a send off.
Second, when a player is sent off there should be a replacement. Nothing kills a game more than when 1 of 2 evenly matched teams has 1 of its players sent off. The team that suffers the 1 man loss will often just play defense and rarely tries to attack.
Third, I am just disappointed that the FIFA managers are so stuck in the past that they just fear goal-line technology. Saw a match recently between Milan and Juventus and the Juventus keeper just plucked the ball which was about 1 metre inside the goal and threw it out.
Also, "But unlike U.S. sports the game is too tradition-bound." FALSE.
Finally, goal line technlogy is slowly but surely making its way into the game. Look at the UEFA and Europa leagues.