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^ The Italian team from 2006 was legendary compared to this one from yesterday. In fact the US men's soccer team shortly after the 2006 woldcup wasn't bad at all: Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey...yet they had to deal with both Brazil and of course the team that can be regarded as the best ever: Del Bosque's Spain from around 2010.
I've been a soccer fan since my first visit to Europe back in 2005. It's just a big part of their culture and I enjoyed being a part of it. Naturally I became an Italy fan (and also the AS Roma club) so I was very happy yesterday (as well as the 2006 World Cup).
Im in Spain now and everything is just like meh since Spain lost to Italy about 3/4 days ago.
I was shocked to see the North End in Boston looking like Milan or Rome. I think even Brooklyn was a tad bit wild.
It's still mostly foreigners that keeps the game a name in the United States. I'm a huge soccer fan and I really want this sport to be one of the biggest in America. The bars in DC were packed two to three hours after the game. However, they were mostly England and Italian fans obviously from what I've saw. It was a fun time. The game is growing especially for younger folks under the age of 45. For that age group, it's a good third behind basketball and of course, football. Baseball is America's pasttime but it's not as popular for younger Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z as it is for Older Gen X, Boomers, and older generations.
In that list, the 6th point about England and the 1863 expansion jumped out to me. Rugby got here quick and Americans took to that game more. Walter Camp in the 1880s started to make rules based off Rugby not to soon after . Now soccer still had a chance but WW2 pretty much killed off any chance of it actually becoming more popular. But if soccer expanded into America better than rugby did, I would bet the US would be another powerhouse as it could have been the number 1 sport here with our culture centered around the game. Culture is a big part of this as the sport is not in our fabric. The Euros ended yesterday and now the club preseason games are about to start this week.
A couple issues that I have with this list though. They are not necessarily incorrect but it speaks to the sports fan in America. Such as big things. In Football, we see scores such as 31-24 or 28-21. That's basically 4-3. While that is still more scoring than your average soccer game, the 28-21 is misleading. It is inflated because a score counts as 6 points and with an additional XP, you get 7. It is easier to score points in American sports such as football and basketball (especially today).
Ties. Hate them in football. Don't care to see it in basketball or baseball. But I understand it if the result is based off a point system which you see in league play and group stages. For league play, the goal is to get as many points as possible and that one point can determine if you can stay up in the league, get relegated, get in top 4 or top 6 if you're in EPL, or even win the league etc. For the group stages, it's determined if you can advance to knockout stages. I have no problem with ties in the sport if you understand what the result means. Agreed with the rest of the list though.
That’s something often understated, but worth pointing out. If we look at the top 10 most populous nations we get:
China: No
India: No
USA: No
Indonesia: No
Pakistan: No
Brazil: Yes
Nigeria: Yes
Bangladesh: No
Russia: Yes
Japan: No
Soccer is equally as popular in Japan as Baseball for the most popular sport. Also all of those countries have massive followings of soccer as well. I’m pretty sure Soccer is the most popular sport in Indonesia as well.
America has a huge soccer following it’s not as big as Basketball, Baseball or Football but it’s definitely fairly close to Hockey, and it’s probably the bigger sport in my region (Texas).
Because it's the most boring game on earth. Every "match" has a final score if "one-nil", decided by a penalty kick, in favor of the home team to avoid a riot. Nothing at all happens the remainder of the three hours.
It.s highly popular as children's sport in the US, because every 5-year old already has all the necessary skills (running) and only need to be taught which of two nets to kick the ball toward. Parents cannot tell the difference between a good player and a bad one, so it's naturally suited to the "participation trophy"..
This ^
Soccer is extremely boring. Baseball is pretty boring to watch, but it is even exciting next to soccer! Americans like more fast-paced, high action sports.
Too many ties in soccer. No sporting event should ever end in a tie. Ever.
It is popular for children because it is inexpensive for the parents (very little equipment or uniform costs) and as the above poster mentions you only have to be able to kick and run. I'm not sure that it is popular with children. It seems more that parents push their children into it. When the child gets a little older s/he invariably moves onto to other sports or quits sports altogether.
Americans like more fast-paced, high action sports.
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This doesn't even sound like trolling, it's some sort of peer-reviewed psychological weapon invented by DARPA and the pentagon: "post something beyond absurd such as: claiming that soccer is slower than American football, cricket, tennis, baseball and the enemy reader will commit suicide".
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