Editorial: Football--the kind we call 'Soccer'--in the United States

Soccer is such a divisive subject among the American sporting public. Outside of its establishment as a common childhood sporting activity and the heralded American "soccer mom", the sport is often seen as the black sheep in the field of much more popular sports such as baseball, basketball, and our own American football (just plain "football" to most folk). Despite its miniscule albeit growing popularity, outside of our country (and our neighbors to the north that prefer competitions on ice), it is the sport of choice for the citizens in world. On ESPN this morning, Kenny Maine proclaimed that the sport had 2 billion fans worldwide, an amazing figure when weighed against the roughly 6.7 billion people in the world (that's roughly 30% of every person on the face of the earth, including rural and indigineous peoples). But why is the story so different in America?

Many American sports fans complain about the low scores and the extreme difficulty of scoring hindering the excitement of the game. In fact, similar complaints forced the National Hockey League to adopt some rule changes designed to facilitate slightly higher-scoring games. To latch onto this idea dilutes much of the appeal the sport has to offer. See--brace yourselves for this people--scoring isn't the only thing thats important in the game of soccer (sorry footy devotees, but I'm sticking to the American name for the duration of this article). It's the ongoing struggle that leads up to every goal where much of the excitement really is, which further infuses inevitable goals with an explosive energy that finally boils over and blows its lid, Mt. Saint Helens-style. And unlike other sports, the action is almost completely uninterrupted during its two halves, raising tensions much higher, similar to intentionally long shots in some movies. In addition, we as a culture have been bread and weaned on things that provide us instant gratification, so the long battle for those precious goals is something that has some built-in sociological barriers to get over. And to those who claim that soccer is not a contact sport, I urge you to go play against some people who actually know what they are doing; soccer, even at the sub-professional level, features a level of physicality that can be likened to--if not even more so than--a hard-nosed game of hoops.

Perhaps the physicality takes a bad rap in America for the abundance of players that seem to intetionally flop (socceroos call it "diving") in order to try to draw a foul call, laying on the ground in supposed "agony" and then gingerly running about moments later. For those who get a bad taste from this common action in the European game, I urge you to look closer and benefit our fellow Americans at the same time; by that I mean, go watch a game of MLS soccer. While the competition of the game itself is a much lower level than the best that Europe has to offer, the league is growing very quickly and watching it one can note that players--particularly American-born ones-- seem very much less bothered by intense physical contact. Sure people get hit and fall all the time, but instead of pouting on the ground they spring up and fight back into the play. My theory on this is that the trait is attributable to the encouragement of toughness in other sports and in our culture overall, so it would be a sign of weakness to lay there. Major League Soccer is growing very fast and has a lot to offer, but I digress as to what makes the game and our league so different when compared to the rest of the world.

One very interesting theory is that the game constitutes a lot of cultural undertones that are perhaps underappreciated in any debate regarding the popularity of the game in America. I first heard this theory whilst waiting in the drive-thru line at In N' Out Burger listening to ESPN Radio. I unfortunately do not remember the specific show or host, but he was discussing his own theories and taking calls on the importance of culture in the acceptance of culture. He started by pointing out that soccer has never been popular in our country, and perhaps its at its highest point now than ever before. Why is this when the entire rest of the world embraced it so much? Well for one, its very cheap, necessitating only a ball, flat ground, and any random materials to concoct make-shift goals out of. Compare this to basketball where at least a ball, reasonably hard ground, and a specially-designed metal hoop are needed; baseball where a myriad of equipment are required, from leather gloves for every single person to bats, hats, bases, etc.; and football where pads, helmets, many players, and much planning are required. The low cost is an understated benefit to attracting players in all classes, races, and regions of the world, including the Third World.

In regards to its lack of popularity in America specifically, the same radio host pointed out many other interesting facts in history. Soccer really developed and emerged into its modern form in the late 1800s and early 1900s, particularly in Europe and its colonies. Now, at this point in history, the United States is still a growing young nation and a far cry from its future superpower status, trying to establish its own identity. At the same time, many Europeans were immigrating to America in hopes of starting an entirely new life. A combination of these Europeans wanting to leaving everything in their old lives behind--including the decidedly European game of soccer--and Americans wanting something that was decidedly their own and not foreigh, which they found in baseball and boxing. These factors have from the beginning have disposed soccer in the awkward position of being somewhat un-American.

However, discussion regarding soccer has grown ever louder in recent years, and many are often debating how long--or if at all--soccer will be able to reach a popularity level in our country that compares to its attention in the rest of the world, or at least enough to be considered one of our "major" sports (right now generally considered to be football (NFL), baseball (MLB), basketball (NBA), and hockey (NHL)). The U.S. men's national team sparked much of the most recent discussion when they toppled world #1 Spain in the Confederation's Cup semifinal and jumping to a 2-0 lead over perennial power Brazil in the following final match, albeit eventually conceding three scores in the second half to lose.

I argue, however, that the recent climb of soccer actually started much sooner--in 1994 to be exact. You see, in 1994, the United States played host to the grandest sporting competition in the entire world, the FIFA World Cup. Part of the US Soccer Federation's deal with FIFA in getting the bid to host the cup was a promise to establish a major league in the country for the sport. The following year, Major League Soccer kicked off its inaugural season, and after a few problems early on, the league is now growing astronomically, adding expansion teams on an annual basis (and two new franchises next year!) and attracting more and more world-class players. In 1999, the United States women's national team won the whole shebang in the FIFA Women's World Cup, for the first time giving the United States a title as best in the world in soccer--a distinction that some sports analysts claim the men's team needs in order to really establish any mass-market interest. In the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan, the U.S. men's team achieved their best World Cup finish in the nation's history, not only making it out of the group stage but also winning in the Round of 16 to reach the quarterfinal, losing to eventual runners-up Germany. The 2006 outing was very flat, but after the 2009 Confedertaion's Cup performance, the United States has established itself as a team on the rise. The future looks particularly bright when you consider how young the national team is right now, anchored by the 24 year-old Landon Donovan and budding young potential superstars like Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley. The U.S. is pushing to host another World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, which would likely boost the sport's profile even higher. As for myself, I first truly got hooked on the sport during Germany's 2006 World Cup.

So, I urge you sports fans of America, give soccer a look despite all your predjudices against it. We already watch the World Cup every four years and when our national team does well. Yes, it's hard to follow the best club teams when they play all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, but go watch your local MLS team and get a vibe for the high fan energy at those games. 2 billion people can't be wrong. The MLS is on the rise and truthfully, its only a matter of time before the league is one of the best in the world. It might take twenty years, but America has shown just how willing it is to slavishly follow sports, and multiple ones at that.