The USA, Soccer and The World Cup

[DraftPickle]

The USA and soccer a bit of a no-show for most Americans in the 20th Century. However in this World Cup the USA has been put through the soccer ringer, you've had wrongly disallowed goals, last minute saviour goals, actually playing well and getting into the final elite 16.

The Question to all you Americans out there, has this World Cup specifically perked your interest in the possibly the greatest sport ever, or do you feel soccer is getting bigger in the USA...because you team is class, and this is coming from an English guy...

EDIT: Yes it is FOOTBALL, but we gotta start em off easy, I'd like to see what happen if the USA got into FOOTBALL they make good spectacle

 

[Lord George]

Oh don't give in to their stupid terms, football foo-ttttt-baaaaaa-lll, not soccer, soccer sounds like a lamp made my Ikea.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Football. It's football. And dude you're english why are you calling soccer! I doubt they have has much interest as other countries.

 

[Slaanax]

I'll pay attention through the world cup, but once its over I won't care. MLS here is not very good. Plus Football, Hockey, and Basketball inte.rest me more so its way down on the list.

 

[Deofuta]

SOCCER has become very, very popular this year it seems. Many of my friends are playing close attention, as well as my little brother.

U-S-A!

 

[Pariah87]

As another English guy, well done USA, we thought we'd finished top untill the commentator uttered those terrible words "update from Pretoria, the USA have just scored against Algeria".

With the year you guys have had, you should perhaps finally start to take note of your team. American Football and Baseball are all well and good (personally I love them) but if you're the only country that really plays them, all you're cheering for is yourselves...against yourselves.

The tournament reaches the best phase now, knockout time, where anything can happen. I'm personally hoping the USA, England and Uruguay do well.

 

[Jark212]

No, Soccer (football for you over the pond) is certainly not growing, and if it is it will only be temporary...

 

[DraftPickle]

If enough watch it I can see the USA taking to football, nothing, not even the Olympics (big shout I know) comes close to replicating the tension of the knockout stages and the infamous penalty shootout, which for the record you Americans YOU NEVER MENTION TO AN ENGLISH PERSON...ever

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

The Question to all you Americans out there, has this World Cup specifically perked your interest in the possibly the greatest sport ever, or do you feel soccer is getting bigger in the USA...because you team is class, and this is coming from an English guy...

Between our fine showing thus far in the World Cup, and the growing of our national league (called Major League Soccer), I think it's starting to grow somewhat. It's got something of a niche appeal, but packing 30 thousand fans into a stadium for the newest team (my local one, the Philadelphia Union) is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

This Football (i know the actual terms i'm just being silly and stupid) as you call it is merely a big fad in the America because we are on a major health kick where everything has to taste good and be good for the body. But like all things it will pass and we will go back to our old habits. The vuvuzela (or however the hell it's spelled and pronounced) will remain in the hearts (and ears) of everyone who watched the sport live and on television.

 

[Tr3mbl3Tr3mbl3]

As a proud US citizen, I'm surprised that I've actually taken an interest in the World Cup. While I haven't actually watched a single match (that would require me to trade in my X-box and "cast of Les Miserables" t-shirt) I have followed it online and in the news. We actually tied against England and the whole world knows we won that other match if not for that ridiculous ref call.

 

[DraftPickle]

The Question to all you Americans out there, has this World Cup specifically perked your interest in the possibly the greatest sport ever, or do you feel soccer is getting bigger in the USA...because you team is class, and this is coming from an English guy...

Between our fine showing thus far in the World Cup, and the growing of our national league (called Major League Soccer), I think it's starting to grow somewhat. It's got something of a niche appeal, but packing 30 thousand fans into a stadium for the newest team (my local one, the Philadelphia Union) is nothing to sneeze at.

See this is what I like about Americans getting involved, that "niche" thing, Europe gave you the extra ordinary sport that is Rally Racing, and you took into this whole bright, colourful, loud spectacle, you lot are good at shit like that, FOOTBALL could benefit from some spice, but let us lot handle the rules yeah?

 

[DraftPickle]

As a proud US citizen, I'm surprised that I've actually taken an interest in the World Cup. While I haven't actually watched a single match (that would require me to trade in my X-box and "cast of Les Miserables" t-shirt) I have followed it online and in the news. We actually tied against England and the whole world knows we won that other match if not for that ridiculous ref call.

Football/Soccer draws you in so ridiculously fast doesn't it? Watching World Cup games with friends and beer is the pinnacle of summer, I kid you not

 

[Soxafloppin]

The USA have outperformed England in my opinion so far, there doing well. Glad to see it.

Im from Northern Ireland and watch English football more than anything else i wouldn't mind seeing them win.

But im just the kind of guy that prefers to see the best team win, unless its United of course, but were talking about the WC here!

 

[Pimppeter2]

Being a Greek in the US, I've always loved football. Its nice to see that the US is getting more of it.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

Oh fuck, are we REALLY gonna get into the "no it's no soccer, it's football" bullshit? Congrats, we call it differently, as long as we know what we're talking about, who the fuck cares?

OT: I'm American and I've been glued to as many matches as I can watch. Yeah, as a country we might not care half as much as Mexico (or something) but we do care a lot more than a good chunk of you Europeans seem to give us credit for.

Frankly, I'm shocked and excited at how well we've been doing so far in the WC.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I'm enjoying the World Cup immensely.

That said, here are some things that really suck about football...

- off-sides calls nullify roughly 95% of all breakaways
- points system has teams playing for ties instead of wins
- diving is rampant, and the guys who don't do it don't get calls
- refs call the game completely different inside the box
- players manipulate game time due to limited structure

The game would be far more entertaining if they switched to zones/lines for off-sides, implemented a point system that consistently motivates both teams to score, and tightened up the structure and officiating.

On the plus side, I can't stress how much fun it is to escape the score-commercial-kickoff-commercial bullshit that has ruined NFL broadcasts.

 

[TheGameXXVII]

after the world cup it will go back to every american saying "we don't care for Football, we watch real sports like *insert crappy american sport here*", like it has always been in America, and no amount of David Beckhams and Landon Donovans are gonna make Football popular in America.

 

[firemark]

I think I've only missed a few games this year! It's been a pretty bizarre tournament and as an American my emotions were f-d up this past week with all of the "odd" calls against the US team. I've played football for years now and I love the fact that you don't ever get replays. Do I find the calls made bogus? Yes. The disallowed goal against Algeria was a fair call. The sideline ref thought he was offsides and he made a decision. However, the disallowed goal that would have allowed the US to beat Slovenia should at least be justified. No one knows what the actual call was or if he was just making up for a missed call earlier. I don't think the goal should be awarded, just explain why it didn't count.

So to get to the question you originally asked.

The Question to all you Americans out there, has this World Cup specifically perked your interest in the possibly the greatest sport ever, or do you feel soccer is getting bigger in the USA...because you team is class, and this is coming from an English guy...

I've been interested before this, but I've become so much more emotionally invested in the team because of the ways they've won/tied and the skill they have shown throughout the tournament. I really really hope it increases football's (soccer's) reputation here because I for one hate "American football"! You don't even use your feet?!

 

[Thedayrecker]

after the world cup it will go back to every american saying "we don't care for Football, we watch real sports like *insert crappy american sport here*", like it has always been in America, and no amount of David Beckhams and Landon Donovans are gonna make Football popular in America.

Wrong. Americans call it soccer. We'll go back to saying "We don't care for Soccer, we watch real sports etc."

But in all seriousness, I've always liked soccer (football). However, I only watch international and foreign games due to the MLS being (for the most part) garbage.

And on that note, I doubt that soccer (football) will catch on anytime in the near future. In fact most of my friends who are watching the World Cup, are only watching because they like watching us beat foreigners, and while I have been rooting for the United States to win, I haven't been expecting them to.

So far, they've exceeded my expectations.