Why is America the only country in the world that hates soccer?

Originally Posted by dland24

Its not that we hate soccer because the United States isnt any good at it. We won World Cups in 1991 and 1999. Its that the sport itself is boring.
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are you serious man?
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We played in 1998 and got 32nd place out of 32 teams
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there are many other sports here to compete with soccer..Is baseball dominating latin america or is it still baseball?
 
Originally Posted by 951guero

Originally Posted by dland24

Its not that we hate soccer because the United States isnt any good at it. We won World Cups in 1991 and 1999. Its that the sport itself is boring.
Click to expand...
indifferent.gif




are you serious man?
roll.gif


We played in 1998 and got 32nd place out of 32 teams
alien.gif
Click to expand...
He conveniently left out the part where it was the women's teams that won those world cups.
 
Originally Posted by 951guero

Originally Posted by dland24

Its not that we hate soccer because the United States isnt any good at it. We won World Cups in 1991 and 1999. Its that the sport itself is boring.
Click to expand...
indifferent.gif




are you serious man?
roll.gif


We played in 1998 and got 32nd place out of 32 teams
alien.gif
Click to expand...


Stoneface me or laugh all you want. You are either stupid or sexist. Pick one.
 
The reason professional soccer hasn't caught on here in the US is because the MLS is a horrible product. How can anyone honestly enjoy watching thatquality of play after having seen games from Europe. The only way to pique interest in the sport is to slowly build up from the grassroots level and somehowdevelop talent here at home that can compete with the best players in the world. This is also another reason why the World Cup is so important because ifAmerica can show ourselves to be able to stand up against the other best players of the world, interest in the sport will naturally build.
 
Maybe it just me but when i played for a year when i was 12 it was the most boring thing in the world, and watching it is EVEN MORE BORING!
 
Beckham did close to nothing to increase the popularity of soccer in the U.S. It was a stupid idea. No single man is going to make soccer popular in the U.S.Neither would Ronaldo, who unlike Beckham is currently a dominant soccer player. They would have to get the 10 best players currently playing in Europe andscatter them around MLS for some serious effect to be made. And not even that would work unless the MLS people learned to market their league better.

And yeah, part of the reason why soccer isn't popular is because U.S. hasn't won. On the other hand, U.S. won the women's World Cup and women'ssoccer is popular.
 
soccer is too expensive for kids to play. anyone who played as a child knows that. once you get past ayso and want to play on a club team its serious money tobe traveling around all the time. thats when most kids stop playing and focus on other sports.
 
Originally Posted by Bo55Diesel

For a casual observer, soccer is not terribly engaging because many (myself included) don't appreciate the subtleties of the game. Due to football, baseball, and basketball programs being so prolific, we grow up participating in those sports and we understand the complexities of the games much better. I read somewhere that huge numbers of American kids participate in youth soccer programs pre-middle school, but lots of them drop it and go with the big three sports from that point forward. As such, they don't develop the advanced understanding of a game that comes to you as you begin to play at a higher level.

I believe that explains why I can watch a baseball game that ends up 2-1 and enjoy it; I appreciate how the skill of the pitcher and fielders combine to hold the offenses of the teams in check.

The same goes for football. While some might disagree, I find games between two teams with great defenses to be very interesting because I can watch the game from the point-of-view of a person who understands defensive alignments, blitz packages, and coverage schemes. If I knew that stuff about soccer from a player's POV the games would probably interest me a great deal more.
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Best post in this thread
 
For a casual observer, soccer is not terribly engaging because many (myself included) don't appreciate the subtleties of the game. Due to football, baseball, and basketball programs being so prolific, we grow up participating in those sports and we understand the complexities of the games much better. I read somewhere that huge numbers of American kids participate in youth soccer programs pre-middle school, but lots of them drop it and go with the big three sports from that point forward. As such, they don't develop the advanced understanding of a game that comes to you as you begin to play at a higher level.

I believe that explains why I can watch a baseball game that ends up 2-1 and enjoy it; I appreciate how the skill of the pitcher and fielders combine to hold the offenses of the teams in check.

The same goes for football. While some might disagree, I find games between two teams with great defenses to be very interesting because I can watch the game from the point-of-view of a person who understands defensive alignments, blitz packages, and coverage schemes. If I knew that stuff about soccer from a player's POV the games would probably interest me a great deal more.
Good post. Also, everyone says "soccer is going to catch on, just wait", but that has been said since the 70s. Yes, tons of kids playit, but they have for years and yet they get older and turn to different sports. Things just haven't changed, and I don't see it happening. Not a bigdeal, you know how the U.S. likes to roll, always gotta be a bit different.
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Also, if soccer does ever catch on, I really hope we don't have the fanatical fans that other places have and have the games get out of hand with violence.I hate hearing about all those stories of violence and racism that occurs with some of the clubs/fans. Mob mentality, scary. (Yes I know that this is not allsoccer fans)
 
I love watching the world cup and I even root for America lol...I remember watching the world cup final on a flight back from NYC in 06' and EVERYONE onthe flight was watching it...the plane atmosphere was electric
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No doubt, sometimes the national fever hits and it is cool. I can definitely see how people get it into it, just doesn't happen here very often
 
I really do find it surprising the sport isn't picking up more heat here. I love watching soccer, but I'll admit I don't generally watch much MLSas compared to how much I'll watch the european leagues when they're on. I definitely watch our international games if I see them, or during the WC.

I try to convince some of my friends to watch and they mostly just respond that it's too boring. Even kids I know who played soccer in high schooldon't necessarily care all that much about watching soccer. So I don't know what the problem is exactly.

Soccer seems like a great fit for american sports fans - it's one where you don't have to have your eyes glued to the field, you can carry on aconversation and drink beers during the game and still know what's going on. I just think a lot of it is what other people have mentioned, about peoplebeing stubborn here and choosing to reject it because they already have sports they watch and like.
 
The biggest reason soccer isn't popular in the US is because we have a league thats not even top 10 in the world, you compare that to the fact that all ofour other major leagues are the highest level of that sport. England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Scotland, The Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina,and Mexico all have better leagues then the MLS. Even if you put the bet 3 teams in the MLS in the second division of the big 3 countries, i dont think theywould gain promotion.

I really, really want soccer to be big in this country, even if it just gets the coverage the NHL gets, but the only way that will happen in though the WorldCup. the US HAS TO AT LEAST make it to a semi final of a world cup in order for this country to stand up and notice. It will not happen through the MLS for thesimple fact that our best American players will not stay here if they have the chance to go play in England, Italy, or Spain, there is simply too much moneyand too much exposure for them if they can be a success in one of the big 3 leagues. And the MLS will never get a top player in the world to come play here inthe PRIME OF HIS CAREER (i'm not talking about a Beckham).

Look at all the names you hear linked to the MLS, Beckham, Zidane, Luis Figo...all these guys would of been great for the MLS 6-10 Years ago...but not now. Wewill never get a Messi, Pato, Kaka, or any elite level player in the MLS during their prime, so why would i watch the MLS when i could turn on FSC or GolTV andsee the English Premier league, Italian Serie A, Spain's La Liga, or the German Bundesliga?
 
but the only way that will happen in though the World Cup. the US HAS TO AT LEAST make it to a semi final of a world cup in order for this country to stand up and notice.
I don't see this changing anything though - sure, people would care during the actual world cup a bit more... but much like the olympics,people don't care about that stuff while it's not going on and it's not going to change all that much afterwards.

Americans are fare-weather fans to the utmost - they only want to watch if we are the best.

And it's hard to establish a top-10 league here when the other countries have such a jumpstart on us. There's only so much fandom to go around, youcan't just keep creating leagues and expect them all to flourish like the top leagues.. and you can't just uproot a top league to take it's placewhen there's so much history and ties people have to teams (americans that love teams in other countries in top leagues).

The fact of the matter is - a pro league here in the states will probably never take off all that well while there are so many other countries with greatleagues already running. That's the same reason the MLB or NFL or NBA will be hard to uproot - the best players want to play in these leagues, no matterwhere they're from. And fans from those countries want to watch these leagues, regardless. People want to see the best leagues in sports generally.

So while a world cup run might help garner general interest, i don't see it causing an american league to ever flourish here. we just missed the boat onsoccer as far as i'm concerned, and the best we can hope for is more coverage of european leagues in this country, and hopefully more americans startplaying over there.
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^ i agree, i'm not saying a WC run would def. make soccer popular here, but it seems like our only chance for American soccer specifically to grow, becauseit WILL NOT happen though the MLS. and yes, our best chance for soccer to to gain popularity in this country is too start giving more publicity to the topEuropean leagues that way all the casual fans can see what top level soccer looks like more often then every 4 years at a World Cup. Like i said i really wantit too happen, but as long as espn is dedicating hour long programing to fantasy football/baseball instead of maybe an hour show once a week too show Europeanhighlights, soccer wont grow here.
 
The funniest thing to me was in the last World cup America played great and I think made it to the quarter finals was a huge game and they had an English newsreporter in the US stopping people asking them why they wernt watching the big game they all looked at him like he had 2 heads having no idea wat he wastalking about.

To the guy who said England has nothing but soccer and no need to cover anything else are u kiddin me we have alot of sports that we are great at and get hugecoverage here
Boxing
Athletics
Formula 1
Golf
Cricket
Rugby
Tennis

Soccer in America is like basketball,baseball and ice hockey in the UK those that love it find it very hard to follow the sport and get into the sport becauseof the small amount of coverage nationally weve recently had NBA coverage put down to 1 live game a week at 2am and college basketball,MLB and NHL is onlyshown on a special subscription channel like America has subscription soccer channels.

A sport being under the radar though is not always a bad thing because kids who love the sport will be more hungry for success and to make it somehow anywaythey can like all the Americans playing here in England and Europe the sad thing is that no matter how well they play they dont get the coverage n respecttheyve earned.America beat Mexico 2-0 thats a huge win Mexico are a huge soccer nation and yet I doubt many in America were to impressed unless there die hardsoccer fans.

Peace
Scottie
 
It takes too much effort to appreciate and follow. Among other things.

Americans don't hate it. Look at the term "soccer mom". Tons of families have kids who grow up playing it.

However, there's no pro version. MLS is new and not that good. So, we get distracted by other sports like basketball and football and baseball.

We have a shorter and shorter attention span. Basketball is great for that cuz there's constant scoring. Football has pretty high scoring as well, plusit's violent and we all love violence. Baseball is lucky it's considered our national sport, but if you remember, during the steroid era and all thehomeruns, that's when it really started getting popular.

We already have a pro league that requires a lot of effort and knowledge to follow and appreciate yet is still low scoring: hockey. Hockey is clearly #4 outof the big 4. Soccer has the same problem as hockey, but the pro league is way newer so it hasn't had years to build up fans.
 
Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Beckham did close to nothing to increase the popularity of soccer in the U.S. It was a stupid idea.
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The MLS and Galaxy did make a ton of money off him so you'd have to call the move a success in that respect.
 
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