Even this championship, held every four years, has become a polarizing issue in America. Soccer has been growing steadily in popularity over the last 30 years. More young people are playing or have played youth soccer than at any point in our nation's history. Yet to a substantial plurality of Americans, soccer remains a "foreign sport." American football with its helmets, pads, powerful hits and painful tackles is still considered by many to be the only real type of football. So I found myself watching World Cup games because our sons were very interested in them. The United States team was fortunate enough to make it out of the group of death (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) but lost in its first knock out game to Belgium. When I mentioned watching the World Cup to a few of my adult friends, I got very mixed reactions. Most of them were negative. "I don't watch that crap", "Soccer is so boring"', and "I only watch sports where something happens." These are some of the replies I encountered at the at the mere mention of viewing World Cup matches.
What is the explanation? I have no idea. Speculating is what I do, though. I seemed to detect some type of correlation between Real Americanism ( i.e., conservatism) and lack of interest in the World Cup. Who knows? I have to admit that I never played soccer competitively - only in gym classes. But I have to say that these men are tremendous athletes. I do not fully understand soccer strategy but I do recognize skills such as speed, agility and the ability to make good passes. I have heard on Twitter and elsewhere that we in America pretend to like soccer every four years when the World Cup is contested. I see the humor in this, but I think it is becoming less accurate a description as time passes. More and more people from countries with a rich soccer tradition are moving to the United States. I am guessing this will mean that over time, the US men's team will make it to the semifinals or even the finals of the World Cup.
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