Why doesn't soccer have the fan base here?

While I was disappointed in how the U.S. played at times I thought they played very well against the now World Cup Champions. Why is it that soccer still lags greatly behind football, baseball, and basketball in this country? When I lived in Mexico I saw pick-up games of soccer all the time, no coach, no refs, just playing. Similar to what we would see in big-3 here. Might be a pointless question...I have a lot of them...but do you think?

Americans equate action with scoring. Even a lot of baseball fans don't like 1-0 or 2-1 games. :shrug:

in a factory, into a fine powdery substance.

This leaves most Americans unable to concentrate on fast moving sports like soccer or hockey, instead they have dificulty concentrating on a bunch of guys driving in a circle for 4 hours. Or how about the grueling snail's pace of excitement in baseball. *yawn* American football isn't so bad...

Personally I love soccer and hockey, though I am, in general not much of a sports fan. Though I did watch the Magic the Gathering championship on ESPN2 and if they showed chess tournaments I would watch those.

It ain't cause I don't know it cause I played it in the adult rec leagues. Fun to play but a snooze to watch.

And too often, it comes down to some player taking a lawn dive and drawing a penalty shot. Game over.

And breaking ties with a shootout? How about if all baseball games tied after nine innings were decided by a home run derby?

And breaking ties with a shootout? How about if all baseball games tied after nine innings were decided by a home run derby?

It would vastly improve baseball IMO. Crikey, Cricket is more interesting than baseball.

As far as loving hockey but not soccer, I mean, dude.. they are pretty much the exact same game except one is on ice with sticks and the other is on grass with no hands allowed.

Well and hockey has the whole fistfighting/checking into the boards thing.

Baseball and Football though are a few hours of commercials with a few minutes of game.

Hockey is so much faster and you are allowed to hit people. In soccer, someone so much as looks at someone crosseyed that person will immediately drop to the ground clutching his knee and waving for the referee.

It's just my personal opinion but give me American football, basketball and Hockey.

and it's just my opinion as well that hockey and soccer are both fast paced games and more interesting (to me) than baseball or football.

Though I do watch football semi-frequently.

but they are NOT the same game. Though the general point of both games are similar, the resemblance ends there.

It always seemed strange to me that almost all kids play soccer, but so few even follow the game once they grow up. We've got a country full of "soccer moms" who would never consider watching a professional soccer game - dads too.

It's peculiar isn't it?

appreciate the strategy of a good defense...But I also love a quick, explosive, intelligent offense, as most do.

American attention span unfortunately is geared to a high scoring offensive game only.

Not to mention the three big sports (MLB, NFL & NBA) have the year (season's) locked up. (Also why the NHL is having a tough time).

1) Diving and constant bitching for fouls
2) Boring play culminated by a shot 20 feet above the goal
3) No scoring
4) Games are being determined by the referee awarding penalty shots
5) Stoppage time... WTF is up with that? Nobody knows when the game is really going to end
6) Offsides on every other play
7) Way too many players on the field at once

it seemed that the game would be improved by reducing the number of players. Too much defense and not enough ball movement. Not only were they not scoring, they were not even getting shots at the goal.

Each team would have to decide between attacking and defending, plus at times both balls would be near a single goal, really improving the excitement.

even want to try to indulge themselves in a new professional sport. American sports owners sure don't want nor encourage it - Is NASCAR really a sport?

However, with all the kids, boys and girls, playing soccer for sport, you may have a point, because they choose other sports as they move on.

Years ago it started to catch on a bit when incredible players & personalities like Pele and George Best were playing.

it must suck.

The rest of the world seems to disagree somehow.

I am surprised that despite a whole generation of young Americans growing up playing that there is not more of a fan base here and more talented Americans in the worldwide pro scene.

I didn't have time to see most of the matches, but I really enjoyed watching them when I did.

I played both soccer and tennis as a kid, and I think it makes the sport more interesting to me because of that. I understand (mostly) what the players are doing, and how good they really are.

smaller field.

The large field makes the action slower, I think.

Baseball, basketball and football.

All three were invented right here, so it makes sense that they'd be popular here -- and not for any nationalistic reasons, either. It's just logical that a sport's popularity will be greater in areas where it has ben around longer. With so many American sports competing with soccer for fan attention, it's not too surprising that soccer has taken a back seat.

1) Too many ties. And penalty kicks are no way to decide a champion. (And with me being a 2nd generation Italian-American and Italy having just won the World Cup that way, I STILL feel that's true.)

2) Too little action as compared to the entire game. In soccer, too many teams focus on defense, hoping for one moment of brilliance. It's like the NBA mid-90's, with the Heat and Knicks stalemating each other. For a comparison, look at what happened to hockey during the neutral zone trap era, and it's always like that in soccer.

3) Too difficult to casually follow. There's few stats to track, which means it's nearly impossible to not watch a game and find out how your favorite player did last night. Guys like Cannavaro - their efforts can't be quanitified and unless they're absolutely heroic on a particular play, they won't get mentioned, even if they played brilliantly.

4) Lack of quality soccer between World Cups. If you're an American, the most you have to look forward to is MLS and maybe, MAYBE a few good club games if you're lucky enough to have a satellite dish or good cable provider and premium service. I'd love to follow Serie A... but I'd have to pay out the ass for premium cable, and then the broadcasts might or might not be in English. Sorry, but you have to be hardcore to do that.

Those are the major ones, and they have little to do with Americans being "ignorant" or "lazy". I happen to absolutely love watching World Cup soccer, but there's little to satiate me in between. I'm hoping international clubs become more accessible in the near future. It'll be very good for the game in America.

1. We adopted the other sports (baseball, football, and basketball) first. At a certain point there is no room for any "new" sport regardless of how great it is.
2. Americans' relative lack of interest in international sporting competitions, especially after the Cold War. Americans just don't care that much about their international athletes (Lance Armstrong being a big exception). Gold medalists in other countries become superstars and celebrities, yet in America you never hear their names mentioned unless the Olympics are going on. Soccer, more than any other sport, is driven by and defined by international competitions, and currently, I would bet, that at least 90% of American sports fans would rather see their local professional sports team win the league championship rather than see the US win anything at an international level.

I heard Keith Olbermann say this on ESPN radio and i agree:

If baseball and soccer had dropped from the mind of an inventor TODAY, and there were no tradition for the sport in either the U.S. or in Europe, neither sport would capture the imagination. The tradition for soccer in Europe and baseball here is what sustains the interest.

Basketball, football, NASCAR, etc. are 20th century, rather than 19th century sports, and would have caught on, just like they did, IN THE MODERN MASS COMMUNICATIONS ERA!

So, soccer does not catch on here, because there are enough sports to care about, the the traditions there are already set!
The Professor