'Muricans

On a pretty personal level, the increased interest in football in America has been pretty incredible.

Sometimes it's as simple as seeing some of these people around me who have never played and hardly watch soccer pick up FIFA. They get interested in the sport and watch it. It's great to see people around me watching the World Cup- and not just the USA games.

Perhaps it's because I've gotten older and people have matured, but the amount of acceptance the sport gets around me has increased tremendously-- and this is small town Wisconsin in a place where American football is the big thing.

All it needs is time, and no, it's not just the "suits" who care.

I hope USA continues to improve, the rivalry with mexico and usa will both grow and encourage each other to better heights.

BartFargo wrote:I have this theory that as more generations of Americans die off, the popularity of soccer (futbol) will increase to match the rest of the world.  It seems to me that the younger people here in the USA like soccer.  Of course it may just be that I live close to the Mexican border.  

On the other hand, what can you say about a nation that watches NASCAR -- and likes it?

I agree...it can be said for Canada too although we are much further behind in terms of being able to compete at the highest level ....and we love watching hockey not nascar

the older generation is stuck in there ways and what they love, for the younger internet generation it has never been easier to access foreign leagues, plus this younger generation is growing up in a time when North America has it's own legitimate domestic league.

Soccer/Football has always had high # of enrolment for youths in both Canada and United States (mainly because it is one of the cheapest sports to sign your child up for) but kids have always phased out as they get older finding more popular sports that there friends were playing or they saw on TV more...so with this younger generation having easier access to all this football content you will definitely see youths continuing there interest in the game for longer and therefore seeing more taking steps to reaching the highest levels.

USA will definitely be a world force within then next 15 years I believe

Canada we have lots of work too do, youth level is a mess in terms of development paths right now our Association has set out a new "youth development plan" recently but if if works nobody will see any results for at least 20 years, our great hope currently is our 3 MLS teams and there youth academies...plus the fact we have a substantially smaller population then the US of only 34 million...despite being a larger country put's us at a disadvantage to our neighbours to the south right away

our women's team is pretty good tho! and we have maybe the best women's player depending who your talking to, so we are doing something right at least

What BartFargo mentioned is actually more of an inevitability.

The current football-loving Millenial generation will see to it that this becomes an immensely popular sport here for future generations. As these millenials have children, they will pass on their love of the game to that generation, who will do the same on down the line. And by the time those Millenials are the same age as our current baby boomers (the generation who are the most indifferent the sport currently), the sport will be firmly entrenched in American roots as well as history. I don't think there's much of a question. This is just going to happen, especially when you look at all of the current key indicators.

By the way, how comes that you have such great Women teams? Is it because American Football or basketball are noch really popular women sports and football is more or less what team sport is left over?

In the US, women play soccer from childhood up through high school and college where most boys stop playing in junior high school, while they continue to play American football, baseball, basketball, and hockey.  It's a peer pressure thing for now.

Now this is going to sound real crazy -- because it is crazy . . . .

There are many older Americans that equate soccer with communism. From the 1930s through to the 1960s, this was a very common belief. If you do an internet search with "soccer and communism" you will find many, many articles on this subject.

What can I say? The USA went through a "red scare" and there are some aspects of it still alive today. It's shameful, really.

Well, I guess they only need to take a look at the Premier League, then they should realise that it is actually capitalism at its best (or worst)

rwo power wrote:By the way, how comes that you have such great Women teams? Is it because American Football or basketball are noch really popular women sports and football is more or less what team sport is left over?

I think there is a few factors. I could be totally wrong but I'm going to give it a go anyways.

Basically, I think that while our whole highschool/college sports system is backwards for men, as for whatever guys do choose to play "soccer" lose out on years of proper development. I mean here most kids don't even begin their professional careers or sign with a MLS team till they are 20, or 21+. However, I think that doesn't matter as much when it comes to women, because I think the highschools/colleges offer a ton of opportunities for women to learn and play the sports, where as I don't think schools in other countries have programs or opportunities for women quite on the same level.

And whats weird is that our top four team sports are American football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. 3 out of the 4 women basically can't/aren't allowed to play due to either lack of interest or sort of a strange social tradition. Baseball is a popular sport with girls in elementary school and on the youth level, but once they hit 14 basically they have to switch over to softball. Women for the most part don't play hockey, they play field hockey, and there are really no opportunities at any age or level for women to play American football. The only time I've seen or heard of women play it in an organized fashion ever is "the Lingerie Bowl" which is just   

So basically I think a lot of women choose "soccer" because its is popular at the youth level, and as they get older their is still a consistent chance to play unlike other sports where they are forced to switch/choose something else.

Hope that made some sense

your Women's Hockey team is the 2nd best in the world after Canada's...so women do play hockey.

3 time silver medalists at the past 3 winter olympics, losing to Canada each time

There's no shame in losing to the Canucks at hockey, maple syrup production, and flannel wearing. Just like there's no shame in losing to the USA at basketball, gridiron, or obesity rates. Or there's no shame in losing to the Aussies in living near deadly, angry creatures of all shapes and sizes that want to kill you in hundreds of horrible ways.

B-Mac wrote:your Women's Hockey team is the 2nd best in the world after Canada's...so women do play hockey.

3 time silver medalists at the past 3 winter olympics, losing to Canada each time

Well sure, I know they do on some level. But are there really any womens hockey leagues at all? Or college programs? It is ridiculously obscure from what I understand. I'd say most of the time if a girl goes to a certain high school or college and wants to play ice hockey, she's sol.

I know, i just thought i'd clear up that your women's team is quite good...arguably the best in the world they win a lot of the world championships each year...but we just get it done at the olympics.

VendettaRed07 wrote:

B-Mac wrote:your Women's Hockey team is the 2nd best in the world after Canada's...so women do play hockey.

3 time silver medalists at the past 3 winter olympics, losing to Canada each time

Well sure, I know they do on some level. But are there really any womens hockey leagues at all? Or college programs? It is ridiculously obscure from what I understand. I'd say most of the time if a girl goes to a certain high school or college and wants to play ice hockey, she's sol.

depends where you live, a lot of school's in the north and north east have BIG programs, and a lot of those programs are full of Canadian and American girls. Boston, Minnesota, Northwestern, Harvard, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State etc

There is a women's professional league, but obviously it isn't well known to the general population...like most women's professional sport's leagues...really aside from Tennis which women's sport is well watched on television

B-Mac wrote:I know, i just thought i'd clear up that your women's team is quite good...arguably the best in the world they win a lot of the world championships each year...but we just get it done at the olympics.

Well, the US women *football* team did win the World Championship twice and not only the Olympics. Which reminds me, our gals somehow never really had big success at the Olympics for whatever reason.

@VendettaRed07

Thank you for your exhaustive reply. Interestingly, in Germany, American Football and baseball are virtually unexistant for men, too, and basketball is just a fringe sport (although it looks as if there are attempts to make it a bit more popular recently - Dirk Nowitzki's success in the US helps a bit).

So from the "summer sports", mainly football is where the people gather, although we always have a large number of people who get involved with winter sports here (skiing, biathlon, luge, bobsleigh, ski jumping etc - funnily not so much ice hockey, though).

@RedOranje - Sorry can't quote from my work browser.

I meant "gay" in the American colloquial sense of the word. To mean "Bad", "lame" etc..

It will be upsetting to see America finally become genuine World Champions. Anyone who thinks Spain have been arrogant, we haven't seen anything til the U.S do it.

Sorry if I set the homophobe radar off.

and the english wouldn't be arrogant if they won it?
who wouldn't be after winning, dumb reason to think it's bad.

Peccadillo wrote:@RedOranje - Sorry can't quote from my work browser.

I meant "gay" in the American colloquial sense of the word. To mean "Bad", "lame" etc..

It will be upsetting to see America finally become genuine World Champions. Anyone who thinks Spain have been arrogant, we haven't seen anything til the U.S do it.

Sorry if I set the homophobe radar off.

That's what I thought. We've previously made it quite clear that using such terms in the derogatory and pejorative sense is not allowed. Please avoid doing so again in the future.

Well it was a satirical dig at america for coining the phrase in that context in the first place... so I don't really see how it should be viewed as offensive to anyone except maybe mildly to an American?

But sure, if people get offended I guess..

@ Donuts.. in fact England is often pretty self-deprecating..

No need to get sensitive about it. Take it as a compliment, I am saying I am scared of America getting too involved in football because if and when they do they will be hard to beat.

If America wins the world cup does the rest of the world have to call the sport soccer for 4 years?

httredskins47 wrote:If America wins the world cup does the rest of the world have to call the sport soccer for 4 years?

What a luck we call it "Fußball" in any case

I had to look it up . . .

According to wiki, the word "soccer" was coined by England:

The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford "-er" abbreviation of the word "association".

Yes, "soccer" is indeed a word with clear English origins. The New York Times recently had an article about this ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/sports/worldcup/with-world-cup-in-headlines-a-debate-continues-on-what-to-call-the-game.html?hpw&rref=sports&_r=0

People (including some Americans who don't know better) in recent decades have assumed that "soccer" was just a case of American arrogance and exceptionalist thinking, but this happens to be a case where that doesn't apply. Historical circumstances just broke down the most-used name of the game differently. There isn't any shame in using the word, to be honest. If I'm speaking to other Americans, I say "soccer." If I'm addressing a more international group and the context is clear, I usually say "football."


... I think that the rising popularity of the sport in the US has to do with a few reasons, which have already been touched upon here. One, growing population of immigrants, often from countries that love football. Two, WC/European matches are often a great excuse for day drinking (and virtually any decent sized town or city in America has great spots for watching matches). Three, vid streaming and better TV options have given Americans unprecedented access to see the game at its highest levels. Four, lots of American kids now grow up playing, to various degrees.

'soccer' is derived from 'association football' right.

still, whatever the etymology, the fact that it' common usage only in the US is still a matter of, if not arrogance, at least of being out of tune with the rest of the world.

or maybe it's preferred usage is just a historically formed fact and it really doesn't matter that much, lol

Hapless_Hans wrote:'soccer' is derived from 'association football' right.

still, whatever the etymology, the fact that it' common usage only in the US is still a matter of, if not arrogance, at least of being out of tune with the rest of the world.

There's still the problem of American football being called "football".  As much as I wish it, American football isn't disappearing soon, so when discussing football here it's almost mandatory to use the term "soccer". A lot of us here dislike the term "soccer" as much as the rest of the world does.