Thanks for the post. There is a pretty good soccer culture here it just gets overshadowed by the other sports. I was amazed at how many people had no idea we made it to the quarter finals in 2002 and had it not been for a missed handball call and header off the bar we would have been in the semis against S. Korea, a team we could have beat to get into the final.
The biggest problem we have here is that most of our top athletes don't play soccer, they go into other sports. Had Lebron James, Barry Sanders, and many other stars of "American" sports grown up in a soccer culture there is a good chance that would have been their sport of choice and we would have our own Messi somewhere on the world stage. Many gifted athletes would excel at soccer if that is what they grew up playing instead of basketball/football/baseball.
Association football (aka soccer) pre-dates American football which was itself based in part on both it and rugby so it was American football that stole the name, not the other way around.
I have pretty much stopped watching almost all American sports. Part of the beauty of the game is just playing it, not just scoring. I also love that a goal is so rare and worth more. Once you know the game you start to appreciate the movement and build up of attacks and the tracking back of defenders to cover their lines. Watching a 100-99 basketball game just makes points too cheap for me. I also love the non-stop nature of the game. No commercial breaks, no stopping for replays, no playing for 5 seconds and then huddling up to decide what to do next. No breaks every time you switch sides so you can be shown more commercials. If you get a player sent off you don't get to replace him, you play short. I with other sports would do that. You get a player tossed in baseball, you now play 8 on 9. I also love that, with some rare exception, you have to be physically athletic to play soccer, no Refrigerator Perry or John Kruk (though Ronaldo was getting close in 2006
).
Take away all the time between plays, the pads, and most of the overweight players and football becomes rugby, which is a blast to watch. Of course I do still love my Ohio State Buckeyes but those are the only football games I watch. I've turned down free Browns tickets every year, I couldn't be bothered.
It is different then what most American's are used to and to each their own of course but we have this unfortunate tendency to try and change everything to make it more American or to dismiss things that aren't popular here.
(We feel the same way about hockey which is basically soccer on ice).
Sorry your team lost today
(okay not too sorry--DS is decked out in head to toe German team items today
