Soccer is the universal game of the world. No question, no argument. That is a fact. Why is it so difficult for the game to make a big impact here in the States? It has grown a significant amount. But some don’t seem to respect soccer or even acknowledge its existence in this country. It’s hard to imagine this in a nation that labels itself a melting pot. All these people coming together with the same love of the game, but yet it’s still under the radar. It makes attempts to break through but some people still believe it doesn’t belong in the States or as a sport. As universal as it is, soccer is a misfit in the U.S.
I say that it hasn’t made a big impact in the U.S. but I am not saying it hasn’t made its dents. With superstar players such as Juan Pablo Angel, Guillermo Barros-Schelotto, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and the David Beckham in the MLS, you can’t help but notice the talent coming into this nation. And the U.S. Men’s National Team has increasingly gotten better on the world wide scale. To the point where they have beaten the No. 1 ranked FIFA (International Federation of Football Association) in the Confederations Cup over the summer. But just beating a team so prestigious and skillful doesn’t make the US the best in the world. And I have wondered if that was always the case with soccer in America. Does it not need to be one of the world’s contenders, but the champions that are untouchable?
If we look closely at the “big” sports in the US, it seems that we are the best in each category. American football in the NFL (National Football League) is the biggest and best league in the world. I realize that Mexico has an American football league that is not nearly as good, just like Europe. The Super Bowl is basically the world championship because no one team can beat the level of competition in the NFL.
Another great American past-time is baseball. The MLB (Major League Baseball) is a league with very diverse players that named its championship games the “World” Series. For some reason, they thought that because they were playing other American teams, there would be no possible way that anyone else in the world can beat them. Even if that is a fact, the whole world is not a participant of this competition.
The US also excels in basketball with great aspiring players from Division I universities going to the NBA (National Basketball Association) to play professionally. Even though our US team has been knocked down from its pedestal before (2004 Olympic Games, Gold medalists-Argentina, Bronze medalists-USA) they have bounced back from defeat and shock to regain Gold medals in 2008.
But the soccer squad in the States hasn’t won anything worth extreme world recognition, so they aren’t recognized. Well most people don’t know that the US reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in the inaugural tournament in 1930, where they were defeated by Argentina. And the soccer spirits died down for a bit until we began to play again in the late 80’s and 90’s. Ever since then, this sport seemed new to this nation. But is that what we need to respect this sport? We need to win big to know that we are the best or just good for that matter. We’ve come close, but never could seal the deal for a championship title. I know the team that we have now is one of the best in the world and most of the world knows that too. But soccer still has a low status on the home front. But not being champions can’t be the only reason. Soccer has been shut down by this country since I could remember.
Many believe it shouldn’t even be a sport. That it’s only kicking a ball around and only girls play. That’s just ignorance at its best. Soccer is not only a sport, it’s the sport. The sport the world plays. And I assure you that the game goes more in depth then just kicking the ball around. Baseball could just be hitting a ball with a stick and basketball could be just shooting a ball into the hoop, but neither of those sports is that simple. There isn’t any sport that’s as simple as a one sentence explanation. Soccer, just like any other sport, has skill, tactics, strategy, mental obstacles and physical obstacles. The whole world wouldn’t be in love with just kicking the ball around.
It also comes easy for some critics to say that soccer is boring to watch, which I agree with sometimes. Most people that watch the game have a fixed perspective about what is going on in the soccer pitch. There isn’t enough “action” for the game to interesting. Action being what? The score? Some matches end with a one goal difference and some end up in a tie. If anything, the score makes it more exciting because what most people don’t realize is that it only takes a second to score a goal. You could leave your seat and go to the bathroom and the score could be completely turned around. And the thing that turns people off about this is the viewers can’t tell when to really pay attention. That’s because the game is to be watched throughout the ninety minutes, not just the two or three minutes of goals. A team might score in the first minute or the eighty first minute. You never know. Action might be referred to as physical contact. I assure you that soccer is a contact sport. I have the scars to prove it. I’ve gotten cuts, scrapes, elbowed, punched, and bloody noses all in one game. It may not be as rough as to completely lay out someone, but that doesn’t mean that doesn’t happen. In fact knocking people around was my favorite part of the game. And many of the professionals enjoy it as well.
And the critics of this game say that the game is not faced paced. Not all the time. But this is coming from someone who watches a sport that takes breaks every 20 seconds. Or from someone that watches intently on a sport where the players are active a couple minutes in the game out of a couple hours.
Despite all these differences, I don’t think these are the reasons for the US not having a great respect for its soccer. If you look all over the globe, soccer is not the only sport that the nations of the world play. But when it comes to soccer, good or bad, win or lose, there is a great passion that coincides with soccer. When you see the great international teams play like Argentina, Spain, Italy, and Brazil, there is always plenty of support behind them. And then you see small countries that aren’t so good like Costa Rica, Denmark, South Africa, and Japan, and there is always plenty support behind them. There are many cases where the US national team played on US soil and were outnumbered by the other team’s fans.
You see it everywhere in the soccer atmosphere. On the way to the stadium, you can hear the chants from a mile away. When you breach the surface of the stadium, the chants amplify while a sea of goal thirsty fans that constantly scream and curse the rivaling team. Confetti flies all over and streamers are thrown on the field to add to the decorations. And nothing says soccer like a big group of police men armed and ready for any violent fanatic breakouts that may occur.
Fans live and die by their teams, no matter what the circumstances. The level of dedication is hard to describe. My father played professionally in Argentina for nine years still exemplifies this example. The club that he played for, Racing Club de Avellaneda, has a saying for all its followers. “No te haces de Racing, te naces,” which translates to you don’t become a fan of Racing, you are born one.
When it comes to soccer, the intensity of the crowd is not to be taken lightly. Not to say that the fans in the states for baseball, basketball, or American football aren’t true fans, but they are not at the level of soccer fans. That is what this country needs for soccer to rise to the tipity top of the athletic hierarchy.
I make an argument for soccer to be respected and noticed in this country and it has been a significant amount. What needs to happen for us to turn our program into an international powerhouse is the fact that we need to turn soccer into football. Not American football, the real, original football that the whole world knows and loves. It’s the football where diehard fans bleed the colors of their teams. It’s where football is literally played with bare feet in the dirt road next to the house. It’s the constant will to win and becoming something greater in the world then just another game. It’s the beating heart of a nation that realizes what it has neglected for so long. The country realizes that it’s been in love all along. Now it’s our turn to the world our tall tale of great hardship and much adversity, and we overcame. It is the story of the American dream. Now that i have told you, we must tell the world with our feet and our hearts.
This blog makes multiple valid points in that soccer needs more attention in the states. From a personal experience, my father refused to get me a soccer ball while I was growing up. This may seem harsh to you or other readers but it did not bother me one bit. Soccer is a sport that requires skills and mental abilities like you said above and can be classified as boring or slow paced. This argument can also be made note in any other sport as well. In my honest opinion, we as a nation are not focued on soccer as much because we set a shadow on the sport as a whole in the beginning. With those big names coming to the states partly due to the financial aspect, the game will quickly grow. As Americans, we want to excel in everything the neighbors or any other country does. This sole reason will be cause the USA to be dominant in soccer at some point in the future.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt in my mind that the US will prevail in the game that is soccer. All that US soccer is asking for is for a chance from the whole nation, not just to shut it down completely from the beginning. It won't take long to see that the sport is of great quality and skill. Not to mention the passion that drives the game to the biggest stages in the world. It is only a matter of time until soccer in the states gets big and dominates. We'll turn so heads along the way. We already have.
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