I love soccer.  Ever since the World Cup in 2006 I have been in hooked on the Beautiful Game. It is by far the most popular sport played at any level on earth. And usually, the rest of my country falls in line with their international family every four years when the World Cup rolls around. The remaining time, however, I doubt many could care less.

No Respect

There really isn't a great deal of motivation to be a soccer fan in the U.S. First of all, domestic club games are rarely televised and even if they are you usually cannot view them with basic cable. 

International club teams are almost never seen on any cable channels, making it nearly impossible to watch the highest level of play. If you try to talk to other Americans about soccer the conversation usually quickly turns into a pissing contest, an argument as to whether or not soccer is a sport reserved for girls and pansies.

If you try to talk to other non-American soccer fans you are immediately looked down upon for being American because everyone knows Americans don't know anything about the sport, your opinion is thrown away as soon as you offer it, and besides, you don't even call the game by its true name. 

But still, I try to remain faithful.

When international club teams do manage to get some media attention stateside, it is almost exclusively for the English Premier League. This makes a life of devout fandom difficult for me specifically since I choose to follow Real Madrid in La Liga. 

My choice of club is admittedly somewhat arbitrary: My sister lived in Madrid when I was younger and she bought me a Real jersey. I didn't think much of it for many years until I saw a special on cable about the rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona. 

Since I already owned a Madrid jersey I chose their side and my support for them has grown ever since. 

Empathy and Superstars

Back in the U.S., most soccer fans try to support the competitive but not as prolific MLS, but the sport's inaccessibility, bad reputation, and lack of superstars ultimately prevents it from ever achieving any sort of real significance.

The LA Galaxy's signing of David Beckham did little to raise the profile of the league to the extent that they were hoping and it seems the only real way to raise the quality and interest in the U.S.'s domestic league would be to first achieve success at the international level.

Acceptable Tactics

During World Cup qualifying the United States had a nationally televised game against El Salvador. Surprisingly, El Salvador jumped out to a 2-0 lead early. Then, El Salvador tried everything they possibly could to keep the United States from building up any momentum.  Their main strategy seemed to be going down like a sack of potatoes any time an American player came within three feet of them. 

At least three El Salvadorian players were taken off the field on a stretcher after going down from seemingly benign tackles.  Despite this, the United States managed a draw and walk away with some dignity. 

While it was happening, while I watched El Salvador drop on the field like glorified rag dolls, I couldn't help but think that this is what Americans hate about soccer.

If the roles had been reversed and the Americans had jumped out to a two goal lead over a far superior team (let's say Brazil) and attempted to hold this lead by diving all over the pitch, American fans would have been ashamed. 

In a country where they say "no blood, no foul" we can not understand how it is acceptable for players to openly try to deceive the officials in order to win. One reason it angered me so much was because I knew that the game could have been so much better than what I saw, but what were those not as familiar with the sport thinking? It is this kind of representation of soccer that holds it back in the U.S.

There is a wealth of talent for soccer in the United States waiting to be tapped and it is only a matter of time before the U.S. finds its way as a legitimate contender on the world stage. With World Cup qualifying in full swing U.S. soccer fans will soon flock to their TVs to support the world's game once again.

Will next year be the time when soccer finally sticks for American sports fans? 

One thing is true, until American fans can embrace every part of the beautiful game and international soccer fans can bring themselves to accept them, soccer in the United States is going to be in for an uphill battle.

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