| rocketpig said: A few reasons: - Not enough scoring. Look at hockey. The NHL almost completely tanked because defense had taken such a priority that 90% of the game was happening between the lines. They're changing the rules now and the sport is slowly building more momentum after a high in the 80s. Soccer is slower, less physical, and has less scoring than hockey did even in its darkest days. Not surprsingly, Americans just don't care about it. - Too many sports. Americans have a plethora of popular sports to choose from. Basketball, hockey, NASCAR, football, baseball, etc. Soccer would have to bump one of those sports out of the way to gain even a little acceptance and that's not going to happen without major rule changes. - It's boring. Seriously. It is. I'm a big sports guy and have tried to watch soccer more times than I can count. I can barely make it through a World Cup match without wanting to scream. Any sport that calls so many chickenshit fouls is not going to go over well with Americans. Basketball tests my patience and soccer is ten times worse. - The best American athletes don't play the sport and consequently, America doesn't do well internationally. The sport might catch a bit of interest if an amazing American athlete emerged in the sport. |
Soccer IS popular in the usa. I'm American and I LOVE it. What's not popular are the TV ratings and the American soccer league(MLS) which is slowly changing. There are a lot of people who like soccer in the U.S. they are just not as fanatical as other countries so many don't notice it. I live in Jersey and I can go to the park anytime it is warm and people will be playing.
And rocketpig, it is NOT boring. I want to scream at you for saying that because I'm a fanatic of the sport. The 2006 WC did have a lot of chickenshit fouls because of crappy new strict rules set for the referees and it had to be one of the worst world cups I can remember(I mean seriously Italy should not have won). The referees were calling everything so players took advantage and started diving. That's not to say there weren't any good games because there were, it was just getting past all the bad ones to see the good ones.
Also, the sport is a lot more physical than most people realize. You don't know unless you start playing competitively. Some great players don't go pro because they realize they may not be able to walk after their career.
I'll say this though, it is much funner to play than watch. To watch you really have to have the right playing styles and some good fans.
