when i was in high school i joined the soccer team which was established only a couple years prior. i enjoy soccer far more than my dad did. i'll probably teach my son to play,.. beats the hell out of baseball and i'm too old and fragile to play football.

I guess if the US would put their mind to it they could be one of the leading football nations.

Yeah I'm still passed at that Bs decision. Clearly the US or Australia where the best choices.

OT: Not surprised by its rise in popularity, look at some of players you guys can pull now. My bro was telling me David Villa might end up at the new MLS club O_O

David villa already is the first signing of the new mls club NYCFC 

tagging for a future read of the link

huh i didnt notice.  i have noticed rugby since the NFL is being pussified.

I'm glad is doing so well. I thought it was going to fail.

I think you have a serious lack of knowledge here.

Spain is currently the leading football nation in Europe. Its top league has 20 teams, and more than half of those teams would be more than happy to have an 18k attendance figure per match. Most Spanish teams are essentially broke and only survive on (kind of institutionalised) trickery. The US is a particular case for football (the real football, not handegg). I discussed that way back around 1978 with a group of US teachers (who all actually knew "how soccer works" then) and it boils down to one thing only we all agreed: Soccer was not brutal/violent enough for the average American. Football: muscle packed steroid homunculi crashing into each other = good, bloody, lotsa cash. Soccer: lean and quick people running after a ball = boring, no blood, no cash. That has changed over the years, particularly due to two facts. Firstly, the rise of women's soccer (which is a commercial money loser anywhere in the world) where the US actually is the leading nation. Secondly, soccer introduced into the US school system, which allowed everyone to participate, not only the ones with the most steroids on hand. US soccer suffered a lot because despite being highly popular for younger people, at the end of the day there was no future for a professional career. US soccer had to survive a lengthy period going from "boring, no blood, no cash" to "hmm.. interesting after all".

Been there and done that.  We had the World Cup in the USA as you mentioned and all it did was get many Americans to watch part of a match and find out that they don't like it all over again.  Almost every soccer fan that I know either a first or second generation American.  This sounds like a sarcastic response, but actually isn't.

That being said, I am glad to see that the MLS is doing well enough to stay around and actually expand unlike the several other leagues that have folded in the past.

As an American that actually occasionally watches European football, I agree with this 100%.  I think that relegation is the greatest idea ever.  If we had it in our leagues, my Chicago Cubs would have maybe won a title since 1908.  Either that or they'd be in League Z.