Yes, Soccer Is America's Game

Bill Saporito of Time Magazine wrote an outstanding article of soccer's arrival in the United States.

Please stop lecturing us. We know that it's called football everywhere else and that it's the global game, the beautiful game. Americans call it soccer because there's a perfectly great sport here already called football, one that is not inclined to surrender its moniker anytime soon. So don't get your football knickers in a twist about it.

Soccer it is. And stop asking that question, "When is soccer ever going to be big in America?" Soccer won't ever be NFL big or Major League Baseball big, but in so many ways, soccer has become a big and growing sport. An American sport. Americans love to play it, certainly. Soccer trails only basketball in the number of participants. It's the most popular sport for women among NCAA schools. That's been true for a long time. Indeed, the game has deep roots in the U.S., arriving with immigrants from Scotland, Germany, Italy and elsewhere, who brought their work skills and their game with them.

What's changed is that this sport and this World Cup matter to Americans. These fans have already made the transition from soccer pioneers to soccer-literate and are gradually heading down the road to soccer-passionate. Almost 55,000 watched the U.S. national team play Turkey in a friendly match in Philadelphia on May 29. Supporters of the Major League Soccer (MLS) team the Seattle Sounders have turned game day into an event, marching 35,000 strong into Qwest Field in their green and blue colors, standing and singing during the whole match. Seattle is part of a second wave of MLS franchises that are transforming the fan experience. "Players say it's just like playing in Europe," says U.S. forward Landon Donovan, who just did.

And here's another thing: our team can beat your team. Last summer, Donovan and his mates knocked off European champions Spain in the Confederations Cup and gave Brazil everything it could handle before they lost in the final. "They put the world on notice. [Foreigners] just can't imagine they are playing against cowboys. They are playing against soccer players," says Dan Gaspar, an American who is Portugal's assistant coach. The U.S. plays England in its first game in the World Cup, and no one is praying for a miracle. Rather, there's an expectation that winning is quite possible, even if it doesn't happen.