Why isn't Soccer popular in America?

[Vlad The Impaler]

A lack of scoring chances? Have you watched a soccer game because there is alot of scoring chances in a game. If you saw the USA-Slovenia, the USA could have at least scored three times and had a good amount of scoring chances that they blew. Maybe you are watching MLS, a league that is still growing and in which the talent and level of play aren't on par with some of the more premier leagues like the EPL or La Liga where the level of play is much better.

I've never watched an MLS match in my life Ice. In hockey you can have 15 to 20 scoring chances a game. By scoring chances I mean within the circles 15 to 20 feet or closer in. Besides when's the last time a soccer goalie made 40 saves in one match? :dunno:

 

[D-rock]

Erm, thats because you get 5 points if you get a touchdown and score the free-kick, it is 5 points yeah? :dunno:

An American football game ending 20-11 is just the same as a an English Football game ending 4-2, which does happen lot in the English Premier League because the league is a high standard, whereas the MLS, which most Americans will watch the score are bound to be low [like 1-0] because the standard of the MLS is very poor.

Of course the game will be high scoring if you get 5 points for a goal :crash:

That isn't an accurate comparison. In American football each side has possessions where dozens of plays a game are involved. Even when there isn't a score the fact that one side can gain field position on it's opposition is a very significant factor that plays a big part in a game. In soccer one team can just get the ball back and pass it most of the way down the field any time it wants so field position is close to meaningless. In a way you could almost think of advancing field position and getting first downs in American football as sort of a pseudo-score or at least something that dramatically helps your team to get to the point of scoring. Sure there are instances where a long pass or run will get somebody huge yardage and a score, or the defense will get a turnover near the other teams end zone but most scores are produced by methodically moving the ball down the field because former are more rare.

Even if one discounts that if you take into account field goals and other things that 20-11 score you pointed out (which is probably on low side for a football score for a modern NFL game) or one similar to that could still take anywhere from about 5 to 9 different scores. That's still dramatically more than soccer. Then you have to add in the fact that those common 4-2 scores come in a league where the quality of opposition is so distant between the best and worse teams that if you carried it over to a league like the NFL where teams are more or less close to the same quality of competition (Even if we like to tease the ones that are bad year after year otherwise.) that if that was the situation the better teams would be winning by like 80-3 if they didn't want to run up the score. That would be a lot more than 5 or 6 scores. It would be like one of the best teams in a world playing another team that's not even profession by our standards. Again that's not a good comparison.

 

[MrZiggles]

The U.S., China, India, and Japan all are historically weak in soccer compared to many less successful nations. We have other options for allocating our time and resources.

The refs suck, even at the highest level.
The rules need to be tweaked, starting with the carding rules.
The best soccer players aren't the best athletes.
Soccer fans outside the U.S. are disgusting. They **** their players. They start large-scale riots.
Way too many soccer fans are snobs. They have the audacity to imply Americans don't like soccer because we don't understand it.

 

[ThatRedWing]

I know this has been touched on, but here is a article on why the game is called soccer. And yes it is an English term and not an American one.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...-to-me--fbintl_ro-soccervsfootball070110.html

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

^^^Nice info Winger. So we're not a bunch of uneducated heathens.

 

[SRF]

The real point is "Why does it bother you that Americans don't like soccer?" I don't care if a European doesn't watch baseball or ice hockey. You to your games, me to mine.

 

[TheBurglar]

It has absolutely nothing to do with the score IMO. In hockey a 1-0 game is more exciting than 7-6 because of all the amazing saves that the goalies have to make (35-40 saves each sometimes). Its lack of scoring chances.

I've never watched an MLS match in my life Ice. In hockey you can have 15 to 20 scoring chances a game. By scoring chances I mean within the circles 15 to 20 feet or closer in. Besides when's the last time a soccer goalie made 40 saves in one match? :dunno:

We have a winner.

 

[roronoa3000]

I **** soccer simply because it ****** my ******.

 

[smoknn]

3 reasons...ncaa...nfl...and....it sucks

 

[smoggy_ste]

"Even Englishmen would routinely refer to their favorite pastime as soccer, just as often as they would say football"

Erm, as an Englishman I can tell you that the statement in that article is absolutly not true, us English folk call it even Football or Footy, the general public would never call it Soccer, that claim made by Martin Rogers in what seems to an American article is poorly researched and not correct.

 

[Straight Shooter]

The real point is "Why does it bother you that Americans don't like soccer?" I don't care if a European doesn't watch baseball or ice hockey. You to your games, me to mine.

It doesnt bother me. This question can be brought up because soccer is a global game that is played in pretty much every country and is at least one of the top sports in almost every country except for the USA.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Here's a pretty cool article by SLAM magazine. It's titled, "The NBA’s Starting 11: If Team USA was built around American NBA athletes". The author puts together the US national soccer team's starting 11 using only NBA players

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/07/the-nbas-starting-11/

 

[Moonchild22]

I really think it's all (or mostly) about marketing. If it was marketed the right way here, then maybe more people would watch it.
I think soccer (your football) just doesn't feel like our thing. There needs to be more to it. It feels like an unfinished idea. I've watched it, and every time I can't help but think "This is it?" and "What are all these people so excited about?".
I'm sorry. I just don't see the excitement.

As for people saying we Americans only prefer violent sports - that's certainly not accurate. Our most endeared sports are baseball and basketball. Not much ******** going on there. Then we also have hockey and 'American' football. They may get a bit physical, but other countries have rugby. Now there's a violent sport. More so than American football.
I have actually been saying for a while, that I would love for rugby to catch on in the U.S. I've watched it and it's awesome. I think we even have a team, but they simply don't air the games on our television. That sucks. Meanwhile there's no shortage of televised golf, tennis and racing. Things I care nothing about.

 

[Moonchild22]

It doesnt bother me. This question can be brought up because soccer is a global game that is played in pretty much every country and is at least one of the top sports in almost every country except for the USA.

That reminds me of when I was a *** in school. They'd say "All the other **** are doing it. You should do it too." Like there was something wrong with me, when actually I just had a different mindset, different perception, or I just wasn't interested. It felt alienating but 'Everybody else does it' has never been a good enough reason for me to join in.

 

[Straight Shooter]

I like soccer because it doesnt have some of the things I **** about pro sports. Like no TV timeouts, no sideline reporters, no playoffs therefore the regular season is the playoffs, and no useless graphics and stats always being thrown on the screen. Most importantly the games last only two hours so the game goes by really quick unlike my favorite sport baseball which can get dull at times.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

I like soccer because it doesnt have some of the things I **** about pro sports. Like no TV timeouts, no sideline reporters, no playoffs therefore the regular season is the playoffs, and no useless graphics and stats always being thrown on the screen. Most importantly the games last only two hours so the game goes by really quick unlike my favorite sport baseball which can get dull at times.

That's why I pretty much have boycotted the NFL. The commercials are so rampant it's truly a disgusting effort to promote Bud Light products. I just can't really handle that ****. I'll tune in from time to time but it's hard at times. Plus the characters in the NFL are pretty bad. Take a scuzball like Chris Johnson. What the hell is his major malfunction? Did he even graduate from elementary school?




And then he has the audacity to demand a new contract two years into a five year contract. Christ. The attitudes in the NFL can be really hard to support.

 

[roronoa3000]

Its boring for the last time.

 

[Straight Shooter]

That's why I pretty much have boycotted the NFL. The commercials are so rampant it's truly a disgusting effort to promote Bud Light products. I just can't really handle that ****. I'll tune in from time to time but it's hard at times. Plus the characters in the NFL are pretty bad. Take a scuzball like Chris Johnson. What the hell is his major malfunction? Did he even graduate from elementary school?




And then he has the audacity to demand a new contract two years into a five year contract. Christ. The attitudes in the NFL can be really hard to support.

Yeah but you got to understand that these players don't sign guaranteed contracts so they need to get the most while they can. Plus he's a running back and the shelf life for an NFL RB isn't very long.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

I've had it up to my neck with NFL players and all their gangsta bullshit that includes all of em no matter what color. You never see that **** in the NHL.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Yeah but you got to understand that these players don't sign guaranteed contracts so they need to get the most while they can. Plus he's a running back and the shelf life for an NFL RB isn't very long.

Which is another thing I **** about the NFL. You take a guy like AP and he's damn near washed up already. It's rare that an Emmitt Smith or Barry Sanders comes along.

I've had it up to my neck with NFL players and all their gangsta bullshit that includes all of em no matter what color. You never see that **** in the NHL.

Yeah, there's a ton of running backs like Pacman Jones. Who was the one from Miami who was supposed to be the next Emmitt Smith? He robbed his neighbors house. The showmanship from guys like TO and Chad Johnson is pretty nauseating as well.