American’s Should Love Soccer!!
Here at DETV, my colleagues and I had a conversation about European Football/Soccer. One of the main topics of conversation was the amount of passion and enthusiasm the fans in Europe have for the sport, but in the United States soccer is pretty passionless.
There is an interest in the sport that can be found in pockets here and there throughout the country, but compared to the passion for other major sports like football and basketball there is a huge difference in popularity and support.
Most Americans complain that soccer is boring, low-scoring, and full of flops but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The similarities between more popular American sports and soccer are endless.
In an article from howtheyplay.com, “A touchdown pass is like a long free-kick goal, a hard foul is like a tackle on defense, and a home run with bases loaded is like the sweet sensation of a scored penalty kick”. The point is that soccer can be just as enjoyable, if not more so, as other sports. It is, in my opinion, one of the only sports that can connect the whole world no matter what race, gender, or, nationality someone is.
As an American, I enjoy watching football/soccer because there is excitement in almost every game. You can watch a soccer game and be finished in 2 hours, but in the States, a football or basketball game can take almost 3 hours or even 4 hours to finish with a bunch of commercials in between.
In soccer, there are no commercials during the play of the game only maybe during halftime. The fans and crowds are passionate about everything and they are into every single second of game.
Howtheyplay.com can explain it better than I can. “Soccer is like a good movie; if you start in the middle or near the end, the movie is not nearly as entertaining as watching from start to finish. It sounds a bit cliché, but a soccer game truly is a journey.”
“If you start from the beginning, like a boxing match, teams will feel each other out until someone throws that first punch—a shot on goal, or a dangerous free-kick. Your emotions start at zero and with every referee decision, with every shot saved, with every hard tackle and yellow card, with every goal scored or penalty missed, your emotions go up and down so much that even if the final score is 0-0 you’ll feel as if the game was still amazing.”
The 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup is coming in November and the United States is in it for the first time since 2014. There should be huge support for the men’s team as they have a pretty good, young team that they have been building for the past couple of years now. If you haven’t had a chance to watch a soccer game yet give it a try, you won’t be disappointed one bit.
