Do you think soccer will one day draw the best athletes and be the best and most popular sport in america?
399320
it already does, and is the most popular\nlook at the youth leagues\nall the best athletes, and certainly more participation than any other sport
627492
I love soccer, too bad it's not very popular in the US. I guess the Americans love only incredibly boring sports like American football and baseball - sports that move at glacial speeds!
1021912
In the USA, football (soccer) isn't one of their major sports - it's a shame cos if it was they would be brilliant at it as they are a huge nation.  It is getting more popular though, so in time who knows.
1000375
1. Despite the FIFA World Rankings there's no way the U.S. is the 5th best team in the world.  Being ranked that high has probably upped expectations beyond where they should be.  In a group with Italy and the Czech Republic it would be an upset for the U.S. to go through to the next round.\n\n2. As for the rest of your question, unfortunately what many pro sports stars in the U.S. have in abundance, selfishness and arrogance, doesn't lend itself to success in team sports.  So it's no wonder they've done so poorly in international competitions lately.
1026580
I agree that it's not exciting to watch a soccer match but I played soccer in Junior and Senior high school (along with baseball and football) and I liked playing soccer the most.  Most action for players who must be in great condition (not just hulking brutes).  American football is the best spectator sport, period.
1109467
I assume you mean, for us Americans, soccer.  If you were American, you'd know how very few outside America play American "football," and you'd say soccer.  You can't possibly be so arrogant an Amerrican (of course they are many) to think that American football matters elsewhere.  For all of the rest of the world, without exception and without a doubt, and I've lived all over, football, or per American English, soccer is the main sport.  People may play basketball, cricket, or tennis, but nothing occupies the sports scene like football.  It's the world national pastime.  Every kid in the world, boy and girl, with or without the right numbers of players or a stadium has kicked a ball trying to score, growing up.  Every country wants the World Cup.  Billions watch it.  The main sport on earth...
361067
Basketball is mostly popular in america and a bit in some countries but soccer is loved worldwide so soccer wins the battle.
337225
I BELIEVE YOUR QUESTION IS WHETHER AMERICAN SOCCER (FOOTBALL) PLAYERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO PLAY PROFESSIONAL SOCCER OUTSIDE AMERICA AS AGAINST IN THE MLS. PERSONALLY, I BELIEVE THAT IS A GOOD POINT AS IT WOULD EVENTUALLY HELP IMPROVE THE GAME AND AMERICAN PLAYERS WOULD EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO BE AT PAR WITH OTHER WORLD CLASS PLAYERS. THOSE THAT ARE ALREADY PLAYING ABROAD ARE THE ONLY ONES REALLY CAUSING A GOOD STIR IN THE TEAM NOW. A GOOD EXAMPLE IS BEASLEY. HE DOES HAVE GOOD SPEED AND AGILITY. THE EXPERIENCE HE ACQUIRED IN EUROPE IS DEFINITELY HELPING THE NATIONAL TEAM.
371297
If you really think about it this is the one true sport of the world.  Just think how much respect this would bring the U.S. in the world of football.  Most football fans of the world still think that the U.S. is nothing even though our world ranking right now is #4.  If the U.S. wins this we could say that we are the best in the world's sport.
350893
There is no doubt it's Soccer.  That is the only major sport in all of Europe as well as South America and Central America.  \n\nAnd now that the U.S. is becoming a large and popular sport (the men's team is the 6th ranked country in the world and the women's team is the 3rd best), soccer has and will continue to top the rankings.
1076027
ha ha.  I had this same discussion at work.  A soccer fan said it's the best sport to have globally because it's economical for all social classes to participate in.  However, the other guy said, "But it's a wimp sport.  All they do is just fall down and it takes forever for them to kick the ball."
425470
It is a 'No Brainer'... Soccer is by far the very best sport of the three listed in the question.  American Football is a distant second.  It can be fun to watch but the games take far too long and more often it is BORING!  It is fun to shoot hoops or play a pick up game of Basketball but basketball is a joke.  Ice Hockey, Baseball and Lacrosse are the best team sports as well as Soccer... Soccer can improve its exposure world wide by relaxing the offsides rule which in my opinion will lead to more scoring.  Soccer also needs to do more to limit the clutching and grabbing as well as the diving.
1145920
Here is the deal...all of the top American atheletes play other sports such as football, basketball and baseball.  Look at the best American player, I think he is 5-8 150lbs.  If our top atheletes chose to play soccer when they were growing up instead of other sports, America would be a top team, if not the best in the world.\n\nIf you look at the top American atheletes in their repective sports and compare them to atheletes in other countries, the Americans are far and away BETTER.  \n\nWhat if growing up Michael Jordon chose to play soccer instead of basketball or Barry Bonds instead of baseball?  America would be an elite team.
1085747
I think that it would help a lot if we did win the WC, but soccer won't take off until big name, players like Beckham and Rinaldo decide to come to the US...it'll get the paparazzi and channels like E! an excuse to cover soccer, giving it a lot of face time.  It'll also raise the salary cap and get kids that try to focus on football, baseball, or basketball a reason to focus on soccer...but to really get the US into soccer we need to get college soccer to become big and groom players like football and basketball do.
494347
While I do think there will be some interest among non-soccer fans, I think the World Cup will go largely unnoticed unless the US team does very well. This is unfortunate as many people are just not very open to different sports, but this is similar to the situation of baseball in Europe. Many European sports fans think baseball is boring and stupid, but have never really given it a chance.\n\nI think the best hope for soccer in the US is for Major League Soccer to get stronger as the kids who play soccer grow up to become soccer fans. This will take time, but I think things are looking up.
386931
I think what you said has some validity.  It's hard to televise anything with only one break.  Many networks will probably not air soccer games for this reason.  Especially because games are for 90+ minutes.  It's also because it's not considered an American past-time.  Baseball and football are considered part of "growing up".  Soccer is probably the fastest growing sport (other than Nascar) in the U.S., but it still has a very long way to go.
370061
I believe that it is the nature of America.  We like movies with explosions and quick action.  We love sports that have a lot of scoring like basketball.  Soccer is boring to us, we don’t appreciate 0-0 ties.  Also, our athletes here tend to be better suited for stop and go sports.  Like sprinting rather than marathon running, football and baseball, where the action stops constantly and we can have commercials.  Having said that, I could see soccer becoming bigger, as young kids here are playing it more and more so we’ll see.  Plus the last world cup brought together a great deal of people in America b/c we actually won something for once.