In one of the major upsets in World Cup history, the United States defeated England 1-0 in 1950. Perhaps what’s most remarkable about this story is how the United States failed to capitalize on their victory, rendering soccer but a blip in America’s sports consciousness. In the forty years since Joe Gaetjens’ goal gave the Yanks that stunning victory, the U.S. failed to qualify for another World Cup. It wasn’t until 1990, after a Paul Caligiuri strike beat Trinidad & Tobago, when America next appeared in the quadrennial event. Now, twenty years after the Americans finally returned to the global stage, another World Cup is upon us and much has changed for the Stars and Stripes.

A funny thing happened since 1990, soccer became relevant in America. Now before you dismiss this notion and point out that Major League Soccer draws pitiful ratings on network television, let me clarify a few things. First, MLS is only a small part of what makes soccer relevant in the United States. The sport’s major two events, the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions League, have become fixtures in the American sports calendar. In the buildup to this year’s World Cup, we have been inundated with preview magazines and television specials. Once upon a time, soccer fans had to scour newsstands for information about the "beautiful game" and only a handful of publications satisfied that demand: World Soccer, Soccer America, FourFourTwo, and if lucky, When Saturday Comes. These remain some of the best English-language journals devoted to soccer, but browse a newsstand today and you’ll find soccer on the cover of Time, Vanity Fair, and Sports Illustrated; Beckett and USA Today published preview magazines too. Your local Barnes & Noble bookstore created a display solely for books on soccer plus a section in the periodicals for soccer magazines. Turn on ESPN and you’ll find classic World Cup matches, preview specials, and segments on SportsCenter, while Landon Donovan appears on commercials for ESPN and FLOTV. American media outlets have noticed that the World Cup is the largest sporting event on the planet and we are now saturated with its promotion. This week I was asked to join a half-dozen different World Cup pools by friends who barely know Lionel Messi from Lionel Richie. Soccer now rivals March Madness with bracket challenges, and what once was dismissed as a fringe sport followed only by immigrants has become mainstream.


American soccer fans now seem plentiful, and with a really big flag

This phenomenon is not divorced from the success of the American national team. After all, the United States has qualified for every World Cup since 1990, a feat duplicated only by Argentina, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, and Spain. Granted, the Americans gained automatic entry by hosting the 1994 event, but the U.S. has become a fixture in the World Cup. Along the way there have been many memorable moments that helped to raise the profile of the sport in America: a squad of amateur Americans performing admirably in a close loss to Italy in Rome in 1990, a stunning victory over Colombia and a strong showing against Switzerland and Brazil in the 1994 edition, a quarterfinal run with victories over bitter rival Mexico and much-fancied Portugal in 2002. There was also a second place finish in last year’s Confederations Cup which included a shocking upset of European champion Spain. Many of these contests electrified fans and despite some notable collapses—like the World Cups of 1998 and 2006—interest in the national team and the soccer continues to grow.

Another major factor contributed to the sport’s increased popularity in America: youth soccer. It was inevitable that soccer would receive notice from our sports fans because many of us grew up playing the game. While our parents might not have been soccer aficionados—my folks encouraged me to play only because they considered it less violent than American football—it should not be surprising that the millions of us who played youth soccer would become fans. Once the youth soccer nation matured into money-earning adults, it was only a matter of time before futbol became marketable and revenue-producing domestically. After all, we learned to appreciate the "beautiful game" and its nuances because we played it, and through this exposure we became aware of the stars and history of the sport. So when Major League Soccer arrived, we followed. When international clubs and national teams staged annual friendlies, we followed. When the World Cup returned after its four year hiatus, we followed. Soccer will continue to grow as long as millions of American children play the sport and it receives the kind of increased exposure it currently gets.

Admittedly, the success of international soccer in America has not fully paid dividends for Major League Soccer or the United Soccer Leagues. In fact, MLS’s biggest challenge is to channel this interest and passion into their own league. There are fans who refuse to support MLS because it is not one of the major soccer leagues in the world, and many soccer fans who will reschedule their lives over the next month to watch the World Cup will not step foot in a MLS stadium. MLS probably will not supplant baseball, basketball, or football as one of the big three sports in America, but tell the 59,908 Philadelphians in attendance for the Union’s first two home games that soccer doesn’t matter in America. The Seattle Sounders average 36,145 fans per game and over 30,000 people showed up for a mid-week friendly between last-place D.C. United and AC Milan in May. Admittedly, there are cities that don’t generate that kind of support and the challenge for Philadelphia and Seattle will be to maintain interest once the honeymoon period wears off for these expansion teams. But soccer stadiums have been built in Harrison, New Jersey; Chester, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Carson, California; Frisco, Texas; Bridgeview, Illinois; Toronto, Ontario; Commerce City, Colorado; Sandy, Utah; Montreal, Quebec; Charleston, South Carolina; and so forth. Buoyed by these investments and the increased exposure soccer receives, Major League Soccer seems alive and well.


DC United’s Screaming Eagles and Barra Brava supporter groups

What, then, do we make of this rosy picture of soccer in America when Bearcat recently wrote that soccer is a "niche" sport that "will never win the US over"? The truth is probably somewhere in-between. I believe that soccer is more a part of the American sporting consciousness than Bearcat admits, but I also acknowledge that MLS continues to draw poor ratings. Television personalities like Jim Rome continue to bash the sport and many Americans still dismiss soccer matches as boring. Things seem different with this World Cup however. This level of media saturation hasn’t occurred in the United States for previous World Cups, and there seems to be a buzz about the USA-England matchup everywhere I go. ESPN paid over $100 million for the rights to the World Cup and it’s expected that more than 100 million televisions in America will tune in to games on the ESPN family of networks and Univision. Does that mean soccer has finally arrived in America? Only time will tell.

Throw-Ins

• Although Major League Soccer is taking a hiatus during the World Cup, the USL and U.S. Open Cup play on. The Harrisburg City Islanders (1-5-3, 6 points) host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (1-3-4, 7 points) tonight. Pittsburgh features former City Islander great Chad Severs (2 goals, 2 assists in 2010) and ex-Crystal Palace star Shintaro Harada. The Philadelphia Union’s Nick Zimmerman returns to Harrisburg on loan for the match. Zimmerman scored the game-winning goal against the Charleston Battery on May 22 in his only other appearance for the City Islanders while playing in four matches for the Union.
• Reading United AC (6-0-1, 19 points) look to strengthen their lead atop the PDL Northeast Division when they host the Ironbound Express (4-1-1, 13 points), the division’s second-place team, on Sunday, June 13 at Exeter High School. Reading boasts the best record in the league and has outscored their opponents 18-2 this season.
• The First Round of the U.S. Open Cup will be played on Tuesday, June 15 and two local clubs will host matches: the Brooklyn Italians (NPSL) visit the Harrisburg City Islanders (USL-2) while Reading United (PDL) will host Real Maryland (USL-2).
• Reading United will also host their parent club, the Philadelphia Union, in an exhibition match on June 23. Tickets cost $10 for general admission seating and will be capped at 3,000 as per the capacity of Reading’s home venue, Don Thomas Stadium.

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