I really thought the US was going to do it but they got knocked out.
Apparently, the same team (Ghana) as last time - don't feel bad ... Germany normally knock us out (probably tomorrow).
USA knocked out by Ghana
by Simon 16 Replies latest social physical
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mrsjones5
Aw, that's too bad.
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sir82
At least not done in by a bad referee's call this time. Just outplayed.
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MsDucky
Well, there goes the US's fascination with soccer (football).
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Palimpsest
Well, there goes the US's fascination with soccer (football).
So not true. It's the most-played sport in America and there are plenty of us who do follow it year-round. EPL matches, for example, are consistently the top-ranked programs on several international sports channels here in the U.S. The problem is that you can't watch them unless you have specific digital/satellite cable packages. As long as the media prevents people from actually seeing soccer, it will never grow. So it's a vicious cycle of sorts: They won't play it because they think there are no fans, but the fan base can't develop if they don't play it. The base is there -- it's up to the media to decide whether to take advantage of it.
Also, MLS made the mistake of putting their teams in high-population but over-saturated areas. Fans in New York, for example, don't need yet another sports team to follow. They would have been better off targeting mid-market regions where people needed a team to rally around. That gets people in the seats and also brings new viewers to television, and perhaps more importantly would stop MLS from bleeding money in stadium costs, which continues to be part of their demise. (Going to Salt Lake was one of the few smart things they've done over the past few years.)
And they desperately need to stop letting go of the home-grown talent just to keep themselves financially afloat. Tim Howard, for example, should never have been sold to Man U. Yet they bring in Beckham to be the new hero, and all that does is further cement the idea many Americans have of soccer being a European game. The management of MLS is awful.
(Sorry, tangent.)
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MsDucky
Palimpset, where did you get your info that soccer is the most played sport in the US?
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Simon
Sadly, I don't think soccer will take off in America even though it should do.
North American sports are dominated by TV channels who like the stop-start ones better for constant advertising interruptions and also the equipment manufacturers who want to sell kit - they don't like it that all you need is a ball.
Soccer should be huge in the USA - it is the biggest sport in the world and dwarfs American Football, Baseball and Basketball all put together. Sadly, you will discover that you'll often get your butt kicked (like we do).
The reason the USA doesn't do well is it doesn't have the pool of talent to draw on because the athletes will tend to be drawn to other more lucrative / popular sports (locally).
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MsDucky
Palimpset, I think you meant the most popular sport played in "South" America.
Yeah, Simon, I know that it is the most popular sport in the world excluding North America. I tried to get into it, but I don't understand it? What is "off sides"? What foul? The man is laying on the ground and nobody touched him. And when are they going to score???
During the US/Ghana match, I went and played computer games and would check in every now and then to see if someone had scored. It's like the first team that scores wins the game. You might as well quit watching.
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Palimpsest
Palimpset, where did you get your info that soccer is the most played sport in the US?
The U.S. Department of State publishes an annual report on soccer since it's used as cultural information to be given out at/by embassies. We have a copy of it at my club. It's a booklet, but I'll look and see if I can find it on-line...
If you count college and junior (18 and under) leagues, it's the leader by far among organized sports in America. There are just under 20 million people involved in organized soccer here. The catch is that about 80% of people playing organized soccer in America are college-aged or younger. So some people argue that soccer shouldn't be counted as the largest sport because it's mostly children playing, but since they're the next generation and will set the tone for American sport moving forward, I don't see how we can ignore them.
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Palimpsest
I can't find that particular booklet so far (I was hoping for a PDF), but there is a Census table at http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s1212.pdf. According to that table, basketball is ahead of soccer and baseball is tied with soccer, but the Census is based on self-reporting and isn't restricted to organized play. It's counting people who are reporting involvement with basketball on a purely recreational level, like guys shooting a ball around at the local schoolyard. The soccer stat I gave above comes from a formal headcount of everyone involved in the American soccer pyramid at any level.