quote:
Originally posted by Soccer Watcher:
I'll take a honest stab at answering the question.

Q: When is America going to take soccer seriously?
A: We already have, in the 1920's.

This website has the best history of US soccer on the web. Check it out if you haven't already.

An Overview of American Soccer History

A few excerpts from the above:

quote:
During the mid 1920's, the crowds for games were large, with 10,000 a not uncommon attendance figure. This was on a par with the NFL for much of the 1920's.
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By the mid 1920's, the ASL had reached such a level of prominence that major foreign teams were enticed to perform major tours of the US playing against top ASL and other clubs. Sparta Prague and Vienna Hakoah, an all-Jewish side both toured the US in 1926, to record-breaking crowds. Hakoah's first three games drew 25,000, 30,000 and 36,000 spectators respectively, culminating in the famous May 1 1926 match at the polo grounds in front of 46,000 spectators, a crowd record that stood until 1977 when three consecutive records were set by the Pele-led New York Cosmos.
We have a rich soccer history that has been all but forgotten and buried. The real question is when will we as a nation rediscover the sport.
I know most of the history... but somehow "the big boys" still don't recognize soccer as an american competitive sport.

Professional Football players, Basketball players, Hockey players, even Beisball players still trash soccer a lot, on tv, radio, and everywhere. Not to mentions comedians... They describe soccer as a "foreing hobby" as an sport for "third world countries." Is Germany a third world country I wonder?

I was looking into an article the other day, published by a Harvard graduate. He was talking of soccer as a thread... soccer is still a joke for a lot of Americans, mostly conservative Americans or those from the East side of the country...

Americans that travel a lot, that have actually been out of the States, is kind of embarrasing looking to all the World Super powers competing at a high level, and the US is still another guest... I don't think America has any chance of winning this World Cup, neither the next one. I wish it would be different though.

Just some thoughts on this sensitive issue.

I have been out of the US twice already since I moved from ES... people always come out with the same questions... when is America going to win a World Cup? How much more time do you guys need?

The answer is obvious.

Give us 5 or 10 more years... Do we really need all that time, living in the most powerful country in the world?