Soccer Power Takes Over the US

It’s football, not soccer that rules in America. All around the world, soccer is known as football, but in the US the word is reserved for all American football. And soccer gets relegated to the background. Not anymore! Soccer has steadily grown in popularity since the 70s, and with USA’s national team reaching the much respected finals of the 2009 Confederation Cup, Americans sat up and let out a collective ‘YES, WE CAN!’

If you go by FIFA World Rankings, USA is ranked 12th in the world and first in CONCACAF. The national team has played the last five FIFA World Cups though they’ve never really got far in tournament. During the Confederation Cup, interest in soccer peaked and text messages were flying thick as Americans got into the spirit of the game, a game that can’t be denied its infectious enthusiasm and inherent vigor. Better late than never, USA! Welcome to the world soccer fiesta! The more the merrier!

As the FIFA 2010 World Cup nears, the excitement in the US is palpable. Newly turned fans are eagerly awaiting the national team’s next World Cup qualifier against El Salvador that will take place on the 5th of September. For decades, soccer was no where close to entering mainstream American sports. But the 2009 Confederation Cup and the media attention it received has converted many casual fans into soccer lovers. Host of ESPN Radio’s ‘The Herd with Colin Cowherd’ is among the many to have jumped onto the soccer bandwagon. After all, the national team made it to their first ever FIFA final recently! They can be proud of their performance considering this isn’t a nation of hardcore soccer lovers like most of the world! I mean, it takes real skill to beat Spain during the Confed Cup semifinals. This was no small victory! Spain topped the FIFA World Rankings and had a record of 15 straight wins and 35 undefeated games before the Americans upset their winning spell. And the US sure did give their best during the finals even though they eventually lost 2:3 to Brazil. As far as any diehard soccer fan is concerned losing to Brazil in a final is an honor by itself!

The US national team has won 7 out of 8 qualifying matches against Cuba, Barbados, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago during the second and third rounds of qualification for the 2010 World Cup. This put the US into the fourth round, where it faces El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago.
It began the fourth round by defeating Mexico 2:0, and went on to draw against El Salvador. The next game saw the US enjoy a 3:0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, with soccer shirt number 17 Jozy Altidore becoming the youngest US player to score a hat-trick. And then came a 3:1 defeat against Costa Rica, followed by a 2:1 win against Honduras. Though the US team’s recent 2:1 defeat against Mexico during the 2010 World Cup fourth round qualifiers sure was disappointing, it’s been a pretty good season for US soccer.

As things stand right now, the United States has won 3 games, lost 2 matches and has drawn one in the fourth round, taking it to the second place with two points behind Costa Rica and four games to go. The players to look out for are soccer uniforms number 10 Landon Donovan, number 17 Jozy Altidore, number 1 Tim Howard, number 8 Clint Dempsey and number 3 Carlos Bocanegra.

Let’s hope the game we love to play and watch catches on in the US and generates the same amount of love and enthusiasm as it does across the world.