DownSwinging.com

In 2006, the FIFA World Cup thrust soccer into the U.S. national limelight, as sports pundits everywhere showed twelve seconds of highlights and then had a three minute “In Depth” segment featuring pictures of Ronaldhino, Alexi Lalas blathering about something and asking just when soccer was going to make it big in the US.

The sports pundits should really have been asking, “When am I going to like soccer?” Soccer is big in the United States. The average American fan can identify some of the world’s premier teams, players and tournaments. While Joe Sports won’t be able to tell me what IFK Göteberg is anytime soon (for the record, the Gothenburg Angels are one of Sweden’s top clubs), he knows that last year we were suppose to really like David Beckham, and this year he is suppose to find Beckham distasteful. He knows that the Confederations Cup is in fact, pronounced with an “s.” He is aware that South Africa is hosting next year’s World Cup, and that Brazil is really, really good. And that is just the average fan. A growing number of soccer junkies can rattle off Arsenal’s starting lineup, Real Madrid’s anthems and will proudly explain to you just how exactly the Champions League works. The fact of the matter is the game of the world’s masses is no longer simply in the realm of the US’ richest classes.

We don’t have to look further than our homegrown league, Major League Soccer. While the level of play is often criticized, MLS has expanded in recent years, adding the Sounders FC in the 2009 season, with plans to add teams in Portland, OR; Vancouver, B.C. and Philadelphia, PA over the next two seasons. While attendance varies across the country, with some teams like the Sounders attracting crowds of 67,000 (yes, that is five digits), and FC Dallas seeing an average attendance of 9,288.