So you have a great and exciting challenge: to bring passion to US stadiums for the beautiful game.

Ok, here are some good points to cheer u up:
- U know what, it’s an american family who owns Manchester United.
- I know Beckam is investing in training camps in the states.
- I read that Youri djorkaeff (a former french national player) is trying to have Zidane sign for the NYC redbulls…!
- Football is big money, Americans are always around when big money stakes pop up.

Allesandro, unlike the wave of troglos that hit this blog to hurl insults at the US during the cup, I feel you and I would agree on most things, given time and a few pints.

Yup, I definitely went over the top with a few comments there about US ascendency, but I think if you saw how hot the core of US soccer is burning right now, you’d agree with the underlying premise.

It’s all about your perspective. Just over a decade ago, US basketball ruled the world. In the wake of the Dream Team it was hard to imagine that just 10 years later, the US would get beaten as bad as it has recently, let alone the prospect of a talented young frenchman running point on an NBA championship team AND bagging one of the hottest babes in the States. Unfathomable!

We had the best league in the world. The game was invented here. We had all the top talent. The US, it was commonly accepted, could go two, three, maybe even four teams deep and still beat any country. Who could have seen this coming? But, here we are. We fielded a second team at the Olympics and were never really in the hunt. We got beat plain and simple. And you know what else? No one really seemed to care that much.

Such is the state of the NBA in America. Baseball is even worse off. Sure people go to games to sit in the sun and drink beer, but – save the Red Sox and Yankees – the passion is gone. Sure, the NFL reigns supreme, but it’s stance is being eroded more rapidly than people are willing to recognize. In the era of Tivo and time-starved lives, how long can a game of 3+ hours with only 45 minutes of action reign supreme? The beautiful game will increasingly fill the void…

But you know what, who cares about them.

U r right about the immigrants bringing their passion to the country… But let me point out a few other things:

- “manifest destiny to be the best in the world” I recall that you previously claimed quote: “Your Euro-arrogance, however, is most unsavory”,well what you just wrote seems even more arrogant as there’s no fact (as for football) proping up your statement and even if there were, that seems stuck up.

- “inevitable rise”
It’s been since 1994 that guys like you come up every four years drawing such conclusions. You have the right to be sanguine and to support your team, fair enough, but so far it seems nowhere near inevitable rise… Facts…

- “I’m surprised that the importance of this phenomenon is lost on you.”
It’s not lost, I live in Europe, people breath, eat, hear, think football, there’s utmost passion, pressure, drama, money, scandals with no equal standing in the world except South America to some extent. People around the world follow European leagues and every single player dream is to play here, in huge over packed stadiums with people following the game like religious fanatics, screaming players name and singing as if it were football liturgy. Europe is the land of football, it came from here and it s been expanded here and now it is thriving worldwide from here.
Apart from that I lived in China and I lived in the states as well, there’s no possible comparison with what you find in Europe… And this u should understand it as you were definitely right about passion of the game as a very important factor. So yes the sport might become more and more recognized in the states but this is only taking place within a global trend that spread football all around the world up to the most remote and isolated countries. So what is happening in the states is merely the sideline of such worldwide stretch. I am just coming back from China and let me tell u how far it goes. Indeed I was amazed, even local taxi drivers knew about some players whom are not even that famous in Europe! They follow the E. leagues every sunday and when u ask any youngster (they are the future) they know all about football…

I guess we can claim that nowadays football is by far the world sport n°1.

The USA playing football is a good thing as it contributes to foster it as the world leading sport. However I don t think that the USA will ever emerge as a good football nation (or at least for the next decades) and even less chance as a football powerhouse. The concacaf makes no sense, and thanks to that easy confederation the country can reach every single WC final stage with no real competition let alone Mexico. On top of that the MLS is isolated.

Another point is that you have very strong local sport ferver (namely: baseball, american football and basket ball) which pretty much appeal to most of the public. Propelling football to the top won t be easy thing happening overnight.

Wish u good luck though.

Population and tv coverage are merely a couple of key ingredients required to cook up the inevitable rise of US Soccer. Addiction to sports and a sense of “manifest destiny” to be the best in the world are others. But perhaps more important to the mix: we are a nation of immigrants who bring their passion for the game with them and are now passing it on to their children rather than falling into the other (lesser) American games. Given that you’re posting from France, I’m surprised that the importance of this phenomenon is lost on you.

Trust me, it will begin to register soon enough…

And I hope Sepp Blater steps down soon, can t stand the guy… Kofi Anan should take up… Meanwhile Sepp takes the UN helm…

Pace!

Allessandro. Ottoman Empire – that’s top drawer. Your Euro-arrogance, however, is most unsavory.

The US is going nowhere but up. Despite our poor showing in the World Cup and the poor showing for the Cup overall, the interest level of mainstream sports fanatics has peaked… and now that EPL games are readily available.. there’s no turning back.

Think about it for just a minute… do you really think that a nation of 300 Million people so utterly addicted to TV and sports that they let George W Bush get elected – twice! – can resist football now that it’s available 24-7-365.

Never mind, you won’t believe it until we beat you, and even then you’ll excuse yourselves on account of the referee or some other nonsense. Relish the 5-10 years you have before that happens.