It can be difficult to differentiate between interest in soccer and an opportunity to wave the flag.

Think you're looking too much into why people are fans or interested in the game ??

There's usually less to that than all of the above.

I'm not really following the last part about whether football does or doesn't matter. The point seems to be moot because it does matter. The problem is comparing the popularity of football to that of other major sports in the US. Football will not be as popular as the NBA, NFL, or MLB but doesn't need to be. As it stands, MLS draws crowds that many Latin American, Asian, African, and Eastern European clubs would love to draw (and MLS is worse than most of the leagues in those territories). Some people use the popularity of the WC as a gauge but the WC is not an appropriate measuring stick to assess interest because most people in the States treat it as an event, like the Olympics or the Academy Awards; they tune in for the spectacle. With all of that said, the interest in football is clearly growing. TV coverage has increased dramatically in the past 10 years, which helps grow the sport and is a response to a growing interest. More people are wearing club kits. And the pre-season friendlies involving European clubs are drawing very large crowds. So it seems to me that the debate is among fans who want the sport to grow dramatically (i.e., unrealistically) and fools who haven't seen that the United States is not the same United States that existed 15 years ago. Football (errr soccer) is an American sport now.

To be blunt though, who cares? This is another article on the same subject matter of how popular "soccer" is in the US. Why are we meant to be so interested? I like the Seattle Sounders and enjoyed mixing with football fans over there who make real efforts to watch their team in the Premiership, but I don't give a monkeys about whether Earl and Maude watch the games from the trailer in Kansas more than they watch NBA or NFL. Yes they have massive corporate power but not more so than Japan and Korea, and potentially China and India.

It is hard to gauge whether football will ever be seen as having "made it" in my homeland of the USA, but this past World Cup may likely be a watershed moment for the sport. There is no greater idealized sporting moment in American folklore then the come-from-behind, last-minute victory, and the US National Team nearly provided two of those in the group stage against Slovenia and Algeria. Donovan's last-gasp goal against the latter, which transformed us from losers to topping the group, is exactly the kind of highlight reel moment that Americans love and it is something I'm sure a lot of fans will remember for many years to come.

But I do think that a lot of the internal judgement about football's success here is misguided. The success or failure of our MLS is a commonly used measuring stick, but it is somewhat ridiculous to think that it can compete with baseball, basketball, or our American football. Aside from the high-priced imports of Henry, Beckham, etc. the MLS is a second-tier league with some players making less then $20,000 per year. Compare this to our "big three" sports, which are clearly the pinnacle of their respective sports (obviously not much competition, but you get the point) and it is no wonder we tune into these instead.

There has been a seismic shift though. When I was a youngster playing "soccer" four or five times a week I couldn't tune into the EPL, La Liga, or Serie A even if I wanted to. Now I have Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, and ESPN bringing me countless matches from all over the world, and a homegrown league that is slowly getting better and better. Being able to watch the best players in the world is going to go a long way towards convincing some of our more athletic youngsters to stick with this game and before you know it we will have a Messi, Ronaldo, or Rooney of our own.

Please, stop worrying about us one way or the other. Some people will never like soccer, and that's fine. Lots of us do like soccer, though, and we're don't pay any attention to the people who yammer on about it negatively.