Big Hurdles the U.S. Fanbase Has to Overcome to Accept Soccer

Soccer is the most popular sport in the whole world, except in the United States. We Americans just don't rally behind the sport as much as the rest of the world does. Below are the top 5 reasons why the U.S. haven't embraced this great sport.

5) It's not on television. Soccer doesn't get much air time on TV. We have a professional soccer league in the U.S., but it rarely airs on TV, especially network TV. Sometimes ESPN airs it, and it may be catchable on the regional cable sports channel, but it isn't a major event. We do get FIFA World Cup games, and the finals have been on Network TV in the US. But until it is on network TV, we are just not living in a soccer country.

4) The U.S. isn't the best. When it comes to the World Cup, the best the U.S. has ever performed is third place, back in 1930, the men's team hasn't medaled in the Olympics since 1904, for the most part, the U.S. team has been seen as underdogs for decades. No one likes watching their team lose, so it's a big part of the reason America hasn't been behind soccer. But this is slowly changing, we qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup at the top of our group, and came in second in the Confederation Cup, upsetting the dominant Spanish team, they also put up a great showing against Brazil in the finals.

3) Low scoring games. In soccer it's rare for a team to score in the double digits, it's even rare for the score of both teams to add up to a number in double digits. With the high scoring trends of other U.S. sports, especially basketball, football, and recently baseball, soccer seems to pail in comparison.

2) There are no breaks. Soccer doesn't pause for commercial break. You start the half and you keep going until half time or when the game is over. U.S. sports have built in pauses for the audience. Innings in baseball, switching of possession and time outs in football, and periods in hockey, there is so much time of watching and then a quick break. This lets the viewers use the bathroom, stand up, or just not have to focus on what is going on. Soccer lacks this aspect and this detracts the average U.S. viewer.

1) Ties. Americans have had one thing pounded into their heads when it comes to sports, there is a winner and a loser. When there's a tie it seems to flabbergast many U.S. sports fans. Soccer can and frequently ends in a draw, this doesn't take away from the sport and is a major aspect to the game, but it's not something most of the U.S. audience can easily get behind. Hockey had a similar issue for a long time and recent changes to the rules have made ending in a draw less likely, FIFA will not be changing the rules of soccer anytime soon, it's something U.S. fans need to deal with.