Great quote from Gary Linekar of the BBC concerning USA’s stunning victory in stoppage time to advance out of the group stage, “If America doesn’t fall in love with football after that, it never will.”

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Drew Dixon

Drew Dixon is editor in chief of Game Church. He also writes about videogames for Paste Magazine, Relevant Magazine, Bit Creature, and Think Christian. He hosts the Christ and Pop Culture podcast The Digest with Tyler Burns.
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2 Comments

  1. Not sure I agree. I see his point but also think it really only applies to older generations who have never been exposed to the game. I think the reason most Americans don’t love soccer now is because they don’t really understand it. A big sports-fan friend of mine watched the game with me yesterday and while he’s really trying to get into it, he can really only muster real excitement for the US team, and not a real affection for the game itself.

    There will be a few who begin to love soccer through this, but i still think that the real–and more gradual–growth comes from those who play the game as kids; and that number is growing.

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  2. Sure Matt, I hear what you are saying, but that is the thing isn’t it–you can’t even say that Americans love American football because many people don’t understand it and don’t really care about it either–its a lot harder to understand than soccer.

    To grow in affection for our country’s performance on the world’s biggest stage is a huge step in the right direction for the sport–I think that is the point. The exposure that team USA is getting right now is positive for the sport on so many levels–as a coach in a football state (Alabama), I think it is interesting how many people are watching team USA here and other matches for that matter and asking me questions about it. As a coach that gives me hope that more parents will consider soccer for their kids. I agree that the greater interest will come from our youth programs growing and improving (which I think they are) but our National team putting together two exciting, nail bitting games doesn’t hurt either.

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