But soccer’s popularity in the US can’t be wholly attributed to the pace of the game. Baseball is an incredibly slow sport. Games are usually very low-scoring and can last two or three times as long as a soccer match. The MLB struggles with rule changes to increase the speed of the game every year. Yet baseball continues to be an extremely popular sport in America. I don’t know how people can sit down and watch an entire baseball game, but they do.

Part of the problem, like Jared said, is lack of knowledge about the game. Whenever people learn more about the rules of a game, about strategy behind decisions, and about popular culture surrounding the sport, interest grows. I expect the ’94 WC in the US provided such a bump in interest.

The MLS tried to capitalize on it, but the MLS sucks. First of all, team names are terrible, and don’t inspire anyone. The “Earthquakes”, “Rapids”, “Revolution”, “Dynamo”, “Whitecaps” all sound more like natural disasters than fierce competitors. The league was built as a money-making scheme rather than for the love of the sport. People can see through it. They use fad tiebreaker rules to try to increase game excitement but it ends up just making the sport seem cheap. The MLS is the reason that soccer isn’t “popular” in the US.

You make a good point, but running fast doesn’t mean being fast as a team. The Brazilians may be able to run fast, but they don’t play fast. That’s really what counts, in terms of showmanship.

I’m not convinced that more goals would be a bad thing. This isn’t just Americans trying to impose their desires on the sport of soccer – honestly, if you look at the history of soccer, it was throughout its history a higher-scoring sport than it is now.

And yes, it is Dirk Kuyt. Or Dirk Kuijt. Apparently he has two ways of spelling his last name (thought not his first, that one was my mistake )

The Dutch are not fast. They have a few fast players, namely Arjen Robben and Roben Van Persie, but they are not a fast team. Brazil, France, England, Spain, Portugal are fast teams. The Dutch football is fast. They move the ball quicker, there are less touches between passes; this is what provides them with a quicker game.

I don’t believe that it will require only the Dutch winning the World Cup to make soccer popular in America. Soccer is already the fastest growing sport in the United States.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=125566
http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/culture.html
The first link is an article outlining that point.
The second link is published research that supports it.

As with a lot of people, my friends that harbored a disinterest in soccer before they became friends with me simply did not understand why it was interesting. Once they sat down with me, and gave up their attitudes and preconceived notions, and started understanding why I was so impressed with the way a player brings the ball down, or the dribbles, or the almost passes, they started getting just as excited too. When they went outside and started trying to handle the balls and realized how difficult it actually was, there respect only grew more.

So, I don’t think soccer’s popularity can only be achieved through the success of the Dutch national team, in fact I think it’s unlikely that that would result in a huge stream of popularity. It might turn a couple people on the fence.

Instead, I see soccer continue to grow at a relative rate. The more people come to know about soccer and gain the passion that I and other players have, or at least an understanding of that passion and maybe a little of their own, the more it will gain in popularity.

Also, it’s Dirk Kuyt, not Dick.

It’s an interesting idea, and I’d like to think you’re right, but I don’t know if I agree. No, it’s certainly not an unknown sport the way rugby is, but that doesn’t make it popular the way baseball, basketball, or even hockey (ouch) is popular in the US.

In my view, Americans have accepted soccer as a spectacle. They know the Brazilians because they do fancy tricks, and they know David Beckham because, well, he’s David Beckham. But how many ever sit down and watch MLS games on TV? How many even know who their local MLS teams even are? Outside of a few specific communities, the game doesn’t have much in the way of widespread popularity outside of World Cup years.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by MatadorNetwork: Why a Netherlands World Cup Win Could Help US Soccer http://bit.ly/d9bLAc...