For nearly three hours on Sunday, Americans were captivated by the possibility of the USA women’s soccer team winning the World Cup.
All other sports and activities in America were put on hold as Hope Solo and company fought for their country in the world’s most popular sport.
Baseball stadiums were half-full, and bars across the nation were jam-packed.
Unfortunately for all of us back home — and all the Americans around the world — the girls fell to a resilient Japanese team that somehow got themselves back into the game on two different occasions.
Losing on penalty kicks is one of the most heart-breaking ways to lose, but I believe that even in a losing effort, the girls made millions of Americans proud over the last month.
So many Americans, most who have never watched soccer before, started following the girls’ run to the finals.
Of those “new” fans, of course you will always find the fans that watch soccer every four years for the World Cup. But I personally feel that more and more Americans are becoming permanent soccer fans.
Now, does that mean that the MLS will soon get a huge raise in support this season? Maybe. But I am counting on more long-term support.
Maybe more Americans will become fans of club teams in other countries, like Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter Milan, etc. Television coverage of the World’s top clubs has been on a rise over the last few years. Fox and ESPN have given Americans numerous options to watch some of the best teams in the world square off. Maybe Americans will become fans of just international play. Like the World Cups, the European Championships, and the Gold Cups.
The next men’s World Cup is located in Brazil in 2014, the next women’s World Cup will be hosted by Canada in 2015, and the next European Championships will be hosted by Poland in the summer of 2012.
Maybe you will begin to see a rise in support of the MLS.
Since last year, the MLS has expanded by two more teams and has seen a large increase in attendance across the league. Most of the teams have large followings that continuously sell out the stadiums.
MLS teams like Portland, Los Angeles, and Kansas City — just to name a few — now have stadiums specific for their club team.
But maybe, and most likely, most Americans will continue to push soccer to the wayside and focus more on football, basketball, and baseball.
Nothing wrong with that of course, just depressing to see such passion for the month of the World Cup and then everything going back to normal.
But I do believe that the effects of this women’s team will show through in years to come. Not just in World Cups, but also in leagues like the MLS (America), Barclay’s Premiere League (England), and La Liga (Spain).
The USA women’s team held the hopes of a powerful nation on their shoulders, and although they did not win the World Cup championship, they undoubtedly made their country proud.
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and is starting to become popular here in America. I just hope that more and more Americans can learn to embrace “the beautiful game” here in the United States of America.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to
trollason@yahoo.com.
