When Americans hear the word football, they automatically think of pigskins and touchdowns. But in most other countries, the word conjures images of pitches and goals.

            If you think about it, it really only makes sense that soccer would be called football considering that it is played using only one’s feet. The American version of football that is so popular in the United States originated from early games of football and rugby, and the name stuck.

            The National Football League is the major venue for American football, and millions of Americans watch it every year. The average NFL regular season game draws around 20 million viewers every Sunday afternoon.

            But what about the other football? The truth is that not many American sports fans watch, care, or even know anything about soccer.  Major League Soccer is the United States’ major soccer league, but it is not the NFL of soccer.

            To find the biggest and most popular soccer league in the world, one would have to look to England. The Barclays Premier League is the cream of the crop when it comes to soccer, or, as they would call it, football.

            Teams from all around England compete with each other on the field to earn victories and win the league title and off the field to bring in the best and the brightest young talent from all over the world. Their season begins in the fall and continues until late spring. Usually games are played on the weekends, either Saturday or Sunday.

            Football is the sport of choice in England, and just about every Englishman would surely have an opinion on all of the happenings in the world of football and could certainly tell you his favorite team and who they are playing next. It is that big of a deal to them.

What do the critics say?

            So why doesn’t soccer translate well to the USA? There is a multitude of answers to this question and it is different for everyone, but there are a few key reasons as to why so few people in America care about the sport of soccer.

            Many Americans like sports that are fast paced and exciting. The best examples of this are (American) football and basketball. These two sports are played at high speeds and a lot of back and forth scoring is usually involved. Soccer is definitely not in the same category as these, and it takes time to learn to appreciate the game of soccer.

Soccer is a game of trial and error. Teams come down the field, try something, it doesn’t work, come back try another, and they just keep coming back and trying different things until something finally works. That is when the true excitement and passion of the game come alive, and the payoff for the patience that is required of not only the players but also the fans, is a well-deserved goal, and hopefully a victory.

Another criticism of soccer is that it is a game for lesser athletes, and since it does not involve physical play like football and hockey and similar sports, then it is not worth watching. While this is true of soccer, it does not mean that the athletes are not as impressive as some of the other athletes around the world.

“People have the stereotype that soccer is for sissies and that it isn’t exciting because there is no contact,” said junior David Raitzyk.

Lionel Messi is arguably and widely considered the most well-known soccer player in the world at the moment, but it would be a terrible insult to say that he is not a prime athlete. The sheer stamina that is required to play soccer and the ball skills that players must possess to compete at such a high level is unmatched in any other sport. The lack of a physical element to soccer is a valid argument, but that does not mean that the sport cannot still be enjoyed.

Perhaps the biggest reason for the lack of popularity in the United States is the global stage of the game of soccer. Soccer is a global game that is played all over the planet. But soccer is especially prominent in Europe. The UEFA Champions League is a soccer tournament that takes place every year between the absolute best teams in all of the leagues around Europe.

Soccer’s biggest stage

The Champions League is what drives every team in Europe, and the ultimate goal is to win the Champions League Cup, because it is the most prestigious honor in European soccer. The Champions League is currently on its way to the final match on May 19.

But it is worth taking a look at the top four teams that reached the semifinals this year:  Bayern Munich, the best and most famous team from Germany; Real Madrid, one of the top two teams from Spain, and quite possibly the most renowned club in soccer history; Chelsea, consistently one of the top four teams from England, and one of the most well-known English clubs in the world; and last year’s champions, Barcelona. These four teams came from three of the top five soccer countries in the world: Germany, England, two from Spain, and the countries not represented in the final four would be France and Italy.

But it is not only the teams that are from the top soccer powers in the world, a majority of their players are as well. The United States often prides itself as having the best sports and the best athletes in the world, but soccer consistently proves otherwise.

The current state of soccer in America

The MLS simply does not compare to any other league in the world and the United States national team pales in comparison to those of the English, Spanish, Germans, Italians, etc.

The interesting part of it all, however, is that we seem to be okay with this level of mediocrity. There is no sign of an upswing in the level of significance or general level of play for the United States.

“It's been tagged as foreign. We haven't been able to reinvent it for us. It takes an adaptation of culture to create a fan base,” said senior sports fan Nathan Cachiaras. “Some MLS teams like the Seattle Sounders are beginning to create their own cultures, but it cannot simply be done overnight.”

Other teams like the Los Angeles Galaxy attempt to bring soccer into relevance in the US by signing old, washed-up ex-Premier League players like David Beckham to play with the only United States soccer player that most American sports fans know, Landon Donovan. But even this cannot win over fans.

United States teams can buy all of the names and players that they want, but you can’t buy fans to see them play. Until the USA is able to bring in the young, flashy, exciting talents of the soccer world, then they will have to take a backseat to England, Spain, Germany, and the rest of the world, and watch these more successful countries dominate the sport of football.