As Americans prepare to descend on South Africa for the tournament, Nancy Armour reports on the sport's slow but steady ascent. From California to the Carolinas, from true aficionados to those who can just about pick out David Beckham in a tabloid photograph, the World Cup is generating some serious buzz in the United States. Americans have bought more tickets than people from any country besides South Africa, the hosts, despite the lengthy and expensive trip. ESPN and ABC are planning the kind of broadcast bonanza normally reserved for a Super Bowl. Players are edging supermodels off magazine covers.
Football, or soccer as it is known in the US, still is not in the same league as the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball. But many people believe its time is coming, slowly but surely. It is an evolution, not a revolution, and people who run the sport in the United States say they are ready for that. The 2010 World Cup is seen as another milestone along the way. "It's definitely moving in the right direction for, I think, multiple reasons," says Kasey Keller, the former US goalkeeper. "We've made some great strides ... and I'm really excited to see what's going to happen in the next 20 to 30 years. That's where the gauge really starts to be measured." For the better part of the past four decades, US fans have been insisting it's only a matter of time before the entire country falls for the game the way the rest of the world has. To which the sceptics have always responded, "When?" Grade school students have been playing the game in their millions, and that has not turned the United States into a football nation. There are D-list celebrities who get more attention than the biggest stars of Major League Soccer (MLS). The Americans have played in the last five World Cups after going 40 years between appearances, and the best they have done is reach the quarter-finals. But writing off the sport is not that easy, not when it has a complicated landscape. Fans of the US national team are not necessarily MLS fans. Some second and third-generation Americans remain passionate supporters of Mexico, Poland or wherever their family roots are from. Those who get up early each weekend for televised games in the various European leagues or shell out US$100 (Dh370) for a Lionel Messi jersey might be indifferent to anything the game has to offer stateside. Only when you take them all together is the sport's growing reach - and its massive potential - clear. "We've still got a long way to go to have the following, the enthusiasm, the relevance that you might have in England or Germany or Brazil," says Sunil Gulati, the president of the US Soccer Federations (USSF). "We're in progress but we're not there yet. Having it woven into society, that's a long-term challenge." In other words, Americans are not going to wake up the day after the July 11 final to find the world's game of football has supplanted the NFL. But the game's growth over the past 20 years has put USSF, MLS, broadcasters and corporate sponsors in their best position yet to capitalise on the enthusiasm from the month-long World Cup. "Given the promotion that's taken place, given the visibility, does it enter the American psyche?" Gulati said. "We're going to have water-cooler talk this summer, no doubt about that. The question is how much does it go beyond that?" The Walt Disney Co networks are predicting it goes far, putting together a World Cup staff even bigger than that of the BBC. SportsCenter will be broadcast live from Johannesburg, and 250 hours of original programming - that is more than 10 days of television - are being produced. Most games will also be available on the internet and ESPN Mobile. All this follows ESPN's increased coverage of the European championships, English Premier League and Spain's Primera Liga. Fox has got in on the act, too, with the Fox Soccer Channel taking over as the primary US broadcaster of the Champions League this season. Back home, MLS is thriving in its 15th season. The league's 16 teams will be joined next season by clubs in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia, with Montreal, Quebec, bringing the number to 19 in 2012. Ten teams play in football-specific stadiums that accentuate the skill and beauty of the game, with Kansas City scheduled to open an 11th next year. Seattle draw a whopping 36,144 fans for their home games, and three other teams are averaging 19,000 or better. Toronto have sold out every home game since they joined the league in 2007. The quality in MLS is not anywhere close to Europe's top leagues, but the gap is narrowing. And, as everyone is quick to point out, the league is in its infancy. "We're only 15 years old. Professional soccer in Europe is 100 years old," says Don Garber, the MLS Commissioner. "We have generations of growth in front of us, and we're empowered by the fact we know that we're new and young and we have our best days ahead of us." Changes in US demographics tilt in football's favour, too. All those children who are playing in the park or strolling college campuses in Barcelona and Brazil jerseys will be adults soon enough, with disposable incomes and a powerful voice in what is "cool". The sport is wildly popular with Hispanics, who will make up 28 per cent of the US population by 2050, according to Census Bureau estimates. Mexico sold out their three-match exhibition tour earlier this month, and the pre-game parties in New York, Chicago and Houston rivalled those outside any NFL stadium. "I feel very, very empowered by the fact that the fastest-growing demographic in the country lives and dies with soccer, and the generation of tomorrow has grown up with soccer as a big part of their lives," Garber said. "Those two market segments - the youth and Hispanics - are going to be increasingly important to society in general over the next generation." It is why MLS has been so aggressive in bringing the Mexican national team and big-name foreign clubs, such as Chelsea and Manchester United, from England, and the Mexican side Chivas, to the United States. It is also why the USSF is pulling out all the stops to win the right to host the World Cup in 2018 or, more likely, 2022. The federation even got Bill Clinton, the former president and still a favourite overseas, to sign on as honorary chairman of the bid committee. "The potential upside for a World Cup in the US is virtually unlimited," Gulati said. "The big game-changer ... would be what happens after, when America is fully tuned in the way England and Brazil are." That time, he and others are certain, is coming. "We still have most of our growth to do," says Garber. "Most of our opportunities are still in front of us." * AP
First-round pairings boost America's hopes of progress The United States are in a good position to qualify from the first round in South Africa, where they are paired with England, Algeria and Slovenia. Should the Americans advance, it would be one of the few highlights for a nation where football is not quite mainstream. Here is the some of their greatest moments. 1930 The Americans travel to Uruguay - a shorter trip than for the European football powers, with Italy, Germany, England and Spain among those not taking part. A pair of 3-0 victories, over Belgium and Paraguay, carry the Americans into the final four, where they are thrashed by Argentina, 6-1. Still, it is a better performance than any other non-South American team. 1950 US 1, England 0. Yes, it actually did happen, even if many newspapers in the United Kingdom thought the score was transposed when it came over the wires. In the Englishmen's first trip to the tournament, the United States was supposed to be an opening-round breather for them. Then Frank Bourghi, the goalkeeper, and Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian immigrant, got in the way. Gaetjens's diving header gave the Americans the lead, and Bourghi made several spectacular saves as England piled on the pressure. When the final whistle sounded, fans in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, carried Bourghi and Gaetjens off the field. 1990 The highlight came long before the US team landed in Italy. In fact, there was not much to remember about Italia '90 itself, with three losses by a combined 8-2. But just qualifying was the big deal, the first trip to the tournament in 40 years, secured on Paul Caligiuri's goal against Trinidad & Tobago. It is still considered something of a turning point for football in the US. 1994 Not only did the Americans advance to the second round, then perform well in a 1-0 loss to Brazil, but they staged a rousingly successful tournament. A surplus of US$50 million (Dh183.5m) was applied to the sport in the United States following the event. 2002 Concerns about landing in a group with the highly ranked Portuguese, South Korea, the co-hosts, and Poland quickly were erased. The US team strike early, take a surprising 3-0 lead over the Portuguese and hold on for a 3-2 victory. John O'Brien's goal gets the Americans started, then Landon Donovan's shot deflects into the net and Brian McBride also scores. The win and a tie with the South Koreans take the US into the second round, where the beat rivals Mexico before losing 1-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals. * AP