Soccer will take over America. It's bound to happen. It's just too much magic in the sport. It is a slow process, but it is irreversible. If you look at the progress since soccer took off in America (after the world cup 1994), the growth is amazing. The next big step will be when the US gets the World Cup again. Unfortunately between the corruption scandals around Salt Lake City 2002 (and the subsequent tacit agreement to not award the US major sporting events for a while) and Qatar's own corruption efforts to bring in the 2024 WC, it would be a while, but it would happen eventually. It is bound to happen.

Here are the 3 main reasons that make soccer great:

1. It is more about skill than physical attributes: Unlike other sports, where you have to have certain physical attributes to play the sport, in soccer you can be a 5 foot meatball like Maradona or a 7 foot stick like Crouch, you can still play the sport. In what other sport a team of super talented midgets (FC Barcelona) can dominate? This is why soccer is becoming the most popular sport for kids.

2. That 1 goal: I've heard Americans complain that the main problem with soccer is that it is a low scoring sport. I think actually this is the main reason why it is the most popular sport in the world. There is just so much emotion packed into every single goal, just because you know it might be enough for the win. But then again, it is also likely that it isn't. You just never know. And that's what makes it fun and emotional to watch.

3. No time outs: A whole soccer game is less than 2 hours, and more than 90 minutes of those are actual play. For as much as I love college ball, I just can't stand those TV timeouts every 4 minutes.