Let me stipulate that soccer is a fringe sport in the US, and women’s soccer is even fringier. I watch the English Premiere League and some MLS, but can’t get into the women’s game. That’s just the facts of life; soccer will never be our top sport. Let’s also stipulate that US goalkeeper Hope Solo may be the best women’s keeper in the world, and that she’s hot (that’s her over on the right). That’s not (necessarily) the reason to watch the US team play. Solo is also a commander in the net, as authoritative a figure as any in sports when the game is on the line. Unlike some NBA stars who make a lot more money, Hope Solo can play a full game and win it at the end. Ahem.
Having gotten all of that out of the way, the 2011 Women’s World Cup has provided some fantastic and memorable soccer this year. The US women’s team comes into the tournament ranked first in the world, but struggled to qualify for the tournament. They played some great soccer during their first two group stage matches, then fell apart and lost to Sweden to close out that stage. They faced speedy and skilled Brazil in the quarterfinal, and ended up having to overcome terrible officiating along with the opposing team and their five-time world player of the year to win in what, if we weren’t talking about women’s soccer, might stand alongside the 1980 Miracle on Ice for its dramatic fireworks and national mood lift. Check out the match highlights from ESPN:
The semi-final pits the US against France. In its quarterfinal, France dominated England for most of the game but couldn’t find the net until the 88th minute, tying the game at 1-1 to force extra time. Several English players nursed injuries through the extra time but neither side conceded a goal, so it was off to the penalty kick shootout, where France managed to squeak by for the win. So both teams got to the semis on last second comebacks to set up shootout victories.
That was on Saturday, which also featured yet another dramatic game as Japan defeated host and favorites Germany, 1-0 in the 117th minute. Germany came in ranked second in the world (Japan is fourth) and had not lost a Women’s World Cup Match in 12 years. Brazil, by the way, is the world’s third-ranked team and had not lost a game at all for two years, until the quarterfinal versus the US. Japan faces Sweden in its semi.
The USA vs France semi-final match is Wednesday at 11:45 eastern on ESPN. The US is expected to win, but it’s worth an Admiral Ackbar warning: The match could be a trap game for them. Given how both teams arrived at this point, it’s possible one may crack under the stress. But in all likelihood, we’re set for yet another dramatic match as both are set to use their comeback wins to push themselves as this year’s team of destiny.
As a *huge* soccer and MLS fan since the ’80s, I feel I have to comment on this.
Women’s soccer makes about as much sense as Men’s Field Hockey. Not to sound too sexist but soccer is sort of an extreme contact sport, rife with undercuts and buckets of blood. Already this season in the MLS there have been 3 high-profile injuries with broken bones, 2 involving compound fractures. It made me a bit sick to my stomach to see them, and hear in one case. *snap*
Not to say that the game has to be that violent, it just is. Women’s soccer is and will always be a pale imitation of the real game.
While I agree that soccer now is considered a fringe sport, I do not agree that it will always be so and things are changing fast. In the newly opened PPL park in Philadelphia for the Union is about always sold-out and the team isn’t even that great. The most expensive seats are $350 and that isn’t even for a box. The popularity of the sport is visibly increasing.
However, there are 3 myths about soccer that are mostly promulgated by old-line establishment media that impede its growth in the U.S. First is that soccer is a children’s sport and only a children’s sport. While soccer is the most popular sport for children in the U.S., the ‘only for children’ part is slowly fading away. Secondly is the myth that soccer is only a game for ‘ignorant peasant immigrants’, i.e. MLS’s continued insistence of calling games in English and Spanish in the stadiums, when I see little evidence that this is true at the actual games. And the last media myth that must be dispelled is that soccer is a woman’s sport. The whole institution of women’s soccer in the U.S. seems to me to be a bit of a feminist cause to try to show that women can do it just as well as men. No, they can’t, fact of nature.
Soccer a fringe sport? Professional soccer, yes. Youth soccer, no.
More kids play soccer in the U.S. than participate in any other organized sport.
I actually agree with most of what you both have said. Soccer isn’t fringe at the kids level. I played for years myself and loved it, and those years are probably why I like pro soccer now. But here’s the thing. Most kids don’t stick with it. Soccer is fringe at the pro level compared to other pro sports. Even the NHL dwarfs the MSL in interest level, merch, everything. Even the really big international teams have barely any following here. Go ask 10 people who Robin Van Persie is, and you’re likely to get 10 shrugs.
I’ve seen a lot of soccer teams and even leagues come and go in the US. The Dallas Tornado and the old NASL are barely a memory now. Some MLS teams can get an audience but most still can’t, even though the quality of play is pretty good. Imitating Euro team names — FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, I’m looking at you — is a little sad. Maybe it won’t always be fringe, but it’s fringe now. And I say this as a big fan both of MLS and BPL soccer.
Youth soccer is undergoing quite an expansion, if the results that I’ve observed at my local club hold for the nation at large.
After the World Cup last year we had an increase in registration of around 30%. Our numbers have held for a year and our upcoming fall season the numbers are stable at the new level.
What does that bode for soccer in the future? I don’t know, but here in Atlanta one of the local youth soccer leagues is partnering with a development firm to build a 1,300 acre sports park northwest of Atlanta.
Soccer is a fringe sport, but the fringe is getting a bit bigger. With the growing immigrant populations, I think it will eventually replace hockey as the “fourth major” sport in the US. In this country, the game has been stigmatized by misguided suburbanites who promoted it as a non-competitive alternative to the gridiron-style of football, which it most certainly is not. Like you, I normally don’t watch the women’s game either, but I’ve gotten caught up in this tournament and have found it to be fantastic.
The funny thing is that among youth sports there is still voluntary segregation.
The small city that I live in has went from 5% to 25% Hispanic in the last 10 years and my club accepts everyone that walks in our door, but the Hispanics refuse to play for our club, because they believe that gringos are incapable of playing soccer, regardless of the fact that our academy/select teams regularly kick their behinds.
Soccer’s growth is also a matter of economics. It takes very little money to play soccer, again here in my city, the fees for Little League and football are over twice the cost of participating in soccer.