Americans are obsessed with soccer and we all need to worry

W.Americans’ obsession with football is like watching the fires of Mount Doom lighting up the dark skies of Mordor.in this New York In a bar described by several online listicles as “the best football venue in town,” I gaze with anticipation at the orange glow pulsating in the distance like Gandalf. It is impossible to stop.

It’s no secret that the United States is a country that takes sports very seriously, but to someone who doesn’t live here, it’s hard to explain how deeply rooted sports are in our culture. From an early age, through high school and college, Americans grow up eating several meals at a time. But football, the world’s most popular sport, is fast winning the hearts and minds of Americans. in the last 10 years.

Surrounded by American football fans, I wondered when I watched England play the United States in the group stage of the World Cup.

I’m here to take my temperature, and possibly alert the rest of the world.

The atmosphere of the bar could not have been distinguished from a London pub if it weren’t for a few minor differences. Confusingly, American football fans, as British fans are familiar with, yell at their own players instead of cursing them. they simply say “united states of america’ Rather than shouting detailed instructions to field experts. Whether they’re inebriated or defeated, American fans offer Ted Lasso-like courtesy instead of crying over weak beer.

Clearly, they have a lot to learn about this sport. But like it or not, American football fans continue to grow. According to his Gallup poll in 2019, the number of people who said ‘football’ was their favorite sport was 7x growth, albeit from a low starting point. According to other polls, soccer has overtaken ice hockey here, snap at heel America’s national pastime, baseball.More American players playing for top European teams exponentially, too, has increased interest in the house.A promising future is that American soccer fans younger and more diverse than other sports.

In 2026, the United States will host the World Cup, setting the stage for a new generation of fans to learn and love the beautiful game.

Aaron Angeles, a 22-year-old New Yorker and lifelong soccer fan, has been watching games in New York City’s best soccer bars and believes it’s only a matter of time before the United States begins to realize its potential in global sports. increase.

“The development of American players in the Premier League and other European leagues has generated a lot of interest from American fans,” he says.

“As football started to gain more traction we started to see better prospects. Ten years ago our best player might have been Fulham’s third best player. No, we have players at Chelsea and Juventus right now, but it would be a disaster for the world if we got the resources behind them.”

Angeles describes the USA team’s stunning win over Ghana in the 2014 World Cup as a “focal memory” and believes the big-stage triumph will continue for years to come.

“It all comes down to performance. A win against a big team like England could change a lot of things and facilitate a process that has grown over the last few years.”

As the game progresses with no goals for either side, the number of mentions of the Revolutionary War increases among the bar crowd.

“That ass tea party!” one shouts.

“Get it on the other side of the court!” says another.

As one armchair analyst said as the match ended in a draw:

The immigrant community has driven much of the growth of U.S. football and has the most diverse fanbase of any U.S. sport. According to a recent study by Morning consultation40% of football fans are of color, and more than one in four (27%) U.S. adults who identify as football fans are Hispanic.

“Our parents are Trinidadian, so we didn’t play a lot of traditional American sports, we played a lot of soccer. said Gibran Boyce, 24, wearing a Team USA jersey on his way to the United States.

“It’s becoming more and more mainstream,” says her sister, 22-year-old Carina Boyce. “A lot of people like the camaraderie of the game, going out and drinking together.”

At the final whistle, a draw for the underdog USA team felt like a victory. But many are already looking to the future.

Another lifelong soccer fan, Nico Bossey, believes it won’t be long before U.S. hegemony dominates the sport. He claims it will be spent on development and world domination will follow.

“You’re talking to someone who’s been a football fan since they were little, and you’re seeing more and more people who weren’t before becoming football fans,” said Bossey. More Kids Many sports are boring and expensive, all you need is a ball and some cleats and you’re good to go.

“It’s a very young team. In a tournament or two from now you can see something established,” he says.

President Joe Biden, who is not known to be a big football fan, at least seemed happy with the results.

“I’d rather have nothing, but that’s fine. England are tough,” he said.