Topic: The 'Soccer' World Cup...

So as most peeps in the world are aware, the World Cup is being held in South Africa next summer, and the draw happened recently, to see who will be playing who.

England are drawn in Group C, along with the USA, Algeria and Slovenia.

Now, football is pretty dominant in most parts of the world - a religion in South America, a way of life in Europe, massive all over Africa, very big in Asia, and popular, although not to quite the same levels, in Australia.

In the USA, however, football has to compete with the home sports of Baseball, Basketball, and American Football, and is still seen as a minority sport, played by girls at school.

Now we all know Americans are very insular; I don't know if it's true, but I have a friend who says he was once in a grocery store in the USA, and was asked by the women behind the counter - 'what language do you speak in England?'

Americans probably think the Super Bowl is the biggest single sporting event in the world, despite the fact that the World Cup enjoys the position of the Super Bowl, but in almost the whole planet, where as interest in the Super Bowl outside of America is minimal.

TV viewing figures for the World Cup Final are far higher than for the Super Bowl, as you'd expect, very roughly 715 million for the World Cup Final, and 100 million for the Super Bowl... but the Super Bowl is still king in America.

So, for all the Yanks reading this, do most peeps know it is happening next year? Will most be watching? Has the David Beckham factor had a big effect on the profile of football, or soccer as you call it, in the USA?

Just how big is the biggest sporting event of all in the good ol' US of A?

Football isn't very big here in the USA, and I don't personally know anybody that watches the World Cup besides some of my family. But I love football and I know I'll be watching it come next summer.

i really can't keep up with it here in the states due to no cable but i think that we will get pretty far with Landon Donavan leading the team.

David Beckham has largely consider a complete joke in the American sporting world. He has had very little impact on spreading popularity of Soccer as well.

Oh right. I thought he was quite well known in the USA these days, not that I've been following his progress or anything.

Is David Beckham the most famous soccer player in the USA?

(a) the World Cup happens every year, doesn't it? why wouldn't it be happening next year?
(b) i'm sure you could find it on in some sports bars and stuff, and interested people might watch it at home too (if they're home while it's on TV), but i doubt 'most' people will go out of their way to watch it, no, not the way they go out of their way to call in sick for the Super Bowl, lol
(c) not sure what the 'David Beckham factor' is, nor do i terribly care what he's up to at the moment. soccer's never been really high on my 'things to watch' list anyway. :3

I'll certainly be watching. Some more general sports enthusiasts will tune into the Cup, but that will be the only time they watch soccer and won't follow it closely (though maybe they would if it had better coverage).

EDIT: TBD, it most certainly is not an annual thing, haha. Try every four years.

I would say yes he is the most well known soccer player in the US. Though more for the tabloids than for his football skills. Most American fans lost all repsect for him when he basically cried his way into being lent to the premiere league for awhile.

Landon Donovan his teammate on the L.A. Galaxy is probably the most popular. He is an incredible player and a class act to boot.

@Adam: told you soccer wasn't up there on my things to watch. i stand corrected. :3

It was actually an Italian team he went to, AC Milan, and what you have to understand is, from Beckhams point of view at least, is that whilst the LA Galaxy are a fine team, they are not a world famous team like AC Milan, and so if Milan want him, and he has a chance to play for them, it's something he'd be mad not to do.

I love you, you know that, don't you?

The David Beckham factor, btw, is just his general fame and recognition in the USA lifting the profile of soccer.

Haha, so I see. Qualifications alone last a year I think. And getting a single city ready to host a huge influx of spectators from around the world takes a lot of time and money. South Africa is currently barely making it, facing black outs, transportation difficulties, and such. Should be interesting. The cup attracts tons of people, even people without tickets who fly in just to loiter about for some reason.

Yeah, it's gonna be pretty crazy - first ever World Cup in Africa, I just hope they can handle it and everything goes smoothly. The world is watching (apart from the Yanks), so they don't want anything going wrong.

@Trin: i can't possibly be the only American over here who was/is thinking the same thing, either.

No.

Actually, most do. You greatly overestimate how educated the average person is about the world outside his home (not that that is specific to Americans).

What's the Super Bowl?
Just kidding, but I never watch it anyway. All my friends act like it's such a big thing, and then act shocked when they hear I didn't watch. I always watch the World Cup though. In my opinion, American Football is just a rip-off of rugby and consider Soccer a better sport.

Really?

I thought I was on pretty safe ground with that one.

Americans think everything is biggest and best in America, don't they? Therefore the Super Bowl must be the biggest event, dude!

U-S-A! U-S-A! (whoops for no reason)

I don't see how a sport can be a "rip-off." It's not like a sport is copyrighted or in any way 'owned.' It's definitely a descendant of rugby, just with a bunch more rules for some reason.

The sport would be significantly more interesting to me if they went back to having one team of players for all situations instead of having completely different offensive, defensive, and special teams. It's bizarre. No other sport is like that. It feels too calculated, every person doing one specific function for the team. Even arena football has gotten away from the one-team play.

Oh well, I much prefer soccer anyway, more skill, less fatties running into each other.

I do quite like American sports, Baseball is always worth a watch, if some of the better known teams are playing. Yankees, Red Sox, etc. I do like the fact that the winners of the World Series are called the world champions though, even though no-one from outside of America cares, let alone actually tried to win it.

Nothing is more American than calling the winners of a domestic competition the 'world champions'

Unless you live in Yorkshire.