When Brazil come heads bowed in shame ..........

[Fish111]

Isn't proper football in the USA seen as a girls game rather than a serious mens sport? I read somewhere that it is a hugely popular girls sport. The MLS is stagnating and will never be a major sport in the states due to the popularity of traditional sports over there.

[ryanmjo]

Isn't proper football in the USA seen as a girls game rather than a serious mens sport? I read somewhere that it is a hugely popular girls sport. The MLS is stagnating and will never be a major sport in the states due to the popularity of traditional sports over there.

Not really. I think there's a bit of that of course. It's massively popular as a children's sport in general.

MLS is not stagnating though. Attendances are increasing. 2 years ago Seattle got a team and now draws over 36,000 a game. Philadelphia got a team last season, and two more teams are coming in next year. The game is growing. Again, MLS has been around for 16 years. It's silly to talk about it overtaking baseball (141 years), the NFL (90 years), or the NBA (84). And even if it doesn't attain "major" sport status, the US is big enough that it doesn't have to.

[Fish111]

Isn't proper football in the USA seen as a girls game rather than a serious mens sport? I read somewhere that it is a hugely popular girls sport. The MLS is stagnating and will never be a major sport in the states due to the popularity of traditional sports over there.

Not really. I think there's a bit of that of course. It's massively popular as a children's sport in general.

MLS is not stagnating though. Attendances are increasing. 2 years ago Seattle got a team and now draws over 36,000 a game. Philadelphia got a team last season, and two more teams are coming in next year. The game is growing. Again, MLS has been around for 16 years. It's silly to talk about it overtaking baseball (141 years), the NFL (90 years), or the NBA (84). And even if it doesn't attain "major" sport status, the US is big enough that it doesn't have to.

Seattle pulling over 36,000? That's impressive. I'm surprised at that. The MLS gets such a bad press over here, it is seen as a sunny retirement home and pay extension for old footballers from Europe.

[ryanmjo]

I think a mistake a lot of people make is that the popularity of MLS = the popularity of the sport as a whole in America, and that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Premier League games at 7.45 (4.45 on the West coast) in the morning get better ratings than MLS at times.

[Fish111]

Where are you based?

[john@staustell]

The object of the exercise is to foster the love of football in strange and wonderful places and promote the growth of it therein.

Like World Cup USA 1994...

No, the object of the excercise is to line the pockets of Blatter, Warner and co,
The world cup won't stop the russian league being one of the most corrupt in
the world, nor will it boost football in a country that has no real interest in it.

Exactly. Its not rocket science.

And possibly the most rascist, although there is some serious competition.