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When football first left England, it went to Europe, and then to the Latin countries. Apart from England and Germany, majority Catholic countries (Brazil, Italy, Argentina, France and Uruguay) have dominated the game, and won every World Cup. As well as being mainly Catholic, all these countries are European, or ex-European colonies.

The politically and economically independent and isolationist US, meanwhile, made its own sports. Once baseball and NFL football took over the football scene, there was much less space for soccer. Even the names are confusing - in most of the world, football means soccer, not gridiron.

The rhythm of these games is completely different. Because baseball and NFL are played in a succession of balls or downs, they are much more like cricket or rugby than soccer. They also take longer, and in many ways are more complex, at least to a casual observer. US sports fans, used to being in the stadium half the day, would feel shortchanged by 90 minutes, and appalled by the concept of a tie.

In America, soccer has found a niche as a middle class game. This gives it a market, but it also places a limit on the potential growth of that market.

Even the way of talking is different. In an email exchange with an American soccer fan last summer, I was confused when he referred to the 'EPL'. It took me a while to realise he was talking about the English Premier League. In Europe, we don't use three letter acronyms in quite that way. Similarly, although I've tried to describe US sports correctly above, I'm sure my description sounds funny to American ears.

Interestingly, the international rating system consistently overrates the US team. This is because World Cup qualification for North American teams involves many games against small Caribbean islands, who the US are likely to beat, and each victory boosts their rating.

Incidentally, the US team were unlucky in the last (2006) World Cup. They had a very hard group, and fought out a titanic draw against Italy, the eventual winners. Of Italy's seven games, it was the only one they didn't win. To a country that despises the draw that may not sound like much of an achievement, but the rest of the world was impressed.

So hang on in there, you're doing better than you think.

Learn more about this author, Jon Eccles.
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