READING 2 Americans’ Attitude toward Soccer

Americans’ Attitude toward Soccer

Fans cheer on the U.S. Women’s National Team in Los Angeles, California. This was the seventh “Countdown to the Cup” game ahead of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 12.3

Almost everyone in the world calls it “football.” Americans call it “soccer.” Whatever you call it, it is by far the most popular sport in the world. In many countries, top international soccer players are as well-known as rock stars or actors—but not in the United States.

In 1999, when the Women’s World Cup was played in the United States, there was more excitement about soccer than ever before. It seemed as if the United States might start to become more interested in this international sport. In 2014, when the World Cup was held in Brazil, a record number of people in the United States (an average of 24.7 million), watched the game in which the U.S. team tied with Portugal in the first round. Soccer seemed to be getting more popular. But for the next World Cup in 2018, the men’s team did not even qualify to play. The number of viewers in the United States went down by nearly one half.

Some statistics show that interest in soccer is higher than before. Certainly, during the World Cup, there is a larger audience for soccer than at other times. But soccer is still much less popular in the United States than in the rest of the world.

Experts believe that to increase interest in soccer, professional teams have to produce better players and capture kids’ interest at a younger age. Many American parents enroll their kids in soccer programs because they consider soccer safer than other sports, such as football or hockey. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of young soccer players doubled. More recently, however, that number has been dropping. Between 2015 and 2018, the percentage of 6- to 12-year-olds playing soccer dropped nearly 14 percent. With more time spent on electronics, fewer American kids are playing youth sports than ever before. But while soccer numbers are down, baseball and basketball numbers are up. For American soccer to be on a level with the rest of the world, a lot more children need to play, and these developmental programs need to be more rigorous1 .

The record number of viewers who tuned in to watch the women play in 2019 is encouraging. Will the 2019 World Cup win by the United States’ women’s national team lead to more interest in the sport? Only time will tell.

1 rigorous: difficult; having high standards