The summer months are always an odd time for sports. I hear some of my friends complaining that there is only Major League Baseball to watch. While this summer's MLB season brings more intrigue than normal, it doesn't seem to be enough to distract us from the dog days of summer.
Yet this summer has been different. We have been treated to excitement and intrigue from another source a source that we usually shun and ignore in the United States. The source I refer to is the rise of soccer.
Sports pundits and experts have been predicting the rise of soccer in the United States for nearly fifteen years. They said that hosting the 1994 World Cup in the United States would do it. They predicted that the U.S. Men's National Team's run to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup would surely bring about this event. They argued that David Beckham's presence in the Major League Soccer would no doubt raise interest in soccer in the United States. They were wrong.
While billions across the world are feverish about the world's game, it has never caught on in the United States. Some people attribute it to the lack of scoring. They say that Americans love offense and the excitement that it brings. They love the 120115 basketball game and the 5644 football game. They don't want to watch a 0-0 draw or a 1-0 win. Yet, this summer has proved this argument to be false.
Anybody who watches ESPN or reads a sports section knows about the National Team's improbable run to the finals of the Confederations Cup. It was a most unlikely occurrence during which the team played terribly before pulling off one of the greatest soccer upsets of the millennium by beating number one ranked Spain team, a team which hadn't lost in 35 matches. Nearly four million people watched the final between the United States and Brazil, the most ever for a non-World Cup match.
Lack of offense was not the problem, America simply needed to be relevant on the world stage. Who, other than Cubs fans, wants to follow a team that isn't competitive? Who wants to support players that play in second tier leagues and don't compete against the world's best? Not many and certainly not proud Americans. This is what has changed.
The Men's National Team has become a player on the world stage. No longer is the team a pushover for the world's powerhouses. With the transfer of Oguchi Onyewu to AC Milan, one of soccer's most storied club teams, there is now an American playing in a top league, and in the world's premier club competition, the Union of European Football Associations Champions League.
ESPN has played an important role in this sudden growth of interest in soccer. The United States v. Spain game and the United States. v. Brazil game were both the lead story on Sportscenter. Millions of Americans heard about Cristiano Ronaldo's and Ricardo Kaka's transfers to Real Madrid. ESPN is also attempting to buy the rights to televise the English Premier League, the top club league in the world, in the United States to supplement its coverage of the Champions League.
Dartmouth is not unfamiliar with interest in soccer. Collis is generally packed during Champions League matches and the stands at men's soccer games are regularly filled. It is nice to see the rest of the country taking the interest that Dartmouth students have. I am looking forward to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but for those of you who are more impatient, tune in August 12 to watch the United States take on arch-rival Mexico in Mexico City, a place where the United States has never won.
