When will Soccer Mania grip the US?

If the United States are the number one sporting nation (overall) in the world then soccer is the number one sport in the world, most people will concede. So, why does a nation which has produced some of the unforgettable legends of world sport, bank so heavily (to generate interest in the game) on an over the hill English footballer (yes, no more of soccer from here! Football means soccer, folks!!!!) unsure of a place in his county's starting 11?

The answer is simple. The United States might be path breakers in athletics, golf, tennis, basketball, ice hockey and scores of other sports. But when it comes to football, they still have a long way to go before they can actually hope to give the likes of Brazil, Argentina and the like a good run for their money.

That fact conceded, where do the US go from here in terms of football? Firstly, let's try and analyse the reasons why the same game which is the numero uno sport across Europe, parts of Asia and Africa struggles to even hold, let alone enthrall the US audience.

Though it would be extremely naive on my part to appear highly knowledgeable about the reasons behind it, I can hazard a guess.

Firstly, the sports popular in the US are usually high scoring. Most of the action in sports like basketball (or baseball or American football or even tennis) gets translated into points, and ice hockey (though relatively lower scoring) is the fastest sport on earth, so it has its own charm.

Football (soccer) on the other hand, can quite possibly involve 90 minutes of breathtaking action, culminating in a scoreless draw. And I guess this doesn't go down too well with an audience which has not yet acquired a firm grip on the nuances of "The Beautiful Game."

More importantly, the US is a sports-rich country with a sport (or more) to keep it hooked for all seasons. THIS ensures that football at its very best is seldom even exposed to an American audience, be it on television or in the form of a competitive MLS.

In a nutshell, the US sports audience have their plates full already (with NBA, NHL, American football, baseball and to an extent, tennis), are not exposed to the premier leagues of European football and therefore, cannot grapple with terms like holding midfielder, stepovers, winger and backheel like (most of) the rest of the world.

Net result—The American audience is content with their sports and not fascinated by "soccer" simply because they do not understand it well enough yet.

So, where lies the solution? First of all, actively telecasting the English Premier league, the La Liga and the Champions League will do no harm. After all, bringing some of the finest exponents of the beautiful game to the homes of New York and Chicago will definitely catch the fancy of the youth, sooner rather than later.

And once that happens, the talent pool and quality can only improve. Besides that, another major initiative worth a try would be to set up youth academies of some European giants. After all, the famous "couch potato" theory might work to the disadvantage of the US if the only football kids are involved in is on television.

Once these initial initiatives are taken, I for one, am pretty confident that the resources (both financial and talent-wise) of the MLS will improve tremendously. Having said that, there are no quick routes to the top of the footballing world.

A system needs to be put in place, and should be given time. Five, maybe 10 years from now is the earliest that you can expect results of any magnitude from the  US if all goes well. By then, let us hope the people of the biggest sporting nation of all take to the most popular sport of all.

Now, what a combination THAT can be!!!