Soccer: The Only Sport In America That Crowns a True World Champion

It is people like the author of "America to the World: We Do Not Want Soccer Here!" that give America it's unfortunate bad rap in the world of football. As an American, I am ashamed and embarrassed by this. During the American revolution of the Beautiful Game, more children are playing the game on all levels than ever before, Major League Soccer is continuing to grow, and more Americans are watching than ever before.

While people like the author of that article and a few of the comment leavers are living in the Stone Age, where soccer did not exist in the world of major American sports, games featuring the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City, Panathanaikos, Tottenham, Celtic, Sporting Lisbon, and many more of the world's greatest clubs are selling out throughout the country. The United States National Team is preparing for a match against Brazil on August 10th, at which 85 thousand fans are expected to be showing their support, this following near capacity attendances of 36,218 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT against the Czech Republic and 68,000 in Philadelphia against Turkey on May 25th and 29th respectively.

On July 11th, the World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands set a new mark in the United States as the most watched televised soccer match ever, topping the Round of 16 match between the United States and Ghana two weeks ago. So how can any one person speak for an entire nation when 24.3 million people tuned in for a match that did not even feature their own country?

Aside from people saying the entire United States hates soccer and the illegitimacy of that statement, there is one other thing that makes me tick with American sports, the phrase "world champion."

It is the same in the other four major sports: the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. You hear the saying after every championship: "The New York Giants are world champions!" "The Red Sox are world champions!" NO! This is not true! They are champions of America (and like one or two areas of Canada), NOT THE WORLD! Soccer is the only professional sport that takes part in crowning a world champion.

If they want to claim the title of world champion, they need to prove it against the world. I know for a fact that other countries on several continents have professional baseball, hockey, and basketball leagues, not so much American football. Do what soccer does. In soccer, the champions, and depending on the prestige of the league, the first couple runner-ups, compete against the other champions and runner-ups on their continent in a tournament. The champion of this tournament is the champion of the continent. The champions of the continents then compete in a final tournament against each other in an effort to crown a single world champion. Soccer has done this with no problem for years.

I know that it would be very difficult to set something like this up, I am merely raising a point. Two points in one article actually. First of all, I have seen soccer grow to incredible heights here in the United States. I have seen my friends and people around me become very interested and enthused by the game, not only for the World Cup every four years. We now debate games and players all over the world. More people are watching than ever. By 2022, the year the United States are expected to next host the World Cup, soccer will absolutely be right there at the top of the American sports pyramid. I truly believe that. Soon, it will not be a shock to get more than 30 million watching the world's biggest games in the world's greatest sport.