Does everyone care? No. But do people care way more now than they used to? FUCK YES they do.
1994? Most people didnt know jack shit about the sport. There was no league... There was no way for anyone here to watch games from overseas and get an idea about what the hell this whole 'soccer' thing was all about...
I was here during the 2010 world cup. People in places like Seattle, and Portland, and San Francisco all got up at the buttcrack of dawn to go downtown and watch the games on big screens and drink beer before work at 8 or 9... This is shit that nobody used to do unless a city had a sports team in the depths of a playoff run... and here there were thousands gathered, waving flags and singing songs during the games...
The Algeria game is a perfect example. Everyone was fucking TENSE about it. after 70, or 80 mins, people started covering their eyes and getting freaked... When Donovan scored... we hit the next level of joy... everyone jumped around and started straight flipping out like any european crowd would do. it was at that time that I started to really believe that people here care about this shit... Everyone? No... but enough? fuck yeah.
Football, soccer, whatever you want to call it, is gaining ground in the US. Does our league suck? yeah it does compared to england and most european leagues... but is it growing? fuck yeah it is... clubs have devoted millions to building new stadiums, and theyre FILLING them... Look at a Seattle Sounders game dude.. that club's been around TWO SEASONS and they fill that shit every match... people are excited... New clubs are being formed not because they want to spread the sport like with the old league, but because people are ITCHING for a club to come to their town... Rivalries are growing, and people are really getting behind their support. It's not europe... but for a league that's been around for 15 years, it's fucking impressive...
It's not in the big 4 leagues yet by any means... NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB teams have been around for decades now and have solidified their positions. There's legacy there... so you cant compare a league that's just getting beyond being a fledgling to that... but MLS is certainly creeping up there as a very popular league... It's definitely more popular than any other Minor league... Stadiums fill with 20-30k people now... people watch that shit on TV all the time... You can turn on ESPN on any random night and soccer is on... It's fucking AWESOME. We have an estimated fanbase of 70-90 million now who pay attention to the sport on a regular basis... how many people live in England again? (not a point i'm trying to make - just saying... the ratings show the growth)
We lost to Ghana... big deal... You guys still didnt do any better than us in any way whatsoever... If anything, seeing as we won the group on goal difference, and we actually competed HARD with Ghana, and you guys were decimated by Deutschland (I know... the disallowed goal was total bullshit), England probably played a little worse... but the thing is, You drew with us, you drew with algeria, we drew with slovenia, and we both barely got by in our last matches, with 1-0 victories against tiny countries we should have both slaughtered... You were just as freaked going into that last match as we are... we both came out on top. Awesome. High five for us, but we still should have both made it into the final 8 at LEAST...
As for us hosting the world cup? You think we dont have the infrastructure?
Dude... we have over THIRTY stadiums ready set, locked and loaded ready to host the world cup RIGHT NOW... You guys cant even compete with that if you wanted to bring Scotland's 3 big stadiums along with you... We have our world cup final stadium ready (it would probably be in New Jersey or Washington this time, with the new Meadowlands stadium just being finished, and FexEx Field being plenty modern and massive enough to hold it. California not having very good modern stadiums ready to go heavily limits it being done on this side of the country unless they want to re-do the rose bowl or the coliseum)
We have TWICE as many affordable hotels as you guys... and dont even get me started on places to find a good bite to eat...
We also have multiple airports in any of the host cities where it would take place, and offer very affordable flights between all of them in comparison to most countries. We have a train system. It's not as awesome as Europe's but it's plenty affordable, and you'd get to see a SHITLOAD of awesome country that you'd never be able to replicate in a smaller nation.. (though Australia would still be pretty awesome for the same reason)
If anything, i'd say, if England and the USA were the top 2 bids for the world cup, England wouldn't be winning the bid because of it's infrastructure, thats for damn sure.
All I can say is, I REALLY hope England gets 2018 and We get 2022... That would be fucking awesome, and 2018 would actually give the USA a MASSIVE boost going into 2022 if we both won our respective bids... If it happens, I'm going to go to both of them for sure (might even go to 3 in a row if I can get tickets to 2014)
I'd like Australia to get the cup too, but I just dont see that happening, seeing as all their stadiums, first of all suck for football (the pitch is a giant, massive, overly sized oval - terrible sightlines) and not only that, but a lot of their big stadiums they have in place wont be at all useable due to rugby happening at the same time...
Russia should get to host a future cup too... but seeing as they have to figure out their political and economic problems, they should have to wait until the next time the cup goes to Europe.
