Before I start, this piece is essentially about attitudes around the world towards men’s football. I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the huge success that the USA Women’s National Team has had but there’s a very different dynamic between the US and other nations with regard to the women’s game. In that case, America gets all the moral high ground because appallingly, too many of the biggest associations in the World’s Game treated women’s soccer with disinterest. At best it was an afterthought, at worst an overt act of chauvinism. The world doesn’t resent the USWNT’s success because frankly, it has no right to.
Somebody asked the above on social media recently and rather than grappling with character limits, I though this might be better expressed as a blog entry.
Easy answer: they’re probably not. Most nations have a more natural rival, normally based on geography, culture or history.
People do root against them though and there’s actually a pretty obvious reason why, when you think about it.
I’ve resided in the United States for almost 14 years now and soccer has come a long way in that time. While I still wouldn’t call it mainstream, there’s certainly a broader appreciation for the game and it’s now something that you can express an interest in with little-to-no danger of derision. That however, was not always the case.
As it happens, when I first emigrated in 2007, I was quite shocked by the attitude towards the game from some quarters. Back in England, we were well aware of the fact that the world’s most popular sport, somehow wasn’t popular in the most powerful nation on the planet. Assumptions for why, ranged from Americans not liking low-scoring games to them preferring games that they invented or popularized, to reluctance toward any sport they weren’t ridiculously dominant in. However, I expected this distaste for the beautiful game to manifest itself the same way as England’s relative dislike for Baseball: general indifference, with very occasional lighthearted mockery.
Instead, while I saw a healthy amount of simple disinterest, there was also a notable level of disdain. From people ranting about the level of coverage the World Cup was getting, to the odd looks you might receive for asking about watching a Premier League match at the wrong bar, it was quite jarring. And it wasn’t just from the average Joe’s. You’d get sports radio hosts like Jim Rome going on epic rants about it. You’d have the shock jocks like Glenn Beck declaring his outright hatred for the sport and the world “trying to jam it down [his] throat”. Then you’d get conservative commentators like Ann Coulter, framing growing interest in soccer as a “sign of America’s moral decay”.
For some back then, it was almost like soccer was some kind of invading enemy. But it’s now 2020, Jim Rome has apparently warmed to the sport, Colin Cowherd is apparently a fan, Glenn Beck has significantly declined from relevance and… well Ann Coulter is still much the same but, you know, baby steps.
I think the best and most diplomatic summation of how the rest of the world roughly feels about American soccer, was neatly framed by a friend of mine back in England in 2006. I was married, emigrating and while I still primarily wanted England to win the 2006 World Cup, I’d be rooting for the USA Men’s Team too, as long as they weren’t playing against each other. I told my friend this and (I’m paraphrasing as I don’t have a photographic memory) he replied thus: “I won’t root for them because it’s not followed there. Not like other places. If we win it, the whole country will celebrate. Do you think it would be anything like there?”. I had to admit that it probably wouldn’t.
He was right. The celebrations we saw recently when the Associated Press declared that Biden had won the election, would probably be outdone by a World Cup win in many nations around the globe. I know people here who would be just as excited. I know others for whom it would be something that they see on the news that makes them go “Oh. Fancy that”. The largest reaction would probably be Texas seceding.
So here’s the thing: America is already incredibly successful at a great many things, especially in competitive sports. Consider that the rest of the world still remembers the USA as a nation that once considered soccer so crap that their national leagues tried to find ways around ties, low-scoring, the offside rule and… well just google “League 1 America” for most egregious bastardization of the sport in the name of “generating American interest”. Among the enormous list of things that the United States is famous for, soccer fans the world over know it for the stubborn disdain it once held for the game that so many other people loved.
Now imagine a nation that is historically perceived as having that attitude towards the game you love, suddenly deciding the sport was okay after all, swanning in and winning the biggest prize: the men’s World Cup.
This is why many nations, while not necessarily hating the USMNT, tend to root against them.
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