Favila: The U.S. a soccer nation? Not even close

Although I admitted in an earlier column that I don’t like soccer, I have been keeping up with the 2010 World Cup.

And while I still think the Beautiful Game is a very boring game, I respect and admire the passion people have for their teams.

As a matter of fact, even I got caught up in the excitement last week when the United States took on Ghana in the Round of 16. It was nice to see this country rally in support of our national team. For a brief moment it was almost as if the U.S. had suddenly become a soccer nation. Almost, but not quite.

No, the second the American team lost was when we proved this country is not a soccer nation and never will be.

It’s not that we turned our backs on the team that makes us unworthy of being labeled a soccer nation. It’s because we did just the opposite.

Despite losing to a team it should have been able to beat, the U.S. soccer squad returned home as national heroes. Landon Donovan spent much of the week making the talk-show circuit and accepting congratulations and praise from an adoring public.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the Three Lions, who lost in the same round as the United States, returned to England in complete disgrace. Head coach Fabio Capello nearly lost his job and the press and public vilified stars like Wayne Rooney.

The same goes for Italy and France, which didn’t even make it out of pool play. Coaches and players from these teams were branded complete failures and practically run out of the country.

More recently, I wager both the Brazilian and Argentinean national teams are not looking forward to facing their disappointed fans.

Naturally, I wouldn’t want to see Americans greet the U.S. team at the airport with torches and pitchforks. I mean this isn’t Columbia after all. Still, if the United States ever wants to become one of the world’s soccer elites, I think we as fans have to stop accepting mediocrity and begin demanding better results.

There is no excuse for the United States to not be at a higher level of competition. Although soccer is not an American-born game like baseball or basketball, we’ve been playing the sport in this country long enough that we should be much better than we are.

Our national teams should be talented enough to reach at least the quarterfinals of the World Cup on a consistent basis. And while this country may never be on the same level as traditional soccer powers like Argentina, Brazil or Germany, we should strive to be and not automatically accept the fact that we’re not.

The bottom line is that while Americans like soccer, it’s still not a priority for us. We care more about the NFL, college football, basketball, baseball, hockey, golf, boxing, MMA, WWE and even NASCAR.

Soccer is a quick diversion for us once every four years and not a religion as it is in nearly every other country in the world.

I suppose that if we as a country put our minds and hearts to it we could become a soccer nation. But why would we want to?

Dave Favila is senior sportswriter for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at davidf@valleystar.com or at 956-430-6214