by Mr Sportsbook

At the World Cup the US Men’s National Team reached the second round in excruciating circumstances. They only needed a win against Algeria to go through and had to wait until the 92^nd minute to score the winner. A 92^nd minute that in all other American sports wouldn’t have existed as no injury time is played in any major sport in the US.

Soccer cannot be called a major sport in the United States because it doesn’t have the fanatical support of the big four of Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. These four sports have entrenched support of generation after generation and a position in the nation’s psyche that soccer is very unlikely to ever capture.

Soccer may be catching up slowly but it’s very nature may well stop it ever approaching the heights of these other sports. Soccer is a team game that highlights the abilities of the team to work together rather than lauding the individual talents. Some teams may play in order to emphasise the talents of their best player but a great team will always beat a great player as shown by Inter Milan’s defeat of Barcelona in the Champions League Semi-Final over two legs. Inter Milan played as a team and were able to close down the pitch and thwart the Barcelona attack.

This reliance on a team ethic over individuality meets serious resistance in America where individuals are feted and heroes lauded. Americans love their quarterback or their home run scorer, they put the individual on their own pedestal alongside a team. In Football America never plays as a nation, in Baseball it is extremely rare whilst Hockey and Basketball is left to the Olympics. America is rarely represented as a united nation in sporting events and this is a serious problem for soccer.

Soccer traditionally is a sport that the highest achievement is playing for your country. Whilst this may have changed in recent years with the Champions league and the multi-millionaire status of soccer players the truth remains that representing your country is the highest honour achievable. The lack of national awareness in America means it is harder for soccer to capture the spirit of the country and take this passion into long term support.

Soccer needs support at the professional club level as it is already being played in record numbers at the grass roots and in schools and colleges. It needs higher audiences to allow the MLS to start to compete with some of the major leagues around the world. The EPL and La Liga are some way off but competing against leagues such as Holland or France is extremely possible but requires the support of the country.

It is now up to ESPN which has become a major stakeholder in the game to keep this fervent support as seen during the World Cup and carry it through into the next few MLS seasons to keep the interest alive before 2014 in Brazil.