I think the reason most Americans don't care for soccer is that they never have seen a game where they have some emotional capital invested, like when the US plays. Once you experience a game like today, you're hooked.
That's why I think if the US should ever reach the semis or the Finals, most of the country will come on board, as talk about the US team starts permeating the water cooler. Because those people will finally get to experience the thill of rooting for their team to win.
its still a long road to acceptance here... sadly
Yeah, I definitely think that's probably the biggest problem...no rooting interest. That pretty much makes any sport a bore if you have no one to cheer for.
I also think that the free flowing nature of the game makes it hard for Americans to get into.
In every other major American sport there are lots of discrete, easily identifiable plays where one team wins and one team loses: a pitch is either a ball or a strike; a football play either gains yards or it doesn't; a shot is either made or missed. There's always something to cheer even if those plays mean nothing to the outcome of the game.
When you don't have those little cues I think a lot of Americans find it hard to maintain interest.
The market will be there for soccer, just don't try to push it down our throats. Also, if our soccer team had a uniquley American style of play that we could actually watch on TV, we'd watch it too. A quick scoring, hard nosed defense that can run fast, but isn't known for agility would be the perfect model for the USA to rally around.
I've always believed that soccer is more of an event than a spectator sport in terms of popularity.
If a "rabid" soccer fan were forced to watch two reasonably skilled teams play, representing different universities and if the fan had no rooting interest, he'd turn it off after 20 minutes.
The beautiful thing about American sports is that you can play coach. I mean, the US has sports talk radio for heaven's sake!