If my team had ever played in an American city.....
You probably would've beaten the crap out of us. ...on the pitch, that is. No matter how hard American soccer officials try to get the game to catch on over here, their efforts are in vain. Many kids are placed in leagues when young by their "soccer moms", but by the time they reach high school their interests invariably change to the Big 3 -- (American) football, basketball, and baseball.
Only once . When we played Holland in Euro 88 at the Rhinstadion , Dusseldorf . The Dutch won 3-1 and we were ambushed by a hundred of them in the Old Town . We fought back with tables , plates, anything we could get our hands on really . The German police rounded us up and frogmarched us to this school gym , where we were kept until the next day and then put on the first train to the Bremen ferry .
There seemed to be 2 types of police - one local lot and then a sort of National outfit . They seemed to be working at odds with one another , thereby allowing us and the Dutch fans to run wild . So, in answer to your query , the German cops were quite soft .
As for American soccer , well , of course the public prefer those 3 - its what you grow up with . Perhaps soccer is not the best quality because half your national squad is based over here , including Illinois’ finest Frank Simek , at my team Sheffield Wednesday .