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STEELE SPORTS

Give soccer a second chance
By
Johnnie Phillips, Sports Editor
soccer, owatonna, steele county

One part of American sports culture that I have never been able to fully grasp is how soccer has become neglected in American sports media, and typically written off until the FIFA World Cup rolls around once every four years.

The common narratives that I hear from outsiders when I’m watching a soccer game on TV or mentioning the sport in conversation are that the game is “too boring” or “our teams are not competitive enough.”

To the uninformed, these takes may sound accurate – I, too, used to be befuddled by the fact that a game could end in a draw or that the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) never seemed to win at the World Cup.

It takes the proverbial wind out of your sails when your teams don’t seem to match up to the skill level and prowess of the big South American or European clubs that have long dominated the soccer world.

These are the narratives our sports culture, which revolves centrally around football, basketball, and baseball, have built in our heads – and quite frankly, they steal the shine from what the U.S. is actually doing in the soccer world.

Not only has the U.S. Women’s National Team won two World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, but the USMNT has just qualified for its first World Cup since 2014.

While we may seem to not notice or care about the athletes that have been rebuilding the U.S. soccer program, the world has taken notice.

Players from the U.S. are starting to be courted by some of the world’s biggest soccer clubs, with names like Christian Pulisic and Brenden Aaronson signing with Chelsea FC and Leed’s United FC in England’s Premier League (EPL).

The sport commonly referred to as “the beautiful game” is growing in the U.S., especially as contact sports begin to see a decrease in young athletes competing due to the worry surrounding concussions and other head injuries.

The time for fans to give soccer the second chance it deserves is undoubtedly now.

I personally have been waking up in the morning at 6 a.m. to watch EPL games, and it has blown my mind to see the level of skill that these athletes have in a game that is so different from any other.

While the scoring and pace of the game may not make your jaw drop for the whole 90 minutes, soccer does have incredible moments of skill and technique that can happen in the blink of an eye, and fans that show a passion that may even outweigh the craziest of football fans.

The time is right to hop back on the soccer bandwagon, and I urge you to explore the game with an open mind.

It might just prove you wrong.

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