Give Soccer a Chance

By: Zach | June 30th, 2011

This article really isn’t for all of you dedicated fans. It is more for those who know about soccer but keep up with other sports instead (People who think the World Cup is the only soccer competition). I encourage you to show this to your friends and family in an effort to convince them to at least watch or go to one game.

With the NFL currently in a lockout and the NBA on its way to one, it’s time to give soccer the mainstream attention it deserves… or at least a chance. Soccer is growing in America and I don’t know many people who will deny that fact, but it’s not at the level that it should be. Soccer in the MLS is not the most beautiful play in the world but unless we start supporting a team or teams, we will never have a league that produces top players. This will ultimately allow our national team to be a major player in the world of soccer. Think of it as our LAST, last frontier. We’ve conquered space travel but we have yet to conquer soccer.

I’ll admit it, I wasn’t always a soccer fan. I watched my first soccer game in the spring of 2009 because my friend convinced me to give it a chance (I was a football fan). It was the FA Cup and Chelsea beat Everton 2-1. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed at first and it was a little while before I watched another game. The next game I watched was this little thing called the MLS Cup. Real Salt lake was playing Beckham and the Galaxy. I had heard about Beckham and decided that I would root for LA. Real Salt Lake won on penalties and it was the most exciting thing I had seen in a while. I was hooked. I started keeping up with the EPL and became a fan of Fulham because they had Clint Dempsey, a USMNT player. A few weeks before the MLS season started, I learned more about the teams and decided that I would give most of my attention to the Houston Dynamo. Now I’m here, telling you my soccer story in an effort to convince you to watch a soccer game.

Please, make my effort worthwhile and watch a game sometime in the near future. You won’t regret it.

Tell me your stories of your first soccer game or how you encouraged someone to watch on Twitter.

@DynamoOffside

@Zach_Taylor

Forever ORANGE

Forever MLS and USMNT