Soccer Shows America It Isn't Special… And That's Ok

Even Tim Howard's record-setting performance couldn't save the US against Belgium.

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The US Men's National Team fought with everything they had. Superhuman goalie Tim Howard made a World Cup-record 16 saves, and young lightning Julian Green scored on his first touch of the tournament, late in extra time, to keep the boys alive…

But America still lost.

That's soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it, and if this World Cup has shown me anything it's that, while I still believe my country is great, we aren't special.

Bob Lobel: My Growing Appreciation for "The Beautiful Game"

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

I must be going crazy. 

Here I am driving home from a haircut listening to soccer play-by-play on the radio. There is a first time for everything, I guess. This was the first time for that thing, and until another World Cup comes around, it will be the last.  

Chatter about new found popularity of the most popular sport in the world, minus the United States, will ring out across our great land. But, the only thing you need to remember about the relationship between the beautiful game and the “oh beautiful, for spacious skies” country, is that we just couldn’t fall in love with a sport that belongs to the rest of the world. 

Belgium vs America in Things Other Than Soccer

  
By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Ok people, you know the deal. Just like last week against Germany, I am taking soccer completely out of the equation and determining whether the USA is superior to its next World Cup opponent off the pitch.

Without further ado, here is America vs Belgium in random things that popped into my head.

Germany vs America in Things Other than Soccer

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

The United States Men's National Team is set to take on its biggest challenge yet tomorrow at noon against world soccer power Germany, but that's only a game, right?

Every four years, the world turns it attention to soccer as a means of proving which nation is superior, but surely there are other ways to tell which country is better. For instance, America is only 3-6 all time vs Germany in soccer, but we're currently 2-0 against them in World Wars.

So, we'll call it even after those two categories, but here are some other ways to determine which is the greatest nation in Group G, the United States of America or the Federal Republic of Germany.

America's Sweetbitter Match with Portugal and Remembering Jack Lanzillotti

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

Bittersweet doesn’t really cover it. 

Try sweetbitter. Now we're onto something.

With the largest American television audience ever for a soccer game watching, and happily being captives to unfolding history, the USA stumbled into infamy. At least we think they did. 

Dealing With Ties and Other Dilemmas of a Wannabe US Soccer Fan

#Merica

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Let me just get this out of the way early: There's gonna be a ton of soccer stuff on SuiteSports over the next few weeks.

The SS staff (Jeremy Conlin and I, pictured above) have caught soccer fever, though he is a bit more of a footy ball buff than I am usually. Plus, we both kind of hate baseball.

Does this make us unAmerican? Well, if you think drunkenly cheering on the stars and stripes and claiming US supremacy in something we know very little about is unAmerican, then you must be a commie!

Now, back to soccer, a game that captures the American imagination every four years (No, seriously, we could be good at this sport!), but also frustrates casual American sports fans to no end.

Here's how to deal with some concepts in soccer that may seem as foreign as Cristiano Ronaldo to you.

Will Soccer Stick in America THIS Time?

Sure, we're all into soccer now, but will the sport matter in America after the World Cup?

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

With the World Cup in full swing, American sports fans are finding themselves in an odd place: Pretending to care about the world's game.

America's thrilling 2-1 win over Ghana Tuesday surely enhanced the image of US Soccer, especially after the national side was eliminated by Ghana in the last two World Cups, but it also helped us understand why we've managed care so much about the World Cup, while not holding particular interest in the goings on of world soccer for the last two decades.

The World Cup is the last place where beating a "pretty good" team from a midsized nation is a step in the right direction for America. Once every four years, we Americans get to feel like underdogs and cheer with house money against nations that have been playing soccer longer and care about it far more.

The US Men's National Team is the last American competitive entity where baby steps can be taken and moral victories exist. Combine that with the fact that multiple generations have now grown up playing soccer as children, and you have a recipe for legitimate interest in the sport following the World Cup.

I think.

Bob Lobel: America's Fragile Relationship With Soccer

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

The bad news is that the relationship between the rooting public of the United States of America and its national soccer team has never been more fragile.

The good news is that the relationship between the rooting public of the United States of America and its national soccer has never been more fragile.

The point being, there actually is a relationship. They are dating, kinda.