With the World Cup nearly upon us, I felt it only fitting to examine a team that many feel doesn’t deserve and ultimately won’t experience success in the World Game.
I’m talking about the United States of America.
With its love of fast-paced, heavy-hitting, super-sized pastimes, the USA have long neglected the great game of football.
Like Australia, they dirtied the name ‘football’ with the establishment of the NFL. But as the country diversified, the appeal of football quickly took hold.
In the MLS, football has finally found a profitable niche within a once impenetrable market. Starting with just 10 teams, the MLS now boasts 19 teams within North America and has single-handedly led to the construction of 14 football-specific stadiums in the past decade.
The success of the MLS has in turn elicited greater participation and viewership rates in America.
With over 15 million young Americans today playing the sport and the nation itself watching the 2010 World Cup in greater numbers than the 2012 NBA decider, football has gripped a nation once too ignorant to embrace the game.
But will this growth in popularity yield results on the international arena?
The US surprised everyone in 2010 by making it to the Round of 16, and have only improved since, qualifying with ease for this World Cup. Boasting the likes of Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley, there can be no denying the American team have the propensity put in some heartening performances in Brazil.
Stuck in Group G, the US face a tough fight to progress from the group stage, let alone win a game.
Facing Portugal, Germany and Ghana, America are just like Australia at this World Cup – underdogs. But with consistency far superior to that of Ghana’s and a German coach up their sleeve in the form of former West Gemany player Jurgen Klinsmann, America may surprise a few at the this World Cup and make it to the knockout stage.
The similarities between America and Australia when it comes to football, both in popularity and success at the international level, are abundantly clear. Like us, they have only recently wholeheartedly adopted the game, and this late adoption puts both international teams at a clear disadvantage for the foreseeable future.
So while Australians do enjoy hating on Americans, keep a close eye on the USA at this World Cup. They may well do what Australia can’t.
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