Seton Hall
Soccer in the United States will change after Sunday
Date: July 5, 2019By: Jose Balderrama
This Sunday is the most action-packed day of the summer for soccer fans all over the world, as the Copa America final, the Gold Cup final and the Women’s World Cup final will all take place during the same day. The Copa America final will be a rematch of the group stage battle between Brazil and Peru, which Brazil won 5-0.
The Gold Cup final will be the long-awaited match between Mexico and the U.S. The first final between these two rivals since 2011. But perhaps the most significant game for fans all over the world is the final between the U.S. and Netherlands, as women’s soccer has grown increasingly more popular in the past decade.
This Sunday could mean a tremendous shift in terms of the significance of soccer in the U.S. We all know that soccer is probably fourth or fifth in popularity amongst the major sports for Americans, and a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that they’ve never been very successful in all their history, especially the men’s side.
The men did not even make it to World Cup last year, which most likely resulted in a negative effect for the popularity of the sport in this country. The women’s side might be the most successful team in history, but women’s soccer has never attracted as much attention as men’s soccer.
But on a day where two U.S. National Teams have a chance to bring home a trophy, one being a World Cup trophy, while the other coming at the hands of their most hated rival, Mexico, which has consistently gotten the best of the U.S. in the past; on a day like this, the outlook of soccer in the country might change for good. More and more people might fall in love with these teams and ultimately result in an increase in fandom all over the country.
People forget how crazy the whole country went when the men’s team reached the round of 16 in the World Cup of 2014, and how that team had the hearts of Americans everywhere. Or how amazing it was to watch the 99er’s win the World Cup in Pasadena. As well as when they won in Canada in 2015. U.S. soccer has created some beautiful moments throughout its history, but consistency of these moments has always been the problem.
But it is inevitable to believe that a day in which the national teams each win a major tournament will not be forever remembered as one of the most successful days in U.S. sports history. If this were to happen, soccer would no doubt gain much more fans in the country and it might eventually jump sports like hockey or baseball in terms of popularity.
This could also have an amazing ripple effect, because more fans equal more people playing the sport, and more people playing the sport means more chance of creating real talent.
If these two teams win Sunday, I truly believe it will result in the eventual creation of more talent that will be able to be more competitive consistently especially for the men’s team on a global scale. U.S. soccer might ultimately improve significantly in the future because of events that might happen on July 7, 2019.
Jose Balderrama can be reached at jose.balderramaornelas@student.shu.edu.
