Ever since the 1994 World Cup was played in the United States, we have been reading reports that Americans are no longer thinking of soccer as an amateur game for women and children \u201d\u201d there are more than three million kids registered with the U.S. Youth Soccer Association \u201d\u201d but are joining the rest of the world as big-time fans of men’s soccer. And yet, the day when Americans massively embrace the most global sport has yet to come.<\/p>\n
But there are signs that, at long last, soccer is catching on in America. Shortly before the start of the World Cup, the Fox network pushed back its usual Saturday afternoon major league baseball coverage for three hours to broadcast the European Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. It may have been the first time in American TV history that a soccer match not involving the U.S. team or outside the World Cup displaced a baseball game.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, Vanity Fair magazine’s May cover featured Portugal’s national team star Cristiano Ronaldo and Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba in underpants, and shortly thereafter, Sports Illustrated carried a World Cup cover story under the title, “The beautiful game.”<\/p>\n
As the World Cup started in South Africa last Friday, FIFA \u201d\u201d the tournament’s organizers \u201d\u201d said that 130,000 U.S. residents had flown to Johannesburg to watch the games, more than had come from any other country.<\/p>\n