Throughout the World Cup, which culminated with a thrilling 1-0 victory by Germany over Argentina in extra time, I have heard a number of fallacies regarding the popularity of the sport of soccer — or as everyone else in the entire world outside of the United States calls it, football.

“Soccer is really going to become popular now because of this year’s World Cup.”

“I think soccer is finally about to break through as a major sport.”

“The U.S. doing well is helping soccer gain viewers.”

Stop. Just, stop.

The only place where soccer is not as popular is the United States, and that’s because we are mediocre, despite having the greatest access and resources to state-of-the-art training facilities.

Soccer is the number one sport in the world. It has been for a long time, and it will remain that way. It has 3.3 to 3.5 billion fans worldwide. American football, on the other hand, has roughly 400 million. Volleyball has more than twice the amount with approximately 900 million.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil will smash the total viewership records fairly easily as the most watched sporting event in the history of television. It’s not because the U.S. did fairly well, which mind you, is a bit of a misconception on its own right considering the U.S. failed to advance further than it did in 2010 World Cup.

Soccer will likely never become a powerhouse sport in the U.S. due to a variety of socioeconomic factors. It’s not that we don’t have the athletes. It’s not that we don’t have the fields. But if you ask an 18-year old LeBron James whether he wants to play for the Columbus Crew in the M.L.S. (Major League Soccer), which has an average salary of $208,000, or play for the N.B.A. and be showered with $90 million shoe contracts, I’m pretty sure the answer will be the latter. The same goes for young American football, baseball, and hockey players.

Athletes will play the sports that give them the greatest return on their investment, which is money for dedication from a young age to the rigors and efforts that come with aspiring to be a professional athlete.

While the World Cup was an extraordinary experience for many, including those in the United States, little is likely to change between now and 2018 with regards to the popularity of the sport. Expectations and conversations of anything to the contrary have become a tradition celebrated every four years.