Two things that the USMNT can do to increase American soccer fandom by the end of this year
Here’s a little factoid — according to Gallup, soccer has already surpassed hockey as the 4th most popular sport in the US. It’s also within only 2 percent of being as popular as baseball.
That’s simply fantastic, and I’m 90 percent sure that soccer will surpass baseball in the next decade. I say “90 percent” because the stereotype of the “men being bad” is still somewhat held by sports fans nationwide. The reality is that American sports fans simply don’t like to support teams that lose. After all, there’s a reason why France’s victory over the US in last year’s iteration of the Olympic basketball tournament was such a big deal.
But there are a few things the men’s team can do to make sure soccer does become not just big, but loved, by all American sports fans. In fact, one of those things is very close to being done (more on that later).
- Qualify for the 2022 World Cup and do well.
With the US sitting in 2nd place in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying tournament with 15 points, 6 more points (which can be done in 2 wins) virtually guarantees the US a space at Qatar. They won’t be mathematically through, but various models and simulations have seen 21 as the magic number. In any case, if the US were to only have 21 points, they’d be at 4th place at worst; I say at worst because although this does make the USMNT play a playoff, the playoff is guaranteed to be against a team from the Oceania region, which more than likely means New Zealand. That should be an easy win.
But qualifying alone isn’t enough — even after last cycle’s debacle of a World Cup qualification failure, our standards shouldn’t be that low. Rather, with this team having by far the best talent not only in national history but in the region as well, we should try to reach the final 8. Now, it should be noted that such a feat is made much easier if we do better in World Cup qualifying, as the results of these matches affect FIFA ranking, which affect which draw pool we’re drawn into. I’ll need to double check, but I think getting into the top 8 puts you into the pool that gives you an easier group. Currently, we’re rank 11.
Moreover, the World Cup is one of those tournaments that’s watched by plenty of non — soccer sports fans, so it’s important to show up and do well.
2. Qualify for the U — 20 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics
In order to do that, we have to do well in this year’s iteration of the U — 20 CONCACAF Championship. The path to qualification to the U — 20 World Cup remains the same — that being, that the top 4 qualify. However, they recently changed the rules so that the top 2 teams qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics U — 23 men’s soccer tournament.
It’s that 2nd tournament that we’re going to really want to at least show up to. The everyday sports fan probably couldn’t care less about some youth World Cup; however, the everyday sports fan does watch the Olympics, so it’s absolutely imperative that we qualify for it this time. For those of you who don’t know, the US hasn’t qualified for 3 straight Olympic soccer tournaments. We missed out at the games in London, we missed out at the games in Brazil, and we missed out at the games in Tokyo. I cannot stress enough as to how much this damaged the growth of soccer fandom in the US.
Moreover, good performances in the Olympics would be nice but contrary to senior level tournaments, youth tournaments aren’t really about winning silverware. As Columbus Crew scout and youth talent expert David Kerr recently said in a video with Pete Douthit of 11 Yanks, “The purpose of a youth national team is not to win games. It is to identify the high potential players who can progress from the U — 20s to the U — 23s to the senior team.” That can be done without good performances. In the 2019 U — 17 World Cup, the US didn’t even make it out of the group stage; yet, 4 members of that squad, Joe Scally, Gianluca Busio, Ricardo Pepi, and Gio Reyna have become prominent players within the USMNT pool. Not to mention, one of them happens to be one of the most touted prospects in the world.
Rather, doing well in the Olympics should be done in the sake of increasing support for men’s soccer in the US. Let’s hope we make it.
