//AUDREY LYP//

Soccer is an amazing and fascinating sport that quite frankly, Americans just don’t pay enough attention to.

It is easy for soccer to go unnoticed  alongside sports such as baseball and American football, but soccer provides exciting qualities not available anywhere else. Soccer is arguably the most popular sport around the world. With 4 billion fans around the world, soccer has taken root globally. This is not true for Americans, whom 111.5 million people watched the Super Bowl, but 86% of Americans know nothing about the soccer World Cup.

Soccer can be more than meets the eye. There are a lot of strategic elements to the game from the different ways to pass the ball around the field, special moves, teamwork and the overall diversity in skill set each player has to offer the game. There is a reason soccer has earned the name “the beautiful game”.

Another added bonus of soccer is the lack of commercials. The average football game takes three hours to watch on TV, but the ball is only in play for around ten minutes. Commercials have take over that aspect of American sports. The only commercials in a televised soccer game are those during halftime, meaning there is 45+ minutes of uninterrupted play on either side of the halves. It is a lot easier to get immersed in the game when it isn’t being interrupted every five minutes or so.

Soccer is a global sport, bringing together different people from all around the world. This is a connection that most other sports don’t offer. The FIFA world cup is something that gains global attention, and caring about this would enable Americans to be a part of the bigger world around them. Soccer, especially in the world cup, creates excitement and competitiveness that is often missed by the Americans who don’t pay close attention to the sport. Waiting for your team to score a goal to tie the game, and when they do with the most beautiful pass imaginable, is an indescribable sensation. Now of course, this doesn’t always happen but nonetheless, soccer sucks you and your emotions into the game.

What makes soccer “better” than baseball, football, or basketball? Nothing, per say, but it does deserve more attention than it gets. With everything soccer has to offer, Americans truly should embrace the sport.