text: why is soccer so unsuccessful here in the states? it's unfortunate because it is such an exciting and uniting sport.  hockey doesn't do very well in the states either.  get with the program you ignorant fools!!  talk about ethnocentric! i'm going to disagree with the general consensus here believing that soccer is unpopular in the states because of its slow pace. think about this carefully. what other popular (granted it's not as popular as american football) sport in america is quite similar to soccer? yes, that's right. hockey. hockey matches usually end in scores of a total of 10 points or less.   you want to know the real reason why soccer is not popular? two reasons:  1) the game is quite harsh to aggressive behaviour. this is where a crucial difference lies between hockey and soccer. (this is also why austrialians tend to like rugby over soccer). 2) because america doesn't dominate soccer.  furthermore, americans should begin to enjoy soccer more because their national team is (i'm not debating this) getting better with every tourney. afterall, there were many americans in germany rooting for their team and the tv ratings for football beat ratings for basketball, baseball, hockey and golf (granted, this is because of the large number of immigrants in the states but nevertheless, an important statistic but don't also forget that world cup this year is held in germany which means games won't be aired primetime).  "it's also not a very technical sport, in comparison to baseball and football, which rely heavily on strategy and analysis of situations and tendencies."   excuse me? ever heard of the 4-2-3-1 defense? or 4-3-3 or 4-4-2? the very fact that soccer is quite harsh in terms of penalties makes it more technical then baseball and football. typical american ignorance. oh and honestly, baseball being a technical sport? rubbish.