...and yet, 10 people voted for them. :)

How sad. Flog the editors with the program?

My students are telling me the Super Eagles, but I don't think this is going to be Nigeria's year, somehow. Best guess for a dark horse: the Orange? Or maybe El Tri? I'd love to see that one, if for no other reason than there's a nation that could use it. And I'd love to see Honduras make it out of the first round (that's about all I can reasonably hope for them.) Good luck to all.

I really do want to care. I'm trying. I want to love something enough to injure an opposing fan. Or get injured myself and feel like it was worth it.

I agree.....soccer is kind of irrelevant in the US.

Let's see: 200 million people watched today's DRAW, not even a soccer match. The opener for the 2006 World Cup had 2 billion viewers. I assume many DO care.

Who cares? Most anyone who can appreciate athleticism at its highest level in the world's most popular sport ! ! ! (Only in the US do regional league winners declare themselves world champions…) This is a game with a low threshold of start up cost and a high level of fitness, coordination, skill, and team dynamics. If it is not your thing, fine – so why do you bother coming here to make negative comments? Go back and watch your 3 to 4 hour games with 10 minutes of action and countless commercial breaks. Is this how you spend your down time waiting for the next play?

Some people in the USA still live in a cave. Futbol is the greatest sport in the whole WORLD. I said Futbol or in english Football becuase it is played with the foot and they actually play it with a ball.

Brazil, number 1 and will be the winner.

Who cares???? lets see over 2 billion viewers watched the final World Cup in 2006 Between Italy and France. People who post negative comments about the greatest sport in the world are living in denial. The only time I watch baseball is when I have trouble sleeping

I love how all the soccer-nuts get so upset that their sport is totally irrelevant in the US. Fine, YOU like soccer. Good for you. But, it is a relatively minor sport in the US. It is boring and dull watching guys run back and forth in the middle of a giant field not really doing much for most of the match. I understand that many countries (and their citizens) are obsessed with soccer. Well, they don't have the choices of watching REAL sports like we do in the US. And most of those in the US who like soccer do so because they weren't good enough to play real sports while growing up or their "soccer mom's" forced them into it because they didn't want their little over-protected Johnny getting hurt.

Anyway, congratulations to all of you who love soccer. I hope you enjoy it and have a great time watching it. Cheer for your team and hope they win.

JustAFlier does not represent all Americans. I am proud to be an American, and I love to watch soccer, play soccer, and cheer for my favorite soccer club (Go Seattle Sounders)! I also love to watch my college team play american football (although they didn't finish in the top 15 in the BCS rankings this year, such is life).

Soccer is a terrific game of strategy, endurance, extraordinary skill, dexterity, and athleticism. And if "soccer moms" are so overprotective, why do American football players wear tons of pads? Is it because they are afraid of all the other boys on the field? A real man faces his opponents as he is, runs circles around him, and proceeds to launch the ball into the air 30 yards to land at precisely the spot where another player WILL be, using only his feet.

Soccer is a real sport, one that we did not invent. America is becoming aware of soccer as millions of "soccer kids" mature, and bring their appreciation (and understanding) of this wonderful sport to games everywhere.

AbsolutelyNick.....well you certainly do not represent the majority of Americans who think soccer is a silly little sport. I never said I "represent all Americans". But, I will guarantee you that the vast majority of Americans don't give a crap about soccer.

And if "soccer moms" are so overprotective, why do American football players wear tons of pads?

Are you serious???? WTF kind of argument is that? Geez. Typical of a soccer nut. It is an argument that makes no sense because you can make no sensible argument that soccer is anything but a minor sport in the U.S. To say that it isn't a minor sport in the U.S. is being delusional. How many soccer games do you see televised on network TV where ratings and revenues are important? Sure, it may show up on ESPN12 if there isn't a spelling bee going on for them to cover.

Soccer nuts like you have been making the claim that "soccer is coming" to America for 20 years. Guess what? It isn't. Kids who were forced to play soccer when they were young (well, normal kids that is) grow up and become interested in real sports, not that cute little soccer game.

Anyway, I am glad you like soccer. Someone has to. But, when you want to enjoy a real sport, let me know. Until then, live in your dream world and hate the fact no one cares.

Have fun!

WTF is rong with u, football/ american rugby has no value, and they get all that padding so they don't get hurt. You can die playing soccer at the 12 year old league, I bet american rugby is not like that.

BTW I saw someone die in the 12 year old league, and nearly kicked the bucket myself that same game

everyone

Great Attitude!!

I agree that many Americans do not care for soccer, at least when they are old enough to play on the mls, but the growing generation( that is the children) care more for soccer than fottball, or as i like to say slowball

Really...

So that's why they have qualified past few times and this time compared to numerous countries who haven't.

And also beat spain. Call it a fluke, still beat them. Even if it was a fluke, to beat spain they have to understand the sport.

Your just being ignorant. I don't think they'll win but your an idiot.

The liklihood of USA taking home the world cup this year is slim. That said, if you are betting all that stuff, for a 100 year bet, I'll take that bet. (I don't want the husband or kids though. I prefer my wife and I don't think your kids will appreciate it much if I tell them that their mom lost them in a bet ;-)

Remember that the USA was not supposed to ever win the Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey, especially against the USSR team, at the height of its power... but we did.

Basketball was a tiny sport in the USA, until stars showed up like Kareem Abdul Jabar, and the Harlem Globetrotters started showing kids that it was fun. The next generation gave us greats like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordon. The rest is history.

The key is knowing how many Americans are involved with the sport. We often do well in sports that many Americans know and appreciate... makes sense because there is depth in the talent pool.

In case you are not aware (and I suspect that you are not), more children under the age of 14 play soccer than American Football in this country, and if you ask girls at the age of 20 about the team sports that they have personally played, by and large, you'll get three answers: Basketball, Softball and Soccer. Women matter. Soccer is certain to continue it's steady upward climb.

We will win the world cup, someday. At the rate we are going, we will win it in the next 30 years. This time around? Probably not... but who knows? I'm rooting for our boys (some of whom are coming "home" from their day jobs playing in the european leagues).

BTW, name one MLS soccer coach who has not played the game! Look at the colleges that produced those men, and tell me which of those soccer coaches haven't played the game! Give me a break. My 11 year old daughter took a soccer camp from two former Manchester United players this summer! We are not stupid.

We will win this tournament someday... not because we think we should, but because we want it enough to work for it, pay for it, grow the audience for it, invest in it, and make it into an American institution, right alongside our other sports.

We just have much better sports than soccer to watch in the U.S. Sorry. Have fun chasing your balls though.

you mean for trying