The US stil hasn’t really grasped the enormity of their achievement against what was admittedly a lacklustre Portugese side the other day. Unfortunately that’s probably all down to the time the games start – that one started at 5am on the east coast and 2am on the west.The Koreasn match is no better – 2.30am ET & 11.30pm on a Sunday night on the west coast.
But this is still a relatively shallow football culture compared to Europe and South America. But I think it’s less to do with th sport, as it is the most popular sport for kids below the age of 16. It’s more to do with the lack of international competition in anything aside from the Olympics every four years and the intervening two for the Winter version.
There are not intervening international baseball, hockey or basketball tournaments, or if there are, they are deemed so obscure and subordinate to MLB, NHL & NBA. There is a feeling of “why bother?” when it comes to international competition, thoguh some plucky journalists are trying to stir up passion.