Soccer fans in America have reasons to appreciate 2022 World Cup

Tony Allegretti grew up in the Panhandle and he couldn't watch soccer games. Now he can watch his Everton FC, his Liverpool FC or any other English Premier League team. He can wake up before dawn to catch Serbia and Cameroon in a World Cup group stage match in 2022. Allegreti is planning to bring professional soccer back to Jacksonville with a team beginning play in 2025. The United States played England on Black Friday and it was one of the most-viewed soccer matches ever in this country.

The match between the USA and Germany is taking place on Tuesday. The result will be known in the next four years.

Football is the most popular sport in the United States. Some people find it boring. But, as a fan, he watches a lot of soccer games. He got hooked to it after playing it in high school and college. He also spent a semester in England and went to one top-tier match. The 1994 World Cup and the U.S. women's gold medal in Athens were memorable. It's a different kind of sports than American football. People who are not fans might push back against the sport. They try to convert non-fans. This is a common refrain. I've written it every four years for the last 40 years.

For American soccer fans, we might already be living in the golden age. The number of fans is seven times what it was a few decades ago. Technology has evolved to the point where you can watch live games from all over the world. Being a soccer fan in America is like being in a club of its own. Roger Bennett, who hosts the popular “Men in Blazers” podcast, likes to quip that soccer has been America’s ‘sport of the future since 1972.