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"So is that like a touchdown?"
I was one of the people in the stands as the Los Angeles Coliseum saw a record 93,098 people turn up for the Real Madrid vs Manchester City International Champions Cup clash on July 26. I was also one of the few people in the stadium for whom the word 'soccer' pierced the ears like a foreign object. You see, I was there as a football fan. But there were other 'football' fans in the stadium as well. Like the group of youngsters behind me — one of whom had asked whether a corner was "like a touchdown".
Watching soccer in the USA was quite an experience. Not because of the mind-boggling number of people who turned up to watch the game, or having to endure the longest and most suffocating wait outside the restroom. But because I overheard and was asked some of the most absurd questions about the kicking-around that was taking place on the pitch.
For me is soccer boring and NFL football fun. Cause anyone can run after a ball but not everyone can catch a football.
— German10thDoctor (@GER10thDoctor) August 24, 2017
With about 55 minutes remaining, the two people sat next to me were replaced by a couple. Contrary to my expectations, no one was quite following the seating chart — just planting themselves on empty seats. Within a few seconds of settling down, the man asked me: "So who is the best player in the team wearing purple?" City were playing in purple.
I told him Sergio Aguero. "That's number?"
"Number 10," I told him.
City manager Pep Guardiola took him off at half-time.
"They took off their best player?"
"Yes," I said.
"Why?"
"Because this is a friendly tournament so every player gets a run out. He can test his team that way," I said.
"This is a friendly?"
I almost found it painful to burst the man's bubble. He had no idea he was watching a friendly tournament. But the curiosity on display — thousands filling into a stadium to watch something they apparently don't care about was amazing.
And for every clueless person, the Coliseum also saw the cream of soccer fans turn up that night. Tickets weren't cheap, but LA provided a record soccer crowd. But the division was clear. The city has a massive Spanish-speaking community (California and New York have the most number of soccer fans in the country) and those clad in the white of Real Madrid overwhelmed the number of sky-blue City jerseys. A FIFA-backed research "found that the Spanish-speaking population occupies a disproportionately important position among soccer fans". That explains the number of Real Madrid fans on the night.
Most of the stadium was astonished why superstar Cristiano Ronaldo did not play the match. His absence was a topic of discussion everywhere — from the queues at the stands selling tall beer cans to the groups of people buying churros and hot-dogs from in-stadium hawkers and even at the merchandise store.
"I read that his wife is pregnant, so he is with her," said a fan who was wearing a Manchester United jersey (there were a few fans from different clubs at the game).
"He just had twin baby girls, I saw his Instagram story. So he won't play tonight," said a young girl as she flipped through the social media platform on her phone.
"He's partying in China, I heard," chortled another.
Yes, Ronaldo was certainly in China — but on a promotional tour as Madrid lost 4-1 in LA and not because he was partying or chilling with his twin baby girls. The reigning World Player of the Year was in fact allowed an extended break because he played for Portugal in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia during the off-season.
"Soccer looks too much like some post-post-modern French movie of people lost in a field with no purpose."
That he won't play this friendly tournament was announced a few weeks before it started — a detail that only a die-hard football fan would keep track of. Which brings us to the very odd on-and-off relationship between soccer and America.
The two have had their ups and downs. Interest was triggered on an altogether different level when USA hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Their official league the MLS (Major League Soccer) started around that time and miserably flopped. Stadiums were empty, most players were anonymous and teams folded. It took another World Cup — this time in 2002 — to bring interest back in the sport. USA reached the quarters, a sign that despite its troubles at home, the country could make the last eight of the world spectacle. By the time World Cup 2006 happened, MLS was back in business .
In 2007, David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy. In the recent past , David Villa, Kaka, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Didier Drogba and Thierry Henry followed suit — all of them legends of the sport. The MLS has now a higher per-game attendance than the NBA (basketball) and the NHL (ice-hockey). The NFL (american football) and MLB (baseball) still get higher numbers in stadiums. But soccer's television viewership is also at an all-time high in the USA — 2014 World Cup match against Portugal registered more viewers than the MLB's World Series, the NBA Finals, and the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals that year.
And then there are the women. The USA's men's national team may have qualified for every World Cup since 1990 but the women have won three World Cups and are the reigning champions. In fact, the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final had more people watching than the 2014 World Series or the 2015 NBA Finals.
It's all rosy then. Which left me wondering why the people I encountered at parties, bars and even at the stadium seemed like amateur soccer fans. The answer probably lies in the culture of sports in the USA. James Fallows of The Atlanticwrote a note , quoting a reader, on how it was for an American watching soccer in Europe, and why it will never be as loved as American football in the States.
"American football is very "American" in the good sense of what makes the country truly great. In each play you start with a definite plan, you announce the plan to your team ahead of time, you execute on the plan, and then you see how well the plan worked. Sort of like getting to the Moon. It is all the "can do", "get up and go", "man, moon decade" and Babe Ruth pointing to the fence attitude that "won the war" and is one of the good things about America. Soccer, though, if you look at what the offence is doing, they just go out and screw around and sees if anything turns up by luck. Basketball and hockey are also like soccer in that way, but those sports have the advantage of the field of play being smaller and the action being faster. Soccer looks too much like some post-post-modern French movie of people lost in a field with no purpose."
A few days after visiting the Coliseum, I went to a local bar in Long Beach (California) to watch the UEFA Super Cup match between Manchester United and Real Madrid. There were a dozen screens peppered around the wood panelling. A young man sitting across the bar told me that he wanted to bet on the game on the television. I looked over my Coors Light (it's better than Bud Light) and told him: "I'll take the bet. United to make it 2-2."
"Sorry what?"
"United to make it 2-2," I said.
"Oh you're talking about the RM vs MU (aar em versus em yu)?"
No one says RM vs MU, I told myself.
"Yes," I said. "What are you talking about?"
"Never mind, bet's off. I don't get this sport," he said, visibly upset.
"Neither do I," I replied.
I was talking about baseball though. And he was talking about soccer.
No wonder the bet was off. I would have lost anyway . But at least he didn't ask me how many touchdowns Real Madrid had scored.
