I'll say that as a soccer fan and US citizen who grew up and learned the game in England, I generally root against the US. That is, my love of the game transcends nationality. The US doesn't deserve to win anything, as the Czech Republic game clearly showed. Their number-five FIFA ranking is a well-established joke.

The US is making strides by getting players schooled up in the European leagues. This is a necessary step in overcoming the arrogance of America's early adopters, who largely insisted on dismissing the world's take on its one shared game, and predictably wanted to assert a we-know-better American imprint. This retarded the development of players and tactics, and an understanding of the spirit that infuses the game. When I returned from London to play in the states, the English style I had learned and absorbed was deemed too rough. Ironic in the land of Football. A good clean slide tackle is thing of beauty. But, we also played with metal studs in middle school, and were not required to wear shin guards. There was a working-class tough-guy mentality to the English game Americans should've loved, one that belied the "wussy" label given to soccer players in the US. That said, who can find anything more skillful in sports to watch than the Brazilians when they're on song?

As to whether there is a socccer boom here, it doesn't much matter anymore. Kids can play wherever they live, and the Fox Soccer Channel for one has made it possible to keep up with the real leagues around the world. Previously, one rooted for a boom to end our virtual isolation from the world of soccer.

I do hope that over time, MSL can evolve into a real league, and that maybe there'll be a spectator fan base that can evolve. But because the game has never been part of our social fabric, the essential meaning of professional games is absent, and I doubt that an MSL game will ever hold much life-or-death meaning for anyone. I do think the move to soccer-only stadiums will help somewhat in engaging spectators, but it won't change the landscape.

btw King...Thanks for covering the Cup even-handedly, and encouraging sports fans to try something new. If they don't like it, they don't like. Me, I adore it. But it was the fabric of my youth.

For my part, I don't expect anyone who hasn't played the game to really want to watch it: as one writer put it (paraphrase), the "Run, run, run, lose the ball..." is the most obvious pattern (much like in ice hockey) to the game. That part is a given to players. It's just a harder game to play than it looks.

I was disinterested in hockey until the Nordiques moved here to Denver, became the Avs, and won a Stanley Cup. Having a home team gave me a rooting interest by which I watched and learned to appreciate the game, but more important, the team was instantly a part of something sacred. Having that history, passion, and context made the hockey particularly compelling. I was hooked, and I can't skate. But I saw the parallels to soccer.

I think it's fair to say, though, that the US sports leagues have consciously manipulated their games to assure a more consumer- and TV-friendly product. And that's what American sports fans have naturally come to expect. It's a little unreasonable to expect Americans to switch from seeing contests inherently constructed to provide lead changes, lots of scoring, dramatic endings with timeouts and hyper-controlled final sequences, etc., to one that is usually all about one or three scores and a lot (hopefully) of nice ideas and efforts to solve the puzzle in between with minimal outside intervention and its facilitation of drama and clear narratives. In soccer, it's just up to the players to figure it out on the field, and the results are often inexplicable. Although baseball purists love to extoll the virtues of a 1-0 pitching duel, my guess is that baseball would be much less beloved if 1-0 was a common result. Likewise well-played, defensively dominated 13-10 NFL games.

The quaint and groovy thing about soccer is that attempts to juice the game have always been superficial and it remains relatively unchanged.

(Scoring is great, but what's really helped the game has been the rise of international club soccer, particularly the Champions League. These int'l superstar teams are really something to watch on the big stage. The national teams don't play together much, and they're usually not as cohesive and exciting as the top club teams, so the WC isn't the best product anyway for non-fans.)