<p>Does anyone play football, or as you call it-soccer in America? In my country it's like a religion, even women attend football(soccer) games and the fans are fanatic. So, at college level-are there any good players? I know that American football, baseball and basketball are much more popular, but I don't even know the rules of the first two :). Also, is there any rivalry between college soccer teams? I really hope that I'll find good conditions to practice my game there.</p>
<p>There is a fairly large sub-culture of people who absolutely love Women's NCAA soccer and there are some really big names that people who follow the sport know. </p>
<p>University of North Carolina has been known to be a (the?) powerhouse in Women's soccer and has many students on the national team. Other big schools include Notre Dame, University of Connecticut, Duke, Santa Clara, UCLA, Virginia, etc. North Carolina vs. Duke is a must-see and long bitter rivalry (in every sport actually). </p>
<p>When I was a kid, we traveled a lot to see NCAA women's soccer tournaments and there are a number of other families that do the same (not as many as some other sports, but they exist). </p>
<p>Baseball isn't as popular as it used to be before the strike, but you are correct that American football and basketball are the most popular American sports. You can pick up American football pretty quickly (or at least the basic rules), and basketball is pretty easy to pick up as well. </p>
<p>Sports in American culture is more about the culture surrounding the sport and seeing your favorite team win than the actual sport and what is actually happening in the game. You do get your fanatics, but a lot of people that watch sports only have a crude understanding of the rules and consequences for breaking rules.</p>
<p>It really depends on where you are in the states. In my high school, people were obsessed with our soccer team, and we always made it far in state championships. In most colleges though, football and basketball reign supreme. However, many do have great teams with large followings. Ophiolite mentioned a few, but there are other schools with crazy soccer followings, such as Siena</p>
<p>We got Beckham, woo!</p>
<p>I didn't go to many soccer games, but our team was pretty good. We made the final four in the NCAA soccer tournament and I believe were ranked #1 for a while. We also had a few guys drafted to the MLS (one was #5 overall). The games I did go to were a lot of fun (especially against Duke :) )</p>
<p>its fairly popular for little kids but gets less and less popular as kids get older to the poitn of very little interest in the MLS. </p>
<p>i started watching soccer closely after the 1998 world cup and not really closely until recently, but i dont care at all for american soccer. I agree with some critics, and i can say why i just feel it, that US soccer is much more mechanical and the players dont have the finesse that makes european soccer interesting. I only follow european leagues (premiership, la liga, serie a, bundesliega, etc</p>
<p>I love America, really, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else...but our sports suck. Football and basketball are the most popular...well...mostly just football. And the truth is, football is a terrible sport. I can't stand it. There are a ton of rules and positions, and all so the ball can move 10 yards every minute. Then if you watch it on TV, they play it on replay in slo-mo in between plays. Oh, riveting. </p>
<p>Most people who do talk about soccer don't talk about American teams. Oh, well.</p>
<p>"its fairly popular for little kids but gets less and less popular as kids get older to the point of very little interest in the MLS."</p>
<p>Agreed. Nearly everyone in my community played soccer when they were six or seven, and now I can count on one hand the number of soccer players here. Football (American Football for you Europeans) is much more popular. Definitely not saying I agree with them- I actually like soccer much better.</p>
<p>I think you'll find a number of dedicated soccer fans where ever you go, though more in some places than others of course. I'm a huge fan myself.</p>
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US soccer is much more mechanical and the players dont have the finesse that makes european soccer interesting.
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<p>... maybe because the players aren't as good. By "European" you mean the leagues that you mentioned, which are the best leagues in the world. Not all of those players are European. There are a lot more leagues than that in Europe, and I believe you would have the same issues in those. How many games in the 3rd division have you watched?</p>
<p>I HATE when americans call football soccer and vice-versa. FOOTball is kicking the round ball into the net
soccer is weird, like lacrosse.</p>
<p>I agree :). I find it unusual that football is so unpopular in the US. Oddly, the best world championship that my national team had was the one in America from 1994. I remember getting up at 4 am to watch the games live. I watched USA-Romania (0-1) with my grandpa...I miss those times...Too bad Escobar got killed by gangsters for scoring an owngoal against USA.</p>
<p>yeah soccerguy i meant european leagues. if an american has that covteded play style he ends up in a european leage. same with most good south americans and africans. Then the old starts out of their prime come to american for money</p>
<p>Soccer is popular among little kids because it is a perfect game for everyone to play. Few if any equipment is involved, and any idiot can kick a ball into a net, and coach it. In terms of popularity, the list in America goes something like this:
1. Football
2. Basketball
3. Baseball
4. NASCAR
5. Hockey
6. Golf
7. Tennis
8. Track and Field
9. Boxing
10. MMA
11. Soccer
12. Cycling
13. Swimming/Diving</p>
<p>It varies it different areas in the country. Hockey is more popular in some northern states for example.</p>
<p>"any idiot can kick a ball into a net, and coach it"-You have a thorough understanding of the game. You probably haven't touched a ball...Football(soccer) is an art. If you knew Maradona, van Basten, Hagi or Roberto Carlos you'd know what I'm talking about. As for everyone coaching - your ignorance is absolutely stunning. If you don't like the game, don't try to undermine its beauty, after all it's the most popular on the planet.</p>
<p>Soccer is alot like basketball in that it is a flowing game, with individual skills combining within the team to attack the goal. The problem for Americans is soccer is not a TV friendly game. American games are not shot as well as EPL and others because they can't get the idea of seeing the whole field as play developes. It's getting better, but still needs work.</p>
<p>I think one's love of soccer often depends on how good you were at it. Alot of the soccer haters either didn't or couldn't play. "if I'm not good at this sport, this sport sucks." </p>
<p>Also Americans are improving at the game as more play. This last WC was coaching mistakes mainly. Playing not to lose. It's very tough for the general population to support a sport America isn't the best at. Although we lost WC of baseball and Basketball hasn't gone our way lately either. Can our sporting world handle the US not being the best on the planet? </p>
<p>Professional sports like bball, baseb and football have long historys. It wasn't the way it is now when these sports began. It takes time.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I am not ripping soccer when I described it above. I was referring to why it was popular with little kids, not commenting on adult soccer.</p>
<p>I grew up in Spain and played football (yeah cause it's actually played with the foot...) professionaly until I had to move here for college, considering you're from Bucharest I can give you better perspective than most of these guys.
Here in America you won't see kids playing football on the streets and avid fans cheering for their teams at bars. There is an increase of popularity only because America reacted and said "wait, everyone in the world is kicking our ass in the most popular sport in the world, maybe we should pop out of our bubble and try to play it" so nowadays they have been trying to promote football to kids, hoping that they'll grow up to become great famous "soccer" players. Sadly, this tactic created a "childish" atmosphere around football here in America.
I regret to say this but you WILL miss watching Dinamo vs. Steaua... no NCAA match can compare to a real european match.
On the other hand (it depends where you end up going to college...) you'll probably find amazing facilities here in the US and really cool fields to train on. And the best thing, you can totally show off your skills in intramural tournaments haha.
So in summary: you'll find great conditions to play, but forget about watching good games and football rivalries because football in america still has to evolve.</p>
<p>to get back to the original question.... it depends on where you are. Soccer is most popular in California it seems, and in parts of the East Coast. As for college, it totally depends on what school you go to. For some schools soccer is more popular than football (although that's not the norm). And don't worry about not having competition... as long as you go to a school that has a good soccer team, you'll have good competition.</p>
<p>Just to note, I totally disagree with whoever made that list of the most popular sports. That's a joke to say that track and field, boxing, and MMA are more popular than soccer.</p>
<p>Soccer doesn't get popular in America until it's World Cup time. However, if there's an influx of Euro-stars to the MLS a la David Beckham, I'm sure that it could turn into a big thing around here.</p>
<p>I'd have to say that the UFC has the fastest growing popularity of any sport right about now. Way more exciting than boxing.</p>