To Americans who watched this

In america football (or what we call soccer) is only really popular with the kids. Look up the american phrase "Soccer Mom." I wish there was an American National Rugby League was more popular here, airing it on TV and such. Football is not really that interesting personally, which the world disagrees I know. In the same vein, a lot of people can't stand baseball, which I love.

American. dont like futbol.... liked this movie though! maybe if i lived in england and got to cheer my west ham united on and get *beep* up and brawl i would learn to appreciate the game though : )

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No one in England follows West Ham. So I doubt any Americans do. No one wants to follow a *beep* team with a soft firm.

well not being critical of your post at all but this isn't the kind of movie to inspire an interest in 'football', more of a recruiting video for the firms lol :)

but i just can't get into 'soccer' (obviously i'm a yank) ... it just isn't that interesting to me ... if i'd grown up with it as the major sport in my country i would assume it would have been different ... i was into all sports (bareball, basketball and american football) growing up in the states and so if i'd grown up in the UK i can't imagine i wouldn't have had an interst in the sport just from playing it as a kid ... but frankly, it's just kind of boring with all due respect to folks on the board from other 'football countries' ... tho i'm sure most people outside the u.s. (save for mexico, puerto rico and the dominican republic) find baseball to be very boring ...

baseball over the last 30 years tho, the major leagues at least, has become far too drawn out with guys stepping out of the batter's box after every pitch, adjusting their freakin batting gloves and jock and helmet and redigging their foot-holes in the batter's box and all the damn commercials and extended commerical braks and such has made games regularly last four freakin hours ... that's just too long when about three-and-three-quaters of the four hours where there is nothing happening at all ... they need to start tightening up stuff like what i mentioned above and make the game go faster ... it used to be, especially when i was a kid growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, a major league baseball game would take two hours, even less ... you only started approaching a three hour game when there were extra innings ...

and the same thing has happened with american football ... they even stop the game in the middle of one team driving down the field on offense for a 'tv timeout' ...

honestly now i don't watch sports at all ... with all the cheating going on (performance enhancing drugs) and the leagues doing next to nothing to stop it it's just bullocks ;) ... and forget about actually going to a game with the insane ticket prices ... i grew up a Cubs fan and the bleacher seats (general admission seats around the outfield, no assigned seats just first-come, first-served once you get inside) are now as much as $70 i was told ... when i was a kid those seats went for 50 cents!! and they were only sold on the day of the game so even if you didn't have a pre-bought ticket and had a wild-hair to go to the game you still had a shot at getting inside ... now they even sell the bleacher seats before game day ... it's insane ... and to take a family to the game? just three kids say is a small fortune just for the tickets not to mention drinks and food once you're inside ... that's another thing, you used to be able to take a picnic lunch into Wrigley Field ... i know there's a risk of an idiot throwing something at a player but it never happened that i saw when i was a kid ... certainly not at wrigley

ok i'm getting that grumpy old man feeling as i type this much lol ... sorry for the long rant ;)

take care,
cormac


"One star in the sky
so I named it Otis Redding"
-- John Hiatt

I know your post is four years old but I felt compelled to reply since I'm a huge football supporter. Yes, I said football! Even though the English came up with the word "soccer" so I should be saying football!!!! Hahaha. Anyhow, just wanted to offer up my insight into American supporters. Most Americans who watch football nowadays are "fans." Soccer Moms & Dads who think they're going to a baseball game instead of a soccer match. Annoying as *@?!%. But the supporters.... Oh man, that is EXCITING!!!! Most fall into 2 categories: Ultras Style & Hooligan/Casuals style. America has a lot of traditional skinheads and they, of course, latch onto the English-style support. America also has a lot of people from Latin origins. So they tend to embrace Ultras Style, lots of drums/horns/chants/banners/pyro.
As for English teams represented here, they're all here. I myself support Man United having fell in love with most things Manchester (music wise) from a very early age. But I have brothers who support Chelsea, West Ham, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Stoke, and hell, even QPR!!! Most of us follow squads in all leagues.. Our MLS, Logs MX, La Liga, Bundesliga, and so on. I know this movie grabbed the attention of a lot of regular Americans and got them excited about football. For me and my brothers... It was just a movie to remind us that the passion for football is a beautiful (and heartbreaking) thing. Thanks for letting me ramble! Cheers! GGMU! -Brickwall Rob

I'm an LFC fan and I would like to thank you for buying Andy Carroll off us :D

I didn't grow up a soccer fan but I learned to appreciate it when friends shared highlight clips from youtube. I won't pretend to be a super official and knowledgeable fan, but I will watch *good* soccer when I can. EPL is competitive, El Clasico is fun, World Cup is great, Copa America is entertaining, and the MLS is complete crap. I think some American soccer douchebros would label me as a bangwagoner, but I don't care, I like what I like. FWIW Man U is the team of choice for frat boy types... don't ask me why...

About the movie, it's more annoying than influential to me. It got silly when Elijah Wood's feeble athleticism was supposed to represent soccer critics as he gets schooled by children. Then he's so quickly converted into a soccer martyr? It wasn't convincing at all.

But the worst part of all unfortunately, is the movie seems to be an inspiration behind a recent trend in the USA: The American soccer fan. You can spot them when they insist on correcting someone about the terminology of the game. Even though they grew up calling it a "field", they'll quite clearly and loudly enunciate when they say "pitch". They'll sternly correct you if you dare remark on a team's "uniform". When a basketball player runs the fast break, American soccer fan will note his speed, but when a soccer player runs fast? Wow, bruh! Look at his pace! UGH it's annoying. They just want to make sure everyone knows that they pay attention to European things. They pack into MLS games and copy the British songs and chanting. They slap fight at the "pub" over a fake and manufactured "derby" that's merely 1 year old, even chanting in the street in a British accent...

It's more of a pretentious affectation than actual loyalty.