The wifey and I attended a sold out match of the World Football Challenge in Baltimore on Friday. For those of you who aren’t aware, this wasn’t stupid American Football match, this was a real football (soccer) game.
It was between AC Milan (Italy) and Chelsea (England), two of the best teams in the World. Chelsea won the game 2-1 in a very exciting match. The crowd of 71,000+ was crazy and the soccer was amazing.
As someone who has always enjoyed soccer since the 1994 World Cup, it was a neat opportunity to see such quality soccer in person. I have always wanted to go to Europe and see a top tier game. I never dreamed we would have such a match in my own backyard.
The real question is can soccer ever become a popular sport in America? After all, while we have the MLS, we don’t have one of the better leagues in the world. This is in stark contrast to two other major world sports: baseball and basketball. There is no disputing that the USA has the best league in the world for each sport. With such world-class caliber players in the country, it is not difficult to get excited about these sports.
The sell-out crowd in Baltimore proves that there is a market for the sport in America. If the USA can continue to build a league that can compete with the best in the world, and the US national team goes far in the 2010 World Cup, I think that soccer can finally become a major American sport.
