A soft touch immediately followed a blinding crossover; the world screams. All the world that is, except for most people in the U.S.

Soccer is a game of wonder and complexity. This complexity is not easily deciphered by unseasoned and inexperienced Americans who fail to see the intricacies of the sport.

With a professional soccer league still in its infancy, America has not had a chance to gain the knowledge needed to fully appreciate soccer.

To Cody Clemens, sophomore at PRHS, soccer is merely “Something to do, boring to watch,” and which has only, “one or two minutes of interestingness.”

Countless Americans with minimal association with soccer such as Clemens label it as boring or slow. An example is Shane Keene, a senior at PRHS, who hasn’t “been around soccer since [he] was eight years old,” and calls it “nonstop boredom.”

These labels derive from a few sources. The first is a lack of exposure to the sport, which hinders one’s ability to notice the small points of the game that the rest of the world sees as exciting and brilliant. The second is the overwhelming influence of other sports in America, such as football, basketball, and baseball.

Although soccer is a multi-faceted sport, it is still overshadowed by the power sports in America. With shooting in basketball, physical action in football, and amazing individual efforts in baseball, soccer has very little room to squirm into the spotlight of American media.

Despite these issues, a glimmer of hope for soccer still shines in the form of youth soccer. For kids younger than twelve years old, soccer is the sport to play.

Even with the growing popularity among youth, when the child starts to reach his teens, soccer takes a back seat to other sports.

For this obstacle, a solution could be at hand. There is now a professional soccer league, the MLS, that is growing in popularity. American soccer fans hope that this league will inspire children to keep playing.

Soccer has been called the “forgotten sport” but despite America’s failure to appreciate the simple complexity of the sport, there are new players being born every day. These players have the vision and the love of the sport that America needs to be truly competitive on the world’s soccer stage.

World Cup 2010 here we come!