With the fever that the World Cup brought to the U.S. soccer team, and the fans who follow them, you would think that people in America would embrace the soccer team and call it their own right?

Wrong.

There are four main reasons why soccer has never been, nor will it become, a premier sport in the United States.

The first would be that it is not considered an American sport.

In America, if we do not have some ties to inventing the sport, we generally have no interest in it.

There is an exception with the NHL, as it wasn’t invented by Americans.

However, when you have a trophy as prestigious as the Stanley Cup it draws attention.

Another reason is that after the World Cup there is no interest in professional soccer, except for cities where there are MLS teams. Before the World Cup and during the event, we see commercials of Landon Donovan on ESPN and other channels all the time.

When the World Cup ends, or America gets eliminated, these commercials start to get phased out, and ESPN stops talking about the U.S. soccer team in a couple of days.

These commericals are replaced by commercials for the major sports: NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLB, and the NCAA.

With little to no exposure, the soccer team becomes an afterthought by the month of July.

Another reason is the horrible officiating that was done in the World Cup matches. All of the major sports in America have instant replay, at least in a limited form, and the referees cost the Americans two goals.

The last reason is there is no major name to be associated with American soccer.

In basketball you have Michael Jordan, in football you have Farve, Marino, Montana, Staubach, baseball there is Ruth, Williams, Cobb, and Jeter.

While Donovan is a major name in the soccer arena, he doesn’t play his regular soccer in America.

He was playing in England for Everton in the Premier League.

The problem with this is that Donovan originally played with the L.A. Galaxy in the MLS, but left them for the “big boys” of soccer in England.

While many people see that England and Germany are the powerhouses of soccer across the pond, it hurts U.S. soccer more and more every time that a player leaves his MLS team to go play for them.

Until we are able to retain our best athletes in America, American soccer will always suffer.

After all you wouldn’t see Lebron James playing European basketball and then coming back to suit up for the U.S. in the Summer Olympics. Why should soccer players be any different?

These are just some of the underlying problems with soccer in the U.S. today.

Contact Sports Reporter Travis Anderson at 997-3111 ext. 44 or via e-mail at tanderson@yourdailyjournal.com