US men's soccer is improving. But, why is it very unlikely that US men’s soccer #USMNT will win the #FIFAWorldCup any time soon?
Professors of politics Markovits & Hellerman analyze the lack of attention to soccer in the US in terms of critical junctures & path dependence.🧵
Professors of politics Markovits & Hellerman analyze the lack of attention to soccer in the US in terms of critical junctures & path dependence.🧵
The short answer is that “when sports culture developed in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, nativism and nationalism were shaping a distinctly American self-image that clashed with the non-American sport of soccer. Baseball and football crowded out the game.” 1/2
“Then poor leadership, among other factors, prevented soccer from competing with basketball and hockey as they grew. By the 1920s, the United States was contentedly isolated from what was fast becoming an international obsession.” 2/2
Baseball & basketball are pretty global sports. But in the one global sport with a long tradition-men's soccer-the US will have a hard time catching up with European and South American countries. And maybe the soccer gods want it that way - just as they wanted Messi to win today.
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