Making US men’s football great

The world’s most popular sport has struggled to become mainstream in the US. While their women’s team are renowned, the men aren't elite. Swaroop Swaminathan takes a look at why they will be desperate to leave an imprint at this home World Cup...

- Swaroop Swaminathan

IN vast swathes of the world, the first kind of toys kids get is a football. Just something to kick around and play with.

In some countries, toy manufacturers sell the complete set: small goalposts on either side. It widens the horizons; a five-year old can pretend to score a goal and their parents will capture that moment for posterity. The claps will follow. It’s why football remains a cultural phenomenon in almost every part of the world. Its ease of access and one of the earliest bonding exercises between a parent and a child.

In the US, the football set isn’t the default gift of choice. There’s the toy basketball set with a small hoop capable of being stuck on the wall. Or a small baseball bat. Or a small American football, the same ball that parents throw to their kids in the garden post school. It’s why football, even at the fundamental level, has faced a kind of friction in North America.