Goal!!! Is Women's Soccer Finally Gaining Fame in America?
By: Raquel Urena
Notice a change in women's soccer lately? It seems like more and more Americans actually want to talk about soccer ever since the United States women's soccer team journeyed to the World Cup Final.
With an increasing number of fans, the recent final game between the USA and Japan was ESPN's highest rated soccer match in history, according to the station. This growing phenomenon has shown how far women's sports, in particular soccer, have come. Their loss to Japan, however, has not affected their popularity as this generation of Americans is now hooked on what was once largely considered a "foreign sport."
Among the Americans who have come to love soccer is 17-year-old Sade Hudson, who plays for her high school team. She says, "I think the more the [USA Womens Soccer team] proved to people that they were serious about the sport, the more society gave them respect and were interested in watching their games as the years went by." Hudson went on to say, "So that's why I think the women's soccer team is more popular now than ever."
The last time the team received great recognition in the states was their last World Cup win in 1999, captivating the nation's interest with outstanding players and an overwhelming number of American viewers glued to their televisions sets. Now record-breaking number of fans sat to watch the women's team compete for the Cup one more time.
The competition between the United States and Japan seemed to capture the imagination of the nation with people watching it around the country. While it was not the highest rated soccer match, the match did receive a tremendous amount of viewers, placing it in sixth for the most watched US televised soccer match ever, according to TVBythenumbers.com.
However, not everyone seems to be interested in women's soccer, as some Americans are sticking to more "American" sports. Lauralee Rivas, 16, says "I'm not a soccer fan because I prefer to watch more interesting sports like baseball because my parents are baseball fans and it was passed on to me."
Nevertheless, Rivas went on to say, "I think this women's soccer team is underestimated because they're girls and people have this idea that girls are inferior to guys when it comes to sports."
Donneille Foster 16, who has played soccer all her life growing up in Jamaica states, "Well I think women's soccer has gotten more popular since qualifying. However, I don't think it will last long after the women's World Cup is over." When asked why, Foster explains: "Because people watch it for the roughness, aggressiveness and adrenalin it has, and I guess people don't feel they can find that in women's sports."
Women's sports have usually been viewed as secondary to men in America and soccer has been no exception. When asked if women's soccer could ever be as popular as men playing the sport, Rabeya Akhtar, 16, said, "It feels good that the United States team made it this far because it shows women are just as good as men."
"People don't give them enough credit, probably because they don't get nearly as much publicity as the men, or maybe because Americans just don't like soccer," she added.
