Yea Rye – I played it as well. And as much as anything, that reinforced my belief that there was a toughness lacked in the average American soccer player.
I think the game is classically European – risk averse, resistant to any kind of change (heaven forbid you stop the clock when there’s an injury or stoppage of play)…the flopping.
You see, I don’t want America to be in great in soccer. The main reason that the push to be great in soccer is the “everyone else is doing it!” crowd.
I do see why it’s a popular game for participants. The action is more constant than baseball, the rules are easy to understand, and you get a good cardio workout. But from a spectator sport perspective – like auto racing – it isn’t as good as other sports.
