25 Struggles Of Being A Soccer Fan In America

1. The fact that you have to call it ‘soccer.’ All over the world it is known as football, but in America it’s known as soccer. The term “soccer” gained popularity in the U.S. to distinguish the sport from American football which left the real football fans really confused.

2. You feel like you are an option not a priority. Soccer comes after  American football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.

3. Different time zones are your worst enemy. Most of the important leagues are early in the morning on Saturdays & Sundays, so you can’t sleep in even if you wanted to.

4. The biggest soccer champions league (UEFA) is during working hours, so you have to decide whether or not you are going to take the risk of getting fired or miss the league and keep your job.

5. When you have to work during the World Cup. It should be a national holiday for all soccer fans so they don’t die of separation anxiety or FOMO.

6. If you are a female, you have a crush on a few soccer players and you secretly wish you can date one.

7. If you are a male, you will have to deal with the fact that the most popular soccer team in the U.S is the U.S women soccer team.

8. When you are more excited about El Claisco (the biggest match between the top two rivals in the league) than the Super Bowl.

9. When you go to an American bar and have to sit in the worst spot because that’s the only TV showing soccer while the other ten TVs are showing the NFL.

10. When you have to explain to Americans who Messi & Ronaldo are and surreptitiously get them to like your favorite.

11. When you watch a soccer game in public and realize that you are the only one yelling at the screen and throwing things.

12. When you secretly wish your office football fantasy league was for soccer instead because you know you’ll kill it.

13. Your soccer friends are all international because no local cares about soccer.

14. When you have to resort to social media to trash talk your rivals and support your team because no one here gets it.

15. Then you realize that your timeline makes you look like a raging sociopath.

16. When you have to reconsider dating someone who is not into soccer.

17. When you have to stream the games because the local sports channels do not cover them.

18. When you have to work on your Italian, Spanish, and German skills so you can understand the commentators.

19. That awkward moment when people only know Beckahm because of his wife Victoria.

20. When you have to explain to Americans what “sacking the coach” means.

21. When you have to pretend that something is bothering you at work because you can’t explain to them what it means when your team is out of the league.

22. When you are the only one wearing a soccer jersey and everyone else is wearing their NFL jerseys.

23. The fact that you have to travel overseas to attend the actual games because they are never played internally.

24. When you low-key try to lure your American friends into soccer by showing them videos of the best goals, tackles and tricks on the field.

25. When you realize that no one else cares about these struggles and will never relate to you.