World Cup Discomfort

Watching the world cup made me think of many things, mainly since when do Americans get to refer to the sport of football as soccer? European football was around much longer than American Football and well the originator of the name!

here’s a bit of information i found at About.com

In England, King Edward III passed laws in 1331 to try and suppress football. In Scotland, King James 1, in 1424, proclaimed in Parliament, “That na man play at the Fute-ball” (No man shall play football/soccer).

That predates the United States, therefore must predate American football.However, here lies my question: Who does an US citizen root for during the World Cup? Ben Hammersley mentioned being a non-native in the Italy at the time that the Italian team won the World Cup. “It wasn’t my moment.” He wrote. That makes me wonder who should the US citizens root for? I’ve always been a fan of the heritage. Or this year I admit I was gunning for France to win (one of my best friends’ family is from France).

So when the US got knocked out after match play who is the kid from Metro-Detroit supposed to root for?

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