Ripples could spread from soccer splash

Jared Spires, chief operating officer for the Colorado Real soccer club, was in Maui on July 5 when the U.S. women beat Japan, 5-2, to win the World Cup soccer championship.

“I was fortunate to be in Maui for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, and just to hear all the shouts along the beach when goals were scored was awesome,” said Spires. “I could hear all the different resorts with cheers going up when we scored. It was cool.”

But will the United States’ World Cup win do anything to spark interest in the general public for soccer in America?

Soccer is one of the world’s most popular sports. However, in the United State it is a popular sport for mostly the young generation –; for a majority of the public, it is only watched during the World Cup or Olympics as a patriotic gesture.

“Winning the World Cup does help to an extent,” said Colorado Rush director of operations Justin Miller. “But not enough, especially on the women’s side. One, it’s a tad bit slower than the men’s game and, two, there are just more popular faces on the men’s side.

“They get all the media and the kids watch all of that on the men’s side rather than the girls’ side. But the women have an incredible amount of power with other women. So young girls actually have more of a passion to watch older women more than the young men watch the older men.”

Spires feels it could take some more time before overall soccer popularity swells in this country.

“It’s a long road to relevancy, and hats off to the women’s team for being fantastic,” he said. “There were three hours of coverage of the parade. I don’t think we’ve seen that kind of coverage before.

“There’s a good possibility that we can maintain this momentum but we might be a generation away. It will take when these kids that are growing up in this generation of loving the sport and have real-life experiences in the sport start having kids. We’re going in the right direction for sure.”

Said Mossavian, director of operations and competitive division for the Colorado Storm, feels the American win could be a big help.

“I see soccer every day,” Mossovian commented after watching his U12 girls team compete in their first scrimmage. “It’s good for us. It makes us more passionate about the game. For the average Joe that really doesn’t care, they know about it and talk about it.

“So maybe the only impact winning the World Cup will have is a positive one as far as talking negative about soccer. Maybe winning things like this will have an impact on the negative opinions of the game.”

The way they women won could also only help.

“Success breeds attention,” said Spires of the U.S. grabbing an early 4-1 lead. “And the way they did it. For the casual observer a 5-2 game is exciting. If you watched the first 20 minutes, it squashed your belief of soccer.

“Where soccer needs to get to is when that next generation comes through, a more educated fan will come through where they enjoy a small scored game, a 2-0, 2-1 game, and that’s when you will see the sport thrive.”

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