Americans hate soccer! Well, that's what a lot of countries outside of the United States of America think. I don't understand why Americans have had such a hard time getting into soccer. Other countries are so passionate about football. The stadiums are pretty much always packed full. Fans are yelling and jumping up and down - what an atmosphere - you don't really see that at any sporting event here in the United States. I'm not putting the United States down or saying we are not passionate about sports - I love my country - we just don't seem to take it to the same level as other countries.

Soccer is slowly catching on in the US - I didn't grow up around soccer. Didn't have a team to play on. No one in my family played - none of my friends played it. The high school I went to just got a soccer team THIS year. If you grow up with no knowledge of something it just makes it easier to hate it then try to learn it or understand it. I only became a soccer fan because I started watching World Cup 2006 on ESPN - and now I follow it a little closer and enjoy playing a pick a game every once in a while.

It's true that main-stream America doesn't like soccer. They think it's boring or there's not enough scoring and action, but we love baseball - which is pretty boring. They don't understand the endurance, control, and skill you have to have to be a professional soccer player. Not to mention because the US isn't 'in to' soccer that much the big media guys aren't going to feed it to us. Sure there is a game once in a while on ESPN and if you're lucky you might get the soccer channel. It's all about the money here and soccer doesn't bring it in in the US like it does elsewhere. Football, baseball, basketball do.

Over the past couple of years I have seen an increase in soccer coverage and soccer commercials. Honestly though, I think it's only because of the increase in the Spanish speaking population here in the US. They grew up with soccer and are more accepting of the sport. Hey but we got David Beckham to come play in the MLS...

It was the first World Cup Qualifier ever played in Colorado. The United States soccer team had already secured the top spot in their group before this game, but that didn't stop them from playing hard and getting the win against Guatemala. MLS player Kenny Cooper, of FC Dallas put the first ball in the back of the net for the US in the 54th minute. The score only stayed 1-0 for about 15 minutes when Freddy Adu sealed the deal with a goal in the 69th minute making the score 2-0.

The US soccer team held possession and controlled the pace of the game for the majority of the match. Knowing that the team had safely qualified, manager Bob Bradley got a chance to put some fresh faces into the match. The MLS was well represented in the match, 14 of the players that dressed for the game Wednesday are current players in the MLA - in fact all 20 of the players on the squad have played in the MLS at some point in time.

This finish puts the US soccer team at the top of their group. Also qualifying from Group 1 is Trinidad & Tobago - with Guatemala's loss to the US and defeating Cuba 1-0 on Wednesday. In Group 2 Honduras grabbed a qualifying spot with a 1-0 win over Mexico. Mexico also qualified in Group 2. With a Honduras win the Jamaican team had a chance to qualify be didn't make the 7 goals they needed in a 3-0 win over Canada. Group 3 qualifiers include Costa Rica and El Salvador.