So very few have actually played it other than youth league or maybe a bit of high school.
I grew up in Europe and played a lot of soccer and even though I enjoy a number of the “American” sports, watching top soccer, particularly from Europe, is every bit as exciting as the others. You have to have played a bit to really appreciate the skill level involved, which to me is only matched by great basketball players. And the conditioning is top notch. 90 minutes of often all out sprints, with accumulated 6 or even 7 miles of running would wear down most other sport players. Or heading a ball into a corner of the goal timed while three or four foot in the air and surrounded by 6 or 7 other great players is magical.

There is a reason why the World Cup audience completely dwarfs the major US sports, and it’s not as simple as “most of the viewers don’t know anything else.” It is truly the only team sport that has a real world champion (no disrespect to the olympics, but those aren’t what they used to be and are set up more for individual champions and passion has dwindled for them while the World Cup has become THE super world event.)

As I said, there are a number of great team sports, but all in all, soccer is without question the #1 world sport and if you can get your focus off of just scoring points for a bit and recognize the skill level and continuous flow of the game, you’ll learn to really appreciate the beauty and skill level of it.