U.S. Soccer Gets A Boost

Let's keep our heads here. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking Sunday's pulse-pounding soccer — the long-suffering U.S. nationals just one hard header from winning the Confederations Cup in South Africa — will dramatically change the game's fortunes on U.S. soil.

For most U.S. sports fans, come next week it'll back to the old standbys: fireworks and baseball, NASCAR and apple pie. Those fans I heard at Dodgers Stadium Sunday — the ones gushing about U.S. goalie Tim Howard as the Dodgers played the Mariners? — whole hosts of them will pay scant attention to the world's most popular game until next year's World Cup.

But fans of futbol, have no fear. You're game is going to be just fine on these shores. All the frenzied speculation over whether this latest run will finally vault soccer to big league status? Wasted frenzy. Big league, I mean really, truly, consistently big league in performance, hoopla and status? It's not going to happen. Not for a while. And that's absolutely OK.

For one thing, at the grassroots level of youth play, a level boosted and shaped by Latino immigration, the game continues its steady march. While this has yet to translate into mammoth increases in TV ratings and gate receipts, it's a groundswell. The world is a different place than it was even four years back. Just as it blindsided political observers in the last presidential election, the grassroots will eventually have a big effect on what sports we love.