IS USA NOW A MORE SOCCER NATION THAN NIGERIA

[mcal]

To be frank, soccer is not yet a No. 1 sport in the USA. In Nigeria, there is not even a question about the No. 1 sport -- soccer.

However, the reality is that the USA has achieved more in soccer than Nigeria has as far as the most senior levels are concerned for both males and females. Here is USA's record at the Men World Cup:

1 semi-final
1 quarter-final
3 second round


Nigeria's record is as follows:

3 second round

...another sense making but as usual the thieving detractors will beg to differ, as long as they get a piece of the stolen stash and keep stunting football growth in Nigeria.

[lagos777]

To be frank, soccer is not yet a No. 1 sport in the USA. In Nigeria, there is not even a question about the No. 1 sport -- soccer.

However, the reality is that the USA has achieved more in soccer than Nigeria has as far as the most senior levels are concerned for both males and females. Here is USA's record at the Men World Cup:

1 semi-final
1 quarter-final
3 second round


Nigeria's record is as follows:

3 second round

The records don't necessarily translate to whether the country is a soccer nation. Loving and doing something often doesn't mean you will be proficient or successful at it. The average American will infact tell you that the US is not a soccer nation. So will the average sports journalist. Heck, Colin Herd is one of the biggest sports journalist in the country and he used to make fun of soccer lovers daily on his talk show.
I don't know if that's the case in Nigeria, it's been a while since I spent time at home. But before I left, you're talking of a country that soccer results affect elections and the mood of the country for weeks. Positive Soccer results used to unite divergent factions of the country. Surprised all that had changed now.

[mmeny]

Lagos777,

I can assure you nothing as changed.. Nigerians are quite fanatical about EPL. If you are in Nigeria beware and be careful of who you argue against when it comes to EPL clubs because you might end up in fistcuffs that is how Nigerians are passionate about the game. Some say it is a form of colomentality to be rooting that hard for teams that do not or even care about your existence but a lack of credible NPL and mal administration of the sports in Nigeria is the problem.

This is where USA wipes the fall with Nigeria and some other countries but this idea that USA is more of a soccer nation than Nigeria is propesterous.

To be frank, soccer is not yet a No. 1 sport in the USA. In Nigeria, there is not even a question about the No. 1 sport -- soccer.

However, the reality is that the USA has achieved more in soccer than Nigeria has as far as the most senior levels are concerned for both males and females. Here is USA's record at the Men World Cup:

1 semi-final
1 quarter-final
3 second round


Nigeria's record is as follows:

3 second round

The records don't necessarily translate to whether the country is a soccer nation. Loving and doing something often doesn't mean you will be proficient or successful at it. The average American will infact tell you that the US is not a soccer nation. So will the average sports journalist. Heck, Colin Herd is one of the biggest sports journalist in the country and he used to make fun of soccer lovers daily on his talk show.
I don't know if that's the case in Nigeria, it's been a while since I spent time at home. But before I left, you're talking of a country that soccer results affect elections and the mood of the country for weeks. Positive Soccer results used to unite divergent factions of the country. Surprised all that had changed now.

[mmeny]

Admit am wrong? You are the one who is going on and on about the US being more of a soccer nation than Nigeria yet you can't name one town, city, state, etc. that you can boldly say soccer is the number one sports in that city. Then you quickly shift post to go talk about some parts in Nigeria, specifically Ekiti and Ogun state that probably haven't seen a soccer ball or watched a soccer match on TV. Did you ask any of them or conducted a poll to ask these poor folks if they have seen a soccer match on the TV ever or a soccer ball? What soccer ball are you referring for to here? Are you referring to what you see on tv? Do you know what they call a felele ball? Have you heard of Health size 4 or 5? Do you know people improvished all the time using just about anything they can find to kick about in rural/urban areas as football? One does not have to watch a soccer match on tv to be an avid follower of the sports? In the US, people follow baseball game in both the rural/urban areas on the radio ditto Nigeria.

Please pray tell what is the most inexpensive sports in the world if not soccer/football? Do you know this is why the game is actually watched and followed by most people in the world because for the most part you do not need a major accessories or dole out a lot of cash to play the game. All you need is a round/spherical object and it is game on.

I am willing to bet you didn't play this game extensively in Nigeria because if you did you will understand that US nation might have more accolades than Nigeria as a country in organized sports in FIFA and IOC tournaments but as nation they are not close to Nigeria in terms of the love of the game. I mean boys kicked about just about everything in sight just to play the game growing up whether in rural/urban Nigeria.

Yemster,

Dude please can you name a hamlet,clan, village, town, city, state in Nigeria that doesn't care about football/soccer? Please just name one? Notice how you were able to list the different cities in America and their number sports but couldn't name one city were soccer can be considered their number sport? You know why, because there is none. If you go to cities and state like Connecticut or Iowa that don't have any NFL/NHL/MLB/NBA teams they identify themselves more with their collegiate sport teams like the UCONN basketball team both Male or Female, in Iowa everybody wears Hawkeye memorabilia.

Leave the major US cities and go to their smaller or rural areas and please tell me how many of them out there are kicking or spending their money and attention on soccer and using US pop. of 400M doesn't fly in this case because by share number alone the US is one of largest nation besides China and India. You know this that is why you keep avoiding percentages? Why don't you tell us the percentage of Americans that interested into soccer compared to Nigerians.

I mean this argument is just absurd on one hand you guys say soccer is not the number 1 sport, neither is it 2, 3, 4, but somehow they are still more of a soccer nation than Nigeria. America has one of the largest population of blacks in a country behind Brazil and Nigeria does that make America more of a black country than Ghana?

Here you go again shooting from the hip just like the last time.

Like I mentioned in a couple threads I went to a few SW states in January specifically Ogun and Ekiti state. There are like a hundred variations of Ekiti towns I visited so this isn't just one case like you requested...many of them places had poor folks who probably hadn't seen a soccer ball in their lifetime talk less of having TV or light to watch any. Of course it might be a case of out of sight out of mind since we can't really tell for sure without actually conducting some kind of poll. But going by the same examples you gave these folks don't care about football either. It isn't far fetched to assume there are other places like this especially up north and in villages sef cos these were small towns. The circumstances surrounding their apathy is irrelevant. Of course this logic doesn't prove my case but it negates your argument. As for lagos777 I dunno what town he's at but as you know neighborhoods are sometimes grouped according to ethnicity so it could affect what kind of recreational activities have priority. There are some places I know and have played at that use their football field as a soccer field as well. It's no different from many of the public high schools in Nigeria that don't have soccer fields but instead use open space (created for other purpose such as assembly) to play football. I've seen many of those in Lagos alone.

You asking for percentages in these environments is ridiculous. Why don't you present your own percentages? it's not possible to get such numbers hence we provided a general figure from reputable sources. This is why I said you have to operationalize the word "bigger" in this context. If you're saying football is the number 1 sport in Nigeria but not number 1 in the US then fine. But to say it is bigger in Nigeria is sheer folly especially in the face of all the facts and figures provided here.

Why don't you just sometimes admit you're wrong? It's not hard.