Ben Jarman Futbol

Sunday started and finished as many US citizens had predicted, their women's national team lifting their fourth World Cup and the men's team succumbing to their fiercest rivals.  As the USWNT confirmed the notion of being the world's best on Sunday afternoon, their counterparts confirmed they are not even the best in their own continent. The defeat to Mexico underlined, again, the recent failings of the men's team which has become the butt of jokes for soccer fans across the States. Their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a national disaster, and their exploits in the Gold Cup hardly convincing on the whole. The USMNT's humbling at Soldier Field, Chicago in front of a heavily pro-Mexico crowd further disenfranchised their following, as their women continue to stride on. During his seven months at the helm of the USMNT Gregg Berhalter has slowly but surely began to rebuild a side that crashed out of World Cup Qualifying in spectacular fashio...

It seems absurd that a football franchise can gain a million fans overnight, but that is just what Los Angeles Football Club managed to achieve when they signed Carlos Vela back in August. Despite the club never having played a competitive match and only having a handful of players on the roster their future looks bright.  Vela begins his tenure with his new teammates on January the 1st, and the run up to the franchises first match accelerates over the next four months before they take on the Seattle Sounders at home. Their home which hasn't yet been built.  In true American style, there certainly has been theory behind the signing of Vela and one that clearly taps in to the ethnicity of not only Los Angeles, but also to the breakdown of the run-of-the mill MLS viewer. This year alone there was a 75% increase in viewership on ESPN alone, and a 38% rise year-on-year across the play-offs. Football, or soccer, is gaining serious momentum in the United States and the expansion...