CNN: Why America Never Fell In Love with Soccer: In a piece that covers the early history of American participation in the World Cup, James Montague tackles the question of why soccer's been a hard sell in the United States for most of the beautiful game's history. "As almost every nation on Earth embraced its rapid spread around the globe, the U.S. remained one of the few, resolute outposts of abstention," he writes. "But why has it been so difficult for Americans to take soccer to their hearts?" When the U.S. shocked the world with a 1-0 win over England in 1950's cup, only one American newspaper covered the event. Player Walter Bahr said that when he got back home, the only person there to greet him was his wife.