Josh Sippie
Josh Sippie is probably the only natural-born American to ever be...
Gone are the days of America treating soccer like her ex-husband's step-child. Soccer is at least a second cousin by now and before too much longer, the most beautiful game in the world will be a beloved sibling of America's vast array of sports. Obviously American Football will always be the stereotypical jock older brother, but that upstart game where they dare to use only their feet is gaining fast.
The World Cup ended in 2014 (in case you had not noticed) but the interest in this great sport has yet to diminish in the greatest nation in the world. Now, the Gold Cup is kicking off, a competition that sees the United States of America as strong favorites to bring a trophy home in quite the unlikely sport.
In typical American fashion, every competition deserves a launch party or seven, and the Gold Cup is no exception, as PROFOOT and New York City Football Club teamed up to bring a helping of fans and media to Sweetwater Social for the opening match of the Gold Cup as well as to announce their partnership. The USA faced off against a very stingy Honduras defense in a match that had the potential to break some red white and blue hearts.
The United States trotted along to a fairly comprehensive victory, defeating that aforementioned stingy Honduras team by the score of two-1 as Seattle Sounders' pride and joy Clint Dempsey netted twice to see his nation to the top of the group.
But before all that happened, NYCFC midfielder Tommy McNamara stopped in to offer his well-wishes to the people of PROFOOT and the USMNT in their endeavors. Tommy is no stranger to the growth of soccer in the United States, and after being asked about what was needed to step that growth up to the next level, he was not shy about how exciting this time was:
'It's starting to catch on. If you look back X amount of years, soccer just wasn't a mainstream sport. Nobody played it growing up. It was all baseball, football, basketball. But now so many kids are playing soccer and they are starting to get into their teens and twenties. They're watching it, there is a lot of growth going on.'
And then the pressing question. Could football in America ever overtake the NFL in popularity? He laughed, 'give it a couple years.' I can do that, Tommy. He did go on to add that football has all the necessities to make it to the same level as the NFL. He hearkened back to the growth of football within this great nation, saying that if you jump back ten years, the growth that we have seen before our eyes is simply amazing.
NYCFC has a quite the collection of talented individuals, and as exciting as the new partnership between NYCFC and PROFOOT is, some equally exciting news came not long before the launch of the Gold Cup, as it was announced that long-time Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo would be joining Tommy McNamara, Frank Lampard, David Villa and the suddenly star-studded Blues from the Bronx. However, if this partnership means that PROFOOT will be providing NYCFC with custom inserts, than I am not sure what I am more excited about: the arrival of Lampard and Pirlo or seeing the team perform with such comfortable footing.
Josh Sippie is probably the only natural-born American to ever be madly in love with football, but he hasn't checked the statistics on that yet. By football, he means real football and not that American crap. If you dare to delve into the wonderful world of actual football, give him a gander at Pain in the Arsenal and reap the immediate benefits. Oh, and baseball is cool too, and he opines about that occasionally. Have another gander at Call to the Pen, you ganderers.
Josh scored another life goal in Tim Howard Talks Tequila, Turf & the Silver Lining in FIFA's Meltdown.