“Football banned; soccer sweeps U.S.” That was the response of Sports Illustrated contributor Hank Hersch when asked to predict the sporting future in just five words. But these four words suggest it’s not happening anytime soon: “Rams 54, Chiefs 51.” To an American public that likes to see an extravagance of scoring and bets on point spreads and over-unders, football retains its popularity.
To the rest of the world, there is nothing wrong with a 1-0 score in soccer. It is the most popular sport around the globe, defined by the tension and drama that persist for 90 minutes of continuous action in the hunt for precious goals. Those who can produce them consistently — Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo — are rightfully recognized among the world’s most extraordinary athletes.
There is no denying that more Americans are becoming fans of soccer every year — from seeing their kids play the game, playing themselves, watching televised European matches, attending affordable Major League Soccer and college games, following the U.S. teams, and enjoying the men’s and women’s World Cups. The score of the 2018 World Cup final — France 4, Croatia 2 — was bound to please.
College soccer in the U.S. has a distinct flavor. It is fast-moving, contentious, and unrelentingly physical, but rarely high scoring. Because multiple substitutions are allowed, fresh players are always on the pitch, eager to spoil an opponent’s possessions. Skillful foreign players, attracted by the educational opportunities of college athletics, can find it challenging. The goalkeepers, displaying the athleticism of football tight ends or basketball power forwards, are usually first-rate.
The best that college soccer has to offer will be on display at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium next weekend. The final four teams of the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament will play for the 2018 College Cup — the semifinals will be at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 7; the championship match at 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 9. (UCSB’s team, alas, is already out of the running.)
It is the second time Santa Barbara has been selected to host the culmination of November Nuttiness, as the NCAA tournament might be called, because the only thing predictable about it is its unpredictability. Consider the 2006 tournament, when UCSB was one of the lowliest teams to enter the 48-team field and wound up beating No. 3–seeded SMU and No. 2–seeded Wake Forest en route to the final, where the Gauchos defeated UCLA, 2-1, on a wintry day in St. Louis. That championship, along with UCSB’s appearance in the 2004 College Cup final, led to the transformation of Harder Stadium into “Soccer Heaven,” where record-setting crowds attended Gaucho games and made it a desirable location to host the College Cup.
The event will go east to Carey, North Carolina, in 2019 and return here in 2020. There is talk of Santa Barbara becoming a permanent host city, as Omaha is for NCAA baseball’s College World Series.
“It’s hard to grow an event that moves every year,” UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg said. “There are two things we have to get right. One is to have a good field to play on, and the other is to fill the stadium with people.”
