Rabih Alameddine Quotes

The more people who come from abroad who played soccer and are brought up playing it and watching it, then come over to America and bring what they know and what they play, that's how the sport will grow.

If you want to know whether soccer is big in America, pick a weekend, go to any park in the land, and pay attention. We're there. We've always been.

I think soccer is more respected now than it ever has been. You can see that in the numbers of young kids who are playing and the numbers of people who are coming to watch.

I get asked this a lot: Why has soccer not succeeded? My answer is, soccer has succeeded. It is already the fastest growing youth participation sport in the U.S. It has already succeeded at the youth level, no question.

I've seen the growth of this game in this country, the stadiums that were built, the great European players that have come and the great American players who've been created. Americans want to be number one at everything. And they are at baseball, football, basketball. Soccer is growing fast, and I want to be a part of that.

My wish is that soccer in the U.S. become on the same level like the Premier League, Spanish league, or the Bundesliga.

I've never had a problem finding a team, a league, or a pickup game. Actually, I'm not sure I want soccer to get bigger. We have so many teams in San Francisco that there aren't enough fields.

In North America, many fans know Cristiano Ronaldo's smirk and can recognize Didier Drogba in a commercial. Maybe they know too much for the good of M.L.S.

The people of Cleveland hate soccer. But it's my favourite thing and I follow the U.S. men's national team around when they play whenever I can.

You can't obviously predict the future, but I am a fan of the United States and soccer over there continues to grow.

I think it's important to make clear, you know, that the problem with American soccer... it isn't talent.

I think what we really want to do is to create a real soccer nation. We want to have kids really wanting to play the sport.

I never knew that Americans would take up soccer, and it's a gender-free sport in high school there.

The aura of soccer is very different from other sports.

I played in Europe and it was a great experience, not just because of my team-mates and the coaches we had, but from the fans and the city itself - I played in Gothenburg and I played in Lyon and soccer was everywhere.

Over the last 10-15 years, you've seen soccer finally start to grow at a fast pace, start to get the recognition it deserves, and I think it has to do with all of the people who come to America from foreign countries.

Of course Seattle loves soccer. You can see from the men's Seattle Sounders team.

Television is making sports universal; for the same reason, big-time soccer is growing more popular in the United States.

Even all the top players going to Europe to play helps soccer in America, as do all the MLS players like Beckham and all that, they're trying to promote it. At the end of the day it's about getting the younger generation interested at an early age so most of them will move on and play.

I think - I hope - that we're going to be able to build something here with U.S. Soccer, where it's not just going to be about one lost match or one lost cycle or one lost team. It's going to be about an entire country rallying around an entire sport in a way that lasts.

If we in Spain had fans like in England, it would be the best League without doubt. And the live football, in the stadiums, the people live for it.

When I came from Europe, I was told that Americans don't care about soccer and this and that. But the way people cared was beyond my wildest expectations. You can't manufacture that.

I think soccer in America is growing exponentially, and it's just going to keep getting bigger.

There is simply no better way to generate buzz for soccer in your country than having your team in the World Cup.