Soccer is a worldwide phenomenon, played everywhere from England to Africa. Why do you think Soccer isn't popular in America?

Because it's become associated too heavily with children? It's looked at as a children's football. You see kids playing it everywhere. Since it's associated with children, adults want to play more "adult" ballgames.

Because it's lame as hell....running after a damn ball like an escaped Gerbil.
The combination of American Football and Hockey makes Soccer practically pointless.

Soccer IS popular in the US and almost everyone has kids that either currently play, have played in the past or have friends that play soccer. The thing is, it's not that popular a sport on American TV because there are so many other sports that Americans like (and are good at) compared to most other countries. Baseball is our national pastime and most people watch American Football and Basketball. Soccer is delegated to a second tier sport here on TV because of the other choices and even then it has to compete with Tennis and Golf (both of which have been getting more and more popular recently as well). The only time Americans really seem to pay that much attention to Soccer as a nation is during the World Cup (which we did pretty good this year). But it will never be the phenomenon it is in other countries.

I think it's a popular RECREATIONAL sport in the US, but for whatever reason the genre isn't considered on par with the others.