Excerpt:
World War III is set to break out next month. Germany will be in the center of it, once again, with American boys in the thick of things. And yet the American heartland is unprepared. Welcome to the Soccer World Cup that kicks off June 9 in Germany.
Jack Kemp dismissed soccer on the floor of Congress as a "European socialist sport" - in contrast to football which the ex-quarterback called "democratic" and "capitalism." Franklin Foer has written that soccer is popular elsewhere because it represents the dreams of the masses, while in America it's the preserve of the middle class of the soccer moms. Or perhaps ignoring soccer is a remnant of the American Revolution: Americans are asserting their independence by refusing to embrace what might be England's most lasting, and according to many greatest, gift to the world.