Landon DonovanAccording to FIFA, the international governing body of football (or "soccer," to us), only citizens of host nation South Africa have purchased more tickets for World Cup games than people from the United States.

True, the U.S. has easily the largest population among the 32 countries participating in the tournament, which likely contributes to our ticket-buying largesse.

However getting from the States to South Africa takes quite a bit of time and expense. And it is still surprising that so many Americans have decided to make the trek to other side of the world when soccer doesn't evoke nearly the passion here as it does in most of the other 31 World Cup nations.

Could it be that after almost 40 years of false starts, soccer is finally poised to be the next big thing in America? The current squad is not among the favorites to take soccer's ultimate prize, but the 2010 team does have enough talent to make things interesting and get the nation behind it.

We want to know how closely you will be following the World Cup, which begins this week. Read on for the pros and cons of catching soccer fever.

How exited are you about the World Cup?
Very -- even if America fizzles out quickly, I'll be following it586 (52.3%)
Somewhat -- if we start winning, I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon144 (12.8%)
Not at all -- No matter how you slice it, soccer just isn't exciting391 (34.9%)



It's a Fever Worth Catching
If you enjoy actual sports, the World Cup is a much better event than the other international competition that comes every four years. And unlike the Olympics, nobody has to pretend the World Cup is about sportsmanship and brotherhood and all of that garbage.

Also, what's the risk in being a U.S. soccer fan? If we win, we get to jump around and whip out our obnoxious "U-S-A" chant. If we lose, we can just point out that soccer is like our eighth-most-popular sport and, anyway, we're still the world's one and only superpower.

Finally, soccer players seem to date some of the sexiest women on the planet. So when the World Cup rolls around, we get to see many more photos of those women.


Soccer Still Leaves Me Cold
The best soccer team in the world is Brazil, and the best player on Brazil made the choice to go by the name Kaka. It's like they don't want us to take their sport seriously.

You know your hipster friend who decided to follow a random English soccer team about five or so years ago, and now says he's no longer into American sports? Christ, he's annoying.

Is it just us, or is this whole push for the United States to embrace soccer just a sneaky way of getting us to switch to the metric system?