Permisson to speak Sir! (just caught your ref in an earlier post Blighty tonight!)
I'll bite on cgravier's 'football = kick' quip.
Read the words.....FOOT - BALL. Do those two words imply THROWING/CARRYING a NON SPHERICAL object as the main part of the game?
NO. The US created a totally new game that NO ONE ELSE in World want's to get involved in as it's so dull.
Soccer (as it's called) has a WORLD CUP. That means a sport that's played WORLDWIDE!!! (The US held it in 1994 when Jackie Charlton's boys almost made me want to big up my distant Irish bloodlines - any US memories anyone???? I guess not...)
Hell, Rugby is bad enough but at least it flows as a game and it's played by a few more countries!