Any sport will be boring unless the absolute best players are playing.I find lower-league soccer enjoyable to watch, too.
I think the problem is that it is an acquired taste. If you grew up watching soccer, you know about the subtleties of tactics and strategy. You understand what’s going on and can appreciate the moves of attack and defense. However, if you’re new to the game, you only see a bunch of guys running around for no apparent reason, apparently without achieving anything at all except a rare goal every half hour, with more useless running in between. Unfortunately, it is also quite hard to learn how soccer works by watching it on tv. You have to go to the stadium to see how the whole team cooperates, builds new formations, organizes attack and defense, until you’ll eventually get it.
Most grown-ups are probably not willing to invest this kind of effort. Which is a pity, because the reward is great indeed :-)
Baseball is just as much of an acquired taste. Well worth it, but it takes effort, too, to get into it if you didn’t grow up with it.
I agree, it does take an investment in learning the players and traditions.
I like following English soccer for the same reason I like college football. The traditions of the teams, I like learning the various chants of each team. It almost becomes like a soap opera, when transfer time comes.
That is what is lacking here in the MLS, and I suppose it will never really get to that point here. Just as basketball and hockey are played worldwide, the center of the universe for those sports will always be in North America, and for soccer it will always be in Europe.
The teamwork impresses me. Last WC the German team was operating like a well-oiled machine, a German player seemed to be in the right place no matter where the ball was kicked. It looked practically scripted for a movie like Escape to Victory, it was so perfect.
Then somewhere after round-robin something changed, their perfect teamwork disappeared, and they lost the WC.