You might find soccer boring but American sports media are all in

USA soccer fans show their allegiance prior to the u.s. win over australia in seattle on june 19. The first clue to my cluelessness about the current popularity of professional international soccer among Americans was the grandkid wearing a Lionel Messi shirt. He’s 9.That popularity is abundantly obvious right now as media coverage of the World Cup is everywhere, maybe bumping your favorite sport and team to a smaller headline. Fox Sports is showing all 104 matches live on one of its TV channels and by internet streaming. If you prefer Spanish, Telemundo shows every match live. Sports networks without broadcast rights are still giving the tournament major attention, as are print/online publications. The U.S. team’s first game, against Paraguay, drew 18 million viewers, a record for a U.S. men’s national team game on English-language TV. Average viewership for the first weekend of games was almost 7 million, a 150% increase from four years ago.Some particular circumstances are…