"Let's rejoice in The Beautiful Game."

As an American soccer fan

You’re either criticized for supporting a team from MLS (which is widely regarded as “inferior”), or you’re criticized for supporting foreign clubs.
You’re either criticized for calling the sport “soccer”, or you’re considered to be an elitist/try-hard for calling the sport “football”.
You’re either mocked for supporting the US national team, or you’re criticized for supporting a foreign national team.

As an American soccer fan, you’re criticized by both most other Americans (who don’t enjoy the sport) and a lot of people from other countries (who are often too critical/ignorant of American soccer to consider you a real fan of the sport). It’s this constant criticism which makes it very difficult for any American soccer fan to share their love of the sport with others.

Most people are always calling us Americans out for not liking soccer, but then when some of us actually do like soccer, they’re too focused on the quality of our national team or the structure of our domestic league or the countless other Americans who don’t like soccer, to appreciate the fact that there is actually such a thing as an “American soccer fan”.

Most people can’t stop criticizing us long enough to appreciate the fact that there are people from the one country that has traditionally not liked soccer, who actually love soccer. Most people can’t stop criticizing us long enough to let us share our love of the sport with them.

And though it won’t stop me from continuing to enjoy soccer, I would be lying if I said it isn’t frustrating.