Hmmmm...I disagree the the quality of football over here is "awful"...whilst not up to the quality of the top leagues in Europe most of our teams would hold their own I believe in at least the Championship division (used to be 1st division??) of the EPL.
I'm rather sick of people putting down American football/soccer. We are ranked 11th in the world by FIFA (and were even ranked higher than England earlier in the year)....and Most of the players on the US National team play every week for MLS teams here in the states...so I think its fair to say that there has been a longstanding bias who's time has come to reevaluate.
Aside from the US players in the Premiership, Beasely (Eindhoven) and Donovan (Leverkusen) represent the new wave of american players headed for Europe where they will continue to benefit from international experience..and with Adu and Eddie Johnson on the way in a few years American Soccer will only get better.
I'll finish with this...millions of american kids play soccer...my 8 year old stepson plays for a local competitive league team...these competitive leagues have really only started to flourish in the past 5-7 years here...Watch out Europe...It Americal Uber Alles!!!
I'm going to have to agree with El Jarvo on this one as well...millions of American youth have been playing "soccer" for years...it's been the largest participant sport amongst youth in the States since the 70's...but the problem is, and I know I have said this before, that most of the kids stop playing by the time they get to High School. I think part of the reason is, the youth of this country don't see how much money is thrown at players in Europe. The sport is not marketed well in this country. Add to that the fact that kids see how much money can be made by players in the NBA, NFL, or MLB, and I think that is one reason kids give up on the sport.
The kids can see the NFL on CBS, Fox and ESPN, plus what seems like 1000 NCAA football games. The NBA, and NCAA, are shoved down our throats on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and any of the myriad of regional cable outlets. Baseball, well, on any given night during the season, you can see the Cubs on WGN, the Braves on TBS, whatever game ESPN and ESPN2 are carrying. Here in Dallas, I get the Rangers on Fox Sports Southwest or a local over the air station, as well as the Astros on FSSW and a different over the air station.
If I want to watch "soccer", I have to scour over the TV schedules. The MLS is almost non-existant on television. Since I have digital cable, I do get to watch several matches from the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, along with various South American Leagues. ESPN purchased the broadcast rights to the Champions League, and then stuck all the matches on ESPN Deportes, which isn't even available on my Cable System (I think that particular network is available to about 5% of the population in the US).
I also feel that your assertation that an MLS team would fare well in the Championship is quite a reach. If the players in the MLS were that good, wouldn't they be plying their trade in Europe, where the salaries are better? Where footballers are held in much higher regard than soccer players in the States? The quality of players may be rising here in the States, but I think it still has a LONG way to go before you can say it's on par with any of the major leagues in Europe or the Premier League.
I'll finish by saying, I don't see the United States winning the World Cup in my lifetime. I'd be pleased as punch if it did happen, but would probably keel over when it did happen!!!