The United States once made a valiant effort in the 1970s to capitalize on the passion for soccer found around the world by creating its own domestic league, the North American Soccer League. Despite recruiting talents like Brazilian legend Pele and German defender Franz Beckenbauer, the league miserably failed and was unable to catch the American eye, leading to its dismantlement years later.

Before the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994 though, an attempt at creating another league persisted. Major League Soccer began its inaugural season with 10 teams. Since then, it has grown to include three teams in Canada and an overall number of 19 clubs in the country. More money has been thrown into the sport and the level of support from fans has also grown exponentially, yet too large of a portion of American soccer fans discount the MLS in favor of the established leagues of Europe.

The Euro snobs are doing the American soccer community a huge disservice though. I know this because I used to be one of them. I refused to watch anything that was not the top-flight of England until the rise of one of the newer teams in the league, the Seattle Sounders. Seattle had the incredible fan base that you see week-in and week-out in places like Italy. The rest of the teams that have followed Seattle’s induction into the MLS like Portland Timbers, Toronto FC and Sporting Kansas City have all infused the league with a never before seen passion for the game, consistently selling out their single-purpose soccer stadiums. How could I complain about the lack of overall support for our U.S. World Cup squads if I was not supporting the very foundation of American soccer?

Perhaps the quality of the MLS is not on the same level as England or Spain (which makes sense since those leagues are decades older than their American counterpart), but the quality is improving season after season. Since David Beckham’s arrival to the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, the MLS has succeeding in recruiting world talent, albeit older talent, to join various clubs around the country. These names include Thierry Henry of Arsenal fame, Barcelona defender Rafael Marquez and even former Tottenham striker Robbie Keane. In addition to bringing in much-needed proven talent and experience, more MLS clubs are investing in their youth academies, which have brought younger stars like Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo through.

It would be foolish of me to say that the MLS provides the same quality of football that the English Premier League or Spanish La Liga does. But if we do not support the MLS, then we will continue to let our talent leave to places overseas (as has happened with new Stoke City signings Brek Shea, formerly of FC Dallas, and Geoff Cameron of Houston Dynamo). We will never be able to properly cultivate our American soccer community to the levels that have been achieved in other countries. Besides, think about this: you can wake up early and watch Manchester United and Liverpool play and then watch Portland and Seattle duke it out in the evening. That is truly what soccer in America is about – best of both worlds.