If you think soccer isn't a big deal in the US then look at Japan.
The Japanese players have full time jobs. The teams out there are club leagues after work, and they just play for fun. The US has the WPS league, play ever day as a career, have endorsements, etc. They make a living at it.
The US losing was a complete fail in every category. Maybe if they stopped eating cheeseburgers and cooking everything with oil they wouldn't have been so winded.
Go Japan.