Politics & Power Quote by Claudio Reyna

Reyna is offering a flattering origin story for American soccer that also smuggles in a cultural critique: the sport didn’t “arrive” because the U.S. suddenly developed taste, but because people brought it with them. The line “recognition it deserves” frames soccer as an undervalued art form finally getting its due, positioning Reyna not just as a former player but as a witness to a slow-moving legitimacy campaign. He’s defending the game against the old American charge that soccer is niche, foreign, or unserious.

The subtext sits in that careful phrase “people who come to America from foreign countries.” It’s an immigration argument without the policy sermon. Reyna credits immigrants as tastemakers, consumers, parents, and organizers - the ones filling youth leagues, buying jerseys, packing international friendlies, building the everyday infrastructure that turns a pastime into a market. In a country where “American” is often treated as the default and “foreign” as an add-on, he flips the hierarchy: soccer’s growth is presented as proof that American culture is constantly being rewritten from the outside in.

Context matters: the last 10-15 years tracks with MLS stabilizing, the Premier League and Champions League becoming TV staples, and U.S. cities getting louder, more global fan cultures. Reyna’s point also subtly challenges U.S. sports exceptionalism. Soccer didn’t need to become more “American” to succeed; America had to become a little more like the world.