“Empty feeling:” U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard reacts after Saturday’s Gold Cup final defeat (AP Photo).

Soccer fans in the U.S. like to think the sport is growing and it is, incrementally.

Last year pubs and bars in LA were packed with soccer fans watching World Cup games, last week a stunning 45,000 or so showed up for a regular season MLS game in Seattle and last weekend there were more U.S. fans at a game against Mexico in Southern California than I’ve ever seen.

Yet, the Rose Bowl crowd was still overwhelmingly pro-Mexican, some MLS clubs still struggle to draw much over 10,000 on a regular basis and a lot of those fans watching the World Cup were, like me, immigrants to this country.

The U.S. is still not a soccer nation and let’s not kid ourselves into believing it is. And that affects performances and (should at least) expectations.

That’s the case I make in today’s column in the wake of the Gold Cup loss.

Read it here.

Incidentally, the U.S.-North Korea game is under way as I write this live on ESPN. It’s 0-0 as the game approaches the 25th minute mark.