Why is soccer so popular Reddit

We all know why soccer is unpopular in Ametica: low scoring, ties and fake injuries. Why haven't these unappealing features made soccer unpopular in Europe and the rest of the world.

Is the Seattle experience different than the rest of the country? Is it more European? Influenced by Canada? I have yet to visit, but the place and its relation to soccer intrigues me.

A curious European soccer fan here. r/soccer and r/sports have highly different opinions on the subject and I don't know who to believe.

Do people watch it on TV, talk about it on the streets and at work?

Do people play it?

Does it get much coverage on the news?

Do Americans know who Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mario Balotelli etc. are?

How popular is the MLS?

I'm grateful for all your answers.

In US movies or TV, whenever somebody goes to pick up their kids from sport, it's usually soccer.

There's even a whole class of suburban moms named after the sport.

Yet, in Europe, we're told that Americans aren't fond of soccer at all.

Why is soccer so respected worldwide and so disrespected in America? from AskReddit

I've been thinking about this recently and I keep oscillating between a) it's a random occurance due to historical reasons or b) there's some intrinsic appeal to football that just makes it more likable by, well, half the planet. I'm very much intrigued to see what you guys think!

[Edit] I see a lot of replies regarding why it's so popular to play but actually I was thinking more on the side of why is it so popular to watch (in which case it's always 11v11 on a stadium, not 4 kids and a soda can)

Why did soccer become more popular in Europe than in America? from AskHistorians
The real reason soccer is so popular is because it's one of the cheapest and simplest sports that anyone can play. from Showerthoughts

I'm watching the USA/Chile friendly and have seen 2 exciting moments the entire first half. It seems to be just one big clusterfuck out on the pitch. Where's the playcalling? Am I missing something here or is soccer (football) just another ego driven sport where whoever has the ball tries to take on the entire team?? I'm not hating on the sport at all; the world cup had it's moments. Maybe this game just isn't as good as advertised.

tl;dr can anybody help me understand soccer??