FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggests Major League Soccer is 'still struggling' despite a steady increase in attendance and TV figures in the past few years.
Blatter feels that North America has no professional league and that the state of the sport has not improved since MLS kicked off in 1996, following the 1994 World Cup which was held in the USA.
"It is a question of time, I thought - we had the World Cup in 1994," Blatter told Al Jazeera TV.
"But it is now 18 years in so it should have been done now. But they are still struggling.
"There is no very strong professional league (in the US). They have just the MLS but they have no professional leagues which are recognized by the American society."
Despite Blatter's comments, MLS enjoyed record attendance figures in 2012 with an average of more than 18,000 fans turning through the gates which is an increase on the 15,000 average of 2006.
