Portland Timbers coach John Spencer will stick to calling the sport "football".

Spencer has upset some American soccer fans with his insistence on calling the sport by it's European name.

"Football is what I'm used to calling it," Spencer says. "It's what I grew up doing. The best way to lead your life is just to be yourself," he told the Portland Tribune.

"I don't think I should change for anybody. It's what I'm used to saying, it's the way I'm used to living my life. Hopefully nobody takes offense to it, but if you guys call it soccer and I call it football, then I'm not really going to apologize for it."