The president of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati, believes the sport is making steady progress on the world stage.

Led by the USA national team, soccer in America is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with and after two solid performances in the 2010 World Cup including a hard-fought draw against England, Gulati is of firm belief that the US are no longer taken as a joke.

"No one with the exception of a few English tabloids-and maybe less so takes us as a joke," Gulati told Slate.com. "Am I sitting here saying we're the Premier League in the MLS, or that our national team is as good consistently as Argentina's game in and game out, or that soccer is woven into the American fabric the same way it is in Brazil?

"Those things are not true. What I am saying is that we've made as much progress if not more than anyone else in the world in a number of important areas on the field and off the field, and the potential for American soccer is unlimited given the size of the country, given the wealth of the country, given the demographics of the country. We're getting closer to where we're fully accepted in the elite."