A virus has been spreading across America in the past couple of years. This is a virus that has long infected most of the globe, especially areas like Europe and South America. A virus that showed symptoms of infection on our country in the late 1970s, in 1994, and on the odd occasion in the last decade-plus. However, the fever never fully manifested itself in me until last June. I have the disease, and it is now incurable: I am a full-blown fan of professional soccer.

I have always defended the sport, appreciating the ecstasy and tension of the one goal that can be the decisive factor in the game’s outcome. Yet soccer has always been viewed as a wimpy sport in the U.S. No hands? Flopping? Single-named players? A lot of running around kicking the ball to each other (a certain Simpsons episode comes to mind)? I would always present soccer’s attributes to my late father, never really succeeding.

The adventure of the 2010 World Cup started to change my interest level. I found myself excited by Landon Donovan’s last-minute American goal, the U.S.-England battle, even the vuvuzelas. A month’s worth of observing the best soccer on the planet gave me a new appreciation for the sport.

So, which team to follow? Minnesota and Wisconsin do not have Major League Soccer teams, and watching a little MLS action last summer, I could plainly see how the quality of play was lacking compared to the cream of the crop: the Premier League in England (EPL). I had one option: my favorite soccer team would not be 90 miles west of Eau Claire; it would be nine hours to the east.

I asked my Facebook friends to suggest a team to root for, but in the meantime, I found myself settling on Aston Villa from Birmingham. The first reason was purely aesthetic: I liked Villa’s uniforms and colors (burgundy and powder blue … or as Villa fans say, claret and blue) the best of all EPL teams. If I get to choose any team without prior connections, I might as well choose a team that is appealing to look at. Plus, “Aston Villa” has the coolest-sounding name of the 20 EPL teams. They’re from the same city as one of my favorite bands, Duran Duran. There’s the American factor: an American owner, as well as an American goalkeeper I was already familiar with from the World Cup in years past.

More substantively, I discovered that Villa was one of the oldest teams in England, one of the founders of the Premier League, one of the only EPL teams never to be relegated (at the end of the season, the bottom three teams get demoted to the second division of English soccer), and one of a handful of English teams to win the European club title (now called the Champions League). Pretty good resumé, if you ask me.

Finally, they were not Manchester United. I could never root for the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys, and I was not about to root for the super-big-money always-winning teams and be a bandwagon fan. I wanted a team I could like and respect, where a league or European title would feel like an accomplishment and not a birthright.

I put Aston Villa on trial, provided they did not exhibit character flaws or fall on their face. The latter almost happened: the team sunk the closest it has been to relegation in seven years, but they finished ninth, and projections for next season are decent.

Meanwhile, I made a point to DVR the Champions League Final; the European championship of the best professional soccer teams in the continent – it really is the Super Bowl of soccer, and as big of a deal worldwide. I even pay a bit more attention to MLS.

“The beautiful game” will likely take off in western Wisconsin. I predict MLS will expand to the Twin Cities within the decade. Eventually all those youth soccer games will turn into something more significant as kids become adults and continue playing the sport. The virus is in the Chippewa Valley. Do not bother with a vaccine: this is a disease you want to have.