I don't think that it's only the Americans that don't find slow games enjoyable. I find handball much more interesting than soccer - because it's faster and the terrain (I don't know the word for it in english sorry) is smaller so it's easier to follow the game. It's just that there is much more money invested in soccer than other sports (considering the world without USA) so it's advertised better, more accessible as a sport to play for children etc. Other sports are popular only during big tournaments and events while soccer is popular throughout the whole year. Plus, you only hear from people who are the loudest about something, and soccer fans are kind of the loudest.

For example, I'm from Croatia and we have a really good handball team but it only gets mentioned during the most important championships while everyone constantly talks about soccer, even though we just now accomplished something relevant.