When will world change football to soccer?

[DoomYoshi]

Did I tell you about that book I found stashed away in an academic library? It was the top 10 cities of the world and it listed Montreal. Trying to find it again, I can determine it was definitely not Great Cities of the World in Their Glory and in Their Desolation by John Frost, as that lists Quebec City which is, strictly speaking, worse than Dundalk, Marlyland in all categories, except the Maple Syrup and Poutine categories, which 4H doesn't even recognize anymore, but don't get me started on the 4H club, those bastards gave the ribbon for oregano to the old lady down the street, even though she was senile and couldn't count to the requisite 5 sprigs of oregano and only put 4 in, but I showed her

[Dukasaur]

Soccer is boring. If you called it "orgasm" you could probably get more people to play.

[waauw]

Soccer is boring. If you called it "orgasm" you could probably get more people to play.

Do we need more people? It's already by far the most popular sport on the planet.

[Dukasaur]

Soccer is boring. If you called it "orgasm" you could probably get more people to play.

Do we need more people? It's already by far the most popular sport on the planet.

I've played soccer exactly 1 time in my life. I can tell you the year and month; that's how anomalous an event it is. It was September of 1981. If I worked hard, I could probably narrow it down to the exact day, but I don't want to spend that much effort.

I've played real football (all three variations, Canadian, American, and Australian) hundreds of times, starting while I was still in school probably circa 1973 or so, but continuing long into my adult life, at least until 1996.

I've intentionally watched soccer on TV exactly once. It was in 1984, and it was England's Milk Cup. I think it was probably in April but I could be wrong about the month. Fanatics can probably correct me here and say in what month the Milk Cup is played. I had just moved into a new apartment and my landlord invited me downstairs to watch the game. I was skeptical, but an offer of free beer sealed the deal. I resolved to give the sport a fair chance, to stay awake and pay attention to the entire game and try my best to enjoy it. I did succeed in that resolve and watched the entire game with some interest. Liverpool won, which was apparently just Things One Expects, all other clubs in the country, nay the world, perhaps the universe, being inferior to Liverpool in patriotism, courage, intelligence, virtue, and ancestry.

Sean (my landlord) was helpful to the newbie and gave detailed explanations of every maneouvre, trip, and fall, along with detailed essays upon the various players, even listing their political affiliations, sexual orientation, and ancestry. (I was surprised that many of the players could run on two legs at all, considering how many of them were the product of various copulations of dogs, pigs, goats and sheep.) Nevertheless, despite Sean's patient efforts I could not detect any form of strategy. The players seemed to run about in random directions, and if by random chance they came into the vicinity of the ball, to kick it in random directions. Maybe I was spoiled, having long been stewed in the juices of American football with its complicated rules and sophisticated plays, but soccer seemed to me to resemble nothing more than the movements of molecules undergoing Brownian motion.

I will grant one point to soccer. I do like how in soccer (at least in England; don't know how it goes in other countries) a team doesn't just buy its way into the league for cash the way it's done in Canadian and American football. In soccer, one has to start in a low-tier league and play their way into the higher tiers, which seems the right way to do things.

Needless to day, I've seen Australian football on TV several times, Canadian football a hundred, and American football possibly a thousand.

I went to a professional soccer game exactly once. That was also in 1984, soon after watching the Milk Cup game, while my soccer enthusiasm was at its fiery peak. I went to see the Toronto Blizzard. I must admit that the live game was more exciting than the televised version. I still did not detect any type of strategy, but from close up the random motions of the athletes were exciting in and of themselves. They ran so hard that you could hear their shoes hitting the sod, so it was exciting in the same sense that horse racing is exciting. Very fast, very powerful movements. I'm being as fair as I can here, and I can see how people get excited by soccer. Still, the lack of set plays left the intellectual side of me totally unsatisfied, and although I did toy with the idea of going to see the Blizzard again, the right time never came around, and later that year the Blizzard (indeed, the entire North American Soccer League) ceased to exist. Despite having a really good team that year (they went all the way to the League Championship, beating San Diego and narrowly losing to Chicago in the Final) the Blizzard were never capable of selling out the stadium.

I've been to professional football games four times. Once to see my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers crush, strangle, obliterate and humiliate some degenerate riff-raff from St. Louis. Three times to see the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. None of those games were completely sold out either, but they were a lot better attended than the Blizzard game I went to, and both those franchises continue to do well.

So, from my experience (and who else's experience should I go by?) soccer is somewhat dull and not played by many. I understand that in Europe millions of people go to the games to throw garbage and bottles at each other, and in Latin America they even have public executions of players who score on their own net, but I'm not sure if either of those qualifies as playing the game.

[waauw]

Well dukie, as with many team sports it takes a trained eye to notice the strategies. I wouldn't be able to notice the strategy in an american football game either. Though I admit, the most I've ever watched is about 20 min. when I was fed up with all the commercial breaks.

[nietzsche]

It's an exciting thing, football strategy, at least to me. You can see it better in a stadium, with the view of the whole field.

But it's a complex matter too. I mean, so many variables that break the strategy momentarily.

Things to consider:

1. A good player can break the strategy any time.
2. Strategies can work better or worse against certain teams.
3. Players get so tired, their head so hot, that at points of the match they stop playing their strategy and take decisions that go against it. (that's why the germans are so good at it, they are like robots and in the minute 90 when everybody is hot and emotional, the germans take advantage of it)
4. It's not an easy thing, to play with their feet.
5. The game continues for 45 minutes non-stop, not like american football where they stop and the coach gives them instructions for the next 10 seconds of play.
6. There's just too much happen in a game in any certain moment.



Something that bothers me though, is that football is narrated in a way that you don't get much strategical information during a broadcast, unlike for instance baseball when there are good ex-players as analysts commenting. In baseball, you can always learn something new about the game, even if you played it to a certain level, these guys become experts at the little things that made them good, and the pace of a baseball game allows for them to share, which i find very entertaining.

In football, the different formation's basic information is widely understood, with their pros and cons. What is not talked about much is the other, the little things, that the players and coaches know. Every now and then, a good ex-player is working as an analyst and would share some bits of that info.

[Lord Arioch]

Wine, bread and spectacels and we dont even kill each other grow up!

[Dukasaur]

Wine, bread and spectacels and we dont even kill each other grow up!

Are you saying we need to kill each other to achieve maturity?

[muy_thaiguy]

Wine, bread and spectacels and we dont even kill each other grow up!

Are you saying we need to kill each other to achieve maturity?

No, just severely injure or maim. No need to go overboard.

[notyou2]

How many toothless soccer players are there?

I rest my case.

[JBlombier]

It's about what you do with the teeth #suarez

[muy_thaiguy]

How many toothless soccer players are there?

I rest my case.

How many secretly replaced their lost teeth with implants?

[DoomYoshi]

There are two total babes hugging in the front row. Best soccer thing ever.

[Symmetry]

How many toothless soccer players are there?

I rest my case.

They all start toothless.

[betiko]

Lol duka. As you can imagine, a sport that is the most played around the world, the one that generates the most interest worlwide by very far, and that has most likely the most disputed competitions worldwide with insane amounts of money obviously uses a lot of strategy.this sport has been developing since over 150 years; do you really think you are that smart that no one ever thought of playing strategically before your brilliant idea?

[Symmetry]

Lol duka. As you can imagine, a sport that is the most played around the world, the one that generates the most interest worlwide by very far, and that has most likely the most disputed competitions worldwide with insane amounts of money obviously uses a lot of strategy.this sport has been developing since over 150 years; do you really think you are that smart that no one ever thought of playing strategically before your brilliant idea?

My brother-in-law is always keen to bring up the chess analogy when it comes to American Football. In some ways it works. You have a coach, who, for the purposes of the analogy, is the player. The players on the field are pieces, trained to behave as ordered and follow given patterns.

When pressed, my B-i-l will admit that there are basically only two positions that require strategic thinking on the field- the centre and the QB. I've appreciated American football a lot more since taking that view into account.

The analogy breaks down, for me, when it comes to the old idea of strategy vs tactics. American football is very short term in its thinking. It's reliant on tactics. Long term strategy, and allowing players to be flexible, while common in association football, are considered genius when encountered in the NFL.

[Fruitcake]

I cannot fathom why this question is even being discussed.

After all Soccer/football is a nancy boy game with overpaid idiots who whine at the slightest thing.

Talk about a real game like Rugby for goodness sake.

Not long to go before the best World Cup tournament kicks off! (Guess who has tickets to a lot of games and wont be doing much work for a few weeks!)

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/

[Fruitcake]

I cannot fathom why this question is even being discussed.

After all Soccer/football is a nancy boy game with overpaid idiots who whine at the slightest thing.

Talk about a real game like Rugby for goodness sake.

Not long to go before the best World Cup tournament kicks off! (Guess who has tickets to a lot of games and wont be doing much work for a few weeks!)

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/

A very funny man talking about Rugby and football

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhxM9aC2mNo

[waauw]

I don't even know rugby. I have literally not even watched a single minute of the game. The sport doesn't exist over here in Belgium.

[muy_thaiguy]

Well, speaking of soccer, the US Women's team just won their 3rd World Title by defeating Japan 5-2.