Lots of soccer hating going on here but at least watching a soccer game doesn't mean you have to watch 3 hours of commercials for 11 minutes of actual game play..
United States out of the next world cup.
- Thread starter Aledinho
- Start date
The Worst Loss In The History Of U.S. Men’s Soccer
FiveThirtyEight calling it the worst lost in US History when looking at World Cup games and qualifiers
That's why God made DVR. I'm more engaged watching commercials than watching nonstop coverage of a soccer match.
It's cross country running with some falling over and a lot of soccer balls being kicked out of bounds or just outside the goal - almost never in it.
It's a more spread out basketball. It takes a lot of strategery/patience to move the ball in towards the goal. I get that it wouldn't be for everyone but it's not boring to me because I enjoy watching it beyond just seeing it as:
i was able to see an atlanta united game a couple of weeks back and was surprised that i found it interesting and fairly entertaining, granted, atlanta won 7-nil which was fun in it's own right. that was the second match i had ever been to.
My stepson played all through high school, so watching was sort of obligatory. After a while of watching, I started to enjoy it, but it's definitely an acquired taste...
On the other hand, football, basketball, and baseball are just about the only sports remaining in the world that don't plaster advertisements all over the field and all over the players' jerseys so that if you don't happen to know what the little tiny circle logo on the upper left chest is, you'd think you were watching Ford vs Standard Life Investments on Head & Shoulders Field.
Then clearly it's not being shovey enough. I'll get with the American Soccer Throat Shove Society to rectify the situation.
I admittedly come from a different background in that I was playing soccer in England before I even really understood what football (uh, the American kind) was.
In 1977, I got "into" soccer. Just by chance our local team, Ipswich Town, picked that year to go on an incredible run and shockingly win their first ever major honour, the FA Cup, beating Arsenal, 1-0. Less than a month after that, the World Cup began in Argentina, and I collected stickers in an album like I would later collect baseball cards.
I move back to America on August 10, 1978, and literally nobody seems to know what soccer is. Shortly thereafter, I sorta accidentally become an Alabama fan so....
1978 - Ipswich wins FA Cup
1978 - Alabama wins national title
1979 - Alabama wins national title
I'm sitting there a new sports fan and my teams are winning everything.
Well, okay.......I was also a big Braves fan so........we'll jump to 1991.....
So I pull for the USA, England (because I lived there), and Germany (same reason).
Btw - in 1978, England missed the World Cup for the second straight time. It was considered scandalous at the time. In 1982, they got eliminated again so they hired a new manager......Ipswich Town manager Bobby Robson. He got them doing better - knocked out by the infamous Diego Maradonna handball goal in 1986 and lost a semi-final penalty kick shootout with Germany in 1990.
Oh one more thing because I've had this back and forth before......one of the major beefs some folks have with soccer is the shootout, and I "get" that, okay? However.......when I was first hearing these complaints in the 1980s, college football had both ties AND bowl tie-ins that let teams slide into national championships without having to play the other best team. Every time a cfb fan lodged an objection about the shootout, I said, "It's not great but at least they play on the field; in cfb, we'd just poll sportswriters as to which team was the better one."
But I'll admit it's an acquired taste. My like for the game diminished long ago.
In 1977, I got "into" soccer. Just by chance our local team, Ipswich Town, picked that year to go on an incredible run and shockingly win their first ever major honour, the FA Cup, beating Arsenal, 1-0. Less than a month after that, the World Cup began in Argentina, and I collected stickers in an album like I would later collect baseball cards.
I move back to America on August 10, 1978, and literally nobody seems to know what soccer is. Shortly thereafter, I sorta accidentally become an Alabama fan so....
1978 - Ipswich wins FA Cup
1978 - Alabama wins national title
1979 - Alabama wins national title
I'm sitting there a new sports fan and my teams are winning everything.
Well, okay.......I was also a big Braves fan so........we'll jump to 1991.....
So I pull for the USA, England (because I lived there), and Germany (same reason).
Btw - in 1978, England missed the World Cup for the second straight time. It was considered scandalous at the time. In 1982, they got eliminated again so they hired a new manager......Ipswich Town manager Bobby Robson. He got them doing better - knocked out by the infamous Diego Maradonna handball goal in 1986 and lost a semi-final penalty kick shootout with Germany in 1990.
Oh one more thing because I've had this back and forth before......one of the major beefs some folks have with soccer is the shootout, and I "get" that, okay? However.......when I was first hearing these complaints in the 1980s, college football had both ties AND bowl tie-ins that let teams slide into national championships without having to play the other best team. Every time a cfb fan lodged an objection about the shootout, I said, "It's not great but at least they play on the field; in cfb, we'd just poll sportswriters as to which team was the better one."
But I'll admit it's an acquired taste. My like for the game diminished long ago.
I love when games go to penalties. I know that might be an unpopular opinion but I always felt like extra time in soccer is one of the more boring OTs in sports because the players are too tired by the end of the game.
For as simple as Soccer seems I think the reason many don't love it is because they don't really understand it. It doesn't have the rules and complexity of Football but you still need to understand what is happening to fully enjoy it. I also think it helps if you played because its easier to appreciate some of the subtle touches that might break a game open. If you have never played before I think its hard to grasp how hard it is to play a ball in the air and one touch it to a overlapping teammate. It seems so simple and it happens so quickly that a play that I find beautiful others might not even realize anything happened.
Overall, I just love the beauty of Soccer in contrast to the violence of Football. Don't get me wrong I love Football but Soccer is a nice alternative. The World Cup normally keeps me happy until Football starts up again and, while I will still watch it, the US not being in it significantly decreases the passion that I would watch it with.
I played soccer throughout my youth including playing collegiately. IMO, the WC teams are formed years in advance of the WC. In other words, clean house in our development program. The team we fielded in qualifiers was/is a joke!
I will still watch the WC
I will still watch the WC
Latest threads
-
-
Question: Chris Youngblood did he commit over the weekend?
- Started by mlingerfelt31
- Replies: 2
-
-
-
-