I get where you're going with Iverson, but he doesn't like to practice. So he's out. Garnett in his prime as a goalie might be interesting??
Anyone watching the World Cup?
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I get where you're going with Iverson, but he doesn't like to practice. So he's out. Garnett in his prime as a goalie might be interesting??
Who cares Id rather have the NFL than a team that competes for a cup every four years.
In a country that has every available sport from a young age, football (the real American one) prevails. What does that tell you? It means it is the superior sport.
Sorry to hijack this thread i stayed away but i cant take the "well if america didnt play football wed be good at soccer yadda yadda" stuff.
Carry on.
Exceptions exist, obviously, but ronaldo is only 6’2. Zlatan is 6’5 and he is extremely tall for a soccer player.
Serbia has the tallest team at this World Cup at an average of just under 6’1.
Argentina and Spain both average 5’10.
I’m not saying there are no tall soccer players, but there just aren’t that many tall people who also have good enough feet to be great soccer players. Being tall is a great advantage when attacking balls in the air, but you simply don’t see teams trotting out guys at 6’6+, especially outside of GK and CB. From the NBA, that pretty much leaves you with small guards.
There is, I think, something to what you’re saying. But I think where US soccer really loses is with undersized basketball players and defensive backs, slot guys, scat backs, that type of athlete who plays fb/bb until/through high school and then they’re too undersized/don’t have enough straight line speed to hack it at a higher level. Those guys have prototypical soccer bodies, particularly if they don’t put on the weight required by football. But by the time they realize they’ll never be D1 football players, it’s way too late to develop soccer skills to an internationally competitive level.
Despite all that, there are plenty of athletes to go around for all the sports, and plenty of kids playing soccer to feed the national team. We need better coaches and better development, and to find a way to break away from the pay for play youth team model that drives clubs to focus on winning (so they can recruit more kids and their parents’ money) rather than developing players. The college model doesn’t help either, because players at that age in other countries are being integrated into professional teams and practicing with professional, grown men every day, while guys here are in class.
My record is just under 68% I have predicted almost every match, but, certainly thought that I would be a bit higher, going into the knock-outs. Go Belgium!
Lol.. I think some people are a bit taken back by the comment, but I think you're partially correct. You have some kids standing around and throw them a ball and that's it, so they created a game of it.
Now, I'm not sure it had anything to do with bats and gloves, as Cricket is pretty popular around the world as well, but I don't think it is far fetched to say soccer had it's origins in simplicity.
Thanks for the in-depth post, enjoyed reading it.
There certainly is a "sweet spot" with regards to physique in various sports, and there certainly are outliers. I'm just a very casual soccer follower. Based on what you said, I imagine the really tall non-GKs that become elite players would be like a 6'9 PG in Magic Johnson and a 6'5 sprinter in Usain Bolt. Tall guys at elite levels in soccer, while an asset on corner kicks and winning balls in the air, would be a liability when it comes to quickness/maneuvering in tight spaces.
What does that have to do with anything? Just because you can't take it doesn't mean its not true. I don't care what you rather have, we're talking about the caliber of athletes we have in our country that play other sports.
I played college football at the D2 level. I loved it. I love the sport. Is that enough affirmation to calm you down? It's amazing that you follow the thread and can't keep yourself from allowing football to be beaten into the mud by a bunch of soccer fans any longer. smh. The sport and it's fans appreciate your defense of it.
I'm hooked...… I've also noticed that there is a side competition to see which country can send the most beautiful lady fans to the World Cup. Brazil is always a strong contender but much to my surprise, Poland displayed a group of very fine girls in their match against Japan.
Soccer is a 900 TON Gorilla that has landed on our shores?
Nope.
People would notice a 900 ton gorilla.
Sorry enrozes, i don’t include you in my comments. Those are meant for some of the more profoundly stupid comments like being only for 3rd world countries.
For the other part, i’ve never gotten the hatred for soccer. Americans watch all kinds of stupid things on sports channels: bowling, darts, poker, driving cars in circles, golf yet save all their hatred for soccer. Ok.
For the other part, i’ve never gotten the hatred for soccer. Americans watch all kinds of stupid things on sports channels: bowling, darts, poker, driving cars in circles, golf yet save all their hatred for soccer. Ok.
I kid, of course.
It was cool to hate on soccer for a long time. People see a thread about it and feel compelled to come in and remind everyone that they’re a red-blooded American and they like American sports, damn it. Like there’s not room to enjoy lots of different sports for their unique qualities.
World cup is one of my favourite sporting events (better than any NBA or NFL event), but there is a ton of stuff about the sport that drives me crazy. I can't stand the stupid terminology (it's a field, not a pitch), the sissy acting jobs whenever there is contact (and sometimes when there isn't), and the fact that there are so many 0-0 draws. When you watch for 90+ minutes there better be some damn scoring.
Because it makes no sense that you shouldnt be able to use your hands and/or tackle people. Plus theres no scoring.
Pretty simple really.
I enjoy lots of other sports. Im going to go ahead and rightfully assume theres sports I enjoy that you dont. Should I be outraged like you?
On the flip side to your post, theres always the sanctimonious people who consider themselves more cultured and enlightened and patient or whatever because they enjoy soccer, while those who dont are just dumb hillbilly rednecks or whatever.
Soccer is endless running, plays dont develop clearly, theres no scoring, you cant use your hands, players act like children and fake injuries. Im glad you like it and everything, but stop being so offended that others dont. Its not that hard to understand why not.
The point is all the "boo hoo if it wasnt for stupid football we would be in the world cup" crap is stupid. We dot play soccer because football is obviously better and more popular. So Im glad we have it here and im glad theyre playing football.
No scoring for 90 minutes on most occasions is good enough for me... hell 3 goals is a scoring explosion..
And after you win, lose or tie you get more points in the standings than you do in a game.
I enjoy lots of other sports. Im going to go ahead and rightfully assume theres sports I enjoy that you dont. Should I be outraged like you?
On the flip side to your post, theres always the sanctimonious people who consider themselves more cultured and enlightened and patient or whatever because they enjoy soccer, while those who dont are just dumb hillbilly rednecks or whatever.
Soccer is endless running, plays dont develop clearly, theres no scoring, you cant use your hands, players act like children and fake injuries. Im glad you like it and everything, but stop being so offended that others dont. Its not that hard to understand why not.
I’m not offended. I don’t require you to validate my interest in a game. I just wonder why you’re in this thread making sure everyone knows that you don’t care for it. It is, of course, a discussion forum and you can enter whatever thread you want, but it seems a bit discourteous to clutter up a thread obviously intended for people who ARE interested in soccer.
I don’t know what other sports you like, and I don’t particularly care. It seems like football (the pointy kind) is your favorite sport, and that’s cool- it’s my favorite, too. But maybe you like golf or nascar, and I think those are intensely boring. In that case, if you want to start a thread about it I’m not going to come in and ask why they don’t move the holes closer to allow more exciting holes in one, why they can’t throw the ball out of the bunker with their hand instead of using their sand wedge, or why they don’t add Hot Wheels-style figure-8 intersections and loop-de-loops to the track at Daytona. I would watch that race, but I imagine people who like nascar as it is would probably find that suggestion as foolish as your suggestion that soccer players should use their hands. BTW, that sport (handball) exists, and it’s far less popular that soccer basically everywhere, including in the US, which by your previous logic makes it obviously objectively inferior.
No scoring for 90 minutes on most occasions is good enough for me... hell 3 goals is a scoring explosion..
And after you win, lose or tie you get more points in the standings than you do in a game.
Games are averaging over 2.5 goals so far, with only a handful of scoreless affairs in 48 matches. Several big upsets and dramatic finishes (lots of goals in the much maligned stoppage time), as well. As I said earlier, it’s been a really great tournament so far for soccer fans. Except for the German ones, of course.
Saw the Hope Solo clip yesterday talking about it being a rich white kids sport and thought to myself...…. families find the money to attend camps and play football, baseball, and basketball, maybe we just don't really care for the sport and skin color has little to nothing to do with it???
There might be some really old Germans that still have a rooting interest in Argentina
Well, baseball has a similar problem and has dumped a lot of money into trying to get inner city kids on the diamond. The enormous number of kids that playing soccer tells me it’s not that we don’t like it. But as I discussed before, the competitive side of youth soccer is almost entirely pay-to-play, which does lead to a development program full of rich mostly white kids.
Yes handball is an inferior sport.
You should go back and read the thread in order. I entered this thread responding to a post about football, and gave my distatste for soccer after others wondered why people have a distaste for soccer and acted perplexed and superior about it.
When the original topic was being discussed, I didnt chime in. When it changed, I did.
Go back to talking about the world cup, and I wont respond. Change the topic to a soccer vs. football / americans who dont like soccer are strange (like people did) and I will again chime in.
And thank you for validating my point. I understand why people dont like those sports, just like people should understand why others dont like soccer.
Great game so far. 5 goals total, 2 wonder goals, lots of scoring chances and hard tackles.
I think you’re overstating your case as the valiant defender of football on a forum full of football fans, but i’m fine with leaving this exchange at that if you are.
Who doesn't love when a team leaves most of their best players on the bench. Sampaoli will be looking for a new job soon. Knockout stage game....who needs Aguero, Higuain and Dybala. Only some of the best players in the world. And then subs. Dybala and his 26 goals for Juve this year? Nah lets throw Meza on. If you are an Argentina fan you should be pissed off.
Hard to be valiant on a forum. This isnt more important than it is.
I hope the world cup continues to be exciting for your enjoyment.
I think baseball is battling a perception of being boring when compared to basketball or football, so kids pick one of the other sports when they have a choice to make. When it comes right down to it, out of the three major sports, it is easily the one that drags on the most, with a kids participation limited to a very small part of a several hour long game. It's a distant third in terms of action. I also wonder if when kids reach the age to where they have a little more pull with their parents, a lot of parents find out the kid doesn't really like soccer as much as the parents thought?
For me, something had to give. I played football, basketball, baseball and soccer up to seventh grade. Soccer gave. Playing it is one thing, watching it another thing entirely. I have the same opinion of baseball.
Thanks I really didn't put it out in the best way. No knock on any country any type of sport is good for the kid keeps them active, Didn't the Japanese and even Korean kids emulate the US GIs and that's how they grew to love baseball
Not sure if post-WWII it grew, but baseball in Japan goes back to the 1800's and was relatively big by the interwar period (1920's-30's).
Speaking of which, next to North America, American Football is most popular in Japan. They even have a national championship in the Tokyo Dome, and it has been around since 1984. The college football champions play against a corporate league champion to decide supremacy.
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