World Cup Matches

I plan on avoiding this tread the remainder of the day. I am DVRing the Spain game and don't want a spoiler.


GO USA!

 

Actually, soccer is one of the least boring sports on TV, apart from possibly basketball. It is, however, a thinking man's game and you do have to understand it a bit to get it. It is actually a very physical game. Watch some of the challenges, headballs, free balls, corner kicks, etc. It's a tough game. The fitness level required is far beyond the fitness for any sport except marathon and cycling, probably. Soccer players do take some heat for faking injuries (and rightly so in some cases), but those are hard shots that they take.

IN NFL football, there is around eleven minutes of action in a 60 minute/3.5 hour games. Here are some interesting facts:

So next time someone says football is a game of action while soccer is boring, laugh out loud, and remind them that 3.5 hours of football has eleven minutes of action, while 90 minutes of soccer typically has ... wait for it ... 90 minutes of action, most of which is very strategic, played at a high level of skill, with no commercials.

 

Great post!

 

Let's not go off the deep end here. There's no question that soccer players are in fantastic shape, but I'm not buying that it's so far beyond the level for other sports.

 

What other sport requires 90 minutes of running and movement with no timeouts and no substitutions?

I can only think of two: Marathons and Cycling.

Got any more?

Think about football ... You have a WR that makes a thirty yard run. The whistle blows, and he gets 40 seconds of rest, and makes a 10 yard run. Or he gets a sub. In soccer, you make a thirty run and then make another and then another and then another. You don't get a sub, and you cant call a timeout. You just play on.

 

A footballer (soccer player) can run 10 or more kilometres in a match.

 

My objection to your comment is mostly due to the hyperbole of "far beyond".

That said, not every player on the field runs the entire length of the field, and I've seen plenty of times where they aren't running at all. Seems to me that the fitness level of soccer players is comparable to that of basketball players. Every player runs up and down the entire length of the floor, with more starts and stops in basketball.

The only positions in American football that compare to the skillset of soccer players are the safeties and wide receivers and there's no question that soccer players have the edge there.

 

Great match Spain v Switzerland

 

It's not the 120 yard runs end to end, it's the constant movement and succession of 10-20-30 yard runs, the quick change of directions, etc. I suppose "far beyond" could be quibbled with. IMO, it's just a whole different ballgame, no pun intended.

 

That's what basketball players do as well, which is why I think they're comparable in terms of the fitness level required to compete at the highest level. I happen to think basketball players are the best overall athletes, but I'll allow that a) I didn't grow up watching soccer and don't understand it as well as I do basketball and b) they may be equal in terms of having the best athletes.

 

My response is that basketball is 90 feet, not 120 yards, 48 minutes instead of 90; it has timeouts, plus quarterly breaks, plus substitutions. If basketball players forgo the substitutions and the timeouts, it could be considered in the same zipcode, IMO, but it is still only half as long. I just think it is a lot more running. Having played both sports (both organized and pickup), I think basketball is a far easier sport in terms of fitness.

 

Yes, it was. It was exciting even just listening to the radio broadcast.

 

And my response is that soccer players don't run the entire length of the field during the game. Basketball players run the entire length of the court a couple hundred times a game and they have the same quick starts and stops as soccer players do. Here, basketball and soccer shares the same skillset.

Want to know another place where basketball and soccer shares the same skillset?

Flopping. :smilewinkgrin:

 

No dispute there. But soccer players are smarter because they flop on the soft grass; basketball players do it on the wood floor, which has to hurt more ...

 

I assume that is what we call diving?

 

I have played both at about the same level. The fitness required in soccer is much higher. It's not just the runs, but the length of the pitch vs a BB court, the physicallity of running with another player leaning on your shoulder, and the constant change of pace. I have "tossed my cookies" more than once on the edge of the soccer pitch.

 

Yes , most players do run the entire pitch quite a few times. Make note of the defenders and see how many times they are involved in a forward run It would suprise you how often they do it at World Cup Level. I never have figured out how to do that at HS level without paying the price. And remember that even half the pitch is 60 yds.

Soccer player flop more than BB, especially South Americans:laugh:

 

DVR'd the Spain game and my co worker shout the result from his cube

I still don't know the score so I will have some suspense

 

gospelgeek, that's good information. Thanks for helping to educate me. I will still maintain that basketball players are the best athletes, but your points are well taken.

Yes.

 

As a youth I always thought (american) football players were. I don't know if you are old enough to remember, but ABC used to have this show called the Super Stars. I watched it every year. They would have different events such as weightlifting, running, swimming, etc. and the overall champion would be a combined score from the events. Every year some sissy looking guy beat all my favorite football, baseball, and basketball players. I had never even heard of him and I would get so angry. But he kept coming back and winning. Turns out the dude was Kyle Rote Jr. (sp) He was an American Soccer player and not even a great one on a world stage.

NO doubt BB players are great atheletes, but don't sell the footballers short. By the way, the HS soccer players I coached played our varsity basketball team in a pick up basketball game and defeated them pretty handily. No need to say our scholl is not know for basketball.