Soccer accuracy

[CWS]

How is it that these professional soccer players routinely miss the goal by 5-10 yards? I realize the ball is moving when they kick it, but is it that hard? These are not weekend warriors, these are professionals. I thought they would be better.
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[MikeLan]

I rarely watch soccer and now I know why. Looks like professional wrestling only these guys are a bunch of pussies. The fake injuries, the flopping, the facial pain contortions complete with writhing on the field only to get up and sprint down the field seconds later. Better yet, be carried off the field on a strecher then return seconds later. It's a freaking joke.

 

[BoilersRock]

A lot of guys try to put a spin on the ball, with hopes of bringing it back in towards the net. Other times, they don't intend to spin so much, but it does and off into the stands goes the ball.

Another factor is all of the grabbing and pushing that goes on, especially in tight quarters. I've never liked that part of the game, to be honest.

 

[Purdue 95]

Preach on, brother.

I came here to escape all the yammering about kickball on KHC, but I'll gladly pile on a good rant.

IMO, all this kickball popularity is largely coming from people who otherwise don't give a shit about the sport, but it's what the cool kids are talking about right now, so they join in to feel like they're part of something.

I'm just looking forward to the damn thing ending so we can get back to men's sports.
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[pastorjoeboggs]

This may fall on deaf ears, but it's worth a try:

You have a point about the diving - especially being carted or stretchered off and jumping right back in. That said, there is only one official on the pitch at a time (a pitch that is significantly larger than a football field, by the way). Some "acting" is necessary if the one official is to see a foul. If you get legitimately fouled but stay on your feet, you may not get the call - and getting the call might make the difference between a win and a loss. It's no worse in soccer than in the NBA.

I love the "bunch of pussies" remark. Every player on every world cup team is (in all likelihood) in far better physical condition than you or I ever will be. In a 90 minute match, many players will run 7-10 kilometers (in the neighborhood of 5 miles). I'd like to see an NFL player do that - without any timeouts or stoppages between plays to catch their breath, at that. Then, when they're running at a full sprint, someone slides into the side of their ankle (while wearing cleats) - that just might hurt a bit.

Finally, these guys fearlessly head the ball (which weighs in the neighborhood of 1 lb) dozens of times a match, often when it has been dozens of feet in the air. Having done that once or twice, it's a bit difficult.

EDIT: You want to talk about "pussy" sports - let's talk about the NFL. You know, the sport where they wear pads and rarely hit each other with more than a few yards running start. The sport where, in a 60 minute game, they average a whole 11 minutes of action. Or how about baseball? They stand around for most of the game.

Your ignorance of something doesn't reduce its significance or value. It just makes you sound foolish.
This post was edited on 6/23 12:08 PM by pastorjoeboggs

 

[BTFU1986]

... all this kickball popularity is largely coming from people who otherwise don't give a shit about the sport...
Posted from wireless.rivals.com

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be about national pride or anything, just people trying to be hip.

I'm guessing you hate the Olympics too.

 

[db]

I love it. Once you have seen a few games and start to understand the ebb and flow, it's a lot of fun to watch.

I agree about the flopping and especially knee-grabbing and writhing. That is something you don't see at all in the NFL (NBA being a different story).

I think pastorjoe hit it on the head with there being only one official. There are many talented officials on the field in an NFL game, and flopping to get a hold or PI called doesn't work as well there, which could be why in my opinion you don't see it much. Or maybe it's a code of honor thing and guys just don't do it.

Which raises the obvious question of why not have say 3 officials for world competition in soccer?

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Yes, it is that hard.

 

[purduerowdie]

Originally posted by pastorjoeboggs:
You want to talk about "pussy" sports - let's talk about the NFL. You know, the sport where they wear pads and rarely hit each other with more than a few yards running start. The sport where, in a 60 minute game, they average a whole 11 minutes of action. Or how about baseball? They stand around for most of the game.

This is a big complaint from people abroad. They don't the NFL and don't understand how Americans can call soccer boring but watch a sport with so much downtime.

And the rugby guys ... I'm not a big NFL guy but the minute they find out you're American they will have a run at the NFL as if its my favorite sport, which its far from. They think the NFLers are pussies for wearing pads and only having short periods of contact - I usually don't argue, I used to mention the impact of NFL hits being far greater but that just leads to a 20 minute conversation with a brick wall on a subject I don't care about.

 

[Noodle]

Originally posted by db:
I love it. Once you have seen a few games and start to understand the ebb and flow, it's a lot of fun to watch.

I agree about the flopping and especially knee-grabbing and writhing. That is something you don't see at all in the NFL (NBA being a different story).

I think pastorjoe hit it on the head with there being only one official. There are many talented officials on the field in an NFL game, and flopping to get a hold or PI called doesn't work as well there, which could be why in my opinion you don't see it much. Or maybe it's a code of honor thing and guys just don't do it.

Which raises the obvious question of why not have say 3 officials for world competition in soccer?

There has been a lot less flopping this World Cup, at least from what I have seen. In particular, there have been very few instances of guys getting kicked in the shin and then falling to the ground holding their head.

As for more ref's, I think the assistants are more than adequate. Their job is not just to call out of bounds, offsides and corner kicks. They are also there to call fouls which happen out of the view of the referee or when they are closer to the foul. I think the system works well. I think if you put more referees on the pitch you potentially would have way too many fouls being called (and players trying to get more called), as well as delays when the three referees confer on every single call. The latter point alone would seriously impact the flow of the game.

If you think about it, the worst blown calls so far in this World Cup have been incorrect offsides calls. But those calls are supposed to be made by the assistant who should be in perfect position to make the right decision. Two more referees on the pitch are unlikely to make those mistakes go away, as the to added refs are unlikely to be in a better position than the assistant on the sideline. I would not be surprised if FIFA implements an electronic system for offsides calls like they have done for goals. From what I have seen the goal system has worked quite well, and it's amazing how quickly the system can make that call.

I am always amazed at the ability of the referee to keep up with the play. I have read that they run 6-8 miles per game, and somehow manage to keep up with the play throughout. And, just like MLB umpires, more often than not they make the right call even on plays which, at first glance, in realy time, appear to have been incorrect.

 

[Noodle]

speaking of rugby, have you ever watched sevens?


I have never much liked watching traditional rugby, whether league or union (don't ask me to explain the differences--I have no clue). The game is just too slow in my opinion, despite the fact that there are no breaks between plays like in (American) football.

Rugby sevens, on the other hand, is really fun to watch. Only 7 guys a side, with 7 minute halves (10 minute halves for cup finals). As a result, the game is a lot faster, with more open-field running. Carlin Isles, a world-class 100m sprinter from the U.S. is incredibly exciting to watch, despite the fact that he regularly gets run over by bigger players whenever he tries to tackle (he's rugby's version of Deion Sanders). While sevens players are still big and fast, the average weight of a team is probably 30-40 pounds less than a traditional rugby team.

Plus, sevens will be in the next Olympics. A friend of mine who plays rugby told me that the IOC has no idea what they are getting themselves into should they allow the rugby players to stay in the Olympic Village.





Carlin Isles in action

 

[Boiler20]

National pride in WHAT?

 

[pastorjoeboggs]

Originally posted by MikeLan:
I rarely watch soccer and now I know why. Looks like professional wrestling only these guys are a bunch of pussies. The fake injuries, the flopping, the facial pain contortions complete with writhing on the field only to get up and sprint down the field seconds later. Better yet, be carried off the field on a strecher then return seconds later. It's a freaking joke.

Just for fun, I did some math, using the WSJ article I linked in my other post.

The average NFL game includes 11 minutes of action. For generosity purposes, let's round that up to fifteen. That means that the most "action" time for any one player, assuming that player plays offense, defense and special teams, in an entire season (including playoffs) is 5 hours, or 300 minutes.

Now, let's say that this iron man player is good enough to have a 10 year career. That would be 3000 minutes of game action.

Moving to soccer. Given that there are set pieces and other stoppages, we can be generous here, too. Let's say, taking all of that out, there are 60 minutes of "action" in a soccer match. There are almost certainly more than that, but we'll take a worst case scenario. That means that it takes only five matches for a soccer player to equal the amount of action time in his or her sport that an NFL player gets in an entire season!

Over the course of a 38 match season (which is the standard for a 20 team league), this player would amass a total of 2,280 minutes of action time. In one year, then, the soccer player gets 76% of the action time that an NFL player gets in a ten year career! Or, to put it differently, the amount of action in ONE standard soccer season (excluding all non league matches, which can add a dozen or more matches to a player's season) equals 7.6 seasons worth of NFL seasons that stretch all the way to the Super Bowl.

(If our representative NFL player isn't an iron man that plays every single snap of every single game, the difference gets more stark. At that point, it is more accurate to say that an average soccer player will see more minutes of actual action in one season than an above average NFL player will see in an entire career).

But yes, they're pussies.
This post was edited on 6/25 5:17 PM by pastorjoeboggs

 

[QuadBoiler]

Sorry, I don't think soccer players are pussies but I would hardly call two players kicking the ball back and forth to each other "action." To me scoring chances in soccer are about the only thing I would deem action and those tend to be few and far between. They are undoubtedly terrific athletes but I'll take 11 minutes of football over soccer any day.
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[Stairwayto7]

Re: fake injuries

If you make fun of soccer for it then you can't claim to watch any other contact sport and not admit it happens. The NBA is a close second behind soccer, and it's only getting worse. Anyone who has played football knows that an "injury" is a great way to catch your breath and get your team back in line.
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[lbodel]

I just don't understand people's logic.

There are sports I like to watch more than others, but I don't necessarily go and trash them.

First off, the spin is applied in order to try and get it past the goalie instead of a straight, direct line. Secondly, there is flopping and such in soccer (although this World Cup I think it's been curbed well as the calls have not been easy to get). However, two things....

1. Soccer players wear next to 0 padding - basically just small shin guards. Running into another human being or getting kicked can actually hurt sometimes. There's been several injuries, including stitches, broken noses, etc...that's not the result of flopping. That's playing very physical.

2. To act like there isn't embellishment in other sports is also quite ignorant. The NBA found it to be such a problem they now fine players for it. There's also more and more controversy in football about players acting injured to slow a team down.

As for soccer, say what you will about it. It's not the most exciting at times for sure, but I find it funny that people say the same thing about hockey. Hockey is probably one of the most physical demanding and exhausting sports there is, yet many Americans complain that it's boring and stupid (meanwhile many of those people watch things like WWE).

The NBA is probably one of the laziest professional sports leagues in the world. The lack of effort they put in is actually quite incredible. But it's also very popular.

It's fine to have your own tastes. I just ignore talk about the NBA myself. I'm not going to go talk down to every person who talks about the NBA. If you don't like soccer, that's fine. The reason people get all excited about the World Cup is no different than the even more people who get excited about the Olympics to watch someone swim 100 meters when they don't watch a second of swimming inbetween those 4 years.
This post was edited on 6/29 10:59 AM by lbodel

 

[Stairwayto7]

Hey we agree on something
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[beardownboiler]

Soccer players are incredibly fit. However, the type of action isn't the same. The normal collision contact in football takes a far greater till on the body than your average soccer action. Football players are also activity exerting force against others who are resisting that force. It's not the same at all. So, the two are not comparable.

Soccer players aren't weak. They're great athletes... It's just a different type of fitness.
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