WOW! Ok I will admit you have changed my mind. You clearly have pointed out a number of things that I NEVER thought of. You are right everyone can play soccer, it isn’t a sport that you need to be the tallest or the biggest. I am actually going to try and watch one of the world cup games and truly enjoy the sport.

thanks SO much for pointed out so many things!

Merrill

Soccer, golf and chess on tv may be the biggest wastes of time imagineable.

Maybe if there was a drinking game associated with it…like everytime you heard a “buzzing” sound during the game you took a drink. Yeah, then it might catch on.

I’ve played on everything from youth teams to college teams to adult leagues, full field, 11 aside 90 minute games to 40 minute half field 7 aside games, outdoors as well as indoors, on grass, turf or dirt fields, on all women teams as well as coed teams in the US as well as in Japan plus I have played random pickup games in a lot of the countries I have visited including Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia to name a few…

I am been playing soccer for 33 years and I LOVE IT!!!!

As a player, no matter what the score ends up being, you always get a great work out and you get caught up in watching the players with great finesse. Like Vaughn youth player, there is something about watching someone who can weave through all of the defenders and get that magical shot off on goal.

Like Ed mentioned, it’s a great way to connect with locals when traveling.

Watching soccer games on TV just does not do the game justice as you cannot see how the plays and advances are coming together; you’ve got to go to a live game! You can’t help but get wrapped up in the excitement as the fans chant for individual players and cheer their teams on to victory. I have seen professional games in the States, England and Japan and there’s nothing like it. If you get a chance to go to Japan and you can get tickets to one of their professional soccer games, grab them as you will experience something you will never forget.

Kim

For the virgin viewer, it’s easy to focus all your energy on the “end-point”…the shot…the goal…or the stop. But, it’s more about the build up and how the team actually got to the point that the shot was possible.

I recently read the book “The Blind Side”. A significant amount of time is spent analyzing the left side of the football field…the importance of protecting the QB’s blind side. The average viewer of American football focuses entirely on the ball, but doesn’t view everything else going on across the field. Soccer is the same.

I was playing some soccer with a group of about 25 kids the other day. One of my favorite players to watch is a 12-year old neighbor girl. When she dribbles a soccer ball, she can do just about anything she wants with it. This neighbor and I played against the remaining 23 players. One of the neighbor boys came up to me during this game and said…when you and “girl’s name” dribble the ball, it looks like you are dancing with it…This is one of the sources for the title “The Beautiful Game.”

When a player is able to drop the ball at the foot of another player, at a dead run…a serious amount of skill is involved. If you watch the movement of the ball when it’s shot…like a knuckle ball in baseball…years of practice are involved in making that happen. Dribbling the ball, so it’s not lost and can move with your body requires constant work. Going up in the air to shoot with your head…or clear with your head…knowing that you’ll likely take a head-butt in the process requires serious courage.

Soccer is an “every-man’s” sport. Players range from 5’4″ to 6’5″ forwards. Different positions require different body structures. You can excel at soccer whether you are short or tall, heavy or thin, rich or poor, from a wealthy country or a poor country. The playing field is leveled. Determination and significant practice is what is required to excel.

The emotion of the game is what makes soccer so interesting to watch. The excitement of an excellent shot on goal, or an excellent save, a hard stop by a defender, or a beautiful dancing move by the forward, the work rate of the mid-fielders (estimated that players run 7-miles in the average game). Goals become events to remember, not just one in a series. Saying that low scoring soccer games are uneventful, is like saying that a no-hitter in baseball is boring to watch.

Soccer teams take on the values, politics, and cultural elements of the cities, countries, etc. that they represent. I’d recommend reading “How Soccer Explains the World”. Sometimes governments take on the cultural elements of their soccer teams. It’s a fascinating look at that geo-political elements of the region. Soccer, when you understand it, is truly “The Beautiful Game”.