That’s about the smartest thing I say when I’m at a soccer game, I don’t completely understand the rules. So our boys soccer team just lost AGAIN, this time on senior night to our cross town rival. I went to a total of four games this year and our team did not score a single goal in any of them, unless you count the two we scored on ourselves one game. I kid you not, scored on ourselves not once, but TWICE in one game.
So since I’m a sports guy I pretty much can watch whatever sport and be entertained. I don’t know a lot of people who watch soccer or can even stomach it, but a lot of kids go just because it’s a school thing and the stadium is pretty sweet.
I’d have to admit the game is a little boring at times, there aren’t many goals normally. However, the game only stops once (half-time), so atleast the action is constant. In high school there are two 40 minute halves with a 10 minute half-time break, which is really needed.
But even though it can get boring, I can’t help but notice that it really does take a lot of skill to play. At a competitive level, you have to be conditioned like a beast in order to stay in the game. It may look easy, but kicking a ball with accuracy is really really difficult. Even pros, the best of the best, miss tons and tons of possible goals, it’s just not an easy thing to do. Not to mention goalies, they take a beating out there. My ex-girlfriend is a goalie and she told me how many hits she’s taken.
It’s also extremely team oriented, 11 players on a field is a lot. In order to score a goal the defense normally has to stop the other team and get control of the ball, which in itself could take four players. Then the ball has to be moved up the field without losing the ball, the ball gets stolen a lot. Then a PERFECT pass has to somehow be wedged into a tiny space, followed by a perfect kick or header into the goal. That’s a lot of things that need to all mesh together!
So I like soccer, it is the most popular sport in the world. Though I don’t think I could get into it like some people do, like at the World Cup… those people are nuts. If you like constant movement and don’t mind getting bored a little, soccer could be a good sport for you. It’s not on TV all that much in the US, so that’s problematic. But if there’s a soccer game for your school team, maybe go one time. You may find that you love it!
