soccer or football
- Thread starter fit_4_life
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on a lighter note.. both!
I played soccer growing up so I love soccer.. to play (boring to watch though IMO!)
Football on the other hand, grew up playing that in the yard with my brother and the neighborhood kids (good memories) and love to watch it.
EXACTLY the same for me Nae! Played soccer as a kid, and football in the yard... I do occasionally like to watch a soccer game - but mostly it is boring because it makes me want to get out and play, which I still do a couple days a week.
EXACTLY the same for me Nae! Played soccer as a kid, and football in the yard... I do occasionally like to watch a soccer game - but mostly it is boring because it makes me want to get out and play, which I still do a couple days a week.
Do you just play for fun or in a league or something?
I don't know enough people that like to play to get together. I've been thinking about finding an adult rec. league here and joining.
I do enjoy, of course, watching my 8 year old brother play soccer... he's awesome.. just a few weeks ago he scored 11 goals in one game. hehe.
OK, I didn't vote on this thread because I love both sports equally. being from Mexico soccer is usually preferred, tho football is pretty much liked here. I prefer to play soccer rather than football, but watching is a though call, so I'll say it's a tie. Both games demand a lot of skill, although I believe that to have the kind of magic that soccer players like Messi have is much more difficult than to have the skills that a player like Tomlinson has. We shouldn't be discussing which sport is better, but which you like the best, because there's no such thing as football being better than soccer or viceversa.
I do enjoy, of course, watching my 8 year old brother play soccer... he's awesome.. just a few weeks ago he scored 11 goals in one game. hehe.
Lol, I miss those days, 20 kids chasing after the ball and 1 kids being twice as good as everyone else
Exactly, Soccer (I hate having to call it that) can produce magic that changes lives but US football is just a game.
A tip I got from an African missionary is to always take a football with you when you're in the third world. Any distrust locals had for you dissapears and you can communicate with them instantly, football is the global language which binds every nation except the US (maybe that's why the whole world hates you, you're out of the club
)I'm from England and prefer football (not soccer) lol. In soccer all you see is a ball getting kicked around and a lot fakers roling around on the pitch. Football is also much more of a team game as if you don't have good lineman your gonna get sacked straight away and would have no chance even if you had the best player ever where as with soccer one person can do it all.
Soccer's a pretty boring sport. Mostly boring, clumsy, random stuff.
Football is far more fun to watch and play. You set up, attempt to execute a well-planned tactic. Repeat. Much more tactical, much more tight, much more control. And the power of those guys churning into eachother, the speed of the runners, the precision of the throws, is just fascinating watch.
That "cool move" or "cool tactics" feeling, I get that 10 times as often from watching football than soccer.
Football is far more fun to watch and play. You set up, attempt to execute a well-planned tactic. Repeat. Much more tactical, much more tight, much more control. And the power of those guys churning into eachother, the speed of the runners, the precision of the throws, is just fascinating watch.
That "cool move" or "cool tactics" feeling, I get that 10 times as often from watching football than soccer.
Anyone watching a sport they don't understand is not going to appreciate the skill involved.
One thing I can say for the football side is that most of us have at least played soccer at some point (albeit probably as children at a very basic level), but at least we have some frame of reference, I don't think that can be said about non Americans and football.
I like football because that's what I grew up with and what is popular here. It cracks me up when people get all worked up over this. Some people just enjoy arguing I guess.
I may have to change my mind since My Bengals are pathetic this year (one of the best offenses but probably the worst defense in the league) ugh
One thing I can say for the football side is that most of us have at least played soccer at some point (albeit probably as children at a very basic level), but at least we have some frame of reference, I don't think that can be said about non Americans and football.
I like football because that's what I grew up with and what is popular here. It cracks me up when people get all worked up over this. Some people just enjoy arguing I guess.
I may have to change my mind since My Bengals are pathetic this year (one of the best offenses but probably the worst defense in the league) ugh
I have a good idea about the tactics in soccer. But the reality is that soccer is a much disorganised game, where it is very much about grabbing opportunities as they are effectively randomly given to you. Tactics are mostly tailored to optimize the amount of opportunities you're presented with and minimize the opponent's.
For example statistically the best chance of score comes from kicking a long ball to the offense when you get ball possession. That's essential hoping for a random opening from a long ball fired with little precision towards an area that'll have more opponents than teammates. At least that what Norway (wasn't it?) claimed and played exclusively to some years back.
It also has a lot to do with the fact that kicking gives much less control than if you can handle and carry balls with your hand. Look at handball or basketball, you have to admit there is a lot more precision in the ball control and plays there.
It doesn't mean that soccer doesn't have tactics or skill or anything. A skilled soccer player can have amazing ball control, but it's only relative to other guys handling balls with their feet - it doesn't reach hand precision.
And it's just no where near the organisation, preparedness and tactical precision you get from something like football with set up each play.
For example statistically the best chance of score comes from kicking a long ball to the offense when you get ball possession. That's essential hoping for a random opening from a long ball fired with little precision towards an area that'll have more opponents than teammates. At least that what Norway (wasn't it?) claimed and played exclusively to some years back.
It also has a lot to do with the fact that kicking gives much less control than if you can handle and carry balls with your hand. Look at handball or basketball, you have to admit there is a lot more precision in the ball control and plays there.
It doesn't mean that soccer doesn't have tactics or skill or anything. A skilled soccer player can have amazing ball control, but it's only relative to other guys handling balls with their feet - it doesn't reach hand precision.
And it's just no where near the organisation, preparedness and tactical precision you get from something like football with set up each play.
Excellent point
This tactic is generally only employed by teams of very low quality, the general idea being that if you can't beat your opponents with skill you get the ball off the ground and try to overpower them
IIRC the Norwegian national soccer team had done extensive analysis and found it to be the best strategy for their (probably very well skilled) team.
I also believe I once read about the odds in soccer in general being much "flatter" and closer to equal between unequal teams, where in other sports you generally see much sharper odds with the better team giving very poor returns while the underdog very high returns. Underdogs apparently win more often in soccer than in other sports. This suggests that luck and randomness play a greater part in soccer than in most other sports. Of course skill is still the only way to increase your odds of winning, I'm not saying that soccer doesn't take skill or that skill isn't important. It just seems you're not able to apply superior skill towards increasing your chance of winning and eliminating randomness to as large a degree in soccer as you are in many other sports.
I also believe I once read about the odds in soccer in general being much "flatter" and closer to equal between unequal teams, where in other sports you generally see much sharper odds with the better team giving very poor returns while the underdog very high returns. Underdogs apparently win more often in soccer than in other sports. This suggests that luck and randomness play a greater part in soccer than in most other sports. Of course skill is still the only way to increase your odds of winning, I'm not saying that soccer doesn't take skill or that skill isn't important. It just seems you're not able to apply superior skill towards increasing your chance of winning and eliminating randomness to as large a degree in soccer as you are in many other sports.
Futbol ( soccer for me ). I grew up in Germany and over there Soccer( futbol ) is a huge sport, i grew up to love the game. I love watching it and playing it
As for people who say watching soccer is boring, if your really a fan of the game it is hella exciting.
American football is boring in my opinion
It just depends on your personal preference
Futbol will always be #1 in the world though.
As for people who say watching soccer is boring, if your really a fan of the game it is hella exciting.
American football is boring in my opinion
It just depends on your personal preference
Futbol will always be #1 in the world though.
that was the keeper kicking the ball up to Tore Andre Flo. Because our keeper then, Frode Grodås, had one hell of a kick, I don't think I've ever seen other keepers be able to do that, with that kind of consistancy.
Tactic is more like offside tactics, offside traps, etc. where to put what players, what players should be offencive, defencive, etc. And Norway's soccer team sucks And I agree that in soccer there is alot of chanse involved. But then again, in that chanse there is also skill or lack of skill. Someone passing the ball to the wrong person, ****ing up, is lack of skill. The defence not being where they should be when the long pass comes, is lack of skill/tactic.
Tactic is more like offside tactics, offside traps, etc. where to put what players, what players should be offencive, defencive, etc. And Norway's soccer team sucks
And I agree that in soccer there is alot of chanse involved. But then again, in that chanse there is also skill or lack of skill. Someone passing the ball to the wrong person, ****ing up, is lack of skill. The defence not being where they should be when the long pass comes, is lack of skill/tactic.
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Brazil have won the World Cup more times than any other nation, I think Italy are now in second place. Do you think they didn't increase their chances of winning by being the best skilled teams in world? Brazil don't know how to play a long ball game
Long ball teams like Norway? They never even come close to winning anything
I'm not saying you're seeing 50/50 odds on soccer matches, and as I said of course skill affects your chances of winnings. Just not to as large a degree as in many other sports. Doesn't Brazil and Italy play matches where they don't score at all? You don't see that in many other sports. The results in soccer do have a large random element.
I don't know about the long ball strategy, the analysis could be wrong. Or it could be right and an effective strategy, but Norway is hampered by not having skilled enough players to compete even with the superior strategy. Or the strategy gives a high probability of a win, but with large variance which works bad in elimination cups.
I don't know about the long ball strategy, the analysis could be wrong. Or it could be right and an effective strategy, but Norway is hampered by not having skilled enough players to compete even with the superior strategy. Or the strategy gives a high probability of a win, but with large variance which works bad in elimination cups.