Pharm Frog said:
I have not much better to do than watch European soccer this morning. After some 200 minutes of nothingness in terms of goals, I finally saw a goal but it was a defender touching the ball into his own net. Question - is there anything is some level of soccer that plays with fewer players in overtime (or extra time, whatever)? Maybe going down to 8 a side after 90 minutes would create sufficient space to get some scoring rather than going to those penalty kicks. Perhaps something like 6-man or 8-man American football.... Does anything like this exist in the soccer world?
Yes, it's called indoor soccer.
I played when we had a D1 team and growing up on one of best US clubs in the nation. As an avid TCU football nerd I do understand why people don't like soccer in the US. I get that the game looks ugly and looks out of control. Stas don't matter unless you play forward or goalie and most games have two or less goals. I get it. I used to frown upon NASCAR and never understood why people watched cars going around in a circle but after attending a race I get it, go to a big time game with real fans and you might appreciate it more.
DeAndre Yedlin, an American, plays in England and is probably one of the fastest players in the world. He rarely enters the game because his skill level is two levels below the slowest guy on the field. He will always ride the bench in the EPL.
mericans are used to working up plays but that doesn't work because of the flow. We assume the biggest and fastest athletes (Lebron) would always excel but it's cerebral game so guys that relied on their physical attributes almost never become professional players. A Baylor basketball player who didn't play college football yet signed with the Cowboys to play TE, that is a laughable to professional soccer.
Now if American kids started signing with clubs at age 13, I mean quiting school and playing 7 hours a day then we could catch up. The athlete agrument is ridiculous, African teams are never that competitive (I could be more PC but it gets to the point).
Btw, I played with Darren Spores, yes the Eagles RB, when I was a kid. We called him Tank because at 12 he was basically the size he is now, he was always physically talented but he started falling back as other kids caught up in size. The game is so much more than a vertical jump and a fast shuttle run.
