What good does a comparison of scoring do though, it'd be like saying scoring in the NFL is low because in cricket they score hundreds of runs regularly and in the NFL you might only score 40ish points tops. Every sport has definitions of "high scoring" and "low scoring" and they're all different.
Why USA isn't a world power in soccer (yet)
- Thread starter Bewilderme
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I translated the scoring to American football equivalent. A little lower than NFL playoff scoring but not really. Goals are accurately 7 points. Non game winning fgs have little excitement so sprinkled some fg in according to overall scoring pace.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Here's the comparison. Let's take football. If you have a game where there are 7 scores, that game can have outcomes totaling anywhere between 14 and 56 points, making for all kinds of potential combinations of scores. This leads to increased strategy>drama>entertainment.
If you have a soccer match with 7 scores, here are the possible outcomes: 7-0, 6-1, 5-2, 4-3, 3-4, 2-5, 1-6, 0-7. This leads to increased boredom>annoyance>domestic violence.
It's science.
High scoring allows for greater differentiation. Lower scoring increases the odds that a "lucky" play is going to be the deciding factor (e.g. the US win over Ghana). In higher scoring games, the "lucky" plan toward the end is only significant if the score has remained close.
I'm not judging anyone else's preferences, but I think I'm figuring out why I am not as interested in soccer.
Do we teach enough fundamentals to the kids? Or do we emphasize "competition" that only focuses on the result (winning) but end up with lack of fundamentals.
I read an article from BBC on how Belgium built their golden generation
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27827569
1. JInspired by research trips to the best training centres in France, the Netherlands and Germany, every youth team in the country was told to play a fluid and flexible 4-3-3 formation favoured by the national team. Sablon (former Belgium technical director) made a brochure and went to clubs, schools and all youth coaches and told them how to do it.
2. Youth teams were no longer to focus on results. Sablon commissioned a study into youth football that saw 1,500 matches filmed and studied. One of the key findings was that too much emphasis was being placed on winning and not enough on developing players. It was win at all costs and that was costing Belgium.
Sablon even went as far as ensuring under-seven and under-eight teams did not have league tables.
I read an article from BBC on how Belgium built their golden generation
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27827569
1. JInspired by research trips to the best training centres in France, the Netherlands and Germany, every youth team in the country was told to play a fluid and flexible 4-3-3 formation favoured by the national team. Sablon (former Belgium technical director) made a brochure and went to clubs, schools and all youth coaches and told them how to do it.
2. Youth teams were no longer to focus on results. Sablon commissioned a study into youth football that saw 1,500 matches filmed and studied. One of the key findings was that too much emphasis was being placed on winning and not enough on developing players. It was win at all costs and that was costing Belgium.
Sablon even went as far as ensuring under-seven and under-eight teams did not have league tables.
It honestly depends on the game though. A game that ends 0-0 with both teams having several great opportunities is completely different than a 0-0 game where neither team tries to score.
Definitely tl;dr. And I haven't read any posts, so I'm sure someone covered it. The USA will never be a world power in soccer. It's not engrained in our culture. Kids are born with a soccer ball in their hands overseas. Play pick up games non stop. Everything is about soccer. In the US it's about football and basketball.
If the NFL awarded 2 points for TDs and 1 point for FGs it wouldn't be nearly as high scoring. Most of the time the winning team wouldn't score 10 points. And therein lies the problem - most of the time in the NFL the winning team only scores 3-4 times, but when someone sees 21-28 points on the board and then compares it to a 3-1 soccer game the casual fan says "OMG - they score so many more points in football than in soccer. Soccer must be boring in comparison" when in reality the difference in scoring between football and soccer isn't nearly as dramatic as it's made out to be.
thats why the World Cup starts with group play.
its also why pro soccer crowns regular season champs as the champ. If you think ISU's regular season back to back big 12 hoops titles meant more than a big 12 tournament you get the concept.
International pro championships play a home and home aggregate addressing this.
the more Americans would learn the more they'd see how this is and has been addressed for a long time.
And no losing NFL team ever scoring more than 14 points! You have to like defense in order to enjoy watching that.
I read an article recently that was really good about how hyper competitiveness is killing Iowa youth sports. From such a young age the goal is to win, which is not necessarily the same thing as becoming a better player or team. I see it all the time in soccer, coaches using what I would call gimmicks or poor fundamentals to score easy goals to win games. Boot and chase can score a lot of goals when players aren't the best at dribbling or holding possession but it doesn't really do a whole lot in terms of building fundamental skills.
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yes, but don't you see that the differentiation between types/values of scores is exactly what makes Football dramatic/strategic/exciting? Soccer is just 1 point at a time, no matter what.
I'm glad our football team doesn't hold opponents to 14 points a game, that would be boring.
- Mar 27, 2006
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I'm being totally serious. The variation in types of scores adds a layer of strategy to Football that Soccer just doesn't have.
The demographics of America are changing rapidly. The 2nd and 3rd generation Americans I work with are crazy about the World Cup. They are young and excited to watch. Work basically stops when their team is playing
That bodes well for the health and growth of the sport here. Seems to be a younger person's game.
That bodes well for the health and growth of the sport here. Seems to be a younger person's game.
when I was a freshman I quit the other two sports I'd been playing to focus on wrestling. I think it helped me a lot but if I'd have done that in grade school I'd have burnt out. Plus later in adulthood I played soccer for many years having some skill developed already playing a lot growing up. It's a tricky thing to know when is too early to try to focus/specialize/travel extensively.
