USA only country in the world where life does not come to a halt when it's soccer team plays in WC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is very boring to watch but so is baseball. The only reason people watch is to root for their teams. If it weren't for that it wouldn't be so popular. Because very few american have a team to root for in soccer there is not much interest. If the usa does well tomorrow I could see that changing a bit as it does for the women's team when they play. We like to root for winners. But almost no one is that interested in the professional soccer teams in the US.

Soccer and baseball are like chess matches. Slow but strategic — but moments of thrilling, explosive scoring.

Gridiron is actually fairly boring because of all the time wasted.

The explosive scoring in soccer lasts a few seconds. The rest is mind numbing

https://youtu.be/qjp1Zrvn8VQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is very boring to watch but so is baseball. The only reason people watch is to root for their teams. If it weren't for that it wouldn't be so popular. Because very few american have a team to root for in soccer there is not much interest. If the usa does well tomorrow I could see that changing a bit as it does for the women's team when they play. We like to root for winners. But almost no one is that interested in the professional soccer teams in the US.

Everything you wrote is so American ( this isn't a compliment ). I mean the self satisfied ignorance (either you're aware of it or not ), the matter-of-factly peddling of demonstrably false facts—largely, or in part due to the fact that you haven't bothered to do any research. Here are some facts for the so-called not popular football, yes its called football not soccer because you actually play with your foot for the duration of the game.

- The MLS ( Major league soccer) is quickly approaching $2B in annual revenues, which was unthinkable 20 yrs ago.
- Speaking of, two decades ago it was rare to see a football game in a stadium specifically built for the game . Most football games were played in 'American football stadiums.Almost every MLS team today has their own stadium. Nobody undertakes the costly project of building a pro sports team stadium unless there's a demand high enough to offset the cost in the medium and long term .
- The idea that few Americans have a team to root for would be laughable if it wasn't so symtpmatic of your ignorance . If Americans don't have teams to root for , then explain to me why the just concluded MLS season saw record breaking attendance? *sigh*

+1 to all this, though I’m American. You’ll never convince ignorant PPs like the one you responded to or the others on this thread, but I appreciate the factual post.

I’m so nervous about the game today I’m half-dreading it. DH is picking Teen DS up from school early today so he can watch the whole thing with us.

Same here. I work almost exclusively from home, but of course, today, I have an in-person meeting at 2!? I have waffled about whether to skip it, but it would be unprofessional to miss it. I'm hoping to leave early and be able to watch the second half with my teens. I'll be so nervous about the game by the time my meeting starts, it will be hard to concentrate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really enjoy watching soccer - I just have mixed feelings about QATAR hosting - apart from obscene amounts of money spent buying votes, thousands of temporary workers died while working on building the facilities needed. One female referee who was raped by a colleague reported the assault and was charged with adultery and ordered to get 100 lashes before she escaped back to her home country. Insane amounts of energy wasted to allow the games to go ahead in the arid ecosystem. Fans are being housed in plastic tents for hundreds of dollars a day. Guests are not allowed to drink beer, wine if other alcohol.

And while QATAR is blaming legitimate concerns around their hosting on racism, the reality is that many human lives have been lost and many recourses squandered to allow the World Cup to be hosted on Doha in order to put their tiny Uber wealthy country on the world’s front stage.

Too many ethical red flags around this World Cup. Why are so few people talking about the thousands of temporary workers who have died making it possible?

Plenty of people have been talking about this for years. Where were you?

And it’s getting coverage every day during the Cup, along with other human rights issues. But yes, people are also watching and celebrating the achievements of the athletes, just like in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing (which had similar human rights issues). I don’t blame the athletes for the sins of FIFA and the host country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s like watching paint dry.

That would be baseball…

Soccer is baseball except with more cry babies.

Huh? Struggling to find similarities apart from the fact they both use balls (one hard, dense and small and hit with bats while the other that is much larger and filled with air is kicked about the field. Soccer is done in a short time while Many people have to leave baseball games before the conclusion of all the innings.

As a parent I was so glad our son played soccer and not baseball because the latter goes on forever … the cry babies at elite levels of soccer play are trying to score penalty points. It is often very amusing when they are playing hard and fine after acting like they were permanently maimed a few minutes before. That said, soccer has very high injury rates among youth while
Baseball much less so.

Baseball is a very American game while soccer is much more universal.

They are both great sports but hardly the same.

The similarity is that they are boring to a lot of people. Many of us don't find the flopping amusing. It's pathetic.

Also, kids' baseball is often timed, so I don't think your kid's sports career would have been too onerous even if he had played baseball. Games for 10 year olds don't last 9 innings/3 hours.

Friends who kids played baseball routinely complained about the games going forever.

Many many people disagree with you that soccer is boring. And thank goodness women’s soccer teams are growing in popularity as well.

[Anonymous]

I wasted some of the long weekend watching the England-USA match. I wish I had known in advance that neither team was interested in winning or even scoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really enjoy watching soccer - I just have mixed feelings about QATAR hosting - apart from obscene amounts of money spent buying votes, thousands of temporary workers died while working on building the facilities needed. One female referee who was raped by a colleague reported the assault and was charged with adultery and ordered to get 100 lashes before she escaped back to her home country. Insane amounts of energy wasted to allow the games to go ahead in the arid ecosystem. Fans are being housed in plastic tents for hundreds of dollars a day. Guests are not allowed to drink beer, wine if other alcohol.

And while QATAR is blaming legitimate concerns around their hosting on racism, the reality is that many human lives have been lost and many recourses squandered to allow the World Cup to be hosted on Doha in order to put their tiny Uber wealthy country on the world’s front stage.

Too many ethical red flags around this World Cup. Why are so few people talking about the thousands of temporary workers who have died making it possible?

Plenty of people have been talking about this for years. Where were you?

OK I was abroad for several years during past ten years but did not hear people who love soccer talking about the ethics of it being hosted in QATAR until very recently. The story in the female referee who was raped and charged with adultery/ sentenced to 100 lashes got very little attention. I did not hear people talking about it until recently.

I have only heard intense coverage of the ethics on the news very recently and don’t hear many people talking about socially.

[Anonymous]

This comes up every world cup.

We have enough sports in the US that take up everyone's time. Don't need to add another.

Yawn.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who thinks soccer involves more strategy than football just cannot be serious. It's a school boys game that has about 4 plays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks soccer involves more strategy than football just cannot be serious. It's a school boys game that has about 4 plays.

Please name them since you are so informed?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wasted some of the long weekend watching the England-USA match. I wish I had known in advance that neither team was interested in winning or even scoring.

The US team had some decent setups and shots, but England (and a lot of the other top teams) plays a pretty defensive style of soccer in most cases and that makes the matches feel sort of low action and grind-y.

[Anonymous]

The England USA game last Friday was the highest rated soccer match in US history. All those haters are in the minority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks soccer involves more strategy than football just cannot be serious. It's a school boys game that has about 4 plays.

+1 (in spirit). I love soccer (and loving this game!) but there are more than “4 plays”.

That said, the complexity of NFL football schemes and playbooks is beyond anything else that exists in sports. With thousands and thousands of hours per year of study and film, the most elite football minds sort of start to get it. There are many pros that had all the ability in the world but lacked the discipline and/or intellect to study, commit massive playbooks and schemes to memory, then be able to implement it on the field while getting pulverized every play. Closest analogy would maybe be a general orchestrating a two-front global war. But yeah even he gets to sit down and think, and do it from a desk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The England USA game last Friday was the highest rated soccer match in US history. All those haters are in the minority.

3rd highest (2 WC finals were higher) but still a good point. And higher than the world series average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The England USA game last Friday was the highest rated soccer match in US history. All those haters are in the minority.

um, that's what a regular season college football game drew this weekend less than the Sunday Night NFL game. Basically the biggest soccer game the Americans have ever played in is less important to Americans than a random regular season NFL game.

[Anonymous]

The best thing about soccer is that in most cases it is about 90 minutes until you get to the playoffs. Baseball and football can be short or very long. On the kid level - sitting in the sun watching a SLOW baseball game in the blazing sun is a social kind of hell.