Gerd Müller, the BOMBER, had pretty big legs, too. 68 goals in 62 national team matches. Greatest striker ever. I mean, a freaking Brazilian who later became a national team player himself named himself after the man. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerd_Müller
What do you mean what's my point? Did you just see my post and decide to reply to it without reading the whole thread? I've been debating how soccer players are just as good athletes as football and basketball players with Dave_78... To each their own. I'm a Chargers fan, I love the burner but I am a 110 % sure MT does not have stronger legs than Roberto Carlos.
Yep. Not to mention we like a clear cut winner. If I shelled out big $$$ to travel across the country to catch a game, I would hate for it to end in a tie. Imagine if the Texas-OU game ended in a tie. People would feel totally shortchanged.
Ahh the nation's bomber. Dude was a monster, 14 WC goals only behind Ronaldo. He buried the famous Orange Machines in 74'. Him and Beckenbauer are responsible for the rise of the almighty Bayern Munich club. If it wasn't for Gianni Rivera (In my mind the most talented Italian ever) I believe he would've won it in 1970 against Pele too. Even though we faced you guys a lot, I've always loved the way the Germans play, a style based on strength yet elegance. The feelings probably not mutual since we've dismissed you guys from the cup a fair share of times. :grin:
Regarding scoring in soccer vs American football. I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine, and we sort of worked out that if each goal was worth 7 points like in football, and each shot on target was worth 3 points like a field goal, the games would be nearly identical in scoring. A 26 - 22 game would be 2-1 in actual goals with 4 more shots on goal for the first team and 5 shots on goal for the 2nd team. If you took out field goals, soccer and US football almost have the same amount of scoring. DD
I get excited when I turn on a world cup soccer match, watch it for 2 minutes then quickly change the channel. Very boring.
I love soccer, but this world cup has made me more driven to watch MLS than before. Don't get me wrong, I am an avid Houston Dynamo fan, but in seeing a plethora of talent on the USMNT's squad get their start in MLS I am now obsessed with the league trying to see who the players of tomorrow will be...
Ive been following soccer since the Eurocup in 2008. I watch Euro games when theyre on tv and I actually do like watching the Dynamo. I freaking love the world cup.
There was a dude on Germany's squad who was having a trainer stretch his hamstrings on the sideline at the half... it looked like a tree trunk... sick
The thing about world cup soccer, or any soccer in general, is that I can't even watch it with my soccer fan friends. And I have a lot of them who're currently missing night's sleep over the games. The reason is that I can't watch a soccer game while keeping my big fat mouth in check. Specifically, all the crappiness I feel about soccer that I really have no business talking about in front of true soccer fans. Also, I try to have too much conversation to relieve my own boredom, which ends up pissing my friends off as they're actually engaged in the game itself. So I've now learned my lesson, and basically stay away from these guy when they watch. As a result, I watch a lot less soccer than I used to, which was very little to begin with.
I think it's difficult for Americans to get into the game because it's not a domestic product, and the domestic product that does exist is sub-par when compared to European teams. I think soccer is a difficult game to sensationalize on an American level--there are no die-hard fans, the players still aren't really on a world-class level... and if you can't sensationalize it, people won't subscribe to it. And the game really can get to be exciting. Sometimes games that are low-scoring are more interesting than games that are high scoring, because there may be more shots on goal in the former (although the latter wouldn't exclude that possibility either). The value of points being scored is at such a higher level than in other sports, because they're so much more rare. That's why, in my opinion, basketball and Am. football are boring sometimes. People are thrilled with these 130-127 games, or these 42-28 games, and in my eyes, it just means that the teams did the more of the same thing more often. It's those 80-76 defensive games, or 24-14 games, that I really enjoy watching, because the value of a scored basket, or a hard-fought TD, is not cheapened by its frequency.
I love playing soccer, but I don't watch it much, maybe a Dynamo game here and there and international/FIFA games (which are much better). I will admit though I've watched more soccer than usual this World Cup.
I've thought a lot about why I can't get into soccer, and here's my opinion. Not that I think it's either right or wrong, but it's the way I feel. In normal sports, there's is an anticipation of scoring. In football there are red-zone plays, goal line plays, where I'm on the edge of my sofa with heavy anticipation on the possible score. Even in baseball, which has low scores, you still have bases loaded situations, trying to score on the starter before the unhittable closer comes in, etc. Even though you can say the pace of the game is slow, there's still that sense of anticipation during the down time. In soccer, there's rarely such consistent sense of excitement. The only times I've ever been truly excited about soccer is when one team consistently knocks on the door, and consistently get shutdown. To me, that back and forth where you see beautiful passing, shots on goal, defense, and goalie play is by far the best sequence you'll find in soccer. Not even the scoring itself, but the pressure of the offense bearing down on the defense. Sorry, I'm probably off on a lot of the terms, since I'm not very fluid in soccer terminology. But you probably get my point. If only such things happened more, I'd be more into the sport.
Earl " The Sausage" Campbell 34-inch thighs You made a comment in your previous post about Lawrence Taylor not being able to take a ball away from Marodonna thus ensuing my post about the QB sack.
Soccer is all flashy and Rugby is brutal but too ugly to watch, Cricket is where its at. Fluid offenses that can score hundreds of runs, great pitching, Long live Cricket.
