Ok, so there have been a whole bunch of soccer related threads recently that I have been reading but not posting in. They have made me realize that I know almost nothing about Soccer and that I might be missing out. My cable provider seems to show UK Premier league somewhat regularly but I don’t know enough about the game to really be able to enjoy watching the matches.
What do I need to know to start following the sport? Start with the basics and assume that I don’t know anything at all about the game other than the restriction against using hands. What is the run of the season, who should I follow, should I be watching UK soccer or one of the numerous South/Central American games that are on? MLS?
I am curious and want to give the sport a fair shot. I followed hockey for the first time this past season and really enjoyed it, and am interested in expanding my horizons further.
I’m very interested, as well. I’ve watched soccer occasionally on TV, but I’m fairly certain that there are subtleties to the game which I don’t yet see.
Why would you want to watch a low scoring sport where almost nothing ever happens? Soccer is only mildly interesting once every four years when the world cup is on, but its absolutely irrelevant otherwise and I don’t see it having the same excitement, high intensity and athleticism level of our mainstream sports.
I mean if you want to watch boring sports, sure knock yourself out I’m not going to say no since this is a free country, but think carefully about what kind of message you are sending out to people when you start identifying with soccer.
I love baseball and American football* and I liked hockey a fair bit, maybe I am a sucker. Still it’s the most popular sport in the world, I want to know what all the fuss is about.
*If you take away the weird way points are tracked American football is very low scoring too. 21-14 is considered a normal but high scoring game, that’s 3-2 in normal numbers. 7-0 and 14-7 isn’t uncommon.
To say that soccer is the “most popular sport in the world” is like saying rice is the “most popular food in the world” or water is the “most popular drink in the world”. Its not because people enjoy watching soccer more than other more exciting sports like football, baseball, basketball…etc, its that soccer is cheaper and therefore more easily available to poor countries. Pooping in a hole in the ground is more “popular” worldwide than pooping in a toilet, but only because countries outside our borders are depressingly poor and have low standards of life.
If a country like Portugal or Brazil could afford our sports, they would likely stop following soccer and move onto more entertaining sports. For example, look at how Nigerian immigrants (say Nnamdi Asomugha or Ndomakong Suh) who come to the US pickup more exciting sports and abandon soccer for superior options now that they are in a country that can afford it. If people in Nigeria could afford all the expensive equipment for football, I’m sure that would be the most popular sport there. But because they’re poor they have to resort to watching people kicking a cheap ball around for 3 hours and nothing ever getting accomplished (no scoring).
You don’t find soccer interesting or exciting, and don’t understand how anyone else can. WE GET IT. Knock off the threadshitting and go play in your other threads.
Well it would be the European Soccer equivalent of the World series, I guess. The Champions League (CL for short) is the annual tournament involving the top European clubs. Manchester United and Barcelona are the two finalists this year.
Both clubs have, respectively, Rooney and Messi, two of the highest-rated players in the sport.
A good bet would be to follow the English premier league if you can.
Some of the best players and teams in the world. It also is bubbling up to a nice climax with the two top teams playing this weekend, only a few games left and very little separating them in terms of points. The BBC website is a good source for UK, European and world fixtures.
Also, the worlds most important club competition comes to a climax at Wembley on May 28th. The European cup is at stake and probably the worlds two best teams battle it out. Manchester United vs Barcelona. Could well be a classic.
So try to catch those at least and see if the occasion grabs you. If you can get access to a good commentary that will go some way to increasing your enjoyment and improving your knowledge.
As a final tip…get involved. Soccer is one of those games that can be enjoyed no matter what level you play. If you can wangle a 5-a-side game with some friends you’ll be well on your way. You just need some grass, a ball and some friends. Even goalposts are optional as you can turn to the classic standby solution of using “jumpers for goalposts”
And by now you know that Barcelona won and is going to the final. They will be playing Manchester United. I’m not a big Premier League fan but I do have one rule: root for whoever is playing against Man U. Go Barca!
The Champions League is unlike anything in American sports. It’s as close as there is to a world championship of professional soccer, but instead of taking the champions of each soccer league and having them play in a single tournament after the end of the season, it runs concurrently with the regular season in each league and involves the champions (and 2nd, 3rd, etc place teams from the top leagues; the rules on eligibility are complicated) from the previous year.
Think of it as kind of like the NCAA basketball tournament, except that instead of running through March, they ran it every other weekend the following year.
Look, I know you’ve been threadshitting all over the place and wouldnt be surprised if you got a Mod Warning in the hours to come, still, in the name of jolly good fun, please elaborate on this, I feel it’s gonna be a goldmine.
Oh, that is interesting. And yes, I guess there isn’t much point in watching the Real Madrid/Barcelona game, too bad. But I have set up to record the Manchester U/Chelsea game this Sunday.
So now that I have a game to watch, what do I need to know?
The Champions League is a sort of “champions of champions” competition - the best club teams in a season in leagues across Europe enter the Champions League the next season (while still competing in their own “domestic” leagues. So it’s really the biggest prize in club soccer, although winning one of the big national leagues is also pretty damn prestigious (England, Spain, Italy, Germany).
The English Premier League is often held to be more exciting, if perhaps rather less tactically sophisticated, than the other big leagues, but purists might prefer Italian or Spanish football.
Abysmal stupidity. Watching 5 minutes of Lionel Messi highlights is far more interesting than watching a seasons worth of great NFL plays. And I follow neither sport.
Great plays in US sport are largely yawn inducing for non Americans. Look at the great football plays - the Immaculate Reception is Jack Tatum failing to knock the ball to ground. A season of highlights is just guys catching passes.
Forgive him NAF1138, for he knows not what he does.
(but seriously, for the neutral it could be a great spectacle)
A little bit of history, these two teams met a couple of years ago in this final and Man U seriously underperformed and were beaten. So there is some degree of score-settling to be done here and that will add extra spice.
Also, Barca’s home ground was the scene for Man U’s famous victory in 1999.
My favourite tale (perhaps apocryphal) Is that a football fan was listening to that final on MW radio when he went into the Blackwall tunnel. When he went in United were loosing 1-0, when he came out 2 minutes later, this had happened.
Man U / Chelsea is big because if Chelsea win it they will catch up with Man U at the top of the EPL, with just two games to go after that. These two teams have been contesting the championship for several years. Chelsea are reigning champions.
Historically, Man U have a place in soccer much like the Yankees in baseball, I understand - hugely successful and well-supported, but so much so that there is a very strong “Anyone But United” contingent. Chelsea got bought by a rich Russian sugar daddy some years ago and have spent megabucks to become one of the best teams in England and indeed Europe. But again, there is a school of thought that they are a “plastic” team who have spent their way to success, using profits gained through questionable business practices.
So take your pick from two excellent teams that half of soccer fans hate ;).
I enjoy tactics. Italian Serie A Soccer is on a lot in the next couple of days. What should I look for? Roma at Bari is starting in about a half hour, I could record it to watch later.
