Is that what they call it? A game, a match? Who knows. Anyway, as a typical American I don't watch soccer as I don't understand it. I watched this one because a friend I know from overseas was in it, and it's the first time I've made it through an entire (match??) without falling asleep.
But today, I did.
I caught this one completely by accident as I was browsing through my online followers and saw him link to the event.
This time someone actually scored, in fact, there was plenty of scoring which kept my interest. My buddy seemed to hang out in the right side of the (field?) acting as some sort of defender protecting that half. He did a helluva lot of running backwards as they were losing badly.
They run A LOT! I had no idea there was so much running in soccer. It looks like a great workout, and a lot of FUN!
It differs from American football in that aside from hitting the goal, they seem to be trying to keep the ball INSIDE the lines as we're trying to get it OUTSIDE of the lines.
I saw some spectacular saves as the soccer ball was approaching the lines and some dude would make some athletic save at the last second.
I had no idea there was that much running in soccer, as my buddy was working his ass off trying to protect his teams territory. Towards the end of the game he raised his hand and a chubby guy came in to replace him (I'm guessing it was a bathroom break??) I didn't know you could just raise your hand and leave the field like that.
Later on, I saw that they had given him some kind of orange vest to wear (I don't know if that means something?) as he stood on the sidelines. With minutes to go, he raised his hand again, and swapped places with the fat guy and gave HIM the orange vest.
They seem to be missing cheerleaders in this sport, that would've really spiced things up a bit. Maybe they have those in the professional games, as this was a local event.
It was actually interesting for my first soccer match, and the play-by-play with the British accents (my favorite accent in the entire world) was great. I watched my friend shake hands (with some warm embraces that I didn't expect) with all of the opposing team players. I was not aware that this was done, and it was nice to see him congratulating his opponents who had done well.
I Just Might Do This Again
I had a blast watching this, and I have some questions for those of you that know soccer:
The uniforms don't appear to be uniform such as in American football. He had on these long socks that went all the way up almost to his knees. But not everybody wore them, I wonder why? They seem to be thicker than normal socks, almost as if they're padded. I'm guessing they're for protection in case the ball hits the legs?
He was wearing the typical longer shorts that we over here see with most players, but some people were wearing much shorter ones. Can they just choose which ones to wear? I thought they all had to dress the same.
This might not be my last soccer game, as he's from the Liverpool area (for some reason he hates the town of Hull, rivals maybe? He never told me why).
Maybe it's like us Philadelphia Eagles fans who despise our hated rivals, the Dallas Cowboys (no, it's not the NY Giants, it's Dallas, and always has been. Did I say we hate the Cowboys? We hate the Cowboys). :)
His team has a nickname, but I don't remember what it was, as he was trying to get me to watch, but back then, I'd have rather been boiled in hot oil than try to watch another "nil-nil" soccer game. :)
All-in-all it was an enjoyable time seeing him play as I would NEVER have watched it otherwise. I'm intrigued though about the strategy of keeping some players back, as well as the deft way that they pass the ball around opposing players. There was a lot of verbal coordination on field as well, which also surprised me. We'll see when he plays again.