May 26th, 2005

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Sports
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Never Walk Alone

When I watch a game like the Champion’s League final, I’m always a little saddened that more North Americans can’t get behind soccer. It was an outstanding game, and not only because my team won. It had everything a sports fan could ask for–lots of goals, brillian saves and high drama.

AC Milan took a 3-0 lead into halftime. 3-0 in soccer is like 6-0 nothing in hockey, a nearly insurmountable lead. Liverpool stormed back in the second half though, improbably tying the game with 3 goals in six minutes. The game went to extra time, and in the final minutes the Liverpool keeper made two incredible stops to send the game to penalty kicks (where he cheated shamelessly) and the Pool’s victory.

I know that most soccer games are, to the average Canadian, nil-nil snorefests, but this was as close to poetry as sport gets.

Comments: 9 Responses so far

Randy Charles Morin
May 26th, 2005
10:46 am

I have to say that the soccer authorities have done a great job of getting the goal count higher. I personally, think today’s hockey goal count is low and would prefer something in the range of the 80s style hockey.

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Brendan Quarry
May 26th, 2005
1:40 pm

Hear hear. What a match.

For me, I’ve always appreciated soccer for the skill. I can watch a match that ends with no goals because I love watching the ball mastery, the way players pull the ball out of the air or perform a variety of step over fakes.

Hockey on the other hand is more about excitement. If the game isn’t close, I lose interest. I think it’s because I don’t appreciate the skill like I do soccer. Hockey doesn’t seem to allow the individual talent to shine. Soccer is all about individual talent.

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Anonymous
May 26th, 2005
9:23 pm

More skill? Nah, you just gotta turn up the puck tracking ability in your brain, Brendon.

Why watch soccer when you can watch hockey?

I mean, hockey is exactly the same as soccer…except faster. Much faster. The sport is played on ICE fer chrissakes! This means:

more speed
more shots on goal
more saves
more goals

In short, practically more everything. Newsflash for ya: Most people enjoy more speed.

That’s why a goal in hockey, while celebrated, isn’t cause for a team member to literally freak out for 15 minutes straight when he finally scores. There’s even the possibility for a game to end in a tie, which I find kinda neat.

Soccer is probably the most popular sport in the world because it’s the most affordable to play. All you need is a ball and bare feet are cheaper than skates, right? No, I think strong soccer fans are just more familiar with the sport of soccer they used to play themselves and, hence, enjoy soccer more for that reason than the “fact” that soccer is better than hockey.

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Darren
May 26th, 2005
10:17 pm

Anonymous: There’s not necessarily a correlation between popularity and cost. For example, more people play soccer recreationally in Canada than any other sport. Yet, there’s little support for a league or the national team.

I think you’ve highlighted the uniquely North American fetish for ‘more’ and ‘fast’ very well. It’s evident not only in our sports preference, but most other aspects of our culture as well.

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harp
May 27th, 2005
9:03 am

I’ve given up on hockey fans for a long time…if they can’t see the genius of football/soccer, then whateva. Nothing against hockey, each to their own. I personally get bored senseless watching hockey, but nobody cares and nobody should.

Who cares, I’m still spinning out over one of the best days of my life. You should’ve come down to the Lennox, there were a ton of Reds losing our minds, crying and singing and chanting in pure joy. Heck, I STILL am.

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harp
May 27th, 2005
10:21 pm

btw, the keeper (Dudek) didn’t cheat…you’re allowed to move on the goal line and move all you want to. Our old keeper Bruce Grobellar (ex-Whitecap!) was famous for the ’spaghetti legs’ and did it to win our last cup in 84…the keeper stole the trick from one of our own.

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Darren
May 27th, 2005
11:15 pm

I understand that you can move however you like on the line.

However, as I understand it, the keeper isn’t allowed to move forward off his goal line until the ball is struck. On, I believe it’s the second penalty kick, Dudek clearly takes two steps off his line before the kicker’s foot meets the ball. Both commentators remarked on it.

I know this is pretty common practice, but (assuming I have the rule correct), Dudek definitely cheated. This guy agrees with me.

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harp
May 30th, 2005
5:34 am

it’s one of those rules that’s never reinforced. Milan’s keeper Dida did the same thing when they won on a shootout in 2003 and when the USA team won the women’s world cup their keeper did the same thing. I figure if the ref isn’t gonna do anything about it then fair enough.

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Jim Gunson
May 30th, 2005
9:37 am

I agree: a great game. Unfortunately, my wife came home at 1/2 time and given the 3-0 score I decided to be sociable and eat lunch with her. I got back to the game in time to see the replay of the foul that gave Lpool a penalty from which they equalized.

I didn’t watch the penalty shootout, believing such a practice to be a farce. The previous week ManU had outplayed Arsenal and could easily have won 5-0. They were very unlucky not to score and then to loose on penalties. The argument that the season had to end there, because of England’s tour of the US, does a disservice to the stature of the FA cup. Also I would have loved another 90 mins of such entertaining play.

I must confess that my negative attitude to penalty shoot-outs is likely due to the pathetic performance of England over the decades.

Soccer vs hockey

Soccer is by far the more entertaining game for the following reasons:

1. The ball can be seen at all times, being large and travelling at a lesser speed than a puck.

2. The game is played at a speed and scale that allows one to recognize and enjoy individual skill.

3. In hockey the shoot-in and chase game is boring. The passing game in soccer can be enthralling.

4. Scoring in hockey has such a large element of luck.

5. Defensive strategy in hockey can lead to really boring play (see # 3). In soccer it can lead to an enthralling game of cat-and-mouse as a team probes the other’s defence.

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