The Real Futbol

To anyone who plays sports you are probably familiar with one of the oldest sports arguments in the book. Which is better American Football or the rest of the worlds Futbol/Soccer? This is an argument that has long been debated by soccer players and football players everywhere and I'm here to add to the discussion. Being a soccer player myself there will be plenty of bias in the next few paragraphs. I'm giving a fair warning to all you football fans out there; Now's your time to leave. You can all have your own opinion and I respect that, but I'm just going to share mine.

 The first thing that all football players seem to argue when debating football is better than soccer is that it is a sport for wimps. To say something like that is an understatement and an insult to soccer. Although us soccer players don't go throwing ourselves into others at a thousand miles a hour, there is plenty of physical contact in a game of soccer to make a grown man cry. Not only is there plenty of contact but soccer players don't go into the contact wearing pads to protect them. The only form of protection comes from the shin guards you wear on your legs.

The next point that seems to come up in this historic argument is the fact that soccer is boring. A lot of Americans complain that they watch for 5 minutes, nothing happens, and so they give up on the entire game. THIS IS THE CRUCIAL MISTAKE!!! You can't just watch five minutes of a ninety minute game and completely write off the game, and the sport as boring. That's like listening to thirty seconds of a song and then writing off the song and artist as boring and bad. I will admit that soccer games have there moments. Its not always exciting, but thats what makes the game so amazing. It has a flow to it that you don't see in any other sport. It's so fluid and always changing that if you get past that first five minute period the game will grow on you. If you think about it football is even worse. Not only do you have interrupted game play by stoppages in between each play and an hour and a half worth of commercials throughout the game, but half the plays in the game are either incomplete passes or runs for less than a yard. Wow how exciting! The difference between soccer and football is that soccer is a dynamic game and is always changing, the momentum ebbing and flowing with each kick of the ball, therefore never providing a boring moment for more than five minutes. With football if the game isn't high scoring or fast paced then you're in for a long game.

So now that I've touched on the two biggest things in the debate over soccer and football, I think I'll let you decide. Before I go I'd like to say that nothing frustrates me more than those ignorant Americans who won't give soccer a try because they don't have the patience to watch for longer than five minutes. Maybe after reading this you hardcore football fans may have a change of heart, but if not you're missing out on something truly amazing. There is a reason soccer is called the world's game.