“That happens a fair amount in football, as well. It is very noticeable when you stop watching for a decade or more, and then go back to it. Most plays in football are rather pointless. And when there is scoring, it is rarely out-of-the-blue, and loses some excitement as a result. By contrast, in soccer, a play can develop in seconds, and yield a flurry of excitement, without 10 minutes (real-time) in which a score of some kind is inevitable.
I understand people not liking soccer. I also find many soccer matches to be quite dull. But what I cannot understand, now, is how anyone can watch football (and this is from someone who watched virtually every available football game for many years, into adulthood). And while soccer is often bad (football-level bad), it is also incredibly riveting at other times, and reaches a level that football only rarely reaches.”
But the problem in soccer is that you can’t really see a play developing like you can in football. In football there are changes in field position, decisions to go for it on fourth down or kick a field goal or punt or TD, whether to field a team of size or speed.
And again the scoring. There may be plays that develop excitement for a few second but then they’re over as compared to drive before a half, the game or after the other team scores. Constant drama — in soccer if there’s no score the ball just gets thrown back in. I agree for those few moments of a score or almost score is intense excitement because it happens so little.
In football you could have high scores or low scores depending on the teams and the way the game develops, less predictable. In soccer the scores will usually be predictable and the same.
BUT we’ll just have to agree to disagree. If you like soccer that’s cool.