I have only seen one professional soccer game in person, but was surprised at how rough the sport can actually be. Guys getting kicked in the face, getting knocked out of mid-air and landing on their heads, spiked in the groin, balls sailing into their face or gonads at 70MPH. It’s not football, but up-close it is rougher than you think.
And these folks, guys and gals, better be in darned good shape. It’s grueling.
Having watched an exhibition game in the Meadowlands, NJ with Pele playing I can tell you it’s an electric thing to watch.
Saw Diego Maradona play numerous time. The olden days of soccer were damned exciting to watch.
Kids played soccer thru high school and then switched to rugby in college.
Most Americans think soccer is wimpy because they only know the kids and school-level soccer around here. True, that is quite wimpy. And such play I believe is one of the reasons we're not higher ranked. Our soccer players don't learn how to play real soccer until they're quite a bit older. Meanwhile our school football and basketball is pretty realistic compared to what they'll play later on.
“I have only seen one professional soccer game in person, but was surprised at how rough the sport can actually be. Guys getting kicked in the face, getting knocked out of mid-air and landing on their heads, spiked in the groin, balls sailing into their face or gonads at 70MPH. It’s not football, but up-close it is rougher than you think.”
They could have Mayan priests cuting the hearts out of players in mid field and it would still be a boring sport.