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10. Soccer is the original football
Before anyone ever took a pig and turned it into an odd shaped ball, people across the pond were kicking a ball and referring to it as football. And if you think about it, that makes sense. After all, you play the sport with your feet. But when Americans got their hands on the sport, they changed the name to soccer. Soccer didn't mean anything. In fact, it was a new word thought up just to describe the sport where the ball was played with the foot. And when American football was invented, someone decided to name it after the world's most popular sport. Maybe during the early days, football wasn't doing so great and they needed an easy way of tricking people to come play it. Just imagine, a couple German and Italian immigrants, and some guy comes up to them and says "we're playing football over on the field in an hour. Come on out and join us, mates." And thus began the bastardization of soccer.
9. The world plays soccer, only Americans play football
Soccer is the most popular sport in every country...except the United States and Canada. Every country regards soccer as an important event, and a chance to represent one's self in a dignified and professional way. In America, soccer is low on the popularity charts. Some say it's because of the low scoring matches. Others would argue that it's because we didn't invent the sport. But for whatever reason, soccer has never quite caught on in the United States as much as it has in other countries. At the world level, our men's team is gaining ground, and our women are always challenging for the top spot in the world. But the men's team hardly dominates the sport, and is regularly handled by the better teams, and that may be point of contention with American fans. But the fact is, soccer is more popular than any other sport in the world, counting football. Billions of people can't be wrong.
8. Juggernaut in X-Men 3 is ex-professional soccer player
Vinnie Jones is an actor who is probably most famous for playing the Juggernaut in the film X-Men 3. What does this have to do with soccer, and why is it a big deal? Because often times, soccer players are looked upon as wimpy. Vinnie Jones it built like a truck, and he played soccer like that as well. In fact, when he played professionally in Europe, he was considered the team's enforcer on the field, totally crushing opponents. In fact, he has been red carded (ejected) from games 12 times in his career, and was once given a yellow card (stern warning) only five seconds after the match started. If Jones proves anything, it's that there are soccer players out there as tough as anyone in the NFL.
7. Soccer has the most attractive athletes
If a questionnaire was handed to every woman in the world which asked who the sexiest male athlete is, chances are that L.A. Galaxy stud David Beckham would dominate the list followed closely by Christian Ronaldo of Portugal. And the ladies who play soccer aren't hurting anyone's eyes either, with Mia Hamm and Heather Mitts. In fact, in 2004, Mitts was voted the sexiest female athlete, beating out the likes of Jennie Finch (softball) and Anna Kournikova (tennis). The thing about soccer is, it doesn't drastically change a person's appearance other than allowing them to be in top cardiovascular condition. So unlike football, you don't have to put on pounds of muscle (or fat, depending on the position you play), and you don't have to be freakishly tall. Soccer simply has regular guys and gals who are at the peak of their physical conditioning.
6. Game atmosphere is better
Football games can be fun to attend. Some fans will paint their face or make a funny sign. People can get obsessed with their teams, and it shows. But compared to soccer, football atmospheres are tame. Soccer has sections of fans called hooligans. These groups of like-minded ladies and gentlemen cheer their team on with outrageous enthusiasm. Often times they will have cannons, smoke flares, and drums. But the one thing that soccer fans do that really differentiates them from other fans is sing their team's chants. It creates an intimate moment between the fans as they come together as a single, strong voice, to cheer their guys on to victory. It cannot be understated how much these chants create an unforgettable atmosphere when attending a soccer match.
In soccer, every man on the pitch is in top physical conditioning. They go for 90 minutes or longer, running the entire time without any breaks. Football is 60 minutes. Theoretically, the players only play half the time since offenses and defenses change out. Furthermore, a play in football lasts around five to ten seconds. Once it's finished, the players generally get at least 30 seconds to rest. However, by the fourth quarter of a football game, often times you can see fatigue hitting the players. While fatigue also sets in during a soccer match, the players still play, and the best players are strong until the very end. But perhaps this quote from the movie Dogma can best sum it up: "Any moron with a pack of matches can start a fire. Raining down sulfur takes a huge level of endurance. Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in... next to soccer." - Matt Damon
4. Soccer takes more skill
Bouncing a ball with your hands is natural. Catching a ball with your hands is natural. Try catching a ball with only your chest, knee, or foot. It's not so easy. That's because controlling a ball with the feet is much more challenging as it is not a natural body movement. Therefore, it takes quite a lot of practice to be able to do even some of the more simple things in soccer, like passing and shooting properly. When you look at pro football player and you see some of the amazing things they do, it's true that it would be difficult to replicate, like some of the crazy catches they make, but the fact is that it's possible. However, trying to replicating some of the quick-footed juggles that pro soccer players do would be downright impossible, even for some seasoned, non-professional soccer players. The fact of the matter is, you could randomly take five guys from the office and go play a respectable game of basketball or football, but if five random guys tried to play soccer, it would get ugly really quickly.
3. Scoring holds more weight
When someone scores in football, it's exciting, but many times it's just business as usual. However, putting a point on the scoreboard is soccer is much harder to come by. Guys will get hacked, fouled, and shoved, and then they still have to have their wits about them enough to shoot. When a goal in scored is soccer, it's cause for a celebration. But the reason doesn't just lie in how uncommon scoring might be. It comes from the fact that when a loose ball is bouncing around in your team's penalty area, your heart is pounding and your eyes are wide with anticipation. If the ball gets cleared, there's a small respite as relief sets in. And that same wide-eyed anticipation grips you when your squad has set up a good scoring opportunity for themselves. It's such a high level of tension that when they do score (or give up a goal), the emotional outburst is greater than it is for any other sport, period.
2. Soccer creates a positive sense of nationalism
Every four years the World Cup occurs. It's an event that any country has the chance to play in, and it brings various cultures and peoples from around the world together, similar to the Olympics. First and foremost, on a worldwide basis, soccer is the most popular sport around. Fans will rally around their teams and the tolerance level for different cultures is widely accepted and celebrated. But the celebration does not stem from the between cultures differences, nor is it a battle against those differences. It's a celebration of enjoying the same sport no matter what country a person hails from. Nothing illustrates this better than the events of the World Cup in Germany. The Ivory Coast was at war with itself. The government controlled the Southern part of the nation while the rebel faction held power in the North. The two sides had little to agree on or stop their fighting until their country qualified for the World Cup. The best team available was assembled, comprised of athletes from all over the country. The love for the sport of soccer caused the Ivory Coast to call a cease fire for the duration of World Cup so that the nation could celebrate as a whole on their team's achievement.
1. For soccer, all you need is a ball and a patch of dirt
Soccer is the purest of sports because all you need is a ball. Sure, some grass or a flat piece of land helps, but it's not necessarily a requirement. Just ask the kids in South America who play everyday on the streets. Soccer is as pure as sports get. You don't need pads, you don't need any equipment, you don't need specialized fields, or anything else. You don't even need shoes. All that is required is the ball, and maybe some imagination. In college, I used to play in many varying areas of the campus. We'd use a lot of different things for a goal, such as trash cans, shoes, other soccer balls, bags, stairs, or anything else that was there. The fields didn't even require symmetry. We just played for the sake of playing. And that's why soccer is such a wonderful sport - because a game can spontaneously erupt based on the want to play.