but the random back-and-forth on the field's middle half, comprising 90-percent of the "action," seldom amounts to much of consequence. Perhaps you can share what's at least interesting to you about that.
You could say the same thing about hockey, baseball, or football, really. Learning to appreciate a play that has no real tangible consequences--say, an inside fastball that sets up a changeup--is pretty much a prerequisite for enjoying baseball in any capacity at all.
On the vast majority of football plays, no points are scored. But when you watch it long enough and closely enough, you learn to appreciate how offenses space the field, how they run to set up the pass, pass to set up the run, give looks designed to fool the defense, etc. You also learn to appreciate line play, the ways in which defenses mask their intentions to confuse quarterbacks, stunts, faking pressure from one side then bringing it from the other, etc. And as much as anything else, you appreciate the pure athleticism that's on display. When I watch Chandler Jones explode off the LOS, use his crazy arm length to keep the tackle at bay, then twist inward to create the shortest possible path to the QB, I enjoy the hell out of that. It's a combination of inhuman athleticism and insanely refined skill that's impossible not to appreciate, once you've developed the understanding of the game to see it.
Now look at this:
You're watching a guy with among the best balance, agility and coordination that the human race has ever produced, displaying a skill that he's spent his entire life perfecting.
As far as the 90+ percent of the action that occurs in the midfield, it's something that you have to watch the sport to learn to appreciate, although basketball fans seem to 'get it' quickly and more intuitively than others who are coming in blind (I assume this is part of why I came around to liking it pretty quickly). Next time you watch a soccer game, try concentrating solely on three things:
1.
Passing guys open: In the NFL, everyone's favorite pass is the deep bomb. The soccer equivalent is the
through pass, and it's just as fun to watch. As an America fan, we've unfortunately never had a midfielder who can nail these consistently (few teams do), but they're pretty fantastic to watch. In general, all passing in the midfield is done to manipulate spacing, create gaps in the defense, and ultimately send a runner through those gaps in a way that allows him to receive a lob or through pass. the most entertaining passes to watch, and the ones that are the most likely to yield big results, involve passing forward to where you expect that your teammate is going to be.
2.
Spacing: Closely related to 1. Much like
triangle principles in the NFL passing game, and pretty much everything relating to running offenses in the NBA, soccer, especially in the midfield is all about spacing. If you watch much hockey, you're already plenty familiar with offsides, and in soccer it plays an even bigger role. Especially with strikers that rely on speed and quickness, you'll frequently see them make 'runs', where they're trying to spring themselves past the defensive back line, and time it so that they're still onsides at the moment that the ball leaves the passer's foot (and not a moment longer). To execute this perfectly, there are a lot of moving parts that need to come together, and it all starts in that 90% of the action that you mentioned earlier in the midfield. All of those passes are made to try to get the defense off-balance, force players out of position while covering for each other, and ultimately opening up seams through which you can deliver through passes. Whether it's through a series of short passes that pull a defense progressively further off balance, or through one perfectly placed cross that punishes a defense that's overreacted and crowded one side of the field (an awful lot like a reverse in football), it's something that, once you understand the underlying philosophy behind what they're trying to accomplish, watching the players execute that philosophy at full speed is something that you can't help but appreciate.
3.
First touch: If you were to watch a game tomorrow, this is what you could probably notice and appreciate right away, without another thought. One of the USMNT's biggest weaknesses, IMO, was that most of the players lacked a strong first touch. When receiving a pass, world class players ofentimes won't even break stride. They corral the ball pretty much effortlessly, and go about doing whatever they were doing. They never stop, never give the defense a chance to recover, and by keeping the ball in motion at full speed, they just about guarantee that the defense will eventually break until/unless one of the defenders make a great play in his own right to win possession. Contrasted with most of the USMNT's inability to master this skill--the ball frequently comes to basically a full stop following every pass--despite spending their entire lives working towards it, guys like Robben, Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Neymar become even more impressive.
Also, it's the only sport I know of (aside from distance running or cycling) where upper-body strength and skill is a veritable non-factor. And don't get me started on the ridiculous faux-injury diving that goes on. Don't get me wrong, I WANTED to get excited about World Cup soccer for the sake of following the U.S. team. But save for a few brief seconds here and there, it's just not a very interesting or exciting game. I'm willing to be educated otherwise.
I'm with you on the faux-injury BS, and I hate it too. There are a few things that I can't stand about soccer, and that's definitely one of them. The ludicrous tiebreaker system is another, which somehow manages not to use head to head record as a tiebreaker, despite that being the obvious first choice. If Ghana had beaten Portugal and advanced over the US on goal differential, despite the USA's head to head win, that might have been enough to make me swear the sport off altogether.
Re: upper body strength, though, I'd counter that it's about as important in soccer as it is in basketball. A lot of the game is played in the air, whether it's corners, crosses, or playing lob passes. If you're lacking in upper body strength, your man will get position on you. If you're on offense, he'll take the ball. If you're on defense, he'll either get numbers forward or get a goal-scoring opportunity. On Belgium's first goal yesterday, the defensive breakdown happened when an American (I forget who) challenged Lukaku, and failed
so badly that he fell over, springing Lukaku loose for a run deep into the attacking third, which led to a relatively easy assist. Granted, part of this is a depth issue--if Lukaku was American, he'd be the best striker we've ever had, and he's worlds better than Altidore, but Belgium didn't even bring him on until extra time, which allowed him the huge advantage of being fresh while everyone else had 90 minutes of action weighing on them--but it's also a strength issue. Lukaku is 6'3", 220 pounds. He's a big man, and that's why he was able to shrug off the American defender so forcefully that he took him out of the play altogether.
Generally speaking, to be a good defender you have to have the balance and upper body strength to be able to body someone up and move them off the ball. To be a good forward, you have to either be quick enough to create and operate in space or be strong enough to hold your ground (in some cases both). There's a reason why world class soccer players look like
this.
Sure, they're not nearly as jacked as NFL players, but that's because the sport isn't conducive to that. When 8 of your 11 starters are expected to run around the field for 90 mostly uninterrupted minutes, stamina is going to become relatively more valuable than raw stength, in comparison to football. But make no mistake, a player without upper body strength will, best case scenario, be operating at a major disadvantage that basically forces him to be a winger and specialize in operating in the open spaces on either corner of the field. If he doesn't have the top-line speed, agility, and technical skills to operate with a great deal of effectiveness out wide, a player without upper body strength most likely won't be seeing the field at all.
