Let’s Talk about Football — No, Not That Football…SOCCER!

 

 

 

Let’s talk about football.

No, not that football. Not the NFL or college football as we know it.

Football!  

Around the world, football is what we call…soccer.

Remember when soccer was a mere pastime, played as a very minor sport in colleges here.

No one played soccer. 

They tried to start a pro league in the 60’s, called the North American Soccer League.

I remember when I started with CBS in the mid-sixties, they televised a few NASL matches.

No one watched.

Actually the NASL had a long run before it went on hiatus in 2017. 

Many of you will remember the New York Cosmos, and their star Pele.

But Americans were really about football, not soccer.

Major League Soccer, known as MLS is a successful men’s pro league, which represents the highest level in the U.S. the sport offers.

There are 24 teams including three in Canada.

The MLS has a following.

But what we’re talking here is what has happened in America with a sport that few ever thought would make it.

We’re talking World Cup.

The World Cup throughout the world dwarfs what the Super Bowl is here.

It is a month-long celebration played in various cities in the country that hosts the spectacular championship of what we know as soccer, every four years.

How big is soccer in the good old USA?

Four years ago, the final of the Women’s World Cup between eventual champion Team USA and Japan drew 25-million viewers.

Last season’s matchup between quarterbacks Tom Brady of the Patriots, and Aaron Rodgers, of the Packers on Sunday night had an audience of 24 million. 

The final game of last year’s World Series, featuring great traditional teams and markets, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers corralled 14-million TV watchers.

Get the idea?

This country has finally dialed into what captures the spirit, enthusiasm, and rapt attention of the rest of the world. 

Soccer. Er, football.

Likely, what kick-started it all was the fact kids started to play soccer seriously more and more.

Face it, it’s a fun game to play.

You don’t need all the equipment you have for football, and there’s no question it’s safer.

Injuries are abound in any sport, and soccer is no exception. But when it comes to head injuries which we all know is a major concern for those who play football, soccer is not that much of a threat that way.

 

 

So, the Women’s World Cup is back.

Team USA is favored to win it all again.

Who’s knows?

The rest of the world is aiming to prevent another American triumph in the month-long championship in France, which got underway June 7th.

I don’t follow the sport, so you won’t get the low-down here of the contenders. 

And that’s the point.

You can get involved in the matches, follow your national team and experience the highs and lows watching a sport that is simple to enjoy.

Make no mistake, the strategy that goes into the makeup of soccer matches is huge. 

Formations and the role they play in creating scoring chances is complicated to the novice, thrilling to the expert. 

I am a novice.  

There are 11 players on each team, including a goalie, the only one who can use his or her hands.

There is a huge expanse of a green field, called a “pitch”, a goal at either end and the players dribble with their feet, pass and head the ball to teammates in an effort to score.

That’s it!

Yes, there are penalty kicks and corner kicks and yellow flags for warnings, and red flags for ejections, but basically there are two teams trying to outscore the other. A goal counts as one.

What’s even better is that there are two 45-minutes halves. A match is 90-minutes long, with a few minutes padded on at the end. 

That’s known as stoppage time. When there is a short halting of play for injury or a kick going out of bounds, time continues. 

But an official figures this extra time in his head and it’s tacked on at the end of the first half or the end of the contest.

So, you can watch a soccer match in under two hours. Considering what’s transpired with time of play in American sports, especially baseball, soccer is ideal. 

I remember, in the 50’s and 60’s and even beyond, ABC Sports had a weekly series, the Pro Bowlers Tour.

What I learned, was that the series was one of the most highest rated of all of ABC’s sports programs. 

What I was told, was that the sport of bowling appealed to the average middle-American.

It was not aimed at the big cities.

It was simple to understand. 

Bowlers had to knock down pins.

They would collect strikes or spares.

Or sometimes, neither.

You simply added up the totals.

Soccer is a team sport with the same idea.

You don’t have to think too hard, or analyze or

come up with ingenious theories.

You hope your team scores a goal, saves a goal and wins.

That’s why there is such strong nationalistic fervor by men and women of all ages.

They watch, and they understand.

Nay-sayers will, of course, complain of low scoring and movement up and down the field that doesn’t provide enough action.

But consider how incredibly popular this sport has been for over a century in every corner of the globe. 

There has to be something.

I don’t need to be aware of “why” a team is successful. If it’s explained, fine.

I can appreciate the sport.

And so, without really being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the teams I see, or who the stars are on the field, I can, and will, enjoy the Women’s World Cup the next month and root for Team USA.

As one woman said, who was interviewed in Reims, France, there to see the Americans’ opening match, “ I love soccer. I love women’s soccer, and I love champagne!”

Who can argue with that?