Indoor soccer

For the winter and summer months, when regular soccer goes out of season, an even faster-paced game was created to replace it.  Indoor soccer, as its name suggests, is played inside on a turf field.  People of all ages play in indoor leagues and some even enjoy it more than traditional soccer.

   

Usually, the shape of the pitch (the field) is oblong, almost exactly like a hockey rink without the ice. So, there are the same Plexiglas walls that surround hockey rinks on indoor soccer fields. This makes for constant running for soccer players because instead of getting a breather when the ball goes out of bounds, players just play the off the walls. Goals are usually inset into the wall, so a pass that slides along the wall will end up directly in front of the goal. There is a net over the top of the field, so that the pitch is completely enclosed and the ball always stays inside the field. If the ball hits the netting however, the play is stopped and the opposing team gets a free kick from directly underneath the place the ball hit. This forces players to retain constant control of their passes and shots.

Indoor is generally more exciting for fans than outdoor soccer because of the higher scoring and speed of the game. It is a smaller field and only 6 people are allowed on the field for each team instead of 11, so there are more chances to score.  Also, just like in hockey, the walls create an opportunity for body checking, which Americans seem to have a fascination with. The walls allow players to pass back to themselves and around opposing players, which creates options for moving the ball down the field. Since there is no offsides in indoor soccer, attackers can stand right next to the goal and wait for their teammates to feed them the ball for an easy shot on goal. However, there is a small area called the crease that surrounds the goal. Players can’t shoot from inside the crease unless they entered the crease with the ball at their feet.

While indoor soccer has its variations from outdoor soccer, it requires the same technical skills and fitness. This makes it a popular alternative for many players seeking to stay in shape while out of regular soccer season.  

My Soccer Keeper

Players in soccer all pretty much have the same mission: score and don’t be scored on. They can’t use their hands, can’t be offsides, can’t punch, hold, or purposely injure other players. Then you have your goalies.  These crazy people are also referred to as goal keepers (or “keepers” or “keeps” for short). They can punch, catch and carry the ball, and get away with basically every foul that field players would get called for.  If a player is dribbling towards a goalie, the goalie has almost complete freedom to do whatever necessary to stop the ball from going in the net.  I’ve seen slide tackles, full-on American football tackles, legs swept out from under players… you name it, a goalie has done it to stop a shot. 

 

 I say crazy though because these players are basically playing a different sport than the rest of their soccer team.  Soccer is all around a contact sport, but goalies are in a completely different sports league than field players.  I don’t mean they are better, I mean they are simply a little bit insane.  Instead of just accidentally getting kicked in the course of a game like their teammates, goalies purposely put their entire bodies in the path of a ball moving at upwards of 75 miles per hour and the foot behind it.  Sure, ideally you catch it in gloved hands, but in reality, with attacking players within just a few feet, goalies have to block the ball with any body part they can get in front of it in time.

Last night, (Thursday, April 25) I played keeper against Monticello High School.  I’ve only played in goal 3 games, so I am far from experienced or even good (we lost 7-0 if that says anything), but if there is one thing I try to stay away from in soccer, it’s being scared of the ball.  So, when that one tall girl, #18, swung her foot back to take a shot, I did what any (bad) goalie would do and… stood there. To make a long story short, she didn’t score and I couldn’t feel the right side of my face for a couple minutes. But that’s a goalie’s job, to sacrifice their bodies for the sake of a game. Sounds like a worthy cause, right?

Why Goals Are So Hard to Reach

                It’s no secret that goals in a soccer game are few and far between.  Often, each team will score only one or two and it is considered monumental if either team’s score reaches double digits. This is largely the result of having only 11 players on a team for a field 120 yards long and 75 yards wide. The concentration of players per square foot is extremely low compared to that of say, basketball (5 players per team on a court generally about 30x16 yards). This large field area makes the opportunity for goals infrequent.  Also, the off sides rule prevents players from hanging out behind opposing defenders, in front of the goal, leading to fewer opportunities to score.  To get a shot on goal with the off sides rule requires a perfectly passed ball past the last defenders, an attacking player sprinting past the defenders, beating them to the ball, and then maneuvering closer to the goal before shooting.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to low-scoring soccer matches. When soccer players have to battle for each goal, it gives the goal more value, so that each one is celebrated highly. Because of the enormous pressure of only leading by one or two points, momentum can shift at any second, which adds to the excitement.  This keeps spectators who understand soccer involved and engrossed in the game until the final minute.



USA women Shannon Boxx (#7), Abby Wambach (#20), and Amy Lepealbet (#6) celebrate
Wambach's goal in the World Cup quarterfinal against Brazil.

                A downside to a low-scoring game is that often, the winner of a match is not the better team.  For example, say England and France were in a matchup. England dominates France the entire game, out passing, outshooting, and outplaying them, but neither team has been able to score. Suddenly, with a stroke of bad luck, the ball ricochets off of an English player’s leg, past his own goalie and he scores on himself. Since getting goals is so difficult, England is not able to reply with a goal for itself and loses. Even though England was the better team, it lost the game.  Since the winner was meant to be the better team, the game of soccer has failed at its fundamental purpose of determining the better team. The point that low-scoring games are also more boring is merely opinion, and should not be considered because soccer is a complex game that is interesting when understood.  However, ties are exceptionally common, and winning by a shootout after regular time and two overtimes fails to determine the deserving winner.

                Despite the hullabaloo about whether or not low-scoring games are good for the game, there is always one up-side: The constant shifting of momentum is great for betting. 

Why are soccer players so dramatic?

 

    Soccer players are notorious for theatrically somersaulting across the pitch (the soccer field) anytime the breeze blows, as if they were struck by a mac truck and need immediate hospitalization.  Then, even seconds later, they pop up like spring flowers as soon as it is convenient.  In the 2008 Women’s World Cup quarterfinals, Brazil was leading the U.S. 2-1 when the 90 minute mark came to end the game.  The match was now in “stoppage time,” the official extra minutes that the ref adds on to compensate for substitutions and injuries that stopped play while the clock continued to run.  To waste time, Brazilian player Erika lightly made contact with an American, waited for the referee to look her way and then crumpled in pain.  2 ½ minutes later, as the ref was restarting play, she jumped off the stretcher and ran back onto the field.  The U.S. ended up scoring a few minutes later and eventually won the game.

    Spectators, fans and players need to recognize that soccer is the only sport in which faking and begging can legitimately alter the game.  As despicable and ugly as this truth is, players “dive,” or fake an injury, for three reasons:  1) To get an opponent carded or sent off, giving the victim’s team more people on the field, 2) get a free kick, giving his team an advantage, and 3) to get a penalty kick (PK) giving his team an almost certain goal.  Ridiculous as seems, there actually is a purpose.  Refs cannot see most fouls that occur during a match, and if a player decides to take fouls and stay on his feet no matter how aggressive the challenge, the ref will almost never call a foul.  In soccer, the victim needs to indicate in some way that he or she was harmed, or else nothing will be called.  Unfortunately, players sometimes put to use all of the acting skills they possess to try to display fouls, both major and minor.

 

 

The Way to Play

              

               Though it seems confusing to those who have never played, soccer is a relatively simple game to understand once the rules are learned.  There are major rules set to keep players safe and minor rules to keep the game fun.  Most soccer rules are relatively simple. When the ball crosses the goal line, it’s a goal. When the ball goes outside the out-of-bounds lines, the play stops. Victims of fouls get free kicks. A few are more unique to soccer, and to understand the game, spectators need to know common rules.

                When a player fouls a player on the opposing team, the ref will stop the play by blowing his whistle and award the victim with a free kick to restart the play.  However, if it is clear the victim will benefit from allowing the play to keep going, the ref can opt not to stop play and not award any fouls. This means he has called the “advantage” and allowed the players to keep playing. 

Another regularly-occurring call is “off-sides.”  This means that a player on the attacking team has received the ball while he was behind the last defender. Any attacker who receives the ball behind the last defender on the opposing team is in the “off-sides” position.  However, if the attacker receives the ball on his side of the defenders, he would not be off-sides.  When a player receives the ball, he can always run past the defenders, he just can’t receive the ball from a teammate while he is standing behind the defenders.  This rule is in place to prevent “cherry-picking”, or in other words, waiting in front of the goal for the ball to come. There are exceptions to this rule however.  On throw-ins and kick-ins from the corner arc, attackers are allowed to be past the last defenders.

The Unnatural Obsession

Hey guys! I don’t like board games, card games, or hopscotch all too much, but there is one game that has become an addiction for me.  The world calls it “The Most Beautiful Game,” but a few Americans seem unconvinced.  I want to expose the truths and lies about it; what people think they know vs. what they actually know.  What is the most beautiful game in the world?  To find out, ask the world.  Which sport’s championship match was broadcasted to every single country and territory on earth in 2010, including Antarctica and the Arctic Circle?  Which sport’s championship match was viewed by nearly half of the entire world’s population (3.2 billion in 2010)?  And if you were to Google the words, “The most beautiful game,” to what is the number one article that shows up referring?  You got it, soccer.   

                For the baseball and American football players out there, soccer (known everywhere outside of America as “football,” or the equivalent in each respective language) is a seemingly simple sport, but mainly, like any great athletes, we just make it look easy.  From the running, the kicking, the shoving, and the punching, to the grass-stains, exhaustion, pain, and blood, soccer is brutal.  The main idea is to get the ball into the goal. Easy enough, right? Well, I have been playing soccer since two months after I turned four years old.  I am sixteen now and there is still plenty that I have yet to learn.  One thing I have learned though is while it seems so smooth, so quick, pounding the grass (with both your feet and your face!) for 90 minutes is anything but easy. 

To each his own on this sometimes touchy subject. However, there is something that needs to be recognized. Soccer players often deal with lack of knowledge about soccer here in the United States, but there are two things that they really hate to hear.  One is “soccer is not a contact sport,” because while we run like gazelles and play like ballerinas, there’s a ton of rugby going on that you can’t see from your comfy seat in the stands.  The other is “Soccer is dumb because you can’t use your hands.” Well, while it is true that you can’t use your hands unless you are a goalie, I’m pretty sure non-soccer players can’t handle small objects with their feet as well as soccer players can.  Athleticism isn’t about doing things that are easy. It isn’t about taking the safe path.  Using your feet to play a sport rather than your hands is unnatural and therefore more difficult.  Keep these things in mind fellow Americans.