Watching Soccer

Josh began watching professional soccer matches on television when he started considering coaching Elias' soccer team last year.  He quickly became a bit addicted to it.  I never really understood why he got into it much, until I watched it myself. 

Yesterday, we watched the final game of the women's World Cup.  Can I just say, those women are some amazing athletes.  Everyone talks about how tough American football players are, but I don't think they have anything on soccer players (or more appropriately named- football players-as the rest of the world calls soccer).  I don't mean to make light of the physical exertion and mental effort it takes to play pigskin football and I certainly couldn't do it myself, but soccer is INTENSE.

Unlike football, where there is a lot of starting and stopping in the action to set and reset plays and time-outs, etc., these women ran up and down the field non-stop for 90 minutes.  When there is a penalty or the ball goes out, the play resumes immediately.  On top of this, they are throwing themselves at these flying balls, often with their heads, with only some shin guards as padding.  And, don't get me started with their feet.  Their feet sometimes look like those scenes in cartoons where the character is moving so fast, there feet are just a blur.  And the way they can contort their bodies to gain the right angle on the ball is a testament to just how physically fit and fine tuned their bodies are.

Then, when the game was tied one-to-one at the end, they didn't have just a couple minutes added to the clock or "the first goal wins".  They added another 30 minutes to the clock!  I couldn't imagine hearing that, after running non-stop for an hour and a half, I was going to have to do it all over again for at least another 30 minutes. I think anyone could squeeze out an extra few minutes of strength - adrenaline alone could carry you that far - but 30 minutes?  That takes some major endurance!

Another thing I appreciate about women's soccer in particular is that it showcases women's strength and intellect and natural beauty.  Their uniforms are comfortable and appropriate, but not to be ogled.  My niece is in the Junior Olympics for volleyball and their uniforms were very surprisingly formfitting and revealed a good bit of these very athletic girls' physiques.  But if you want to play the sport, you have to wear the uniform. I am glad that Women's soccer doesn't go that direction.  These women have something worth while for young girls to emulate, much more so than the over-indulged celebrity facades that are pushed at them by the media.

Lastly, there was a high level of sportsmanship shown.  There was very little "unsportman like" conduct.  They played the game and let their playing speak for itself.  I don't think you need to make the other team less to make your team more.

Even though the U.S. women ended up losing by a penalty kick shoot-out in the end, I am proud of how they played and they have made me a football fan, much to Josh's delight.