[Speed Gibson,
Sunday June 25, 2006 at 1:36pm]
Soccer
I was thinking of researching the first round World Cup scores to see just how little scoring goes on, at this, the highest level of the sport. I see that Steve Warshawsky at The American Thinker has already done this. It's worse than I thought.
In "Why American Don't Like Soccer", Warshawsky found that of the 40 first round games, 20 were shutouts, and 5 more were nil-nil. In over half the games, at least one team did not score at all! Another statistic is that in 14 of these 40 games, neither team scored more than one goal. Imagine if "real" football had these characteristics.
Here's the money quote.
In "Why American Don't Like Soccer", Warshawsky found that of the 40 first round games, 20 were shutouts, and 5 more were nil-nil. In over half the games, at least one team did not score at all! Another statistic is that in 14 of these 40 games, neither team scored more than one goal. Imagine if "real" football had these characteristics.
Here's the money quote.
In my opinion, a lack of scoring is not merely an incidental aspect of the game of soccer—it is its essence. That is, the ultimate purpose of soccer is to engage in lots of furious activity to accomplish . . . absolutely nothing. Not surprisingly, when that elusive goal is scored (if it is scored), ear-shattering howls of euphoria erupt from players, announcers, and spectators alike, as if their very souls were being released from the depths of hell.Goooaaaal!!!!