Except that the sports we do care about - football, basketball, and baseball (and hockey to a lesser extent) - we dominate. Sure, football doesn’t have an international stage, but basketball and certainly baseball do. Soccer is really the only sport we’re not competitive in and that’s because we, by-and-large, find it to be the most boring sport ever played by man or ape.
All players mentioned are different, I think central/defensive midfield has the most variety in types/styles of players and as you say its about how the player fits into the midfield and the overall team. That’s why busquets plays for spain ahead of xabi alonso, because xavi and iniesta are the 1st names on the team sheet and the rest of the midfield is built around them.
He know when to dive to break up play? There is so much wrong with that statement.
I’m actually a futbol fan. Not nearly as much as the NFL or NBA, but I do like a good EPL fixture. And I love country soccer.
That being said, I have to agree with STL and Higgs. If American Soccer paid as much as American Football, Terrell Owens/Randy Moss/Bo Jackson/Deion Sanders/Jerry Rice/Barry Sanders probably would have played soccer. And they would probably have dominated Ronaldo/Ronaldo/Messi/Henry/Rooney/Zidane.
(These are just given as examples–not meant to be taken as a literal picture of who would have excelled at soccer.)
Agreed, Busquets’ big advantage is that his passing seamlessly integrates with the the other little guys. On talent alone, you would think that Javi Martinez would be a sure starter for Spain, but apparently VDB knows better.
I’d love to see Martinez sitting in front of the center backs and breaking up plays while Busi or Illaramendi plays up higher…
The best soccer players aren’t really the “best” they just happen to play up front and grab all of the attention (zidane, messi, etc.). This position favors a shorter player as they have better control of their feet. NFL WRs would get smoke playing up front, how could you expect a 6ft 5inc dude to protect the ball from someone 5ft 7? Defence and mid field is another story.
Soccer has more than enough of a pool of potential players to pick from to establish the ideal size for a a superstar and he looks like this:
not this:
These are really two different things. I agree that if the US took soccer seriously, that they could be very good at it and produce many great players. But would those be the same guys that make up the NFL’s CB, S, and RB population or NBA PG’s? No way.
Future American superstars would resemble Cesc or Schweinsteiger more than they’d resemble Randy Moss or Terrell Owens.
Although, RG3 does look like Ronaldinho…
None of the big four US sports are truly global so it’s difficult to use them as a gauge.
The US also isn’t competative in Rugby which is a surprisingly popular sport around the world and would seem to be suited to the US preference for power, speed and strength.
Circumcised penis – Better at football, baseball, basketball
Uncircumcised penis – Better at soccer
For the same reasons we’re also not good at cricket…we don’t give a flying fark about rugby. If I wanted to watch crappy football I’d watch the CFL.
rugby and american football are about as similar as football and american football
I don’t think there is one person playing Rugby who could tackle AP or want to get hit by JPP.
baseball’s international appeal is too minute to classify it as a global game.it’s lesser than cricket but at least cricket has south asia’s population behind it.
you all think it’s boring cause you’re too thick to appreciate it.
no…just no
Dunga’s team had power and speed and was also the worse brazilian squad at a World Cup I’ve ever seen (2010).
As for fat Ronaldo, I meant 2006 WC and on. Lean Ronaldo had everything, but I still didn’t list him among the best I’ve seen because I think the others I listed are a notch above (personal opinion). Romario (lazy, short and slow) was more impressive throughout his career (personal opinion, but shared by many or maybe most brazilians), but a series of badly timed happenings took him out of most world cups - so Ronaldo got more international fame.
True. But in the same line nobody really cares that much about the sports you dominate. I don’t think we can really see US vs rest of the world based on that. It’s a little like you’re studying CFA, the other countries are doing law school, and we’re trying to decide who’s smarter based on that.
In many countries people don’t like football because the players are mostly waiting around and don’t like basketball because most points are almost meaningless (in a viewer’s perception).
And, for some reason, half of US high schoolers still play soccer. The rest of the world don’t have “soccer-moms” and fields with real grass for the most part - we just play with rocks and sh*t on the streets. It works too.
In truth there is no way to reasonably assess such a far-fetched concept as who would rule any sport if X and Y variables change. We’re just having fun with it. But I think statements like “Player X would be the best soccer player ever” (Greenman’s statement) then the argument gets extremely far-fetched. It’s like saying Pele could rule bodybuilding or Michael Jordan would be the best baseball player ever (kinda tested already).
del
Bump, since circumcision came up again in another thread.
This thread certainly veered off topic.
Nonetheless, no actual cutting is done anymore. They put a little ring on the baby’s dingaling, and it cuts off circulation. It falls off like a belly button after a week or so.
The pediatrician told us that it is purely a personal decision. There are some very very slight health benefits, and there are some very very slight health risks. So he didn’t make a recommendation either way.
FWIW–IEV’s post was one of the greatest ever. I love his reasoning.
this quote.
One word: Hygiene
Don’t follow…Are you having trouble keeping your uncircumcised penis clean?.. In western societies, where men bath at least once a day and clean their retracted penises, how would hygiene be an issue? Women seem to be able to keep their parts clean with their labia intact. Maybe in the third world, where residents don’t have running water, I could see an issue. Are not all studies(apparently there are very few) that show an increase of health risks for uncircumcised individuals done with a third world sample? Does that transfer to western cultures where hygiene is much different?