Kozlowski: Summer showed it’s time to take soccer seriously

In the last 120 minutes of a month-long celebration of sport, Spain and the Netherlands were… In the last 120 minutes of a month-long celebration of sport, Spain and the Netherlands were locked in a tie before millions on TV and millions more awaiting news out of South Africa.

July 11, the finals of the first African World Cup, was a day the earth moved a little slower than usual. With an estimated 240 million registered players worldwide and more than a billion fans who might not be registered, pretty much the whole world loves soccer — except, of course, some loud people.

In the United States at least, the “Football is for fools” folks can be heard on TV, in the sports sections of newspapers and on blogs. We’ve heard their usual complaints: Soccer is boring, the scores are miniscule, it’s just a bunch of people running around, and my kid can do that. Besides, soccer is a girly sport in which real men would never engage — unlike real sports, like football, hockey and baseball.

I realize there is no accounting for taste, but there is plenty of ignorance to account for in those expressing vehement distaste of a sport they clearly don’t understand.

I don’t intend to say soccer is better or worse than any other sport. All I’m saying is, the enthusiasm for soccer is far from delusional.

It would seem a legitimate complaint to grumble that soccer is low-scoring, but let’s consider an analogy — a sport that is usually used as something much more exciting than soccer: American football. How unusual is a football game that ends in a score of 21-10? Or 14-7? Or even 10-3? Now, how many scoring events does that represent? In terms of touchdowns, those scores become positively soccer-like: 3-1.5, 2-1, 1.5-0.5.

Consider hockey, in which the scores aren’t considerably higher. One cannot plead boredom based on no scoring in soccer.

Now, soccer might be a bit dull to the uninitiated, but it’s best to think of it as hockey or basketball at a slower, easier-to-follow pace played on an American football field instead of a basketball court.

The defense is able to balance time and space and will give up some space to put the opponent in a position where he is less likely to score. This means forcing a shot from the outside — not directly in front of the net — and forcing a shot as far away from the goal as possible. The attack seeks to create space and place the ball as close to the center of the field as possible. This shouldn’t be a surprise to hockey or basketball fans.

What about the complaints that soccer is girly and any kid can do what soccer players do? Well, soccer has a lot of running — lots of running. There are no timeouts, and play is continuous for 45 minutes per half, plus some additional time. Each team is allowed only three substitutes for an 11-man side.

So the vast majority of the 11 starters must run for 90 minutes with only a 15-minute break between halves. Other than the goalie, players run anywhere from 9 to 13 kilometers — or between four and six miles — and sprint on average every 90 seconds.

A typical shot on goal at 18 yards away from the goal travels at more than 60 miles per hour, and the goal that the keeper must protect is 8 feet by 24 feet, roughly the size of a two-car garage.

It is perfectly legal to use your shoulder to bump an opposing player. It is also legal to conduct a baseball slide into the ball. If another player happens to touch that ball and gets sent flying, play continues.

If a particularly nasty foul occurs, the player is ejected. No penalty box, and no substitution for that player. You continue with one fewer player than before. Oh, yes, and faking an injury can, in theory, draw a yellow card.

The other beauty of soccer is that it requires the peculiar combination of force and finesse, power and playfulness, improvisation and instinct. For example, a good “through ball” or a forward pass that goes past several defenders to its target requires pinpoint accuracy, yet must be hard enough to get through quickly.

A small tap of just a few feet might be followed by a shot that is carefully placed into an area only a yard wide that is 18 yards away.

A good player has a sixth sense and a rough idea of where 22 players are at all times, and might only have a split second to move to one of them.

In short, those billion-plus people aren’t foolish. With the sport catching on in the United States and with the U.S. national team’s strong performance, we can look forward to less grumbling and more soccer.

Write kozthought@gmail.com.