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Darrell KSR
04-20-2017, 12:03 PM
I didn't want to throw this on WildcatChat in the baseball thread and bore all the baseball fans, so this will make it easy to ignore for everyone here.

You know I like to kid about soccer scores a lot, and "pretend" that every goal scored is a touchdown. That way it if it is a 4-3 soccer game, I say one team won "28-21," to make it more like football.

But in reality, I think a 1-0 soccer game is the most exciting game in soccer. I watched a soccer game last night where one team (the good guys) won, 1-0. Every possession was intense. Could we score and move the lead to 2-0, and possibly put the game away? We hit the post, and it bounced off (you think a field goal bouncing off an upright is disappointing?). We hit the top crossbar, and it bounced away. We had a one-on-one with the keeper, and the striker toe-balled it just right of the goal.

Meanwhile, on defense--which is similar to basketball to me, more than football, because on average each team has a good possession for about 45 seconds--we had to worry each time they got the ball. Would they tie it up with this possession? Ball enters the penalty box (the 18-yard area in front of the goal; a prime goal-striking area), would they get a shot off? Could we stop them? If you foul them in the penalty box, they get a penalty kick--a near-automatic goal where the ball is placed just twelve yards away, and only the keeper there to stop him. We'd kick the ball out across the goal line, giving them a dangerous corner kick. Ball is lofted into the penalty box, around the six-yard line, and dangerous because that's where erratic, unpredictable "headers" come from that can be dang near impossible to stop.

The tension is very high in a game like that, and it's very exciting when the game can be tied literally at any second.

I told Dan in the baseball thread that at this level (my son plays lowly JV soccer currently), I'd rather them lose a game 2-1 than win one 7-0 (soccer 7 goals, not my football scoring), because a) it's more exciting and b) they develop more in a 2-1 game against good competition.

They've been involved in 9 games (out of 20) this year that have been decided by one goal, which is the best. Six more have been decided by two goals, so 15/20 were one or two goal games. A two-goal game is not a blow-out by any means, and they often say the most dangerous lead in soccer is 2-0. That first goal by the opponent, and they have momentum, down 1-2, and here they come.

One of our rivals was playing for a playoff spot against another of our rivals (Spain Park v Mountain Brook) last Monday. Mountain Brook, at home, grabbed a 2-0 lead. Spain Park came back, scored to make is 2-1, and then Mountain Brook launched a near-perfect shot in the "upper 90" of the net, only to see an incredible save by the Spain Park keeper knock it over the net and out for a corner, keeping the lead within striking distance.

It gave Spain Park amazing "juice," and with that energy they stormed back, tied it 2-2 at halftime, and scored 3 goals in the 2nd half to win, 5-2 going away.

So much fun.

And so boring for many.

But I just wanted to spend a few minutes explaining why I love the 1-0 soccer game. It's not even the way I love a 2-1 pitching duel in baseball (I do). The 1-0 soccer game can be filled with offense, but without scoring. I know that doesn't sound like it makes sense, but it can have equal parts of offense and defense, and be an incredible, low-scoring game.

PedroDaGr8
04-20-2017, 03:04 PM
Honestly, it took me having a buddy who plays semi-pro to really understand and get a feel for soccer. Now I love it, but before I just didn't understand it and didn't get what to look for. I am really excited that I get to go to some Sounders games this year.

Darrell KSR
04-22-2017, 04:38 PM
Honestly, it took me having a buddy who plays semi-pro to really understand and get a feel for soccer. Now I love it, but before I just didn't understand it and didn't get what to look for. I am really excited that I get to go to some Sounders games this year.

You're very lucky. That's good quality soccer.

For me, I enjoy high quality high school and club. Not the highest, but very good. We have a ...I'm not sure what league they are in. Sort of like minor league, the Birmingham Hammers. My son's two soccer coaches actually play for them. The older one was a three-time All-American at Villanova; the younger one just graduated from a smaller D1 school where he played.

I just finished watching one of the more exciting games I've seen. Game finished 0-0 in regulation. Went to overtime--in this tournament, a "golden goal" would finish it, or sudden death. No goal scored in first OT. Played a second OT. No goal scored in second OT.

Went to penalty kicks. I hate it. It's very exciting, but like shooting FTs to resolve a basketball game. It's the one thing I don't like about soccer, but there's really no better way.

The "good guys" won, 5-4 in penalty kicks when their 5th guy skied his shot over the goal and ours calmly knocked it in. So I get to go to my 8th soccer game this week (played Tues-Weds-Thurs-2 games on Friday-3 games today), which is somewhat absurd when some of the kids are 17 and 18 year old, and have grown bodies.

But we love it. More soccer!

MickintheHam
04-22-2017, 08:46 PM
I love HS soccer. I take in a couple of games every year. It can be very intense!

Doc
04-22-2017, 09:25 PM
Lacrosse is the same way. I.played soccer in HS and was quite good. Made all state my senior year. My son played laxrosse. I enjoy watching lacrosse more as it has a physical nature to it that soccer lack. In other words, you can legally level people

Darrell KSR
04-22-2017, 09:39 PM
Yippee! The good guys won in penalty kicks in the championship game, just as they did in the semifinals. I am exhausted. Can't imagine how much those young men are who played three games today, two yesterday, and three more earlier this week.

Darrell KSR
04-22-2017, 09:42 PM
I love HS soccer. I take in a couple of games every year. It can be very intense!
If my son moves to varsity next year (they have 12 seniors, so he's hopeful), maybe we could meet up at an OMHS-Hoover game.

MickintheHam
04-22-2017, 10:48 PM
That would be great, Darrell. One thing with soccer at the Top flight HS level is they are overwhelmingly senior laden teams. My son didn't get to play varsity as was the case with most of the kids on the team until his senior year.. 22 players were on the team, 17 were seniors. In his class, Only 4 seniors played varsity as juniors. One played as a freshman and sophmore. It worked out well for us as he got plenty of action all four years. No kid really wants to sit. In four years playing freshman, jv and varsity, he and those who moved along with him only lost 5 games in 4 years.

Darrell KSR
04-23-2017, 01:48 PM
Wow, 17 seniors! I thought 12 was a lot.

I knew that Hoover JV had a lot of juniors on the team, and that makes sense now. Just have to pay your dues.

MickintheHam
04-24-2017, 10:01 AM
I don't think those kids saw it as paying dues. On JV and Freshman teams they were playing highly competitive soccer Most of the teams they played were over the Mountain, Huntsville, Mobile or out of state teams. They won the county championships all four years and of course they won the State title as Varsity. It was totally different with my daughter. She played as a sophomore at Spain Park. They won state that year, but roster only had 8 seniors. But for girls soccer 8 is about average. Girls tend to lose interest by their senior year if they are not going on to play in college. From my perspective I found HS soccer much preferable to club soccer. In club their are too many parents attempting to run the show. I like having one guy or gal running the show and setting boundaries for parents.

MickintheHam
04-24-2017, 10:06 AM
The advantage I saw to having kids play JV their sophomore and junior years is that you have a strong core of kids playing together for 2 or 3 years. When they are seniors they pretty much move up together. I think in soccer, unlike basketball, the teamwork and ball skills are what create scores. You have clusters of guys who are used to playing 3 men up and down the field together. Also, I thought it made for a very strong back line.

Darrell KSR
04-28-2017, 05:24 PM
That seems to be the Homewood philosophy, too.

It has resulted in a dynamo of a JV team, with a varsity team still winning their region and among the top in the state in their classification. Their JV team just had a 52-consecutive undefeated game stretch snapped, which spanned three years without losing a game before finally losing one to penalty kicks.

My son's school seems to do "some" of that, but not completely. They have a freshman who plays a lot of right back, a couple of sophomores, and about five juniors, with the remainder being seniors. It's interesting you mention the back line. My son's position has changed the last three years to an outside back, and this year they moved him to Center Back. He is nearly 6'2, and I think they just liked the height and his ball skills there, which have turned out to be an unexpected benefit. But he wanted to play varsity this year so badly he could taste it. Instead, they moved up four juniors from JV last year that were seniors this year, probably following the same general philosophy you described. I'm not sure they have been as successful as your experience has been, but it makes some sense.

MickintheHam
04-29-2017, 02:56 AM
Your son's basketball experience will help him on the back line. With proper coaching kids find the back line positions to be a lot of fun.