What is the most popular sport? That depends on where you reside. In the southern United States the answer is football, but what about around the world? But worldwide, the answer is also... football, but not the type of football we usually talk about in the U.S. "Football" for the rest of the world is known as Soccer here in the States. Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. I personally have not been much of a fan of the sport--except for every four years when the World Cup rolls around. This seems to be true for most Americans, but as soon as the World Cup is over, soccer slides back behind football, basketball and baseball. This cycle has been the pattern for my interest in soccer until now.
When I started college I knew I would have a new life, but I wasn’t expecting to become a fan of soccer. My suitemate, Eric Oesch, had a different idea. One of the first things I noticed when I walked into my dorm was a banner for the Liverpool Soccer team. I thought to myself, “he must be a soccer fan” and didn’t think much of it. I would soon realize that soccer is a big part of his life. Eric is a member of the Longhorn soccer team, and this is where Eric gets most of his soccer fix, but there is one other main way he satisfies his craving for the sport he loves, and that is through the video game FIFA.
I didn’t take Eric very seriously when he told me that he was going to get me into FIFA. I had played a few times before, but it never did much for me. Something changed this time. In a short week and a half, Eric has gotten me hooked on the game, and I have begun to understand why this is the most beloved sport in the world.
For the average American sports fan, soccer is not a fast paced sport. It is two 45 minute halves of non-stop action, but there are very few critical moments that actually affect the score. I feel that this is a large reason for why soccer doesn’t have the popularity here that it does in the rest of the world--but after playing FIFA I have started to appreciate the moments where points aren’t scored.
The first thing I have learned is how difficult scoring really is. I have difficulty putting the ball in the net when I am sitting on a couch telling guys what to do with a controller. In a real game these players don’t get an overhead view of the field, they have to actually control the ball where I can assume that my player isn’t going to make a mistake and trip over the ball or something of that nature, and they are physically fatigued.
Understanding how difficult scoring is not only gives a better appreciation for the players, but it makes the moments where a goal could be scored that much more exciting. If every three minutes players are going one on one with the goalie or have a legitimate shot of scoring, it wouldn’t be that exciting. Because they are so rare, these moments bring out a flurry of emotion. When your team takes advantage of these situations you feel you could take on anyone, but when your team blows the opportunity, you feel like you have been sucker punched.
Have you ever heard of the phrase “on any given Sunday, any team can win”? This is true in the NFL, but I believe it is even more true in Soccer. Because the window of opportunity to score is so small, even the great teams can miss out. When this happens it gives the underdog a chance to pull off the upset. When I first started playing Eric, he always beat me and it wasn’t uncommon for him to beat me by 3,4 even 5 goals. This was frustrating for me, but I will always remember the first time I beat him. He had a few great opportunities to score but he always seemed to miss by inches. As the game was winding down I found best player running free at the top of the field. When I got near the goal I crossed it in and a player headed it in. I believe it was my only shot on goal, but I made it count. Eric on the other hand had half a dozen, but none of them found the back of the net. It was then that I really understood the beauty of soccer.
Soccer still isn’t my favorite sport, but I have found a lot of value in it. It has brought out a level of emotions that I didn’t think were possible to experience from a video game. If a video game can do this to me, I can’t imagine what the real thing can do for those that live where soccer players are idolized into gods.
