Every four years, something glorious happens. A whole month dedicated to nothing but my favorite sport! That’s right, it’s World Cup season!

I’ve heard a lot of people over the years give “reasons” why they don’t like soccer. Some people say it’s too slow paced. Some people just don’t have a team to root for, and others say they just don’t get it.

Yes, soccer doesn’t usually have a lot of goals in a game. But that doesn’t mean that it’s boring. The clock is constantly running unless there’s a serious injury on the field. Also, watching players who understand each other is kind of amazing. When I watch soccer, I see great passes or plays that a player makes. Scoring is only a small part of the sport. 

As for not having a team to root for, pick one! There’s 32 teams in the game right now. For me personally, I’m a team USA girl through and through. However, USA isn’t in it this year. A couple of my other favorite teams are Uruguay and Australia. I always root for them. If you like to root for favorites, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, or Portugal are the way to go. If you like underdogs, you can’t go wrong with most of the other teams. Every player and team plays differently, so find some you like and go for it!

Soccer is one of the easiest sports to understand. Objective is to get the ball in the goal without using your hands. Offsides (one of the most common calls) is when a guy trying to score is closer to the goal than the guys trying to prevent him from scoring. But this is only before the ball is kicked.

As I said earlier, my main team, USA is not in it thus year. I root for a couple teams like Uruguay and Australia, but those are only 2 teams out of 32 in the tournament. So when they aren’t playing (which is often), I still watch whatever game is on purely for the love of the sport. I root for goals to be scored, and observe good plays made.

I don’t follow a lot of league play, but I definitely do my research for the World Cup. A lot of these players that are in opposing teams during the tournament are actually teammates in the leagues. They know how each other plays. So there is definitely competition, but there is also a lot of camaraderie. I love that the world can come together for tournaments like these and the Olympics.

So why do I enjoy soccer so much? Well one reason is that I played it for several years. I understand what happens and the calls made. Another reason is that good soccer is absolutely beautiful. It’s so smooth and there’s a good flow with a good team in passes and plays. There’s not really a lot of stopped time like other sports have. Baseball, you have to switch every half of an inning. Basketball has quarters and a lot of time-outs. Football (American) is similar to baseball in that the offense and defense of a team aren’t on the field at the same time. With soccer, all the players on a team do both offense and defense consistently. There is so much fluidity in soccer, and to me that makes it all the more enjoyable.

I’m so excited for the tournament! I think it’ll be memorable, and I can’t wait to see how it pans out! Who ya got? I wanna know!!

Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments!
Love,
Kim ♥