Quote:
Originally Posted by loochy
What IS awesome is that someone like Rooney, an older, very well paid, very accomplished player decided to hustle balls out on D more than anyone else on the team at that point. THAT is awesome.
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For me, it shows the entertainment value soccer allows in taking advantage of opportunity.
The fluidity of soccer and the inherent difficulty of the task [doing everything with your feet with 11 opponents on the pitch] means there's perhaps the biggest chasm between sensing a weakness and doing the exact right thing to take advantage.
The forward may have ended up making a poor effort to maintain the ball, but you still have to act with resolve with no one behind you to win the possession.
The inswinger may have been easy to defend in an optimal situation, but you still have to have the balls and presence of mind to pull the trigger with precise placement and timing. The slightest mistake wastes every ounce of that great effort you just expended.
Part of the 'fairness' of soccer is that it's always a team effort. Great teammates don't automatically make your job easier, nor does inferior opponents.
Soccer isn't as clear-cut a gameplan as other sports. You can't count on lobbing it to Lebron in the paint, or heaving it to Tyreek down the sideline, where the odds say physical talent and training creates an near-automatic win. It's not even like golf where the objective is a static whole in the ground that you can practice until you are nearly guaranteed to achieve it.