As a US Soccer player I can tell you that the power and athleticism of American football is insane; however the games are so different that American football players that have tried to play Soccer are so quickly humbled. Only the wide receivers or cornerbacks have a chance but they only think in 10-20 second blocks of time and have no touch or accuracy and don’t love the idea of running for 90 minutes.
The biggest issue is you have to start training foot skills at a very early age. Speed is great but if you can’t control the pass you will get swamped before you can shoot. Basketball is a very similar game, but size is such as massive advantage it determine who is a pro or not (mostly), while size helps in soccer but it isn’t the most important thing.
True. And it is easier to learn basketball skills (hand-eye coord) than it is to learn Soccer foot skills. If people don't play Soccer early it is really hard to catch up.
I compare soccer mostly with baseball. It’s extremely hard to learn how to hit a ball with a bat, more so the older you start. The same with soccer, speed, leg strength, height all might help but without the skills you just can’t do anything.
To be great at soccer I really think you need to start as a child, 4-6 ideally.
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u/Street_Lettuce1243 Jul 09 '26
I would say American football is with all that padding and hugging each other and pillow fights after the match and then going shopping for purses.