Soccer Game popularity in USA - How to make the game more popular and covered

In order to make soccer game more popular in the US it should be available and covered by national TV.
Like many soccer fans, I always wish that the US TV channels will broadcast much more soccer games from the MLS (Major League Soccer) and other soccer leagues such as the La Liga (Spanish soccer league) Premier league (English soccer league) and Bundesliga (Germany soccer league). It looks like the biggest challenge that TV channels or networks are facing is the fact that there are not as many breaks during soccer game as in other popular sports and therefore much less time for commercials. In 95% of the soccer games there is only one break (half time) for 15 minutes. According to the soccer game rules - the game is divided into 2 half time of45 minutes each and during the game time it is very hard to display the commercial.
I think that if the game should be divided into 4 periods of 22.5 minutes each it will give the TV channels more time for commercials and will encourage them to broadcast more soccer games which will definitely make the soccer game more popular in the US.

Join us at Soccer Stores and let us know what is your take on it.

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The US national soccer team - Why they cannot win the world cup by Soccer Stores

One of the biggest problems that the US national soccer team experiences when they play an international soccer game out of the US is the fact that it will always be played on a grass field. This will make is very difficult for the US soccer player due to the fact that most of the MLS (Major League Soccer) games are being played on a turf field which is very different then the grass field. When you play on a turf field it is much easier for the player to control the ball, dribble or kick a long pass that will reach the expected target. I think that until there is a world standard to play on a turf field – it will be better if the MLS will require that the games will be on a grass field so the players will get use to play ob such a field and will not need to do any adjustment when they play and international game out of the US.

Soccer Stores - synthetic turf fields

Lionel Mess and Pep Guardiola - the secret of the magic

For many of the people that watch FC Barcelona soccer games it might seams so simple the way they control the game and pass the ball. The way I see it, it is like a magic. When you think about it –             Lio Mess  is the best player in the world but when you watch Barcelona’s game you see that 90% of the times that he touches the ball – it is a short pass to 7-15 yards. Like any other players in the ‘Barcelona Soccer Machine’. And this is the magic. Pep Guardiola was able to teach the best player of the world to be part of a basic team game and to identify the right situations. When Messi  identifies those situations where there is a gap between the defense team’ slayers – he starts with a fast run with the ball, break the opponent’s team defense structure and dribble or do double-pass with his team mates and create a scoring position.

It is very rare to see that the best player in a soccer team (defiantly if he is also the best player in the world), fits himself into the team’s game plan and give-up on ego elements the nice dribbles and show-offs.  Let me give you few examples how other leading player play in their team:

The first one of Cristiano Ronaldo in Real Madrid – he is the best player in the team but very busy with his game, his repeated tricks and the goals that he scores. He have only 6 assists in 19 games.

The second example is Carlos Tevez in Manchester City – in too many situations during the game it looks like he is more concerned about himself and his goals and you can see that in his statistics – only 5 assists in 20 games.

When you compare the statistics you find out that Lio Messi have 13 assists (lead the Spanish league in the assists category) in 16 games! Another interesting point that shows how Messi learned how to identify the right situation to attack the goal is with the following amazing statistic:  Messi scored goal every 4 attempts! (18 goals out of 74 shots)  For compression - Cristiano Ronaldo have onlt 16% success (22 goals out of 136 shots)

Next time you watch a Barcelona soccer game try to take a closer look on Leo Messi and try to count how many short passes he gives to his team mates and how many individual attempts he takes.  He is a perfect team player that learned to use his high level individual skills in specific situations.

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Soccer Field Layout

Soccer Field lot sizes required in an international games for adults should be between 100 to 110 meters and its width between 64 to 75 meters. Soccer Fields for none international games can be between 91 to 120 meters in length, and 45 to 91 meters width, in one condition – the field  is not a square. Long boundary lines are called "party lines", while the short boundary lines are called goal lines. The goals themselves are rectangular and located in the center of the gate lines. Frame length is 7.3 meters standard and height of 2.44 meters above the field. In general, it is not required to place a net behind the gates.

Around  every goal the is "wide goal area" (sometimes called "The 16 box"). This area was surrounded by the goal line, two lines of the 16.5 meters perpendicular to another line connecting them. Each of the lines perpendicular to a 16.5 beam that is nearby, creating a rectangle that defines the “16 box”. The “16 box” has number of uses, one of the major areas where the goalkeeper may touch the ball in his hand. Other marks on the field defining the location of the players kicked the ball or the opening, kicking rate, penalty kicks and corner kicks.

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Golden Ball (FIFA)

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Golden Ball is the most important soccer award a soccer player given annually to that player is considered the best performing were the past calendar year. The prize, awarded by FIFA since 2010, is actually a union of the Golden Ball award bestowed by the French magazine "France Football (soccer)" starting from 1958 and World Soccer of the Year Award awarded by FIFA since 1990. Last five years where there were two independent awards both to winners were selected.

the voting process is a combination of two methods used in previous awards. Voting is held among the 209 FIFA member countries,  and from every country a journalist, the national team coach and captain are allowed to vote.

Following is the list of the award winners since 1930:

  World Cup Golden Ball
1930 Uruguay José Nasazzi
1934 Italy Giuseppe Meazza
1938 France Leônidas 
1950 Brazil Zizinho
1954 Switzerland Ferenc Puskás
1958 Sweden Didi
1962 Chile Garrincha
1966 England Bobby Charlton
1970 Mexico Pelé
1974 West Germany Johan Cruijff
1978 Argentina Mario Kempes
1982 Spain Paolo Rossi
1986 Mexico Diego Maradona
1990 Italy Salvatore Schillaci
1994 United States Romário
1998 France Ronaldo
2002 Korea/Japan Oliver Kahn
2006 Germany Zinedine Zidane
2010 South Africa Diego Forlán

Soccer and mental pressure

When a parent thinks about encouraging his kids to a sports recreation program there is one important variable which is not always being considered: mental pressure.

Mental pressure in sport can be very important (if not the most) criteria's on a success/failure.

lets try and compare the mental pressure which your kid will carry in each of the leading sport 'types':

1. Tennis - one, if not the most pressurable sports in my opinion! Its all about one player - there is no other player that can 'cover' you during the game.

2. baseball - when the player try to hit the ball and all the people are watching - the pressure is very high. The player's statistics is very simple to be measured!

3. Basketball - less pressure on the player comparing to tennis or baseball but still - you are one of 5 players - 20% of the game is on your shoulders.

4. Football - all football players are aware of the high risk of getting heart without being able (almost) to avoid it.

5. Soccer - you are one of 11 players which means only 9% of the responsibility. If you are not yet in a high skill level - you don't 'ask' for the ball and therefore touch the ball less times. The players that feels more comfortable will be more proactive and creative with getting the ball and therefore will carry more responsibility, but ONLY if they are 'ready' and would like to take such a responsibility.

I will defiantly recommend to parents to encourage their kids to play soccer.

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Kids Soccer

Kids recreation (rec) soccer

In the US there are many recreation soccer programs which is the basic soccer team for any kid that would like to play soccer.

In order to get into the rec soccer team in your town all you need to do is to register your kid on time (usually there is a special discount for early registration) and bring your kid to the practices and weekend game. It is very comfortable for the parents because there are no traveling games (we will talk about the travel soccer team in the next article) and the practices as well as the games are in the town's facilities. In addition to the fact that your kid is doing sport activity there are many additional and important values:

1. Very low pressure on kids with low skills level

2. Socialism

3. Good mood/bad mood situations

4. Discipline and commitment

We will touch if of the above items in the next few days

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Soccer Popularity (tags: Soccer Stores, Soccer)

For many years soccer is played professionally all over the world, and despite various countries is different popular winner, it is still considered as the world's most popular sport. Millions of people are going to watch every week games played in stadiums and billions television broadcasts. Also, according to a big survey conducted by FIFA published in 2002, over 265 million people in over 210 countries regularly play soccer amateur or professional level. What helped the soccer game to be so popular are the simple game rules and the equipment required in order to play the game. Today, customers can find soccer stores in almost any mall or shopping center.

Soccer Array and Soccer Boards

Soccer array is the way in which the coaches are positioning the players in positions. The system's goal is to create an order and systematic form of the team's game and improve its efficiency. It is customary to describe the array with numbers, by which point the amount of players in defense, midfield and forward. For example, the array includes four defensive players, four midfield players and two players forward called 4-4-2.

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In almost any Soccer Stores all over the world customers can purchase soccer boards were coaches use to draw the game array.

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