An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

[RaychelSnr]

Soccer, or is it football? It seems like sometimes this gets more discussion in North America than the actual sport itself.

Personally, I don’t really care, but regular readers may notice that I almost always use the term football. Not because of any historical arguments, but rather that it just makes more sense. After all, between the two footballs, only one of them is primarily played with, you know, the foot. For practical reasons though, I’m using soccer for this guide because unlike most articles, this one doesn’t have a game — FIFA or PES, for example — in the title to instantly clarify it. The last thing I need is for Madden fans to click on this and realize they’ve not gotten what’s been promised, even if they should be used to this feeling by now.

Read More - An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

[Profit89]

Fantastic post.

I'm not quite sure why people get so hung up on labels. Soccer/football.. Who cares what you call it. And "soccer" is just as old as football, but ignorant people want to make an issue out of it. Check your history...soccer comes from AsSOCCiation Football. And has been used for long time and by many countries. Get over labels and just enjoy the sport. A great sport.

[UK0wnag3]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

Decent stuff there. I would note that attacking doesn't necessarily have to be slow, possession orientated football, though it is the norm.

Also, some counter attacking teams don't use pace either, preferring to play "route one" instead by hitting it long to a target man who holds it up to bring others into play.

[shadia147]

Thank You for this Primer. Just curious; I grasp the 4-4-2 etc concept. Pretty basic. But does not Hockey use the same theory? Only with five players rather than 11?

[kelvinmak]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

Decent stuff there. I would note that attacking doesn't necessarily have to be slow, possession orientated football, though it is the norm.

Also, some counter attacking teams don't use pace either, preferring to play "route one" instead by hitting it long to a target man who holds it up to bring others into play.

Good shout. Those were things that got left on the cutting room floor (I almost feel like I'm doing the sport a disservice by shaving it down to a three-parter... I probably had enough material to do seven.) But, yeah, feel free to use the comments section to toss additional nuggets of knowledge in for those who may be curious, it's very much appreciated

Thank You for this Primer. Just curious; I grasp the 4-4-2 etc concept. Pretty basic. But does not Hockey use the same theory? Only with five players rather than 11?

If I assumed correctly and you're referring to the different styles of forechecking and neutral zone formations (2-1-2, 1-4, etc.), then yeah, I think that's a pretty good comparison.

Perhaps the only difference is that for hockey, 99.9% of the time a team would ice 1 center, 1 left wing, 1 right wing, and 2 defensemen; whereas in soccer, with a larger pitch, there are more than 11 positions that a team can conceivably fill, so they have to pick and choose. For example, some teams will choose to play a narrow "diamond" midfield and eschew the traditional wingers.

But theoretically I do agree that they're similar, and is a good indicator of how aggressive or reactive a team will play.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

Decent stuff there. I would note that attacking doesn't necessarily have to be slow, possession orientated football, though it is the norm.

Also, some counter attacking teams don't use pace either, preferring to play "route one" instead by hitting it long to a target man who holds it up to bring others into play.

For examples see: City, Stoke and McLeish, Alex.

[kelvinmak]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

McLeish, Alex.

Now now, the goal is to get prospective fans getting into soccer, not alcohol

[Riderfan]

As a soccer player in Canada...

1) "Second Striker" - Where you've got him, he's a Center Forward. A 2nd Striker should be beside the first striker. (It's pretty obvious really, you've got Center Back and Center Midfield right...)
2) A "Stopper" is just another name for a Center Back. (I checked Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_(association_football) and it agrees with me)

But overall, good job. That should help those who don't know the game.

[gigadkc]

"Who cares what you call it. And "soccer" is just as old as football, but ignorant people want to make an issue out of it."

no, ignorants call it soccer because they refuse to accept that this is THE football

"Check your history...soccer comes from AsSOCCiation Football. And has been used for long time and by many countries."

like who? US ... Canada ... ??? Anyway you're right, it doesn't care how you call it. You just shouldn't call it soccer in europe, your day may very well end in a hospital (that's actually no joke, have seen it happen several times )

@Riderfan: a stopper isn't a center back. A perfect example of a stopper is Matthias Sammer and the way he played on the 1996 team of Germany. Some kind of tweener of a Center Back and a Defensive Midfielder. Schweinsteiger also played kinda like a stopper in the CL finale.

[65South]

Thank you! For both the primer and the replies. This came right on time for me as I always follow the World Cup and recently watched just about all of the UEFA Championship and recently have started watching some soccer matches via ESPN3. I could follow the game but I just felt like I didn't understand the strategy and couldn't totally grasp what was going on.

I bought FIFA because all of the great ratings and all of the good reviews (and because it was on sale) but I never really played because I felt like I didn't really know what I was doing, or better still, what I should be doing. But this info along with the graphic will go a long way in getting me started in real and virtual soccer!

[Ermolli]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

Good article but I have one question, why is the article in the FIFA subforum instead of the Soccer subforum? It would attract more people there don't you think?

[kelvinmak]

Re: An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming

Good article but I have one question, why is the article in the FIFA subforum instead of the Soccer subforum? It would attract more people there don't you think?

Hmm, I don't know why it landed in the FIFA section. I shall get the powers that be to look into it.

[Abar22]

Thank you! For both the primer and the replies. This came right on time for me as I always follow the World Cup and recently watched just about all of the UEFA Championship and recently have started watching some soccer matches via ESPN3. I could follow the game but I just felt like I didn't understand the strategy and couldn't totally grasp what was going on.

I bought FIFA because all of the great ratings and all of the good reviews (and because it was on sale) but I never really played because I felt like I didn't really know what I was doing, or better still, what I should be doing. But this info along with the graphic will go a long way in getting me started in real and virtual soccer!

If you want to understand strategy and tactics better I would highly recommend zonalmarking.net. Very good tactical breakdowns to be had there.

[Manny_Shevitz]

"Who cares what you call it. And "soccer" is just as old as football, but ignorant people want to make an issue out of it."

no, ignorants call it soccer because they refuse to accept that this is THE football

"Check your history...soccer comes from AsSOCCiation Football. And has been used for long time and by many countries."

like who? US ... Canada ... ??? Anyway you're right, it doesn't care how you call it. You just shouldn't call it soccer in europe, your day may very well end in a hospital (that's actually no joke, have seen it happen several times )

@Riderfan: a stopper isn't a center back. A perfect example of a stopper is Matthias Sammer and the way he played on the 1996 team of Germany. Some kind of tweener of a Center Back and a Defensive Midfielder. Schweinsteiger also played kinda like a stopper in the CL finale.

Actually, the term soccer originated in England (yes, that England, the one in Europe) in the late 19th Century, as a British slang term for Association Football. This was to distinguish it from other sports that at the time were also called football, such as early forms of rugby and such. You see, the term football didn't originate due to the fact that the ball is kicked with the foot, but rather it referred to any sport that was played on foot, as opposed to on horseback. There's a little free history lesson for you.

And yes, it is true that the term "soccer" was never used much outside of England and the U.S., and has since fallen out of fashion in England, but in all fairness, that is where it came from in the first place.

[lufc4ever]

As a soccer player in Canada...

1) "Second Striker" - Where you've got him, he's a Center Forward. A 2nd Striker should be beside the first striker. (It's pretty obvious really, you've got Center Back and Center Midfield right...)
2) A "Stopper" is just another name for a Center Back. (I checked Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_(association_football) and it agrees with me)

But overall, good job. That should help those who don't know the game.

I would say there isn't much difference between a center forward and a striker positionally. I would consider a center forward more like a big, old fashioned target man like Emile Heskey. A striker would be someone like Michael Owen, a small, often quick forward who's job is to stick the ball in the back of the net. I would consider Mario Gomez a center forward, even though he scores a lot.

A second striker would be someone like Dennis Bergkamp when he played with Henry at Arsenal. He dropped back into midfield, linked and created chances for the finisher Henry. Generally now, second strikers are being used as lone strikers, like Robin van Persie now.

However, the original article is still good for people new to the beautiful game.