When you think about it, American sportsmen are far better in a one on one situation. They don't do so well in team sports.
they do fine in ice hockey and basketball...only a matter of time before they do well in soccer as well...
Portugal had a significant advantage even before the match began so the result was predictable as was Ronaldo scoring...the dutch needed to go all to win by two goals, Portugal needed only a draw or lose by 1 to advance(with a danish defeat). Ronaldo was going to get many scoring opportunities as the dutch paid little attention to defending...not getting at least one point in the opening match vs the Danes is what killed the dutch, going into matches with the Germans and Portugal with no points predetermined their game plan and their opponent knew it...
well NFL/football isn't a significant international sport making a viable comparison with other countries irrelevant is why I didn't mention it...baseball isn't a strong team sport, it's more a collection of individuals that doesn't require the same level of fluid interaction between teammates as other sports...I should add volleyball as another team sport americans play well...
Still upset a bunch of farmer militia defeated Cornwallis eh? More on point... Soccer is for girls. Men play American football, baseball or rugby.
*grin* Tricky little devil, aren't you. ...throwing those little nuggets out there, above folks heads.
Russian, Czech republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Germany a number of others that take part in "World" championships...NFL? nada....
Give me a break (no pun intended), a soccer player flops around like a fish out of water if they break a nail.
Hockey is still not widely popular. It does not have a significant fanbase in many of those countries. And I am not arguing that since the NFL is not, that hockey is not either. They are two separate identities. But if you are going to nitpick on something I said that you took out of context, you might as well be thorough about it.
it's relative...ice hockey has far more international popularity than NFL...is ice hockey as popular internationally as soccer? no, but that wasn't the the point my initial referral to hockey was an example of a teamsport that americans do as well as any other country...
I said we do well in football in general, meaning it is played very well at all levels and maintains the team mentality. That means we do well at it.
if your referring to NFL you have nothing to compare to...the post that generated this discussion was one that inferred americans didn't play team sports as well as other countries, the NFL is an irrelevant example as no else other than canadians play it so there is no direct comparison to make...soccer americans do play and play reasonably well, that they aren't challenging for the top level is due to coaching inexperience and improperly developed talent not an inability to play team sports...
yes thank you I am right... drawing fouls is common to every team sport...everyone does it, in every sport...defenders cheat(holding, obstructing, tripping, punching what ever you can think of they do it), those who are fouled embellish drawing attention to the foul...that it happens in soccer more than any other sport is BS, anyone who believes it does is naive...