The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Recent conversation with a friend regarding hockey and soccer sparked this column. He made a comment stating that more skill and strategy is needed to play soccer than hockey. It's difficult to argue that more strategy is needed in soccer. Hockey is such a fast paced game that making the smart play is important. Is it really necessary to say what happens when a player makes a stupid decision? Now skill might not be a stretch. He came to this conclusion because in soccer you don't use a stick to score-it's all body. My desire for watching soccer over the last 10 years dwindled. I won't go into the reasons because that's not the point. Now I only watch the UEFA tournament and the World Cup which is this summer. In the time I've watched the sport, I have seen some incredible goals. One that sticks out was scored by Brazilian superstar, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira known as 'Ronaldinho'. In a tournament close to two years ago, he was at least 25 feet from the net, faked out a defender with body movement in the same spot and with fancy footwork (picture a hockey player moving his stick side to side) then kicks the ball and picks the corner on the goalie's left side. I think pulling that off took a lot of leg strength. If you're curious enough to see his wizardry, check out this link. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/73796/ronaldinho_best_moments/. Unfortunately, they don't show that goal. Ronaldinho, the 2004 and 2005 FIFA World Player of The Year, is soccer's version of Mario Lemieux. Even if you're not a soccer fan, you can't help but be mesmerized with his skills. The moves Ronaldinho can pull off with his body validate my friend's belief that soccer players have more skill. I know what you might be thinking. How can these players have more skill when they score so few goals on a net so big? There is more passing in soccer, but the biggest difference I believe lies in the offside call. A player can never be behind the defense before the ball is kicked to them. In hockey, as long as you don't get into the zone before the puck, you're home free. You have to run your butt off to get behind a soccer defense, once you've done that, you still have to beat the goalie. Teams play so well defensively and know how to check their opponents that you really have to earn a goal. While soccer has that on hockey, putting the biscuit in the net is more entertaining to watch. I enjoy seeing goals and lots of them. Perhaps that's my Canadian side coming out, but I still have lots of respect for the game of soccer. What hockey has that soccer can't match is the speed factor, and physical game. Of course it's unfair to give hockey players the speed advantage because they are on skates. The fact players have to take hits while trying to score makes hockey a challenge. People will argue that the skill level in hockey can be comparable to soccer because officials have been told to crack down on anything that hinders the superstars' ability to shine, but it's impossible to argue that one sport isn't more skillful to another when the only thing an athlete can rely on is their body.
