World Cup Soccer vs Power Soccer

The Phillies won yesterday which is always good, but the bad news is that the US World Cup team is tied for second behind Slovenia. Somehow I doubt that Slovenia will be able to hold that top slot for very long with the United States and England right behind them, but it's kind of ironic anyway for the time. I was watching Germany versus Australia yesterday afternoon, and I began to wonder about some of the differences between soccer and power soccer. The biggest difference I noticed is that power soccer is much more dribble oriented while the World Cup match was much more focused on passing. However, I think that this difference can be accounted for by the fact that it is very difficult to lift a power soccer ball. I've only seen it lifted once or twice on YouTube and was only able to be elevated one or two inches. Therefore, power soccer players cannot make runs and try to beat the defender one-on-one while waiting for a pass to come over the top from the midfielders. Any long pass will probably get picked off by some defenseman without ever getting anywhere near its target.

Another difference I noticed was that almost every attack was based with some sort of cross to get the ball into the middle. We do cross sometimes in power soccer, but we mostly attack the middle of the field to challenge the goalie. I think this difference can accounted for because there are many fewer people on a power soccer team, so it is much easier to penetrate the middle. Since only one chair can be playing the ball at a time, why not take it to the goal?

The World Cup continues, a hopeful America can finally live up to the hype that it has brought to the past couple of Cups and put together a nice run.
Photo  by 1Happysnapper (photography) on Flickr

Expansion

The sports world is becoming smaller and smaller. While this movement has been particularly evident in Major League Baseball as many Japanese baseball players have been coming to the American ranks, the NBA is looking to make a move of its own. In a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, I read that David Stern announced the opening of a new NBA office in Johannesburg, South Africa. I think that this move will allow the NBA and basketball in general to tap into the potential of a continent that holds about 1,000,000,000 people. Only 25 players from Africa have ever played on NBA rosters, yet I wonder what would happen if more African players came to the NBA. I think about what happened when Yao Ming came to America after playing in China. He became an even bigger star in his homeland than when he was still there. I bet the same would happen in Africa; players who would be superstars in their own land would become even more than this by entering the NBA simply because it is the ultimate stage for professional basketball. Nothing against the various other professional basketball leagues around the world, but many great players have been recruited from these leagues to join the NBA. From a business perspective, imagine the potential of drawing approximately one seventh of the world behind their continental athletes. Again, think about how many All-Star votes Yao Ming receives every year because of the vast support he receives by being one of the few Chinese players.

Basketball may have been developed in America, but it has become a world sport. It is one of the few sports that seems to have caught on in all corners of the world. Bringing an NBA office to an area will only improve the exposure to the sport and will hopefully encourage athletes in that area to become more involved in the sport and develop into even better players which will therefore increase the quality of worldwide NBA talent.