re: Amazingly, American Football is not in Europe... why?

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What you describing seems more akin to basketball

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Somewhat. The pressing systems are akin to basketball, but you have a massive field and only 10 outfield players. No team in the world can press for 90 minutes.

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seems like too many variables to formulate a competent strategy to defend... wouldn’t the best strategy be “see ball get ball”???

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There are variables to consider, and I'll get to that in a second. But with the ability of top level soccer players, asking them to chase the ball is almost assuring them a loss. It isn't easy to win possession consistently, because the ball can move in any direction.

Thus you need a structure and a way of organizing the field. A consistent defensive approach limits the amount of variables, and thus you can only focus on certain things. Teams are structured in a variety of ways. You can set up so that you are directly occupying passing lanes, which forces opposing players to hold the ball to create new passing angles, which is when you press. You can set up so that you press every player except for the weakest on the ball. You can set up so you concede wide areas, forcing teams to play lower-percentage passes into the box. You can set up a pressing system where you get the offense moving the ball quickly around the back, but so quick they miss downfield opportunities, a system called a false press. You can set your team so that your wingers remain high and wide, which limits the movement of the opposing wing back.

Each decision with regard to formation creates another problem on the field. A 3 man back line will lead to a numerical disadvantage somewhere else. A 2-man midfield can easily be played around. A 4-man midfield set up as a diamond can get too narrow, relying too much on width from defenders. All those decisions with regard to formation and spacing create possible issues elsewhere. Like in American football, you want to avoid a 1 v 1 situation in wide areas.

Two teams can set up in the same relative formation, such as a 4-2-3-1, and employ it completely differently. A team may feel they had an advantage somewhere between two individual players, and the team shape attempts to accent that advantage.

So while all teams want to win the ball quickly, the best way to do that is to drill a defensive shape so players know what to do in each of the likely situations they'll see in a game. It isn't different from the purpose of practice in American football, or the purpose of practice in sports generally, which is to expose players to possibly unfamiliar situations so they know how to react appropriately.

None of it is improvised though. The game, just like football, limits itself based on who you play. Some of the approaches may be more philosophical (as in this is the way we always play and it is up to the opposition to stop us) but the modern game is as analytic as any other modern sport.

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Talent is much more of a determining factor in football. There was nothing any team could really do to slow down LSU this year. 

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Holy shite dude using LSU as an example is fricking retarded.

LSU had always had talent. LSU is usually at the top for most players in the NFL yet we never sniffed the playoffs.

It wasnt until they brought in a Wonderboy playmaker and started outscheming teams that LSU took the next step



Also comparing college football to professional soccer is dog brains shite

How many years straight has Bayern Munich won the bundealiga?

American football is complicated and requires a lot of people. And let's not forget, a lot of specialized people. I think the Europeans find it interesting, but a bit confusing.

I will state, I read that back in the day, the Soviet Red Army hockey team took in an NFL game while touring North America (think it was a Vikings game in the Metrodome). I understand that they came away impressed with the "man's sport" they watched.

Also remember watching Joe Montana go to Australia shortly after retiring, and he participated with an Australian Rules football team some. Remember, Joe was an average sized QB; he was the biggest guy on the field with the Aussies.

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Most 4-5 year olds can completely grasp and play soccer at its core and play the game to its fullest. That's really all you need to know.

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Man, I'm not even much of a soccer fan, but that's just retarded.

5 year olds play soccer like a bunch of honey bees chasing a pot of honey.

Bc they're soccer figs over there.

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American football is not in Europe, Asia, South America, etc, etc. Of all the sports out there, the fact that American football has not taken off around the world is amazing to me.

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It shouldn't be, it is a terrible spectator sport. It takes 4 hours to play the damn game, and the officials can just arbitrarily decide to take over a game.

Soccer is a much better sport to watch. The rest of the world has it right.

That said, I hate soccer and love football, but I understand the differences.

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Rugby is ok, but soccer is for girls and those who fall down and play hurt.

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I know the most popular sport in the world is really going to struggle with not having you as a fan because you think it is for girls. You’d probably much prefer to watch sweaty men in very tight pants bending over at the beginning of a play, pushing against each other, chasing one another, grabbing and wrestling another man to the ground while others pile on top to end a play. That’s definitely a sport for men to enjoy.