I live in America and I voted for Soccer and don't follow it on an international level.

STOP ASSUMING THINGS OK

I like Soccer more than Ice Hockey, because its less.....SUPER FAST + VIOLENT.

I live in America and I voted for Soccer and don't follow it on an international level.

STOP ASSUMING THINGS OK

I like Soccer more than Ice Hockey, because its less.....SUPER FAST + VIOLENT.

This except the super fast + violent thing, I just like Soccer...

I enjoy hockey for the high level of finesse and teamplay (and speed, of course).  I never liked the fights.  If I wanted to watch fights I'd watch boxing or UFC or something.

You can't deny that a good clean hit is one of the best things there is in ice hockey though. Too bad it happens so rarely. But like all good things in sports there's usually only a couple of really exciting moments in them. Hockey is more fast-paced but a bit like football most of the game is dumping the puck/ball somewhere and then retrieve it in order to try an attack. Sometimes there's a free kick/face off in the attacking zone and things can become dangerous. But more often than not the game is fairly stagnant with plenty of time for the commentators to talk about previous games, records, trivia etc.

One thing I like about football though is the strategy of it. When watching a football game it's... quite strategical, slightly slow with people moving up and down into positions of advantage. A bit like real-time chess. With Ice Hockey and its stop-start nature it's more tactical. There's quick bursts of tactical play and often when a game goes on for too long without a whistle blown it becomes disjointed because there was no long-term strategy. (Or goes too long without a line change, though there also tiredness comes into play.)

It's almost fascinating trying to compare the two 8^) Especially as I love them both, if I didn't have my ideological reason for picking Football I would have gone with Ice Hockey for sure. (You can ask a kid in the middle of nowhere in Africa, South America or South-east Asia "what is Ice Hockey", and they might scratch their heads. Chances are they not only know what Football is but has probably played it too. And whereas people in the Northern Europe and North America probably know exactly what Ice Hockey is, most of them has probably played football too.)

Everyone loves football Now I need to go back to schoolwork that I can't do because this computer for some reason lacks any visible USB port.

  I think hockey is the more enlightened sport. It is probably the fastest sport there is, puck often travelling in excess off 100kmph, and players always on the move.  It reconginzes the benefits for outlets of human agression, unline soccer where they wiggle a little flag at you if you lose your cool. In soccer, every goal looks the same in my opinion. In hockey however, the finesse of handling the puck can be so refined, that true talent is hard to miss.
  You will never see anything as beautiful or skillful as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJs3VqUpuU">THIS</a> in a game of soccer. (*esp no.5)

You will never see anything as beautiful or skillful as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJs3VqUpuU">THIS</a> in a game of soccer. (*esp no.5)

Two words: Johan Cruijff.

In soccer, every goal looks the same in my opinion

I actually feel the opposite is true. I mean, the hockey goal is so small compared to soccer's that there are less possible variations of paths for the puck to travel into it compared to a soccer ball.

You will never see anything as beautiful or skillful as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJs3VqUpuU">THIS</a> in a game of soccer. (*esp no.5)

That just seemed so unimpressing to be honest, but I'm sure they're great if you enjoy the sport.

Go check out some Cruyff or Bergkamp or Van Persie, then.

I'd prefer to check out some Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy, Lecavilier, Ovechkin and Crosby myself.

That just seemed so unimpressing to be honest, but I'm sure they're great if you enjoy the sport.

I thought the same thing about the soccer highlights.  Except for that clever penalty shot by Cruiff, where he passed the ball instead of shooting it.  That was classic.

Soccer is such a hero solo sport.  It's like everyone just plays on their own until they pass it.  After that, they just lightly jog to the open area on the field.  Unlike in hockey where you need solid teamwork all the time from all the players on the ice to be able to compete.  The guys in the backfield of soccer just watch the forwards play and aren't involved at all when on the attack.  It's flipped when on the defense.

Oh man Johan Cruyff was awesome. I've only really seen him on collectable cards and rarely in action. I kinda wished I had lived back then. I especially loved how he didn't fall when the tackles touched him. Nowadays everyone falls even at the slightest touch. That's not real football.

Soccer is such a hero solo sport.  It's like everyone just plays on their own until they pass it.  After that, they just lightly jog to the open area on the field.  Unlike in hockey where you need solid teamwork all the time from all the players on the ice to be able to compete.  The guys in the backfield of soccer just watch the forwards play and aren't involved at all when on the attack.  It's flipped when on the defense.

Shows how much you know about the sport. Football is very much a team effort or otherwise you've never seen a football team take the ball from their defensive zone to the offensive zone. I won't bash hockey because I like hockey a lot. But to say that Football is more of a solo effort than ice hockey is just plain wrong. In Ice hockey there are fewer players on the field at once, creating a more intense grouping where basically half the team can chase after a puck (that being two-three players) and help out a teammate stuck in the boards. In football the same thing happens. A player is stuck with another guy marking him good but instead of half the team another player comes in and helps. Making the amount of players active just as many. Depending on team tactics each player also has a role on the field and they are supposed to keep that role, if it is holding a certain zone free. And the other team mates are also supposed to be able to count on that role to work. In ice hockey similar things happen but on a different scale. A defender has a certain position to hold in offensive and defensive play. (it's most apparent in power play, with the blue line players, but it's always there). In neither sport is a solo effort encouraged unless it happens on the soloing player's terms. Usually a forward who is running more or less alone. In football he's running, seeing no one to pass to (possibly because of a long ball counter-attack tactic) he tries to keep the ball as long as possible, alternatively getting it in the net. In Ice Hockey a player breaks through on an attack, he has a supporting player behind him (probably) but usually it's a solo effort toward the goal. In a wave attack the teamwork is always there. The ball/puck is passed between players in an effort to get it forward (more apparent in Football because it takes more than two passes to get it over to the other side) and soloing usually end badly.

Okay that was a huge chunk of text. Now I need to see some Bergkamp action 8^) I have to admit that the hockey goals seem less interesting to me (but that's probably because of the low resolution that makes it impossible to see the puck). And could someone find the awesomest goalkeeper saves? Because in hockey they sometimes make some pretty incredible saves with that stick. Although an impossible save in football is something to behold too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbmI6-YSnQ

this kid is going to be around another 20 years. i'm looking forward to it.

for those who want a goalie stealing a game: roberto luongo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA3voCbtNhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO2Twg-SoMo

and since im a leafs fan and i remember this one (one of the few):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aDv7VpbP0o

Luongo

When Luongo does a pushup, he doesn't push himself off of the earth, he pushes the earth away from him.

Top Saves from playoffs 2005-06
Top Saves from playoffs 2006-07

I guess I don't see that kind of action in soccer.  I never see a forward pass back to a defender for him to let a huge kick rip into the net.  Maybe it's the camera work or that I don't watch much soccer.

I do agree that it's a team sport, but with 11 players on the field, I wouldn't expect many plays to involve the entire team.  Most attacks in hockey involve four (or even five) of the players on ice, if you count the defenseman passing the puck to the winger to start a 3-on-2.

Best Goal in the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ1hlFlag68
Maradona to England in the 1986 World Cup.

Messi's imitation of the best goal in history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrao0ROwpAM

That Ovechkin goal is out of this world. That is just pure awesome.

I like saves a lot more than goals. Most goals you've seen before but there's always a new way to save those impossible shots. The ones I like best is when ice hockey goalkeeper do football saves (like the leafs save of throwing himself from one side of the goal to the other) or when football goalies make ice hockey saves (like number two from this list, doing what is basically a glove save.)

Also if you're not impressed by some of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsJn8h_8PDw something's wrong with you. (the one at 1:30 and the one following it. The one at 2:30 is also something to watch)

Also in football. No there isn't anyone passing back to the defender and letting him do the goal. Instead they have another positional called midfielder that sometimes do these really heavy cannons that can go in. Most of both the 11-man teams are also usually present in offensive free kicks and corners. Regular attacks with all the men up would be so open to counter-attack that it isn't even funny. But the same percentage of people are in a football attack as in a non-powerplay ice hockey attack.

Messi imitating Maradona in another goal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcG1wjzsmXQ

Shinan, the midfielders of europe are different to those from south america.
The position that Roman Riquelme plays is called "enganche". Basically it is a role in which you are not a foward nor a 5 (usually 5 are the ones that do the dirty job, they recover balls and organize the distribution). Well an enganche organizes, but more than that, he is the main creator of attacking possibilities. Maradona and Riquelme are pure enganches. There are very few enganches because Europe likes to run run run. And having someone like Riquelme involves pause, rotation and creation of danger situations. That's why I love south American football than European. It is more "lyrical" as they call it.

I'm torn between the two so I'm not going to vote. I think hockey is generally more exciting than soccer (ghaha haha i am spiting you shepperd), but I appreciate the skill and effort in soccer a lot and the world cup is pretty much the best sporting event there is.