Moans and groans could be heard from the stands about midway through the second half of the men's soccer game against Colby last Saturday. By the beginning of the first overtime, players' moms had switched from cheering on their sons to discussing back-to-school shopping. Finally, after a total of 110 minutes of soccer-the 90 minutes of regulation time plus the two 10-minute overtimes-the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Another more publicized soccer game recently ended with the same score: the June 17 World Cup match between the United States and Italy.
Such a low-scoring outcome is common in the game of soccer. In the 2006 World Cup, which was held in Germany this summer, a total of 147 goals were scored in the Cup's 64 games. That's an average of 2.3 goals per game-pretty low compared to scoring totals in basketball, which often total over 200 points in a game, or even baseball, which tend to total at least five runs, and generally more, per game.
The low-scoring nature of soccer didn't faze a couple of Tufts students who attended World Cup games. Junior Sophia Meadows and sophomore Alice Graff both attended World Cup games in June.
Meadows saw a total of four games: the three United States games (the U.S. team did not advance past the first round) and the Italy vs. Australia game in the Round of 16.
Graff attended a "friendly" match between Spain and Croatia. "Friendly" matches are like scrimmages and are often used to prepare for World Cup and other meaningful competition. Even though the game's result was unimportant, Graff said tensions were high among the fans.
"They [stadium officials] thought the Croatian fans were going to riot or something," Graff said. "When we first got there they tried to get us to sit in the Spain section even though our tickets were for the Croatian section, because I guess we looked like we weren't up for a riot. So yeah, there were all these riot police with guns and such lining the door."
Graff said she sat among the Croatian fans because her next-door neighbor's mom moved to Croatia, and she felt a kind of loyalty to the country.
Meadows said she wore red, white and blue to the U.S. games, and that she saw a lot of the same people at all three games. "Obviously you're rooting for your country," she said, "but especially for European countries, it [the World Cup] was a big deal."
Meadows said that in every bar in Germany, crowds of people gathered constantly to watch and discuss games.
Junior Lukas Zuegg, who is currently studying abroad in China, expressed the same sentiments about the national allegiance felt by soccer fans. Although Zuegg, who was born in Italy and lived there until age 16, did not attend any World Cup games, he was in Italy when Italy played its semifinal game and the final against France.
"The atmosphere was like that of a big family, especially after we won," Zuegg said.
According to Zuegg, soccer is a much bigger deal in Europe than in the United States. "In the U.S., it's mainly an entertaining thing, where you go, sit down, have a sausage and a beer and at best yell 'f-- off' to the other team's supporters," he said.
Zuegg explained that the European soccer atmosphere is very different. "In Europe, team games, especially football [soccer] is like a religion. People have their gravestones engraved with their favorite club and [name] their sons after players," he said.
Meadows said she went to the games with her immediate family, as well as with her aunt and uncle who live in Germany. "My Dad was really excited," she said. "He loves to watch soccer on TV."
For many Americans though, watching soccer on TV is just about as exciting as listening to a boring lecture.
Junior Jake Brotter is one such American who does not find soccer entertaining. "If I have a friend on a team then I'll enjoy a live game, but I don't watch it on TV," he said.
Besides being a low-scoring game, other fundamental differences exist between soccer and more traditional American sports, such as American football. The game consists of two 45-minute halves, and the only stoppages of the game occur in the case of an injury or a foul.
"It's not very marketable to broadcast ... soccer has no commercials," said Michael Burshteyn, a junior on the men's soccer team at Tufts.
Although soccer still remains relatively unpopular as a spectator sport in the United States, it continues to grow as a player's sport, especially among American youth. According to the Web site of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), registration on U.S. Youth Soccer Association teams climbed approximately 90 percent from 1990-91 to 2002-03 to nearly 3.2 million players.
Furthermore, the Web site of the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, which describes itself as a non-profit "whose mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of America's youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition," reports that over 6,000 clubs and leagues have been formed by the organization's state associations.
Burshteyn has some experience in the youth-soccer trends: he coached a soccer team for boys under the age of 10 in Medford last spring. Burshteyn said that the boys he coached already have an appreciation for the game. "Kids start playing when they're five or six," he said. "It's just a matter of sticking with it."
Not everyone who enjoys soccer games did stick with it, however: "I played one game in kindergarten," Graff said.
Despite her lack of playing experience, Graff said she enjoyed the World Cup game she attended. After all, what college-aged female wouldn't like to watch a sport in which hot and sweaty players rip off their shirts and dance around after every game?
