Why China doesn’t dominate soccer • Hacker News Board

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#41

Post by ggg9990 » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC

moorhosj wrote: post #20

aaavl2821 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's similar to the US. I think a lot of it just comes down to the number of kids that grow up playing a sport i.e. the talent pool. In the US lots of kids try playing soccer but most focus more on baseball / basketball / football / hockey. Whereas in countries where soccer is the main sport the talent pool is larger and you have tons of talented kids who've been playing for two decades

Yet, the US dominates in women’s soccer. Maybe there are fewer options for them to play other sports (football specifically)?

The number of women playing sports seriously is much higher in the US than in most other countries due to Title IX and cultural reasons.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#42

Post by erikb » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:03 PM UTC

zhdc1 wrote: post #19

This is like asking why Brazil (pop 208M) and Nigeria (pop 191m) don't field competitive cricket teams. Interestingly enough, China does have a fairly decent women's soccer team (~17th in the world), so they must be doing something right.

> This is like asking why Brazil (pop 208M) and Nigeria (pop 191m) don't field competitive cricket teams.

Why? Soccer is by far the most popular sport in China for quite some time now.

I think you need to spend a generation or two to also get the systems right, tho.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#43

Post by eftpotrm » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:04 PM UTC

megaman22 wrote: post #26

kenjackson wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the US it is more about the quality of athletes and interest in the sport. The best athletes don't play soccer. They go to football, basketball, and to some extent baseball. On my son's club basketball team they regularly get some of the best soccer players in the city joining, and dropping soccer. The inverse (great basketball players joining soccer and leaving basketball) rarely/never happens.

When I was in school, we played soccer to get in shape for basketball season (we were too small to field a football team). People tried really hard to push soccer, and we were actually better at soccer than basketball, but soccer just never had the same kind of excitement. You need too many people and too much space to actually play soccer, compared to a little bit of driveway and a ubiquitous hoop for basketball - y…

Three kids, one ball, not very much space. One goes in goal (if needs be a jumper or coat on each side), the other two compete to put the ball past them x times, then rotate the goalkeeper. Continue ad nauseam.

Or go to a park and practice ball skills, solo. Ex-England captain Wayne Rooney was famous for having done that for hours at a time as a kid.

I'm not actually a particular soccer fan and quite enjoy basketball, but it's definitely not true that soccer has higher kit, space or numbers requirements to get in a game as a kid.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#44

Post by rc_hadoken » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

ggg9990 wrote: post #39

China plays the US for the gold medal in Olympic BEACH VOLLEYBALL. They can dominate anything they want, they just haven’t invested the effort and money into soccer yet. There are more popular sports in China like basketball which they will go after first.

Basketball? Yeah, I'm all for chasing and achieving goals...dreams in this case. But China ain't going nowhere in Basketball any time in my lifetime..or two lifetimes at that.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#45

Post by kneel » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:13 PM UTC

Having an elite soccer team requires talented players, one of the most important talents is elite running speed.

To have elite running speed you need to have a higher torso/leg ratio, basically long legs and a high center of gravity.

There are regional differences around the world with torso/leg ratios. China is on the lower end, much of Africa is on the high end.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#46

Post by endisukaj » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:15 PM UTC

bilbo0s wrote: post #28

endisukaj wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cricket is not the most popular sport of those countries. Football is.

I think you may have misinterpreted zhdc1's point. I think they mean to say that if Brazilians and Nigerians have a cultural preference for football, why attempt to force cricket onto them?

I didn't misinterpret it, but even in the article it's mentioned that China's most popular sport is Football. So it's the same as in Brazil in that respect.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#47

Post by scarejunba » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:20 PM UTC

ggg9990 wrote: post #39

China plays the US for the gold medal in Olympic BEACH VOLLEYBALL. They can dominate anything they want, they just haven’t invested the effort and money into soccer yet. There are more popular sports in China like basketball which they will go after first.

Basketball is more popular than football in China? Article says opposite.

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#48

Post by mdekkers » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

paywall

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#49

Post by moorhosj » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

zhdc1 wrote: post #30

moorhosj wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet, the US dominates in women’s soccer. Maybe there are fewer options for them to play other sports (football specifically)?

The US actually has a fairly good men's national team. As weak as CONCACAF is, there's a reason why they've qualified for seven of the last eight World Cups - and why their tie with Trinidad and Tobago was so surprising.

Currently 25th in FIFA rankings (3rd in CONCACAF). Is there any other major men's sport where the US ranks outside the top 20 (maybe cricket)?

- 15th in rugby https://www.worldrugby.org/rankings/mru?lang=en

- 6th in tennis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITF_Rankings#Men

- 4th in hockey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IIHF_World_Ranking

- 2nd in volleyball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIVB_World_Rankings

Re: Why China doesn’t dominate soccer

#50

Post by ashwinaj » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #3

Seems pretty weak and unsupported. It can be summed up as "China doesn't excel at soccer because of authoritarianism and because the sport is not well understood by anyone and central planning doesn't help". Ok, if you say so. Where's the evidence?

Well put. Another stupid "Hate China" propaganda piece; no wonder people have lost faith in journalism.