I just want to say thank you to United States men's head soccer coach Bob Bradley for finally speaking out on a worldly stage about something in the game of soccer that keeps me far from respecting the game - flopping and pretending to be in incredible pain on the chance the player around them gets a yellow or red card.In my opinion, this is one of the most cowardice things a player can do. All it shows is you're afraid of losing the game and you don't have the confidence that your team can beat their team at full strength. It's one of the cheapest moves a player can make.
Sure, players in basketball and even football will act to get a call from time to time, but the penalty for the other player is much more severe in soccer. In basketball, the player is called for a foul - not much of a big deal more often than not. In football, the other team gets to move up the yardage amount the penalty is called for. But in soccer, the penalized player could be ejected and miss the next game, a much bigger consequence.
As Bradley said, what this does is take some of the best competitors out of the game, ruining what could be great soccer. Personally, I don't know what that looks like because I don't watch much soccer (flopping being one of the major reasons).
All I'm saying is I'm glad someone has finally stepped up and mentioned it on a global level. I think people in the U.S. would respect the game of soccer more if players didn't fall and over act as if they're in so much agony.
So please, knock it off and you may find me paying more attention to soccer.
