Woman's Soccer - Men's Soccer. Differences

[terpfan68]

Rules exactly the same.

At the risk of being political incorrect and based on my experience of coaching both male and female players of different ages (9-18) for 20 years I have observed:

The male game is more violent. It is faster and the level of fouling is more severe.

The referees are more apt to ignore contact in the male game but if a female player goes to ground there almost always is a foul called.

More fights break out with the males.

Females will be more apt to listen to the coach and at least try to do what was asked of them.

It seemed more important for the female players to "like" the coach when it came to motivation. Not so much for males.

None of my players reached the national level(I guess I wasn't all that good) but several did make provencial teams.

[The Ref]

Females show far more respect to officials than men do.

[king1010]

Females show far more respect to officials than men do.

Ya especially abby wambach and team usa....

[Unnamed Trialist]

Let me give this a try, since I watch both and have even coached both.

 

The men's game has way more grey areas, more edge, and is more fiercely competitive. It is plain nastier. The way a ball is fought for is still quite different,  every ball, all the way through. You also see it the way a team responds as well to being ahead or behind, the pushing ahead or holding behind. There is more urgency, and more clearly individual players have these moments of surge, of drive, when they try to break open a situation or close it down. Players have a sense of tactical discipline, but they can break it when they want, usually, because the team is ready to cover, like when defenders go forward. Men also tend to have the result more clearly in their heads, or at least appear to. They make more exceptions on the field, and the coaches accept that as part of their edge.

 

One thing that is clear is that sheer individual talent shines more, even egotistical talent, brashness plus talent, not because there are not women who have it in superior doses, but because they do not show it. Men do all over the pitch and at all levels.

 

The women's game, as it has now evolved at the higher level, is a bit more by the book, both tactically and in terms of gamesmanship. It is still a bit like something done at a college. We've seen great passing this tournament, as you do in the bigger leagues now, more tactical discipline, more possession or attempts at it, and less obvious errors (keeping has improved greatly), so the game looks like soccer the way it should be played.  You could use your average good women's game as way to teach kids how to play.

 

In this sense it is similar to women's basketball, with that positional discipline, with those who can shoot shooting with perfect technique and making shots, with the standard pick and rolls and high and low post play. I compare it because it also looks like a sport played by the book. University coaching book style. So you have this sense that there is talent, and there is skill on the ball, but part of that is because they are not under half the pressure from the opponent, they are less likely to get a "gift" is they receive with their back to a defender, and they let each other do these things.

 

There is a reason why men's teams end up hating each other on the pitch, from pick up to semipro to the top flight. Women don't seem to be on that level, even given some of the bad blood between a few teams (Colombia or Canada vs the US for example).

 

Going back to the great players. My opinion, but the great women footballers are not as clearly great as the great men. What I am saying is that in the men's game every top team and top nation has a few incredible players doing amazing things, from Ibra to Cesc to Hazard to Keylor Navas. I am not even mentioning the ones listed at the very top. The top women are not so clearly standouts, and not so clearly amazing. They are good, competently and consistenly good. That explains why you'd pick Angerer as world player of the year, because the standouts are not there. This is worth saying if you compare to other sports, in individual sports there are many sporting geniuses, players that stand on their heads. Not in soccer, if you think Marta or Mittag or Wambach, they are players with competitive push and are leaders, and can do great things. But in this WC we have not seen one player really stand out, one player you'd say she is amazing, a star, an idol. And in a men's WC that is never the case, there are always guys from quarter final teams on up you'd really notice.

[Vic]

Good topic.  One quick one...

 

I compare it because it also looks like a sport played by the book. University coaching book style.

 

Canadians grow up playing hockey.  When I grew up, before kids had agendas like corporate CEO's, kids were on the neighbourhood rink every night all winter, and on the street playing ball hockey the rest of the year.  We watched every game that was on TV (with 13 and then 30 channels).  We knew every player in the league.  We swapped hockey cards.  We lived hockey, we breathed it.

 

Basketball in the states.  Same thing.

 

Soccer in Brazil.

 

There's a basketball training center near a place I hang out in the Netherlands, so I go and watch every time I'm there.  The Dutch are the tallest people in the world and they (women and men) play basketball kind of like a lot of Europeans play hockey.  Lots of passing, lots of ball movement.  I can watch 4-5 games going on at a time for an hour and almost never see someone 1v1 someone.  Go to most big inner cities in the states and it's the opposite, you get the ball and you go 1v5.

 

When something is cultural it means players who succeed are usually eminently skilled.  And very comfortable on the ball and taking people on.  Most women who reach the highest level of women's soccer did not grow up living and breathing the game like professional men.  Also, because there have been very, very few strong women's programs in the world which provided opportunities to train full-time round, it's meant success for most women has been the result of a scheduled success while they did other things (students, income jobs) rather than total immersion.  Their "total immersion" is more the result of success than the reason for it.

[Unnamed Trialist]

That is a good explanation Vic, most girls move forward in very structured environments and so play structured. The day the girls in Colombia or Brazil have decent leagues to pick them up at 16 and can pay them, things might change. 

 

Structured is not necessarily a problem though. You are talking basketball, in Spain kids do not play pickup either, they play in clubs and very structured, and Spain is arguably one of the top nations after the US in basketball. 

 

But I can say there are plenty of girls who play with the boys at elementary school in Spain. So they have the skills and love the game, but a few things are missing. One is idols, the other is a league to make you think you could play pro one day. And then into puberty it becomes uncool to play, The girls can't dream here, as they can't in most places. I think that may change, but the dream is still, hey, you could go play NCAA if you are good. 

[The Ref]

I never red carded a woman player.

[gigi riva]

With  the  exception   of  the   Americans   like  Wambach ,  Solo,  etc    Women  do  respect  the  officials   and  there  oponants  and  that  I  can  appreciate .  The  problem  with  Womens  Soccer  is  like  other  Womens   team sports  is  it  is  just  viewed   differently.  Do  not  ask  me  why   but  it  is. 

[baulderdash77]

I coach both girls and boys soccer.  What I will say is that the girls listen to instruction and execute the game plan more than the boys.  They're more technical and disciplined in their approach.  The boys tend to be more individualistic but leave their positions and hang their teammates out to dry more often.  They work hard to recover but the games tend to be more chaotic.

 

The other thing is practice.  The girls listen intently and ask questions.  the boys and it's harder to get them listening because they just want to go.

 

BTW as it relates to the Women's World Cup.  Every single girl on my team watched the games and was following it.  They all have a favorite player.  My daughter's favorite players are Desiree Scott and Christine Sinclair.  About 2/3 of the boys were following it but none as intently as the girls.

[ThruBall]

The women’s game suffers still from the quality of refereeing, WC, NCAA, other leagues. The standard of refereeing is below that of the men’s game. Fouls are not called, yellows are rare, and reds are nearly non-existent in the women’s game.

 

Coaches of women's teams select players who are athletic and powerful as their first priority; still. Player skill and technique are the first priority for Coaches of men's teams.

 

Women players will foul more when increasing their intensity. Men players’ skill will shine more when increasing their intensity.

 

Women players tackle from behind with no regard for player safety as a norm to their game; generally goes without a foul. Men players will tackle from behind with intent to injury; generally is a yellow or a red.

 

Women constantly close their eyes and thrust their heads into dangerous places leaving themselves open to injury and injuring others. Men do not; at least not often.

 

Pressure tactics work almost all the time in the women's game. Pressure tactics are used less often and applied more strategically in the men’s game.

 

Egos are about the same between women and men players.

 

Competitiveness amongst players is equal. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

 

The women’s game suffers still from the quality of refereeing, WC, NCAA, other leagues. The standard of refereeing is below that of the men’s game. Fouls are not called, yellows are rare, and reds are nearly non-existent in the women’s game.

 

 

Coaches of women's teams select players who are athletic and powerful as their first priority; still. Player skill and technique are the first priority for Coaches of men's teams.

 

 

Women players will foul more when increasing their intensity. Men players’ skill will shine more when increasing their intensity.

 

 

Women players tackle from behind with no regard for player safety as a norm to their game; generally goes without a foul. Men players will tackle from behind with intent to injury; generally is a yellow or a red.

 

 

Women constantly close their eyes and thrust their heads into dangerous places leaving themselves open to injury and injuring others. Men do not; at least not often.

 

 

Pressure tactics work almost all the time in the women's game. Pressure tactics are used less often and applied more strategically in the men’s game.

 

 

Egos are about the same between women and men players.

 

 

Competitiveness amongst players is equal. 

 

Sorry, but egos are about the same in tennis, or gymnastics, Competitiveness too. In track and field as well. But in soccer the difference is immense, the women have a huge way to go in that regard.

[rkomar]

Sorry, but egos are about the same in tennis, or gymnastics, Competitiveness too. In track and field as well. But in soccer the difference is immense, the women have a huge way to go in that regard.

 

I think most female stars aren't worshipped the way male soccer stars are.  When they are, I'm sure they'll have the egos to match.  Except for Sinclair.

[Sinc_Tanc_Olympic_Action]

I think women get more "petty" on the field.  Not saying men can't be petty, but not the same way women are.

 

I still have that ugly image of that Canada vs Germany friendly, where during a free kick and a wall was being built, Sinclair accidentally brushed against Simone Laudehr (German midfielder).  What did Laudehr do in response?  Blatantly step on Sinclair's foot (it was in the highlights), and got away with it.  I can't help thinking that if this was a men's game, either the male victim would let it go, or break out in a fight with pushing, shoving and yelling.  Stepping on someone's foot seems very petty - not letting it go, but not going into a full-scale fight either, so I'm just going to do something childish to get back at her.

 

This Laudehr person still bothers me to this day, because she is like a spoiled little girl.