This weekend, I watched three World Cup matches on television:

1. England vs. Paraguay (1-0)
2. Trinidad & Tobago vs. Sweden (0-0)
3. Mexico vs. Iran (3-1)

I missed the United States vs. Czech Republic game on television, but thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to follow a real-time feed of the game on my computer and see my country's team go down in flames while I worked. The best feature of the simulcast was the sound effect alerts. Whenever I heard the roar of the crowd, I switched over to see what minute the Czechs scored a goal against us. For the curious, the Czech Republic won 3-0.

Admittedly, I don't follow professional soccer with any regularity and I don't know why. If I were to rank sports I like, soccer would come in third, behind baseball and hockey. Basketball and football would round out my top five.

I like soccer for many reasons, but the first three that come to mind would be:

1. Limited substitutions. Each team is only allowed three substitutions per game. Unlike basketball, where coaches can replace players on a whim or players can choose to rest whenever they feel the need, soccer imposes consequences for changing the line-up. It forces teams to consider the optimal time to take out or bring in players. It recognizes the significance of fresh players with fresh legs that can spark a goal or provide a more vigorous defense.
2. No time outs. Time outs in basketball and football are intrusive momentum killers. Instead of trying to shift the momentum on the court or on the field, the coach tries to affect the momentum from the sidelines. In soccer, the players must shift it themselves, while the game is going.
3. The clock doesn't stop. When there is a foul, a penalty kick, a corner kick or a player change, the clock keeps running. None of it happens outside of the game time, outside of the reality of the game. If there are too many interruptions, the officials simply tack time on at the end of the half. Unlike football, where a sixty-minute game takes two hours to play, a ninety-minute soccer match really lasts ninety minutes.

One of the reasons I don't like soccer is the bad acting that occurs whenever players are fouled or believe they've been fouled. For a good ten seconds, they are in pure agony, sprawled on the ground, exhibiting enough distress to convince any reasonable onlooker that they'll never walk, let alone play soccer, ever again. Moments later, they're miraculously back on their feet, running around as though nothing ever happened. When little kids pull similar stunts, it's somewhat adorable. When grown men do it, it drives me crazy.