Compare and Contrast: American Football V. Soccer

American Football vs. Soccer American football and soccer are two popular sports. Soccer is considered to be the most popular sport in the world and American football is known as America's favorite sport. Soccer is actually called "football" or "futbol" in other areas of the world. While both sports are somewhat alike, they have major differences that make them so unique and enjoyable for their beloved fans. First off, American football is played with an elliptical shaped ball while a soccer ball is played with a sphere shaped ball. Football players are usually large and strong because of the contact of the sport which requires them padding to protect themselves, including shoulder pads, helmets, and padded pants. Soccer players are usually quite a bit smaller and have to be very well conditioned. They only have shin guards to protect their legs. Both games are played with 11 players on each team. The general idea in each sport like most sports is to score more points than the other team. Moving on to scoring, American football awards a team six points for a touchdown (carrying the ball into the opponent's end zone by running or passing and catching the ball), one point for an extra point (kicking the ball through the uprights after a touchdown), three points for a field goal (kicking the ball through the uprights) and two points for a safety (tackling a player from the other team with the ball in their own end zone). In soccer points are scored by kicking the ball into the net. The players cannot use their hands whatsoever to score or pass. The only player who can use their hands is the goalie (the player who protects the ball from making it into the net). A football field is 120 yards long, including two 10-yard deep end zones on both sides and about 30 yards wide. A soccer field can range anywhere from 100 yards to 130 yards and 50 yards to 100 yards wide. The time frames of the two sports are completely different. American football goes by four 15