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Comment by ajuc | Hacker News Reader

Average top-level soccer game ends something like 2-1 nowadays (maybe 3-1? it's certainly going up with time).

Average semi-professional game ends something like 6-3.

Average kids on the backyard soccer game ends 10-5 or something like that :)

Compared to "real" players kids suck as goalkeepers but so what? They are still having fun. The score doesn't matter that much at that level anyway.

Kids also usually play on smaller fields with smaller goals but it's not mainly because of scoring chance - it's because schools don't have the space and kids don't have the stamina to run for 90 minutes on a full sized football pitch.

I don't think anybody minds weird scores in lower level games.

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Problem is that if the net is too big, it will be different game. I was maybe too generic with "kids". Youngsters (cca 10 years and more) are playing in official nets on full size field, so if they were bigger they couldn't catch almost anything that goes directly into any of the corner, or they would have to be away from net extra few meters. This would change game drastically. Especially with young players I think it is much more important to build up chance, pass and "play", not only shoot slapshots from blue line. Also, in non-pro games, there are plenty of goals. There is no need to have much more. If you play on amateur level, like I do now, you would see that there is usually problem to find enough goalies (for many reasons) and with bigger net it would be even worse, because if you are under 190cm you would be there for laughs.

> Youngsters (cca 10 years and more) are playing in official nets on full size field, so if they were bigger they couldn't catch almost anything that goes directly into any of the corner, or they would have to be away from net extra few meters.

Keep in mind that the number of kids who can pick a corner and kick a ball into it consistently is pretty small too.

The skill level of the goalie and the skill level of the kickers will actually likely balance out.

In fully professional adult soccer if you pick the corner further away from the goalie (doesn't matter if high or low) you'll score 99% of the time. It's just that it's very hard to do.

> Average kids on the backyard soccer game ends 10-5 or something like that :)

He is not talking about backyard kids. He is talking about teenagers and adults playing hockey in hobbyist amateur teams. These typically tend to be much better players then kids in backyard.

These are results of last few matches at regional level that reserve team from my city has played: 5-1, 3-0, 3-4, 11-1, 5-0, 8-0, 14-0

These are semi-professional adults playing on full sized football field with regular sized goals for full 90 minutes.

It's not unheard of to score or lose 20 goals at that level :)

I dont see how that is argument for anything. The bigger net would change it to 40 or something. The complain is not about how many goals happen, but about how the game plays.

Also, I am still not talking about "reserve team". I am talking about hobbyists who want to have some fun while exercising and socializing, who maybe used to play in some team as kids but dropped out never being close to be stars.

Some adults don't just watch sports, they do actively play them.

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