Freddy Adu trains at 6 min/mile pace.

...Joe, you make it sound as if 'Every guy/girl' on the soccer field is running all-out/balls to walls every second of the game!

mile condition. Soccer is probably the most physically demanding team sport on the cardiovascular system.

I've watched soccer games a few times and maybe I'm missing something, but what about the NBA??? Or for that matter the WNBA?

That's a team sport right? And as for physically demanding how about Ice Hockey???

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plausible. i have a soccer friend (D1 in college, still active player and coach) who runs 4-5 times a week, 2-3 miles per session. All at 6:00 min/mile pace. If you aren't running that many miles, you should run them fast.

Professional soccer players cover a total distance of 11.01±1.12km during a game. Central defenders ran

less (p < 0.001) both in total distance 10.02±0.653km and at high intensity 0.571±0.209km. The central midfielders ran

a higher total distance 11.57±0.986km (p < 0.001). During the 2nd half the players walked 4.8% more (p < 0.001) but

had less jog, run and high speed distance (p < 0.001).

©Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2007) Suppl. 10

http://www.jssm.org

I'd like to see you go make our national team

and everyone who has read Once A Runner are laughing their asses off right now.

6 minute mile doesn't surprise me at all, even for a high school player. The real question would be at what distance.

Every soccer player thinks he can run fast. The kicker is that they rarely realize a good runner can hold that pace without time outs, water breaks, substitutions, off-the-ball jogs, and any of the dozen other rest periods the get during a game. Their games are more comparable to a light intensity, high volume interval workout than an actual race.

Many shitty soccer players are extremely fast. Many great soccer players are slow. Few have much stamina to speak of.

BTW LRC censors more content than China

Sure, the average footballer won't outrun a dedicated runner. But don't knock them too hard. There was a thread here earlier about Brian Budd's 800m time. In the UK Superstars Dennis Wise (a tubby midfield troublemaker) did a 2min 800m after he had retired from football.

I'd say they would be out of their depth in a 5k, but 400-1500m they would beat most pro-athletes (but not pro-runners).

It's not unheard of for football players to be fast. Arsenal's Walcott has been timed at like 10.2-10.3 in the 100m, and he's skinny. Not sprinter like at all.

It's probably unlikely that they'll do an endurance time trial but it is an important part of the game. I'm sure that we've all seen the completely random guys who could pull off some insane LD shit off of talent alone, and I bit that in elite level football, there's a disproportionate amount of those kind of guys.

I should add that Freddy Adu should concentrate on his football skills more than his running as he is complete shite at footy. In general a great footballer with low fitness will do better in the job than a crap footballer with great fitness (You Tube - Matt Le Tissier vs Theo Walcott).

Attenborough got it right.

Except Steve McManaman - he ran cross country for England.

Football (soccer) players are sprinters. They need be good at short, sharp, explosive sprints. They very rarely run for more than 10 seconds at a time. Also, kicking a ball as hard as they do requires powerful fast twitch muscles. They're terrible at any kind of long distance runs. Players like Theirry Henry could have probably ran a really quick 400/800 but he was a beautiful looking runner. Very few top football players would be able to post anything respectable over a mile.

I know a guy who was a goalie for a semi-pro team. To even make it through tryouts you had to run a sub 5 mile, even the goalies. I would have to say there are tons of athletes in the wrong sport

I don't think anyone in soccer, especially those playing in Europe, are in the wrong $port.

A. Hipster wrote:

Nashville wrote:

umm, no. They may be good athletes, but if they lined up against the average college 400/800 runner they would get destroyed.

Doubt it. I know a guy who was an above average D3 soccer player and could run a 48 sec 400. I'm sure that plenty of world class players can run faster than that.

I broke 50 in the 400 and scored goals in soccer when I played pick up games with my friends. I should be in the MSL.

joe9090 wrote:

Freddy Adu played well in the Gold Cup, where the US eventually lost to Mexico in the finals 4-2. He impressed the coach, and it is evident that playing in Greece is helping his game. Adu is now most likely a member of the US national team.

As for running a 6 minute mile that is a cake walk for any professional soccer player. I would say most players on the US national team are in sub 5 minute mile condition. Soccer is probably the most physically demanding team sport on the cardiovascular system.

"Soccer is probably the most physically demanding team sport on the cardiovascular system." ?? You've clearly never watched a game of Rugby League.

A 7 footer who weights 260 on UW's basketball team can run a 5:20 mile. I'm sure Freddy Adu can do a 5 mile training run at around 6 minute pace (maybe it's 6:15 pace, but that'd be close enough in my book).

I think a lot of you guys are really underestimating soccer players. I'd bet at least half of them that play at a high school level or higher could be decent at some event 400m to 10k. Obviously different for different types of players. Most of the kids on my highschool and college teams were soccer players until they were at least 15 or 16

yeah, but that 5:20 was probably on UW indoor oversized trampoline track. that's only worth a 5:45 on your average track.

I think you're overestimating what soccer players are capable of running based on the fact that a few of them might have the talent to be decent mid distance runners. Most of them are fast sprinters and could probably crack 5 in the mile. That doesn't not mean that any of them could be trained to a sub 4 mile or that they are in the "wrong" sport.