I bet Half the World Cup Soccer players can run a 4:10 mile.

Half run sub 4:10? Not a chance. Maybe a couple. I'll take that bet.

Like others have said. Soccer players aren't milers. More like 400/800 guys. I'd bet about half of the Olympians in the 400 and 800 could not break 4:10 in the mile (all of the 800 runners probably could but only a few of the 400 runners could). You don't just wake up one day and decide to run under 4:10 in the mile. It takes a lot of talent and a lot of track specific training.

I played a lot of soccer growing up and I was one of the better players only because I was a better runner than everyone else (faster and better endurance). I tried out for the varsity soccer team at my moderately sized high school (2,000 students) as a 9th grader. Part of the tryout included running tests. I finished a close 2nd to an upperclassman in both the 5 min and 10 min runs (or maybe they were 6 and 12 minute runs, I don't remember now) and we were both pretty far from the rest of the field. But I was small and my soccer skills weren't that great so I didn't make the varsity team. So I ran cross country instead. I made varsity, but I was probably 4th to 6th man on the team all year. Sophomore year (after a year of high school track and cross country training, running maybe 2:10/4:40) I tried out for soccer again and completely cleaned up on the running tests.

In college our soccer team would do similar tests on the track. I remember watching them one day either before or after cross country practice. None of them could break 5:00, most could break 6:00.

That's just anecdotal evidence, but if we hear enough of those stories it becomes clear that there isn't a large population of high caliber distance runners in soccer.

At the end of the day, I don't think soccer players win or lose based on their endurance. Maybe at the youth level. As the level of the game increases though it's much more about top end speed and soccer skill.

sunflower wrote:

Half run sub 4:10? Not a chance. Maybe a couple. I'll take that bet.

Like others have said. Soccer players aren't milers. More like 400/800 guys. I'd bet about half of the Olympians in the 400 and 800 could not break 4:10 in the mile (all of the 800 runners probably could but only a few of the 400 runners could).

I don't think any of the 400 runners could, unless you mean with specific training, then MAYBE.

Good post but 2,000 kids in a HS is NOT a moderately sized school. It is VERY large. Our HS had about 1,700 kids and was a decidedly large HS in a larger than average sized state in the US. Big D1 school that has had many athletes play at one of the biggest Big 10 schools out there.

Yes, it is U of M. At U of M soccer players have to break 6 minutes for the mile...or is it 3 minutes for an 800? I don't recall. I used to have the PDF file that showed the official requirements for soccer players at U of M.

And U of M is a pretty good school in athletics, I don't know too much about soccer but I'd assume they are "ok."

Just because somebody is a "pro" athlete doesn't mean they will be good at another athletic skill. Look at Charles Barkley playing golf (although I don't consider golf to be a sport), Flojo running the 5K in like 21:30 while training for it, the list goes on.

Pro athletes are probably more likely to do well at other disciplines, especially sports that have overlap like running and soccer. But just because you know a crappy HS soccer player that also runs a 4:15 1600m doesn't mean that soccer players in Europe will rock 4:05 miles.

He was probably just playing the wrong sport. A very gifted, successful HS runner that just sucked at soccer. Soccer is a mix between skill and conditioning and even if you got athletic chops like Bolt, it doesn't help if you can't dribble or shoot straight.

how about garth bale?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWVrolNQ4RU

he's credited as being the fastest guy in the game AND the guy with the most stamina. or among the very best.

and he's a big boned lad.

god knows what he'd do as middle distance guy.

Running 4 times around an oval-box at a fast-but-not-sprinting pace without stopping is a lot different than making periodic quick accelerations towards a ball that lives on a rectangle.

This story claims that Valencia clocked in at 22 mph during a match and that a few other players are not far behind in pace. It doesn't say how they came up with these figures.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/who-is-the-fastest-player-in-the-world-cup-151822988.html

Bolt's top speed is 27 mph. That is a HUGE difference!

jamin wrote:

Running 4 times around an oval-box at a fast-but-not-sprinting pace without stopping is a lot different than making periodic quick accelerations towards a ball that lives on a rectangle.

^ this. No doubt soccer players are athletic as it is the top sport in most of the world. However the game is played slow and by skill with short bursts of speed. The sustained effort required is not what they are trained for. I agree with many here, probably 85% can go sub 4:40.

Gareth Bale of Wales and Real Madrid, the second fastest footballer in the World according to FIFA stats, has a 4:08 1500m PB.

Randy Oldman wrote:

Gareth Bale of Wales and Real Madrid, the second fastest footballer in the World according to FIFA stats, has a 4:08 1500m PB.

Proof of his pace