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The story
Nadeshiko Japan defeated Vietnam 8-0 in the Asian Games women’s soccer tournament, clinching their spot in the Group E knockout round with a second consecutive 8-goal blowout win. On the 5ch “Geisports Sokuho+” board, the thread quickly drifted away from the match itself and into a broader debate: “Why do women’s sports draw smaller crowds than men’s?” and “Are there any women’s sports that are actually more entertaining than the men’s version?” Some posters argued volleyball, table tennis, and curling are more watchable on the women’s side, while others found women’s soccer and basketball boring due to the physical gap with men’s play — the discussion even veered off into a baseball-vs-soccer entertainment debate.
Gekisaka
9/17 21:23
[9.17 Asian Games Women’s Group E: Japan 8-0 Vietnam, Ecopa Stadium]
Source: web.gekisaka.jp / Original article here
What people said
Their faces are totally different types though
That's what I thought too, but when you actually watch, their individual skill is pretty good and it's actually fun
Same with combat sports
Are people seriously just watching for who wins?
Maybe Japanese fans are actually the more meathead ones, surprisingly
For stuff like golf, volleyball, and table tennis, the women's game is more fun to watch.
It's not even that popular in the US lol
Isn't volleyball more popular there?
It's probably like "J.League's level is too low so I watch the Premier League instead." Soccer-brain logic.
Same as watching because Ohtani hits home runs
Once he stops hitting, viewership drops too
Yep
Asian Games = Asia's version of the Olympics
Asian Cup = Asia's version of the World Cup
Different things
The Asian Games basically copied the Olympics
The Asian Cup copied the World Cup
Neither is very popular in Japan
Personally I'm only interested in the track and field events
Everything from calligraphy and archery (kyudo) to baseball and soccer
It's not like that in America
Apparently the top-tier girls in America end up as cheerleaders on the sidelines instead.
No sport other than soccer publishes attendance figures anyway
If that were the real reason, women's sports should be fine too
I think it's really just guys who want to look down on women going "women's soccer sucks, men are just better" to feel good about themselves
Honestly the Ohtani thing seems like the same deal — "Ohtani's amazing, I'm Japanese just like Ohtani so I'm amazing, Japanese men are just superior, I'm amazing"
Simply put, women have less power than men, so no home runs, slower shots, roughly high-school-boy level, and a lot of people find that boring
On the flip side, that same lack of power is why volleyball and tennis rallies last longer in women's matches, which some people find more entertaining
Do you even actually watch the games
Women's soccer is just straight-up trying to copy men's soccer, so the physical gap shows through directly and it ends up boring
Same goes for women's basketball
Table tennis and volleyball, on the other hand, have evolved their own distinct women's style
Then don't come here
Volleyball's actually more fun on the men's side lately, I'd say
The overall level got insanely high and the ball just never hits the floor anymore
Not sure about table tennis
Curling, though, women's really is more fun
Then go to a volleyball thread
Seems like it really is a meathead thing
Same with sumo — maybe Japanese fans are surprisingly the more meathead ones
Calling sumo a meathead sport lol
It's basically decided by the mind games at the tachiai (the initial charge)
And there's no faking your way through it
It's an intense mental chess match
Nobody's watching it for that, come on
Not the guys going on about home runs and shot power
And that's mind games on top of "get bigger, get heavier"
In the end power comes first
The sport itself is flawed
It only gets exciting when there's real pride on the line
In Japan that's basically only high school soccer
For me baseball (yakyu) is boring, just the same set patterns repeating.
Combat sports and soccer depend on the game — some are duds, but I still like them.
Don't really watch much else. The NBA used to be fun back in the day
Every single pitch in baseball is different
The momentum can flip on one pitch
Might be hard to get if you haven't played it though
I thought it was boring as hell too back when I was playing it lol
Oh, a die-hard baseball otaku ("yakiton", derisive slang for obsessive baseball fans), huh lol
Different pitch types and locations are just another fixed pattern
Just picking from a preset menu, zero unpredictability
Too boring, can't even sit through a single inning lol
Completely different lol
The catcher gets targeted precisely because every single pitch carries weight
Each move is its own contest, so it's actually similar to a lot of other things
Soccer was fun back when Italy was strong, with all that reading-the-mood tactical battle
In baseball, whether you throw randomly or think it through, the result's basically the same, right
Thinking about it is a waste of time lol
That "reading the mood" thing with old Italy, you just like the tempo/spacing, don't you lol There's nothing like the tension of this World Cup's opening match against the Netherlands lol A team full of injuries pulling together to fight back to a tie
In the end it's just a difference in how attached you are to it lol
That "every pitch matters" thing is just armchair theory, straight out of manga or anime
I mean, you can't actually throw that precisely
That's why guys hit batters and it nearly turns into a brawl
Or are you saying they're hitting them on purpose?
I have no clue at all
Oh, this is about baseball by the way
On TV you can tell easily
Watching live, you might not be able to unless you've got a sharp eye
Background and Discussion Points
The Asian Games (a multi-sport event organized by the Asian Para Committee) and the AFC Asian Cup (a soccer-only tournament) are two different things, and the thread included questions and clarifications about people mixing them up. Nadeshiko Japan advanced past Group E and secured its spot in the knockout stage with a second straight 8-0 blowout win in this tournament, but notably, most of the replies drifted away from the match itself and into general discussion of “why do women’s sports struggle to draw crowds” and “are there any sports that are more entertaining in their women’s form than the men’s.” Some posters singled out volleyball, table tennis, and curling as more watchable on the women’s side, while others found women’s soccer and basketball boring due to the physical gap with men — opinions remained split with no clear conclusion. It’s worth noting this wasn’t a numbers- or statistics-based discussion, but purely impressions based on each poster’s personal viewing experience.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Women’s Soccer] Nadeshiko Japan Secure Asian Games Knockout Spot With Second Straight 8-0 Blowout — Japan 8-0 Vietnam.”
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