Playing Soccer Quotes & Sayings

I think soccer is more respected now than it ever has been. You can see that in the numbers of young kids who are playing and the numbers of people who are coming to watch. — Brandi Chastain

I like playing all sports, from football to soccer, and I love playing baseball. — Ryan Guzman

When I got injured, I think I was starting to sense that there was more to the world than just sports. This dream of playing professional soccer probably wasn't the best track for me. — Eric Swalwell

When I was playing soccer at the age of 14, the first thing we'd do before going out onto the field would be to climb up on one another's thighs and massage the legs; it was a regular thing. None of us had a thought of being gay, absolutely not, and it's the same with most bodybuilders. — Arnold Schwarzenegger

Playing college soccer was going to be the top of my athletic feats. I wasn't going to the Olympics. I was a decent player, but it's because of hard work, not because I was Freddy Adu. I wouldn't have a medal from the Olympics if I wasn't in a chair. I wouldn't have gone to the Olympics and experienced the whole atmosphere. — Mark Zupan

I can't divorce myself from my childhood. I try to write as much fiction as I possibly can, but there are so many things that are touchstones of my childhood like being on the swim team and playing soccer and the particularities of sports season and environments that make their way into my books. — Jeff Kinney

I've lived my life the way I wanted to, whether scaling the mountains, partying long into the night or having fun playing soccer. — Marat Safin

One of the things I want ... all the kids here to remember, is that these [Major League Soccer] stars were not born superstar athletes ... Many of them started out just like many of you-playing on a team at school, or just kicking a ball around on the playground with their friends. But they stuck with it. And I tell this to my girls all the time. I mean, you get to the point when ... things you enjoy ... start getting hard-that's when you know you're getting good, and you have to stick through it. — Michelle Obama

Substitution is a true test of strength. The real performance of a player is seen not only during playing time but also and more especially when the player is substituted. — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Dorcas wasn't a fast walker. It was difficult for me to keep behind her. I tried to let others, joggers, and bicyclists, come between us. I followed her past a field where girls were playing soccer, and into the woods bordering Catamount Creek. The smell of pine needles underfoot was sharp, pungent. I seemed to know that I would always associate that smell with this afternoon, and with Dorcas. — Joyce Carol Oates

... everything was quiet, except for some boys playing soccer in the middle of the street. He honked the horn and the boys took a long time to get out of the way. In the rearview mirror he saw a Rand Charger appear at the other end of the street, He coasted along and let the Rand Charger catch up. The driver and his companion showed not the least interest in him and at the corner the Rand Charger passed his car and left him behind. — Roberto Bolano

Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend a whole lot of time following soccer. But as I have traveled around the world to better understand global development and health, I've learned that soccer is truly universal. No matter where I go, that's what kids are playing. That's what people are talking about. — Bill Gates

I had a very simple, unremarkable and happy life. And I grew up in a very small town. And so my life was made up of, you know, in the morning going to the river to fetch water - no tap water, and no electricity - and, you know, bathing in the river, and then going to school, and playing soccer afterwards. — Ishmael Beah

When I was seven we moved to Orpington, and in my new school, I was kept in for extra lessons to learn 'joined-up' writing instead of playing football. I still think that my poor handwriting and lack of soccer skills date from that period. — Martin Evans

We need to look at our nannying, mollycoddled, politically correct culture in my view, which stops kids from going out and playing competitive sport. I also think we need to look at the shear fatness of the regulations which control people who want to help kids play sport. — Boris Johnson

Every time I went away I was deceiving my mum. I'd tell her I was going to school but I'd be out on the street playing football. I always had a ball on my feet. — Ronaldo

Most of us are in this more than just for playing soccer. We're in it for the bigger goal - to move it along for the next generation. — Landon Donovan

I really wanted to go to architecture school but the demands of playing D-1 Collegiate soccer just take over so I tried to empathize architecture as much as I could. — Steve Purdy

Soccer is a continuous game, rugby is a continuous game, but for the physical elements that are involved in playing a football game and the number of plays that you play, I don't know that it was ever intended to be a continuous game. — Nick Saban

Remember that idiotic question you asked me in the car? About what would happen when you can't play soccer any longer?" He didn't wait for any acknowledgment. "Nothing would happen. We would have a different adventure to go on. You are my best friend, my love, my playmate and my teammate. You'll have a team with me wherever we are, with whatever we are playing. — Mariana Zapata

I could hear my friends outside playing soccer while I was expected to stay inside practicing the piano. It was like torture! — Ildar Abdrazakov

For me, acting in scenes with other people is like playing soccer with a bunch of legless five year olds. It's not really fair to them, but what else can I do, you know? — Zach Braff

Stress is when you're 29 years old, playing for Rochdale, with an expiring contract and a mortgage to pay. — John Gregory

I was the kid who always liked to take the ball down to the school even in my free time, kick it against the wall, juggle it in the front yard and so it was kind of a perpetual state of playing soccer for me. — Brandi Chastain

I was aggressive but I played the game because I loved and enjoyed it. I might have hurt people and I got hurt myself a few times, but not with any malice. When I went on to the field I just wanted to play football. I didn't go out to kick anybody purposely. I just enjoyed playing and if that's aggression, then I'm guilty of that. — Bob Paisley

Coming from Australia and playing rugby, you just think that soccer is a bit soft, but I'll tell you what, it's not. It's rough as guts. — Tanc Sade

My background playing soccer gave me a natural advantage over many of the American-born players. — Hakeem Olajuwon

My dad was a football player - a soccer player - for Manchester United, and I loved playing football, but I also happened to be the guy in class who was pretty good at sight reading. My teacher gave me scripts, and I was very comfortable. — Ian McShane

No doubt, I am earning more money with my endorsements than I ever earned playing soccer. — Pele

I usually dig the single-digit numbers, but No2 is retired. I'm going to change it up and wear No10. I'm going to wear it for Messi, my favourite soccer player. I've been playing a lot of FIFA lately and watching the games. He's the best little guy to do it and I've got to be the best little guy to do it at No10 in the NBA. That's my goal. — Nate Robinson

I love sports, and when I was playing soccer, I was always trying to be the leader on the team and the one who takes control. — Gregg Sulkin

My father lost his leg in 1927 playing soccer. A kick broke his leg; gangrene set in. They sawed it off. So he didn't get what a lot of Irish immigrants got, which was a job on the Waterfront - he didn't get that. — Pete Hamill

Playing against 10 is harder than playing against 11 players. You know why? The team with 11 will think "ok, we can take it easy now", while the team with 10 will think "We really have to work hard now." — Johan Cruijff

I played varsity soccer at Yale and continued playing at Cambridge. — Sarah Parcak

Michael Sanchez and I grew up in New Jersey, not far from here, playing soccer together. When I was in high school, I worked to start an organization to help senior citizens, which I learned a great deal from. — Andrew Shue

I think Barcelona and the Spanish national team have been good for soccer because there are a lot of teams that come up playing from the back: with the goalie, the defense, moving up a defender to midfield, playing attacking soccer. I think fans want to see that. They want to see beautiful soccer, a spectacle, and Barcelona does that. — Xavi

The more people who come from abroad who played soccer and are brought up playing it and watching it, then come over to America and bring what they know and what they play, that's how the sport will grow. — Claudio Reyna

The best place to play' means you love the guys you're playing with. It means you develop deep relationships that go well beyond soccer. It means you have awesome team chemistry where what the team needs is more important than what you need - and you fully buy-in to that. It means you fight for game time but you don't hold that against your teammate - that you're not mad when you're subbed out, but instead, you're excited for the guy who came in for you. And it means we have each other's back. — Michael A. Zigarelli

That's the awesome part. Little girls now have a chance to look up and see women playing soccer, basketball, softball and now hockey - and know they can win a gold medal, too. — Angela Ruggiero

If Ashley Cole is ready we have 15 players for the final. I'll have to choose between Hilario, who's not bad playing forward or I'll bring in one of the kids. — Jose Mourinho

When I was younger, I used to bite my nails so bad. I used to play sports; I played, like, every sport. I would be playing soccer, and I'd be in the middle of the field just zoned out, biting my nails, and I'd, like, miss the ball going past me. — Kendall Jenner

Soccer presented no challenge to me. Playing felt like breathing: I always had a magical connection to the ball. But it didn't feel like an adventure. Music was more of a challenge and, in the end, felt more interesting. — Pete Wentz

I like physical exercise. I actually like sports in general. I really like snowboarding and playing soccer, too. — Valentino Rossi

All I can say is, hey, if you have fun doing what you do, if you have fun playing soccer, the creativity is just going to come as time goes on. — Freddy Adu

I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George (Ndah) had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing. — Ade Akinbiyi

A normal adolescent is so restless and twitchy and awkward that he can mange to injure his knee
not playing soccer, not playing football
but by falling off his chair in the middle of French class. — Judith Viorst

I'm lucky to be doing what I love, and I appreciate that I can make a good living doing it. I love to play soccer-whether it's in a game, practice or playing with friends-so it isn't like I'm under pressure at all. — Landon Donovan

People think I like partying, but I actually don't like going out. I'm a homebody. I like chilling in with friends and playing PlayStation 3 Pro Evolution Soccer. — Tinchy Stryder

I really had spent my whole life playing soccer, and the fact that I was willing to give that up for theater, that told me I was moving in that direction. — Peter Jacobson

I love how the soccer guys just fall when they get kicked and go baby crying.They try to explain to the referee like he's their mother: "Wah! Did you see what he did?" Then they get back to playing soccer again. — Pablo Francisco

In 1982 I was playing soccer at William and Mary, and a kid from Randolph-Macon called me a kike. I ran after him. 'I'm not a ... well, yes I am. — Jon Stewart

Baseball in Canada is like soccer in the U.S. It is growing, and some people are starting to gain interest. The way that there are Americans playing high-level soccer, there are Canadians breaking into the Major Leagues. — Joey Votto

He didn't mind it in the beginning, this slowness. It left him alone with himself while he fished and listened to the call of the herons, and taught Anthony to row a boat and to play baseball and soccer, while Anthony read to him from his children's books as Alexander held the fishing line. The soul was repairing itself little by little. And it was on Bethel Island, with his mother and father twenty-four hours by his side, watching over him, talking to him, playing with him, that Anthony stopped waking up with nightmares in the middle of the night and settled down to silence inside himself. And it was on Bethel Island that Alexander stopped needing ice cold baths at three in the morning - the hot sudsy dimly lit baths with her soapy hands and soapy body in the late evening sufficing. — Paullina Simons

Before kids can play like a pro, they must enjoy playing the game like a kid. — Steve Locker

After I suffered a labral tear in my hip while playing soccer, I realized that many sports-related injuries can be prevented and I dedicated myself to helping young athletes learn more about injury prevention. — Cobi Jones

Your name is Sanchez, what are you doing playing for Northern Ireland? — Lawrie Sanchez

I've used my experience from playing sports in almost every aspect of my life. Playing soccer is where I found my voice, and playing softball was where I learned precision, and in every game I learned to play as a member of a team - to work not for my own glory, but for a shared goal. — Linda Sanchez

We have not made cricket and football [soccer] professional because of any astonishing avarice or new vulgarity. We have made them professional because we would have them perfect. We have dedicated men to them as to some god of inhuman excellence. We care more for football than for the fun of playing football. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

There is nothing you can be doing in lacrosse on your own in the fall that would be better for you than going to football or soccer practice every day. You can go bang a ball against a wall all you want, but how do you become a better team player? By playing other team sports. — Dom Starsia

I started playing baseball and soccer. Those were my sports on the streets and in school when I was growing up. I didn't even start playing basketball until I was 14. — Earl Monroe

Everybody has down times and stuff that they have to work through. I worked through that stuff because I've always wanted to be playing soccer. — Tiffeny Milbrett

To combat the monotony of gym workouts, I started playing soccer. I looked at workouts as training sessions. My soccer training includes squats, pushups, resistance-band work, and sprints. Ninety minutes of running became part of my love of the game rather than a chore. — Adam Richman

The day was warm and clear. Kids were playing soccer in the parking lots and women were sunning their babies and having their tea all over the lawns. The scene was entirely too cheery for journalism. — P. J. O'Rourke

Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts. Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men - such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion? — Sepp Blatter

Tony Cottee once played in all four divisions in one season. Cottee started 2000-01 at Leicester City, where he made a couple of Premiership appearances as a sub before being released to Norwich, in what was then Division One. In November the chance to be player-manager of Barnet came up and soon Cottee was playing in Division Three, but alas it did not work out. By March he was again looking for work and found it, with two sub appearances, at Millwall in Division Two. — Phil Cornwell

Growing up, I played about every sport imaginable except soccer and hockey. I've always had a passion for basketball. I remember actually playing basketball when I was two or three years old. The time I knew that I could really take my game to the next level. — Dwight Howard

Damien is Damien. When I don't put him in the squad my mother, who's 84, asks 'why isn't Damien playing?' She kills me about it and that's true — Claudio Ranieri

I started playing soccer at age 6 and played both outfield and goalie. Back then, no one wanted to go on goalie - coaches would make deals with me so I'd do it. It's a tough position as a kid. — Tim Howard

As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game. — Abby Wambach

I thought, if we could just come together as a community, even if that just meant playing soccer together, that could be the beginning of something good. Coming together as a community, as a people, creates more power than exists when individuals are fighting each other for scraps. Soccer has always brought people together. Soccer was where I would begin. — Kennedy Odede

Whatever exists is inevitably flawed. Buddha, in his detachment from the world, finds all its hustle and bustle ridiculous because he has nothing to do with it. A cynic finds the feelings of his fellow human beings ridiculous because he has no feelings himself. Someone who does not play soccer thinks it ridiculous to chase around after a little leather ball for hours at a time. He doesn't bother to ask whether this game might be a lot of fun. All he sees is the ridiculousness of grown men playing like little boys. People who do anything will no doubt appear ridiculous to people who do nothing. A person who acts can always make a fool of himself. A person who doesn't never runs that risk. We might even say that life is always ridiculous but death is never ridiculous. — Fritz Zorn

I grew up in Europe, and soccer was the first organized game I played. When we moved back to the U.S. in the middle of 4th grade, I switched to American football and stopped playing competitively until college, when I played intramurals. — Andrew Luck

Soccer is my first love. I've been playing since I was 4 years old. I traveled the world doing it. I broke my leg when I was 16 or 17, and acting kind of filled the void. — Kyle Schmid

Like so many of the players, I started at La Masia at the age of 11. I can't ever imagine not playing for Barcelona, let alone not playing soccer for a career. I don't ever want to play anywhere else. — Xavi

In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi refers to flow as the time when you become lost in your actions, whether climbing a mountain peak, painting or playing soccer. — Beth Whitman

I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though - playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I'd be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don't know why. — Rafael Nadal

When I saw contestants fighting for their lives on 'The Biggest Loser,' I realized I just wanted to be healthy - to have fun playing soccer with my son or teaching my daughter to shoot hoops. Then it was so much easier to say no to carbs, soda, or dessert, and the weight just came off. — Alison Sweeney

I actually don't feel the years passing, although the younger players make sure to remind me of my age. If there's a clip of Bobby Charlton playing or a game's in black and white they'll ask: Were you playing in that Giggsy? — Ryan Giggs

Over analyse, paralyse, you mustn't over analyse ... Do you wake up at four in the morning and wonder who should be playing left-back? Four? I would love to sleep that long. If you want a really long career you have to find a way of switching off. I do it when I'm out walking my dog, Alex Ferguson got into horses, others get into wine. Some players like going shopping, which is not my scene. A lot of them turn to golf. I tried it, didn't like it. I have to walk. If I couldn't I'd be in a padded cell by now. — Roy Keane

Due to the NFL lockout, I'm excited to be able to follow my childhood dream of playing for a Major League Soccer team. — Chad Ochocinco

You know, in ten years you're gonna be playing soccer with your tits, what do you think of that? — Bernardo Bertolucci

High national emotions are permissible when a soccer team is playing precisely because they are impermissible at most other times. There aren't, simply, many other places where you can sing your national anthem until you lose your voice without causing a riot. In the context of soccer, flag-waving nationalism - even chauvinistic, anti-foreigner, flag-waving nationalism - is acceptable in Britain. — Anne Applebaum

The Democrats say we ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying. That sounds like the nonsense of giving every kid a trophy for showing up. Friends, we're talking about leading the country, not playing on a third-grade soccer team! I realize this is the man who got a Nobel Peace Prize for what he would potentially do, but in the real world, you get the prize for producing something, not just promising it. — Mike Huckabee

If four Gaza kids playing soccer were killed Wednesday, as Hamas claims, the terror group is at fault. — Naftali Bennett

I have the chance to do for a living what I like the most in life, and that's playing football. I can make people happy and enjoy myself at the same time. — Ronaldinho

I grew up playing soccer and always loved playing it. — Wes Welker

At 15, 16, you think you're going to be captain of England. But I realised it wasn't going to happen for me on a windy November night in Darlington, coming to my peak at the age of 23 but still playing for Mansfield Town. — Aidy Boothroyd

You can do as many sprints as you want but there's nothing like playing in a 90-minute soccer game. There's no better way to gain your fitness, in my opinion, than playing in consistent games. — Abby Wambach

Though the legs of a football coach are never so active on the field of play during playing time, his mind is the best or worse player on the pitch! — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

We have to move the meter in sports in Africa, especially basketball. With the growth of the NBA globally, we have to figure out more ways to develop facilities, coaching, leagues, and youth development in Africa. The talent is incredible. Especially physically. How do we get the youth to start playing at an early age just like in soccer? The future is bright. We now have an NBA office in Africa, we have legends and Hall of Famers, we have African assistant coaches, front office members, and some prominent African players over the last 10 years. So we must plan well for the next 10. — Masai Ujiri

During the Japanese invasion, bombs had fallen from the sky and people could run for cover. Now, they exploded in the middle of the road, or in the fields while people were playing soccer. — Mohamed Latiff Mohamed

Anger infests Lee Bowyer's simple mind. He could get sent off playing solitaire. — Henry Winter

Nobody ever calls me a soccer-playing writer, even though I play soccer and it's part of who I am. — Rabih Alameddine

There's the beauty of the stage. I don't like filmed theater or opera because you're kind of playing soccer in a hockey game. Either or, they don't do justice to the media and you end up with a hybrid that is purely sensationalistic. Opera is a very theatrical medium that should be seen on a stage with the musicians in the pit in the audience. — Christoph Waltz

He's so outta my league, we're not even playing the same sport ... He's professional soccer in Europe and I'm intramural badminton in the States. — Nicki Elson

I guess I was a child actor. Acting was one of the things I did alongside going to school: I'd be playing guitar, I'd be playing soccer, and I would be acting in movies. — Michiel Huisman

Playing in Italy was like being in a foreign country. — Ian Rush

I think I'm being conservative when I say there are more people playing soccer in the United States than in 90% of the world's other countries, probably 95%. — Rabih Alameddine

When I was seven, I broke my leg playing soccer. Just to feel something. — Anthony Jeselnik

My brother says that I was writing songs about fate while he was off playing soccer. Now I tell him he's 33 and being a professional while I'm playing soccer with my friends. Ha! — Alanis Morissette