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Why are centre forward position in association football not seeing players coming in that are as tall as basketball forwards or volleyball spikers?
It be advantageous for corner kicks. The goalies are usually tall, and can use their hands. So it seems to being taller be better because you need as much height as you can.
There are tall centre forwards but they are usually equivalent to a point guard in bball. Guys like Zlatan, Graziano Pelle were tall but not as tall as Lebron or Kevin Durant. How would Lebron or Kevin Durant do in soccer as centre forwards.
Ice hockey has guys like Zdeno, and tyler Myers and Brian Boyle who are all tall enough to play forward in BBall, and hockey is a grueling sport also.
I agree with you... To an extent. A centre forward still needs to have a somewhat lower centre of gravity, as he still needs to have good ball-handling/dribbling abilities. In hockey, Chara doesn't need to do this. He has guys like Marchand, Pastrnak, etc., who are more than capable of handling that load. They are similar sports to a sense, but positions are handled much differently.
I agree with you... To an extent. A centre forward still needs to have a somewhat lower centre of gravity, as he still needs to have good ball-handling/dribbling abilities. In hockey, Chara doesn't need to do this. He has guys like Marchand, Pastrnak, etc., who are more than capable of handling that load. They are similar sports to a sense, but positions are handled much differently.
In the NHL some of best stick handlers are pretty tall guys, especially guys from Europe. Datsyuk, Kuznetsov, Ilya Kovalchuk (who is joining the Kings next season), Evgeni Malkin are well above 6ft.
also some canadiens and Americans include John Tavares, bobby Ryan (in his prime), Rick Nash, Mario Lemieux were also pretty big.
I like to watch my local adult hockey leagues play sometimes. Especially the highest division. Some really tall guys can handle the puck. Their reach seems to help them in one v one situations.
I actually think reach can be an advantage when controlling the soccer ball too especially in one v one situations. I find it easier to do certain moves like step overs with longer legs and certain nutmegging moves.
And yet being tall is still advantageous. What more to being a centre forward though is hindered by having height?
Unlike basketball being 'tall' is not important, being skilful and fit is. Its about positioning and having an ability to read the game too. If all you needed was to be 'tall' and fast then Usain Bolt would be playing football instead of running and Messi would not have become one of the greatest players of all time.
My ideal center forward/striker is more agile and speedy than what I think you'd see from guys the size of LeBron or Durant. And LeBron is much more athletic than your average 6'9 human being, so he's probably not a great example because their aren't many freaks of nature like that walking around.
I did see an interesting piece recently about the the average heights of the different positions. If I recall, goalkeepers are on average the tallest soccer players, followed by defenders, forwards, and midfielders are generally the shortest. And probably related to this, midfielders cover the most ground in matches followed by forwards, then defenders, and obviously goalkeepers run the least.
The game between Japan and Belgium showed me that tall players have the advantage. Belgium players basically out-muscled and and outran the smaller Japanese players.
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