The "biggest sporting event in the world" and games end in a 0-0 tie. No wonder the fans get into fights all the time. It's the only way to stay awake.
I can see you guys have never actually played the sport. If you would have played it you would have more appreciation for it. And clearly if you want to compare sports the more boring sport to watch on TV is baseball. And this is coming from a baseball fan who watches lots of games and used to play the sport. If you understood soccer you would actually enjoy watching it. And with the change in the offside rule and the use of what looks to be a more lively ball more goals will be scored than in previous years. But you probably want it to be like basketball where half the time you go down the court you score either a basket or a free throw. That will never happen in soccer.
I used to play soccer back in college (not on the college team - but with friends passionate about the sport). Makes me tired just thinking about it now!
I'm finding it mildly ironic, that most Americans laud *football* so high --
and millions watch the superbowl every year ---
and out of those millions --- most tune in for the commercials!
Or the tail-gate parties.
Whereas you have MANY MORE MILLIONS (dare I say a billion?) of folks globally --
watching the World Cup, and to them -- the commercials are an interruption.
Drew Carey's Sporting Adventure is on the travel channel. It's about the soccer derby in Spain. Kinda shows the soccer world a little. Not sure if he will cover the world cup in later weeks.
At least in hockey there are some actual shots at the goal.
The only World Cup game I've ever seen was the final some years back between Italy and somebody else - Brazil maybe? The two teams kicked the ball back and forth up and down the field the whole game and nobody scored. I don't think anybody even came close to scoring.
So after that thrilling 0-0 finish, four or five guys on each team lined up to take turns kicking the ball into the net. That excitement continued until some poor schmuck missed and the other team won the championship. Play until somebody wins for real, even if it takes all night. That's like deciding the NBA Finals with a free throw shooting contest.
In World Cup News today,heavily favored England trounced Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 thanks to two late goals after the 83rd minute....It is not known to this sportswriter whether Trinidad and Tobago are two small countries that couldn't field enough players for each to have it's own team,or whether England simply played two teams at the same time...Of course,this lopsided victory for England pales in comparison to the 3-0 annihilation of the U.S. soccer team at the hands of the Czech Republic...World Cup officials fear ethnic tension as a result of the 3-0 blowout,noting a sharp increase in U. S. businesses enforcing their policies of not accepting Czechs...
So after that thrilling 0-0 finish, four or five guys on each team lined up to take turns kicking the ball into the net. That excitement continued until some poor schmuck missed and the other team won the championship.
SSDS -- (same s###, different sport).
Same thing happens in hockey -- except it's on ice, and not grass. :)
(PS --- I agree. Make em play till the cows come home.
Yea, they did almost as good as the U.S. baseball team at the World Baseball Classic.
Frankly, I did not see the game against Ghana so I don't know if the U.S. team played well or not. However, I did see how Ghana scored the winning goal in their 2-1 victory. It was on a penalty kick. For you non-soccer people (seems to be plenty of you here with the exception of DMiller). A penalty kick is the result of a foul inside one of the 18 yard rectangular marked boxes near both goals. From what I saw of the foul it was a very poor call. No foul should have been called at all let alone a penalty kick which usually results in a goal.
I did see the game against Italy though. The U.S. team played well in that game. They had to play at a man disadvantage for most of the second half. In soccer when a player gets penalized for committing fouls they can get ejected from the game. Unlike in other sports the player ejected can not be replaced so their team has to play at a man disadvantage. The U.S. for a short time in the first half was playing at a man advantage when one of the Italians players was ejected from the game for elbowing a U.S. player in the face with a face full of blood resulting. This was a legitimate call. However, just a few minutes later the referee did a make up call so that the two teams would play with the same number of players when a U.S. player was ejected for a much more minor foul. At the most the U.S. player should have been given a warning as he had made no previous fouls. Instead he was ejected for a relatively minor infraction. Even an Italian former World Cup star said it was a bad call. Then at the beginning of the second half another U.S. player was ejected for his second foul and neither fouls were of the flagrant variety. Hence the U.S. team had to play a man down for most of the second half. In spite of that they controlled the ball quite a bit in midfield and were the equal of the Italian team even playing a man short.
From what little I've watched, there seems to be absolutely no consistency in the foul calls. One guy gets stomped into the ground and nothing gets called, then a few minutes later one guy barely bumps the other one and there's the ref waving his little cards in the air. That's got to be one of the goofiest looking things in sports.
I did watch some of the Mexico-Argentina game on the Spanish channel. Now that was cool. You talk about some announcers getting wound up, those guys were wired. I had absolutely no idea what they were screaming about but it was fun to listen to for a while.
You gotta be kidding me....The championship game in the world's biggest sporting event decided by penalty kicks????.....'As jubilant teammates watch,Fabio Riggatoni keeck bol very hard past outstretched arms of Pepe LeGoalie and Italia now king of futbol world'...
I think I would probably like Arena Soccer better...
I let the 30 minutes of TIVO build up and then watched it on single fast only slowing down to watch the girls with the hairy armpits cheer in the stands... (love those hairy armpits)...
Yeah,Italy won it in a shootout...I'm not sure,but I think that's where one guy on one team goes up against one guy on the other team(the goalie) and they decide the World Cup champion for this team sport....At least in soccer the other players aren't on the field when this goes on ...
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Tom Strange
I watched the U.S.A. vs Czech until I fell asleep... at least someone scored...
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Pirate1974
The "biggest sporting event in the world" and games end in a 0-0 tie. No wonder the fans get into fights all the time. It's the only way to stay awake.
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Tom Strange
My sentiments eggzacklee Pi-man...
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dmiller
Kinda like hockey -- eh?? ;)
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Mark Sanguinetti
I can see you guys have never actually played the sport. If you would have played it you would have more appreciation for it. And clearly if you want to compare sports the more boring sport to watch on TV is baseball. And this is coming from a baseball fan who watches lots of games and used to play the sport. If you understood soccer you would actually enjoy watching it. And with the change in the offside rule and the use of what looks to be a more lively ball more goals will be scored than in previous years. But you probably want it to be like basketball where half the time you go down the court you score either a basket or a free throw. That will never happen in soccer.
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dmiller
I used to play soccer back in college (not on the college team - but with friends passionate about the sport). Makes me tired just thinking about it now!
I'm finding it mildly ironic, that most Americans laud *football* so high --
and millions watch the superbowl every year ---
and out of those millions --- most tune in for the commercials!
Or the tail-gate parties.
Whereas you have MANY MORE MILLIONS (dare I say a billion?) of folks globally --
watching the World Cup, and to them -- the commercials are an interruption.
On with the games!!
:) :)
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rhino
Drew Carey's Sporting Adventure is on the travel channel. It's about the soccer derby in Spain. Kinda shows the soccer world a little. Not sure if he will cover the world cup in later weeks.
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Pirate1974
At least in hockey there are some actual shots at the goal.
The only World Cup game I've ever seen was the final some years back between Italy and somebody else - Brazil maybe? The two teams kicked the ball back and forth up and down the field the whole game and nobody scored. I don't think anybody even came close to scoring.
So after that thrilling 0-0 finish, four or five guys on each team lined up to take turns kicking the ball into the net. That excitement continued until some poor schmuck missed and the other team won the championship. Play until somebody wins for real, even if it takes all night. That's like deciding the NBA Finals with a free throw shooting contest.
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simonzelotes
In World Cup News today,heavily favored England trounced Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 thanks to two late goals after the 83rd minute....It is not known to this sportswriter whether Trinidad and Tobago are two small countries that couldn't field enough players for each to have it's own team,or whether England simply played two teams at the same time...Of course,this lopsided victory for England pales in comparison to the 3-0 annihilation of the U.S. soccer team at the hands of the Czech Republic...World Cup officials fear ethnic tension as a result of the 3-0 blowout,noting a sharp increase in U. S. businesses enforcing their policies of not accepting Czechs...
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dmiller
SSDS -- (same s###, different sport).
Same thing happens in hockey -- except it's on ice, and not grass. :)
(PS --- I agree. Make em play till the cows come home.
Let's get a REAL winner here.) ;)
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dmiller
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Pirate1974
Another fine showing by the United States
0 wins + 2 losses + 1 tie = 1 trip home
Losing to Ghana?
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Mark Sanguinetti
Yea, they did almost as good as the U.S. baseball team at the World Baseball Classic.
Frankly, I did not see the game against Ghana so I don't know if the U.S. team played well or not. However, I did see how Ghana scored the winning goal in their 2-1 victory. It was on a penalty kick. For you non-soccer people (seems to be plenty of you here with the exception of DMiller). A penalty kick is the result of a foul inside one of the 18 yard rectangular marked boxes near both goals. From what I saw of the foul it was a very poor call. No foul should have been called at all let alone a penalty kick which usually results in a goal.
I did see the game against Italy though. The U.S. team played well in that game. They had to play at a man disadvantage for most of the second half. In soccer when a player gets penalized for committing fouls they can get ejected from the game. Unlike in other sports the player ejected can not be replaced so their team has to play at a man disadvantage. The U.S. for a short time in the first half was playing at a man advantage when one of the Italians players was ejected from the game for elbowing a U.S. player in the face with a face full of blood resulting. This was a legitimate call. However, just a few minutes later the referee did a make up call so that the two teams would play with the same number of players when a U.S. player was ejected for a much more minor foul. At the most the U.S. player should have been given a warning as he had made no previous fouls. Instead he was ejected for a relatively minor infraction. Even an Italian former World Cup star said it was a bad call. Then at the beginning of the second half another U.S. player was ejected for his second foul and neither fouls were of the flagrant variety. Hence the U.S. team had to play a man down for most of the second half. In spite of that they controlled the ball quite a bit in midfield and were the equal of the Italian team even playing a man short.
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Pirate1974
From what little I've watched, there seems to be absolutely no consistency in the foul calls. One guy gets stomped into the ground and nothing gets called, then a few minutes later one guy barely bumps the other one and there's the ref waving his little cards in the air. That's got to be one of the goofiest looking things in sports.
I did watch some of the Mexico-Argentina game on the Spanish channel. Now that was cool. You talk about some announcers getting wound up, those guys were wired. I had absolutely no idea what they were screaming about but it was fun to listen to for a while.
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dmiller
JOGA TV
:D
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simonzelotes
You gotta be kidding me....The championship game in the world's biggest sporting event decided by penalty kicks????.....'As jubilant teammates watch,Fabio Riggatoni keeck bol very hard past outstretched arms of Pepe LeGoalie and Italia now king of futbol world'...
I think I would probably like Arena Soccer better...
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rhino
Ways to make world cup soccer more interesting ...
Put a hill in the field, maybe with a flagpole, like the astros have on their field
Sandtraps / water hazards
everyone does a shot for every 5 minutes without a goal (players I mean, fans are already drunk)
loose bulls running on the field for part of the game ... a la pamplona
more cheerleaders / dancers
instead of shootout, play mumblety peg to decide winner
...
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dmiller
Rhino ~~~
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Tom Strange
I let the 30 minutes of TIVO build up and then watched it on single fast only slowing down to watch the girls with the hairy armpits cheer in the stands... (love those hairy armpits)...
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mstar1
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ex70sHouston
If ya'll understood and maybe tried the sport you would understand and enjoy the games.
If you really want boring watch baseball.
Baseball has to be the most boring sport in the world.
Its not even a team sport. Its just 9 guys playing separatly with 8 other guys. They just happen to be on the same field.
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Tom Strange
oh ex70's... that is because you don't know that baseball is all about Karma!
BTW... have they finished that "biggest sporting event in the world" yet? If so, who won?
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ex70sHouston
Italy beat France in the final.
The French captain gave an Italian player a head butt that made world news.
Karma. Now I know Baseball is for.............
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simonzelotes
Yeah,Italy won it in a shootout...I'm not sure,but I think that's where one guy on one team goes up against one guy on the other team(the goalie) and they decide the World Cup champion for this team sport....At least in soccer the other players aren't on the field when this goes on
...
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