World Cup Soccer - 2014! (1 Viewer)

[Walter C]

I was pulling for the African nations yesterday, and they did put up a good fight for the most of the game. It would have been interesting if Algeria had won, and face France in the next game, with all the associated subplots between those 2 nations. Not to mention, having gotten a small measure of revenge for 1982. Oh well!

Let's go USA!

 

[FoxyMulder]

You could still have penalties after the 30 minutes if neither team scores.

I don't think you are going to be pleased with this Argentina vs Switzerland match i am watching, i notice a lot of teams seem to be scared to commit too much going forward in the knockout stage, the group matches had better free flowing football.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I have to admit being a minority these days. Soccer bores me silly, along with golf and basketball. My only interest in the sport began in 1989 when my sons started playing fall soccer (spring was reserved for baseball, and fall would have been also except I insisted they play a different sport in the fall), and ended in 1995 when they stopped (marching band took over).

They haven't played (and I haven't watched) a minute since.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I don't think you are going to be pleased with this Argentina vs Switzerland match i am watching, i notice a lot of teams seem to be scared to commit too much going forward in the knockout stage, the group matches had better free flowing football.

Yes, scoring is way down in this round compared with the group stage. I didn't see the Argentina match (am at work), so I'll take your word for it being slow. I did see that the gimmicky penalty kicks were avoided, though.

Seriously, the only reason to limit a sudden death to 30 minutes (or some other arbitrary duration) and then move to penalty kicks would be due to player safety. How long could these guys continue to play with the game remaining tied before getting completely worn out? It's just an academic discussion, though, under the current rules.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I did see that the gimmicky penalty kicks were avoided, though.

Seriously, the only reason to limit a sudden death to 30 minutes (or some other arbitrary duration) and then move to penalty kicks would be due to player safety. How long could these guys continue to play with the game remaining tied before getting completely worn out?

I was rooting for penalty kicks as i love the excitement of them.

Can you imagine extra time when they play the Qatar 2022 World Cup, it'll be way too hot, i imagine a rule change for that one.

 

[Richard Travale]

Yeah, unlike hockey where each player gets to rest every 40 seconds or so, most of the players on the pitch have been there for 120 minutes already with the short time between halves. There’s no way they could go on in sudden death OT like in hockey.

 

[Ockeghem]

Darn. I really thought that the USA would defeat Belgium and then most likely lose to Argentina. It was still a very good run.

 

[DavidJ]

Tough loss for the USMNT today. Belgium is clearly the better team, but an astounding goalkeeping performance by Howard kept the US in it. Bummed they lost.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yup, bummer. Back to ignoring Soccer for another 4 years for me...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Tim Howard was amazing in goal, and kept the USA in a game where they were clearly outplayed. They just missed a huge chance to win the game at the end of regulation time. After that, it was pretty much inevitable that Belgium would advance.

 

[Walter C]

Major bummer. Talk about false hope when the US finally scored a goal, and came so close to tying the game. Oh well, it was a nice little run, and got farther than most expected, as they were in the Group of Death. Granted, they needed some help along the way.

Can you imagine extra time when they play the Qatar 2022 World Cup, it'll be way too hot, i imagine a rule change for that one.

Assuming they're still hosting! No way in hell that it gets moved to any other time of the year.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Yup, bummer. Back to ignoring Soccer for another 4 years for me...

The media is the highlight of this tournament because they keep talking about how soccer is set to take over and finally become popular here but this talk happens during every World Cup and then the sport fads until the next World Cup.

I will say that I usually just watch USA but this tournament I took the time to watch a lot more games and I have become a fan. I'm not certainly how many games I'll watch outside of this tournament but I do look forward to watching to see how things play out.

 

[Jay H]

I look forward now to casually watching the World Cup rather than pulling my hair out at the USA's soccer team's frustrating play during pretty much every game i saw. There's only so long one can ride the coattails of Tim Howard's excellent keeping. Somehow we need to establish a better midfield that can keep possession, prevent counterattacks and penetrate the opponent's side... Howard needs some rest..

Jay

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The media is the highlight of this tournament because they keep talking about how soccer is set to take over and finally become popular here but this talk happens during every World Cup and then the sport fads until the next World Cup.

Exactly. I have been hearing the same thing during every World Cup since the '70's. I played the sport (and was a USSF certified referee) through high school, and even I only pay attention during the World Cup. The 1994 Cup held in the U.S. still holds the record for the highest attendance ever for the event, and even that did not advance the sport much in this country. BTW, I actually attended two of those games held at the old Silverdome -- it was a lot of fun.

 

[Carlo_M]

I hate to agree with the "haters" - but the USA will likely never be a competitive soccer power (in the sense of being really able to win the World Cup absent of a series of flukes like top teams being eliminated early on in the tournament). Why? Because all of this country's best athletes play in the high revenue sports. NFL. NBA. NHL. MLB. All of those athletes make way more money than MLS.

For just about every other country, their best athletes play soccer. So it's not a fair comparison, it's the best of the best in every other country versus our 5th best sports option. Can you imagine athletes like LeBron James (striker), Chris Paul (midfielder), heck, how about the best WRs (i.e. Megatron), and DBs (Sherman) in NFL playing their similar counterparts in soccer, etc.

Until that changes, USA will always be a second tier power (between 8th-16th world-ranked) in the World Cup.

 

[Carlo_M]

Dang, just when I thought I had an original thought, it's already been discussed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/dream-team-if-americas-best-athletes-played-soccer-wed-win-e

 

[FoxyMulder]

I think there is a very fine line between success and failure in football, the USA almost beat Belgium, it's not always about the best players, a well organized team can beat another team with greater skill made up of superstars, just look at Costa Rica as an example at this world cup, i would also add that Scotland has a population of about the same as Costa Rica so i'm hoping they do well, team work and good spirits take you far in this game, it's not always skill that wins in football.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

That may be true for a single match, Malcolm, but I think over the course of a month-long World Cup tournament the cream does rise to the top, and the more talented teams win the tournament. Even had the USA somehow pulled out a win against Belgium while being seriously outplayed, they still would have to do the same thing in the next match against Argentina, and then again twice more against other more talented teams. The odds of that happening have to be astronomical.

BTW, Carlo, I do not consider myself a hater. I'm more of a realist.

 

[Carlo_M]

Me too Scott. By "haters" I meant people like Jay Mohr who on his radio show this morning was basically saying sarcastically how soccer can now disappear and only in soccer can going 1-1-1 be considered "awesome" and now that we're 1-2-1 we're out.

 

[Walter C]

I will say that I usually just watch USA but this tournament I took the time to watch a lot more games and I have become a fan. I'm not certainly how many games I'll watch outside of this tournament but I do look forward to watching to see how things play out.

I'm actually thinking about checking out the Union, the Philly MLS team, sometime after the World Cup ends, and see if I will become a fan of the sport that way.

I think the sport will grow a little in this country, but not even close to the levels of the 4 major sports. For starters, there are no TV timeouts, which makes it less attractive to the major networks. I doubt the MLS final will ever air on prime time on the major networks.