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WORLD CUP 2010

Happy hour starts in 5 minutes
Lanky Livingston said:
Whoah whoah whoah...I don't think we're quite a "legit threat" yet. We may win a pool game or two, and maybe even advance out of our group, but it won't go much further than that. US Soccer is still a ways away.
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I was referencing the game against England Lanky. We are a legit threat to upset England. We're a legit threat to make it out of our group. Beyond that, we're in uncharted territory as you said. But it's all relative brother. We've gone from laughing stock to legitimate World Cup participant. Read that any way you want.
 
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Less than 2 hours to go. No taxation without representation! Lets go boys!
 
Went to a local pub with my brother. It was beyond packed - and we're talking Greensboro, NC here. I think those sports talk radio guys trying to convince us that 'Soccer sucks!' and that no one in red,white, and blue could give a **** are as wrong as anyone's ever been. The crowd where I was sang, cheered, roared - it was electric.

Although I thought the US had the better of it today overall (dominated the first half, played even soccer the second), a tie is the equivalent of a victory for us given expectations.

Great start :cheers:
 
Greece/South Korea was about the ugliest match I've ever seen at the World Cup level.

Enjoyed most of the Argentina/Nigeria match.

I'll take that crap goal 10 times out of 10 in the US/England match. The US side has come so far since the 94 Cup it's amazing. I don't know that Alexi Lalas would even make this squad.

It was a lot of fun to watch and most of the bars in Manhattan and Brooklyn that were showing the game were overbooked.

That was the case even for the opening match on Friday at 10AM. There were almost no openings and to find a table my friends and I had to call (and be rejected by) five places.

I think this could be the year that soccer finally gets a hold on the super saturated US sports market.
 
Elephant said:
So who are you rooting for, other than USA? Each World Cup I find myself rooting for the same teams I have always cheered on, Germany and England. This year I will pull for both, but have found myself a fan of Cristiano Ronaldo. Go Portugal! Of course after the US, Germany and England. :)
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Oh Portugal; I picked them beating Uruguay in the WC final. A farce probably, but you never know. However, if their track record is any indication, we'll likely see Portugal wasting opportunities and falling short (again). Hope I'm wrong for my bracket's sake! :)
 
Explain to me why there is no sudden death in WC? How does a tie factor in the grand scheme of things?
 
As I understand it, it is much like hockey scoring where a win is worth 2 points, a draw worth 1 and a loss worth nothing but I could be incorrect. If so, I am sure someone with more knowledge than I will correct me.
 
riggins44 said:
Explain to me why there is no sudden death in WC? How does a tie factor in the grand scheme of things?
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3 points for a win. 1 point for a tie. 0 points for a loss.

Each group consists of 4 teams, and each team plays the other three opponents. After all teams in the group have played each other, they tally up the points.

If two teams have an identical number of points, goal differential in the three games will determine who moves forward.

The first two teams from each group advance into the "elimination" rounds--where one single loss sends you home. Much like the NFL playoffs.

In this second stage, the number 1 teams from the first group levels, play the number two teams from the first group levels.

In these single elimination games, they do play extra time.

But in the first group stage, where we are now, they don't. It is similiar to the NFL in that, much like the NFL, you can have ties in that first group stage(as you can in the NFL regular season.)

But once the single elimination games begin(playoffs), ties are no longer possible.

Soccer does have the ultimate overtime session all of of sports. Should a game go to extra time, and still remain tied, they then move into penalty kicks to decide the winner.

Penalty kicks in the WC are insane. Here is an example of a penalty kick situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa83eHgiF84
 
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A few other things to know about soccer, for those new to the sport:

We are obviously all football fans here, so I will avoid the "which sport is better" debate. But here are some interesting things about soccer, that differentiate the sport from football.

1. You will never see an overweight soccer player in the WC. They don't exist. Soccer players are given credit for being some of the best conditioned athletes on earth. They play for 45 minutes straight, and get one break at halftime. They then play another 45 minutes straight, without any breaks.

Plays don't end. There are no huddles. There really is no rest. They run around the entire game.

2. When you make a substitution in soccer, that player may not return to the game. You cannot rest a star player. If he comes out due to exhaustion or injury, he is done.

3. Injuries do not stop the game. The clock continues to run. It never stops. Even when the ball goes out of bounds. If a player does get injured, the officials will usually give them 60 seconds to recover. After roughly 60 seconds, play resumes--even if the player is still injured.

If still injured, they do allow the team to take that player a few yards out of bounds, to allow the trainers to continue to work on him. But as he is being worked on, the team has to continue play a man down.

While the clock does not stop, the officials will extend the game by a few minutes, to make up for time lost due to injuries during the game. It is up to the official to determine how much time, if any, is added to the clock. Typically 2 to 4 minutes will be added to a WC game.

4. If a player is ejected from the game due to either receiving two yellow cards, or one red card, the team must play the rest of the game a man down. If someone is ejected in basketball due to too many fouls, he is replaced by someone off the bench. In soccer, an ejection means the other team now has an extra player.

Hope that helps a few people.
 
ANOTHER botched save allows Italy to score the tying goal. GK misplays the corner, whiffs, and Italy taps it in. Horrible! And there was an own-goal this morning in Denmark/Netherlands. Its like everyone forgot how to play soccer, except for Tim Howard (who is okay, by the way, and will play on Friday. So you're saying there's a CHANCE!)
 
The US didn't look ready to play the other day ... but got the lucky goal to earn at least a point and--hopefully--an infusion of confidence. If nothing else maybe they'll be over the jitters they clearly had in the opener and play a game/style representative game of the level they've reached Friday against Slovenia.

Win or lose, I'd like to at least see us show up and show the world that the top 20 ranking is justified. That said, they have to win or frickin' Slovenia's going to end up qualifying from Group C ahead of us.

* facepalm *

Random thoughts:

Loved the Dutch's attacking style ... some things never change.

Damn the Germans. Young or not, they put one tough machine on the field.

Paraguay?

Vuvuzelas are the devil's instrument.

Next to "diva" in the spanich dictionary, you'll see a picture of Maradona.

Can't wait to see Brazil play.

Brazil vs. North Korea ... how cool is that?

I love this ****. :)
 
Another exciting....tie. New Zealand knocks home a header in the 94th minute to tie Slovakia, and essentially eliminate the both of them from the elimination rounds. Unless of course Slovakia can somehow beat Italy or Paraguay, which is highly unlikely.
 
The maroon who wrote that piece is ... a maroon. Not all "noise" is created equal, nor is all noise "color and atmosphere." Some noise is just plain noise. The vuvuzela falls somewhere between noise and unbearable monotonous ear-offending soul-killing cacophony.

One of the real beauties of international soccer used to be the serenade of the crowd singing their teams fight songs, or their national songs. Sometimes it was enough to make your hair stand on end. The endless demented buzzing of the plastic horn is enough to make your hair fall out.
 
Om said:
The US didn't look ready to play the other day ... but got the lucky goal to earn at least a point and--hopefully--an infusion of confidence. If nothing else maybe they'll be over the jitters they clearly had in the opener and play a game/style representative game of the level they've reached Friday against Slovenia.

Win or lose, I'd like to at least see us show up and show the world that the top 20 ranking is justified. That said, they have to win or frickin' Slovenia's going to end up qualifying from Group C ahead of us.

I love this ****. :)
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I've got to disagree with some of that Mark (except for the loving this **** part :)). The US was the better team for the first 45 minutes (with the exception of the first few minutes leading up to giving up the quick goal) - they seemed to me to have more chances than the Brits in the first half and the ball was almost continuously on the Brit side of midfield. I'm pretty sure we easily won time of possession first half, but I'd have to check to make sure. I keep hearing that the goal was somehow 'cheap' because the keeper couldn't control it - but he couldn't control it, allowing it to dribble in, because of the angle from which the shot was taken and because Dempsey put some mustard on it. It wasn't a blown save in my opinion, it was just a hard shot that, although the keeper mostly got in front of it, had too much on it for him to control. Where I fault the US is that they didn't keep the pressure on in the second half and appeared to be playing to protect at least a tie. England on the other hand made some great defensive adjustments, and I'd argue, up until the last few minutes had the better of it in the 2nd half.

Overall - I'd say it was England that looked tight, not the Americans. Given the expectations, a tie is a good day for the USA.
 
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Anyone watch the Brazilians struggle against the North Koreans? It does not matter how great a team may or may not be, but when your opponents drop 10 back to defend, it is going to be difficult to get the open shots. Brazil was playing too tight in the first half all bunched up in the middle of the field and there were defenders on them every turn.

On that first goal in the second half they did what they needed to do. It was a thing of beauty to watch the defender make his run upfield, take advantage of space, overlap to the outside, dribble in wide open to the near side of the goal, and then get off a fantastic shot beating the keeper to the near side! I can tell you as a former keeper that is the biggest no no for a goalie! Never let the man beat you to the inside!

That is what I love about soccer! I could see that play develop from half field and knew it was going in (Or at least felt it). But I did think he was going to cut it back to the open man, not get off such a great shot.

North Korea is going to be a tough match up for both the Ivory Coast and Portugal.
 
Boone, we did see it differently. I'm not a big stats guy when it comes to futbol, but in terms of possession the Brits took it 54-46% for the game (I don't see splits by half on the official site). Which falls in line with the "feel" I walked away with ... maybe I was watching with a jaundiced eye, but I thought the Brits were easily the more aggressive, organized and dangerous squad. Our goaltending to me is the reason we were able to stay in the game long enough to equalize, and ultimately hold on.

Not saying we were all that bad, just not as good/crisp as I was hoping to see.

As to the goal ... I dunno man. Looks to me like Green got himself wrong-footed and off balance, and simply blew the save. I haven't heard many others opine that Dempsey's shot was anything other than routine. Of course that's what makes you special you bastige. Now I'm going to have to study it a few times because you're usually right about ****. :)
 
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