A draw that felt like a loss.
We’ll take it, but it’s bittersweet.
Ok, wife is in the hospital with stomach virus the past two days at 38 weeks preggers and I have watched most of the world cup games and I will rank them and give my stupid American observations.
Ghana vs Germany was just a lot of fun to watch but I feel like that wasn’t Germany’s best.
Argentina vs Iran really enjoyed this one because of the good defensive back and forth, felt like Iran played good enough to win but just couldn’t capitalize when they had the chance.
US vs Portugal maybe it was just my soccer ignorant self but the US defense just wasn’t impressive and Portugal just didn’t hit there many chances. Compared to other matches, the US defense seemed on the verge of getting overrun in the goalie box constantly. If they play that way against Germany I don’t think it will go well at all.
Russia vs Belgium. I think Russia outplayed Belgium for 60 minutes but Belgium just found a different gear in that last 30 and looked like a special team if they can play like that for 90.
Bosnia vs Nigeria was the worst game of the bunch and thoroughly boring to me. But I must say I have enjoyed my World Cup/College World Series weekend
My mistake, it was not a loss, but it did feel like we got robbed to a degree.
That sucked at the end of the match yesterday, but, the US still has a great chance to advance and they control their own destiny. A win or tie gets them through to the 2nd round and even a loss will work as long as there’s not too much of a goal differential swing in the process.
A couple of thoughts on this thread in general, especially some of the posts towards the beginning:
- The concept that people in this country don’t like soccer is wrong. Not everyone likes it, but enough do to make it a reasonably popular sport. Take a look at the TV ratings for this world cup: USA-Portugal: Most-Viewed Soccer Match Ever in U.S. - ESPN Press Room U.S.
In addition to this, MLS attendance rivals the NBA and NHL. In regard to TV ratings for MLS, they’re not great, but soccer viewership is seriously diluted by the availability of the top leagues in the world being on TV all the time. Soccer is the easiest sport on TV to watch year round if you have a pretty standard cable package. The EPL, La Liga, Seria A, Bundisliga, etc… are all readily available on TV. I like watching basketball a lot, although mainly college hoops, but imagine if you could watch 4-5 leagues around the world of the same quality as the NBA.
To be clear, I’m not saying I think soccer is currently as popular as the NBA or NHL or MLB, but it’s close enough to put it in the same group. The trends for the fans in regard to age, income, education, etc… are strongly in favor of soccer becoming more and more popular while some of the other sports stagnate or decline.
The NFL and college football on the other hand are different. American football is clearly the top sport in this country and will remain that way for my lifetime at least. This is as it should be. It’s an American sport that’s fantastic to watch on TV.
- I’ve heard over and over again how we’re going to be better at soccer when our top athletes start playing soccer instead of football or basketball. I get it, as it’s fun to think about an athlete like Barry Sanders playing soccer. However, the main reason we are still behind the top teams in Europe and South America is not our athletic ability, but our ability to develop players with the technical ability and tactical awareness that’s ingrained in other countries youth systems. That’s OK for now, as we’re doing better than we’ve done in the past. It’s going to take time though. They’ve been developing top talent in the top tier soccer countries for over 100 years. We will have to pay our dues, learn from them and close the gap. Basketball has taken off in other countries around the world but I think most people here would scoff at the concept of the Argentines, or Italians developing as much talent as us in that sport.
Also, we already have some extremely good athletes playing in this country. I personally know 4 MLS players who can run sub 4.5 40’s. That may not sound that great, but consider the fact that these players run this test 2 times a year at the most and never practice their starts. They’re also capable of playing 90 minute matches. If you took some of the faster football players around and trained them to play soccer for 90 minutes, they’d lose some fast twitch ability for sure. In case you’re wondering, I know about the times because I was holding the watch.
In general I’d say that soccer’s popularity and our national teams ability to play well are growing, just more slowly than people thought it would 10, 20 or 30 years ago. It’s a slow shift and a long process to grow the sport, but it’s getting there.
I havent read the thread much…but from a few of the posts I see its going down the line of Americans dont like soccer because most mericans are retarded and so is their sports…blah blah blah by the usual suspects.
As a lover of Merican sports, and someone who has very close friends that are/were fairly successful Soccer players I never was interested. I never really gave it a fair shot.
This World Cup has really opened my eyes on how much fun it is to watch. Now I am sure my nationalistic rooting interest has something to do with it, but I was watching Netherlands and Chile yesterday, fuck I even watched Korea play in its entirety. I gotta say I like it and will try to watch some more after the cup.
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
[quote]doogie wrote:
I watched the Argentina-Iran game. Was that an example of a good game or a crappy game?[/quote]
Not good (although that goal got me out of my seat). This is mostly because it was Iran’s objective to shut down the most exciting player in the world, and they succeeded until the 91st minute.
So, from an Iranian perspective, I guess most of the game was probably pretty fun to watch.
Just wait until Argentina plays a team whose strategy is to match Messi’s goals, rather than compressing their formation and covering him like glue at the expense of transition and offense. Because Argentina has weaknesses in the back and Messi up front, that will spell fireworks on both ends of the field. And watching Messi work with even just a little space is like watching Mariano pitch with a one-run lead in the World Series.[/quote]
I actually really enjoyed this game. IT was the first soccer match I have watched in its entirety though so I don’t have a lot to judge it against.
[quote]MattyXL wrote:
This World Cup has really opened my eyes on how much fun it is to watch. Now I am sure my nationalistic rooting interest has something to do with it, but I was watching Netherlands and Chile yesterday, fuck I even watched Korea play in its entirety. I gotta say I like it and will try to watch some more after the cup.
[/quote]
Tell me you are just on drugs and didn’t really mean this.
To the mother fucker who bit one of my players, you worthless piece of amphibian shit can go eat a dick and die.
To the rest of you Fifa players, I encourage you to elbow or knee him in his grill, for every tooth you knock out, I have a c-note for you.
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
To the mother fucker who bit one of my players, you worthless piece of amphibian shit can go eat a dick and die.
To the rest of you Fifa players, I encourage you to elbow or knee him in his grill, for every tooth you knock out, I have a c-note for you. [/quote]
Karma. The Italians are the biggest vaginas in the WC. They spent more time flopping and on ground than playing.
[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:
[quote]MaximusB wrote:
To the mother fucker who bit one of my players, you worthless piece of amphibian shit can go eat a dick and die.
To the rest of you Fifa players, I encourage you to elbow or knee him in his grill, for every tooth you knock out, I have a c-note for you. [/quote]
Karma. The Italians are the biggest vaginas in the WC. They spent more time flopping and on ground than playing.[/quote]
Chiellini also spent the whole game trying to draw fouls. The whole Italian team plays dirty.
Awful show by the Italians. They deserved to lose and you could see it coming the way they were playing. Playing the whole game to draw instead of just play like they know how to play, and trying to waste time at the 65th minute mark for god sake.
This entire sport is played by vaginas, my beef is someone trying to Mike Tyson the guy, inevitably leading to a score.
Also, the red card given was ridiculous. I have seen soft porn more offensive than that.
Greece secures their first ever Group of 16 berth after drawing a soft foul in the penalty area.
These refs have been inconsistent. Some fouls look soft, while others look like rape.
http://www.espnfc.com/video/highlights/114/video/1910296/samaras-sends-greece-to-the-knockout-stage
What a flop.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
http://www.espnfc.com/video/highlights/114/video/1910296/samaras-sends-greece-to-the-knockout-stage
What a flop.[/quote]
No it was not.
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
http://www.espnfc.com/video/highlights/114/video/1910296/samaras-sends-greece-to-the-knockout-stage
What a flop.[/quote]
From that one it doesn’t look like he was touched. From the other you can tell he was, but it’s hard to say if the guy really did it on purpose or was just in the way.