Does anyone give a hoot about the World Cup? I won't give a nickle to see any of those games. I know a man in Pa that paid

[1vagamecock]

I think most people that hate soccer dont understand it or how difficult it is to play. Having played it i understand both. I've watched a lot of the matches so far and have enjoyed most of them.
I didn't watch 1 minute of the NBA playoffs so to each his own.
I used to watch the NBA and NASCAR now I watch neither.
I guess taste change sometimes.

 

[atl-cock]

I was born in the UK and I don't watch it. I don't understand how anyone could watch a game for that length of time for a thrilling 1-0 victory or a tie. No game should ever end in a tie.

To each their own.

 

[CreekSnake]

I'm still licking my wounds from 1994. That was the last time I bought the hype over US soccer in the World Cup. Tony Meola, Earnie Stewart, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas. I really got into it that year.

I guess it says something pretty remarkable that we even make the World Cup, since it's not a sport we try very hard at (relative to baseball, basketball and football).

I can see it passing baseball, but I wonder about basketball.

I went and looked it up, we have Paraguay, Australia and Turkey in our pool. Let's just say I'll be disappointed if we cant win that pool.

Why don’t you just give me $20 and I’ll kick you in the nuts out back

I think most people that hate soccer dont understand it or how difficult it is to play. Having played it i understand both. I've watched a lot of the matches so far and have enjoyed most of them.
I didn't watch 1 minute of the NBA playoffs so to each his own.
I used to watch the NBA and NASCAR now I watch neither.
I guess taste change sometimes.

Soccer has a lot going for it as a participation sport.Size doesn’t really matter and everyone touches the ball.Just as in baseball soccer has a lot of nuance to it.Those who understand it enjoy that part of it.
But if someone doesn’t like soccer,no problem.Nobody likes every sport.i don’t understand or like cricket but about a billion people do.

 

[ScWildthing61]

Charlie and the kid Jake on two and a half Men about summed up my interest in soccer

Jake: "soccer's the most popular sport in the world!"

Charlie: "then they don't need us to watch it."

 

[atl-cock]

Soccer has a lot going for it as a participation sport.Size doesn’t really matter and everyone touches the ball.Just as in baseball soccer has a lot of nuance to it.Those who understand it enjoy that part of it.
But if someone doesn’t like soccer,no problem.Nobody likes every sport.i don’t understand or like cricket but about a billion people do.

I can only add that we should not diss a sport we have no interest in. As you stated: "no problem."

 

[KingWard]

Every place and legacy has it's own variety(ies) of zealotry. As for the gentleman from the Congo, his suit and resolve are both novel and impressive.

 

[KingWard]

I think most people that hate soccer dont understand it or how difficult it is to play. Having played it i understand both. I've watched a lot of the matches so far and have enjoyed most of them.
I didn't watch 1 minute of the NBA playoffs so to each his own.
I used to watch the NBA and NASCAR now I watch neither.
I guess taste change sometimes.

Anything you deliberately do with your feet what your hands could do with far greater facility, it's hard for most people to understand.

 

[bayrooster]

Anything you deliberately do with your feet what your hands could do with far greater facility, it's hard for most people to understand.

How cartoonish flopping often succeeds in drawing yellow cards is also hard for the plebes to understand.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I turned it on for a bit last night. About 10 seconds after I turned it out, the ball was kicked out of bounds. Then it happened again 25 seconds later. I won't deny there is a good bit of strategy and skill in the ball movement, but it seems there's just as much wildly wailing on the ball to just kick as far and as hard you can away from your end of the field.

 

[gamecockengineer2011]

The obvious fake injuries turn me off from really wanting to get into watching it.

 

[Lurker123]

The obvious fake injuries turn me off from really wanting to get into watching it.

This annoys me too. The players in my family defend it as "drawing the refs attrntion" to the foul. But it seems real excessive to me.

 

[Uscg1984]

This annoys me too. The players in my family defend it as "drawing the refs attrntion" to the foul. But it seems real excessive to me.

I think part of the problem is that somewhere around 30% of all goals scored in soccer matches are coming off of set plays like penalty kicks or corner kicks. So, there is significant incentive to draw the ref's attention to penalties, especially close to your opponent's goal. It creates this ridiculous situation where every single soccer player who tumbles the field immediately grabs his knee and winces his face to convince the ref that a violation occurred.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

I think part of the problem is that somewhere around 30% of all goals scored in soccer matches are coming off of set plays like penalty kicks or corner kicks. So, there is significant incentive to draw the ref's attention to penalties, especially close to your opponent's goal. It creates this ridiculous situation where every single soccer player who tumbles the field immediately grabs his knee and winces his face to convince the ref that a violation occurred.

In the tournament, I believe someone received a yellow card for falling down trying to draw a penalty inside the 18-yard box.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

I am surprised at the turnout for the games in the United States. These stadiums are packed and I was not expecting that. Great support.

Getting off subject here but this guy did not move the whole game.

 

[Lurker123]

In the tournament, I believe someone received a yellow card for falling down trying to draw a penalty inside the 18-yard box.

They did. I liked that call. Yellow card for faking.

I watched that one and it was wildly blatant that he faked it well after being touched.

 

[CreekSnake]

Actually that is the opposite of what you want to do.Ball possession is more important than territory gain.Only time you play the long ball is to get a quick counter attack.
End of games when you are trying to kill the clock might call for a long ball as it would take time off the clock.
You’ll see most goals scored by working the ball down the wing with a cross into the center.Anytime you get a corner kick it’s a scoring chance as you basically make an uncontested cross.
Different countries have different styles of play.Germany is historically a big team and they score a lot on headers from crosses while a team like Brazil ,Spain and Argentina plays a stylish game with chances created string together a lot of short passes.

 

[atl-cock]

How many / percentage of the attendees are foreigners?

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

How many / percentage of the attendees are foreigners?

I do not know.

 

[atl-cock]

I do not know.

Fair enough.

Nonetheless, I am impressed with the soccer knowledge some have posted on here, especially the nuances of play. While impressed, I'm still not much interested in the game, but of course, I wish the USC varsity soccer teams much success this fall.

 

[KingWard]

I think part of the problem is that somewhere around 30% of all goals scored in soccer matches are coming off of set plays like penalty kicks or corner kicks. So, there is significant incentive to draw the ref's attention to penalties, especially close to your opponent's goal. It creates this ridiculous situation where every single soccer player who tumbles the field immediately grabs his knee and winces his face to convince the ref that a violation occurred.

I would call that a systemic flaw.

 

[18IsTheMan]

The US squad could not have asked for a better draw in this tournament. We had two relatively easy opening games and finish of group play with a meaningless game against a bad Turkey team. We will most likely play Bosnia in the Round of 32, in which we will be heavy favorites. Then we would most likely match up against Egypt in the round of 16, another game we would be favored to win.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

The US squad could not have asked for a better draw in this tournament. We had two relatively easy opening games and finish of group play with a meaningless game against a bad Turkey team. We will most likely play Bosnia in the Round of 32, in which we will be heavy favorites. Then we would most likely match up against Egypt in the round of 16, another game we would be favored to win.

Turkiye has been a complete disaster when it comes to scoring goals. It is possible that the United States could go on the field with ten men and not use a goalie and Turkiye would still not score a goal. Newbomb Turk may as well be coaching Turkiye.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

The US squad could not have asked for a better draw in this tournament. We had two relatively easy opening games and finish of group play with a meaningless game against a bad Turkey team. We will most likely play Bosnia in the Round of 32, in which we will be heavy favorites. Then we would most likely match up against Egypt in the round of 16, another game we would be favored to win.

Round of 32 starts Monday and that means no more ties. One thing I do not like is when a game comes down to penalty kicks after extra time and the game is still tied. I rather for the game to keep playing until there is a goal scored.

 

[18IsTheMan]

Turkiye has been a complete disaster when it comes to scoring goals. It is possible that the United States could go on the field with ten men and not use a goalie and Turkiye would still not score a goal. Newbomb Turk may as well be coaching Turkiye.

Paraguay was a down man for the 2nd half against Turkey and still won 1-0. I'm assuming we'll rest players. I guess it truly is a meaningless game as our next game is already set.

 

[Lurker123]

Turkiye has been a complete disaster when it comes to scoring goals. It is possible that the United States could go on the field with ten men and not use a goalie and Turkiye would still not score a goal. Newbomb Turk may as well be coaching Turkiye.

Thanks for the jinx!

 

[bayrooster]

Mexico will be tough if the US makes it that far. They have a couple of seriously fast strikers. Two breakaway goals while the entire Czech team was on the other half of the field, I mean pitch.

 

[atl-cock]

Round of 32 starts Monday and that means no more ties. One thing I do not like is when a game comes down to penalty kicks after extra time and the game is still tied. I rather for the game to keep playing until there is a goal scored.

Sudden death.

 

[Lurker123]

Well, sucks to lose that one. Even if it "didn't matter".

Next Wednesday cant get here fast enough.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Mesmerized Europeans Begin Worshiping Bucc-ee Beaver

U.S. — According to sources, European tourists visiting the United States for the World Cup became mesmerized and bowed in worship to the golden statue of Bucc-ee Beaver.

babylonbee.com

 

[atl-cock]

Mesmerized Europeans Begin Worshiping Bucc-ee Beaver

U.S. — According to sources, European tourists visiting the United States for the World Cup became mesmerized and bowed in worship to the golden statue of Bucc-ee Beaver.

babylonbee.com

Cute. Must be those tourists in Texas.

 

[bayrooster]

Well, sucks to lose that one. Even if it "didn't matter".

Next Wednesday cant get here fast enough.

I think most assumed this would be another win for USA. Not beating Turkey tells me we will lose when we face a historically good team, which is basically SOP.

The pre-game pageantry was a little over the top IMHO. It's like we were setting ourselves up for disappointment from the get go.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

Well, sucks to lose that one. Even if it "didn't matter".

Next Wednesday cant get here fast enough.

 

[Lurker123]

I think most assumed this would be another win for USA. Not beating Turkey tells me we will lose when we face a historically good team, which is basically SOP.

The pre-game pageantry was a little over the top IMHO. It's like we were setting ourselves up for disappointment from the get go.

Im not sure about that. We did replace 9 players before the game. Until a couple guys subbed in during the second half, that was literally our entire back up team out there.

Well, rereading, I guess I agree. We're good enough to win a couple games, imo. But against the best teams? Probably not. So if "historically good" means the top 5 or 8 teams, I agree.

 

[Uscg1984]

Turkiye has been a complete disaster when it comes to scoring goals. It is possible that the United States could go on the field with ten men and not use a goalie and Turkiye would still not score a goal. Newbomb Turk may as well be coaching Turkiye.

Ugh. This didn't age well.

I get that the game didn't matter and we rested a lot of players, but this is still a gut punch right before playoff.

 

[RUMMENIGGE]

Ugh. This didn't age well.

I get that the game didn't matter and we rested a lot of players, but this is still a gut punch right before playoff.

I standby with the statements about Turkiye. Turkiye had a very favorable matchups to qualify for the world cup. Resting players is the smart play so as not to risk a player receiving a red card or some kind of leg, knee or foot injury.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Brazilian Psychic's Predicted Alien Invasion at World Cup Match Fails to Materialize | Coast to Coast AM

 

[Forkcock]

I haven't watched any of it but saw a short podcast yesterday where some guy said we had a team that could win it. Is that true?

 

[Uscg1984]

I haven't watched any of it but saw a short podcast yesterday where some guy said we had a team that could win it. Is that true?

I mean, I _could_ get struck by lightning this weekend, but I doubt it.

I'm no soccer expert, but from what I've seen, we're capable of being a cinderella team, meaning we're probably good enough to upset anybody if some breaks go our way in a game, but I can't see this team upsetting 3 or 4 such teams, which is what they'd need to do to win it all. A run to the quarterfinals (Elite Eight) would probably mean they exceeded expectations. Anything beyond that would require some major upsets, either by us or by another cinderella.

 

[Lurker123]

I haven't watched any of it but saw a short podcast yesterday where some guy said we had a team that could win it. Is that true?

Saw one site putting our odds at 3%.

We're ranked around 15th. So in a 32 team tourney, we have that miracle chance, but I wouldnt bet on it at all.

 

[gamecock stock]

$1100 apiece for cheap seats for him and his son.

My boys played. I don't recall my daughter having played. My grandsons have played as have my granddaughters. One of my grandsons made his high school team in Cincinnati. It's fun to watch, in my opinion. But I can understand why the sport is not for some. I like low scoring football games. But I know I'm in the minority liking low scoring football games. As has been said, to each their own.