Soccer World Cup

Devilsbane

I actually watched the entire US Ghana game and found it to be enjoyable. I was frustrated watching the first half seeing us do the exact same thing as a Ghana player and get penalized while they didn't. In the second half I seen some things that I figured we should have got penalties for, and so I think it was a wash there.

What frustrates me was the time management in overtime. Every other posession another Ghana player was laying on the ground to stall some times. Especially frustrating was the one where the guy went down all by himself, started to get back up, decided to lay there for 3 minutes until he was carted off the field. To then stand up and run back in 30 seconds later. Also frustrating was that it would take 3 Ghana players to decide who should throw the ball in, and it was always the one who was farthest away who slowly trotted across the field who would do it.

Again, I'm not saying that we would have, or even could have won. But watching that was ridiculous. The ref made very little, if any attempt to speed the game along. (I think once or twice he said something, but was silent for much of it.) I've got no problem losing to a team when you have clearly met a better opponent. Stings quite a bit when they make a mockery like that.

varelg

DevilWAH wrote: »

I want to know where I can go to get away from football!!

Honestly I hope all you footy fans are having a good time, but me personally I will be happy when its all over and normality returns

By golly DevilWAH, it's only once in 4 years Hang on just few more weeks and the next four years will be given back to the Land of Lame. Entire 4 years soccer- free for you to enjoy... Unless you live in Europe...
You see gosh1976, I missed the old guy Jurgen's discussion, hopefully that (or those) academy/ies will be taken more seriously than just overhyped kids' playground. Who will teach at those academies by the way? Smells a bit like the old soviet system of athletic and gymnast academies...
MLS (in my view at least) is slowly taken over by mexican franchises that already have both a fan base and source for young players in the US mexican population. I am not saying it's a bad thing, just that having a variety is better than totaly adopting only a single style of play.

Pash

Kaminsky wrote: »

Best place to go is over there at the back of the garden with my wife, daughter and all the neighbours wives.

Occasionally they pipe up and pretend to know the offside rule.....losers!

4-1, honestly we were well and truly outclassed.

1. Cap these overpaid pansies salaries (there is no way any person should get the sort of salary in a week that many presidents and prime minister's get in a year).

2. Every premiership team should out at least 60% of the team as english players.

3. Invest further in the youth academies in England and stop putting the young players we develop into positions at young ages!!!!! Develop them, let them find their own way and then when they are 17-18 we will know where they can play best.

za3bour

Pash wrote: »

Occasionally they pipe up and pretend to know the offside rule.....losers!

4-1, honestly we were well and truly outclassed.

1. Cap these overpaid pansies salaries (there is no way any person should get the sort of salary in a week that many presidents and prime minister's get in a year).

2. Every premiership team should out at least 60% of the team as english players.

3. Invest further in the youth academies in England and stop putting the young players we develop into positions at young ages!!!!! Develop them, let them find their own way and then when they are 17-18 we will know where they can play best.

My wide did ask me about offside at least once per game, I don't know why they don't get it. She's a senior art director and very smart woman but she just can't understand offside.

As for England I think the first rule they should do is prevent teams in league from getting goalkeepers from outside England this position should be for English players only. It's really a shame that England can't produce a decent goal keeper since Peter Shilton even Seaman wasn't a great goalkeeper.

I think the coach should've find a way for Lambard and Gerard to play together and Rooney should've been out in the second half I don't know why he kept him for so long although he was poor the whole tournament.

gosh1976

varelg wrote: »

By golly DevilWAH, it's only once in 4 years Hang on just few more weeks and the next four years will be given back to the Land of Lame. Entire 4 years soccer- free for you to enjoy... Unless you live in Europe...
You see gosh1976, I missed the old guy Jurgen's discussion, hopefully that (or those) academy/ies will be taken more seriously than just overhyped kids' playground. Who will teach at those academies by the way? Smells a bit like the old soviet system of athletic and gymnast academies...
MLS (in my view at least) is slowly taken over by mexican franchises that already have both a fan base and source for young players in the US mexican population. I am not saying it's a bad thing, just that having a variety is better than totaly adopting only a single style of play.

Well it is and has been ex-MLS players, ex- Div-I collegiate players, coaches from the olympic development program, etc that coach at the academies and at Bradenton. There are players on the current World Cup that went through the residency program at Bradenton: Donovan, Onyewu, Beasley, Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and Jonathan Spector.

Claudio Reyna was named the youth technical director at US soccer a few months ago. Here's a story about that: NY Times Advertisement

The us soccer development academy is in it's 3rd year I believe. Basically it consists of elite clubs from around the country, MLS youth teams (which all mls clubs are required to have now), and the U-15 and U-17 US national teams.

Youth development in US soccer has been moving in the right direction over the last 10 years or so and has pick up steam in the last few years but it is still slow going. MLS still doesn't pay their young players playing alongside the Blancos, Donnovans, and beckhams a decent wage so they surely don't have the money to just pour money into the youth setup. But that is why it is so important for the sport to pick up a few more fans during tournaments like the Confederations cup and the world cup.

The US is pretty unique with it's Collegiate sports and it's not an all bad thing. All these aspects of youth development will continue to have their place but the focus just will not be on getting players into University soccer programs.

RobertKaucher

Kaminsky wrote: »

Best place to go is over there at the back of the garden with my wife, daughter and all the neighbours wives.

I doubt it. In N Korea there would be some sort of TV issue and the news departments would just declare a victory for their side regardless of the actual outcome.

GAngel

The coaching in the U.S. is ****. I speaking from first hand knowledge having gone through it until 14 then having the choice of a) quitting or moving to europe. Most of my mates moved on free rides and are ejoying varying degrees of success the rest of us got careers.

Now with MLS and salary's beng garbage there is still no incentive to play here if you're a half decent young footballer. The coaches have either never played or were terrible over in europe which is why they're here. MLS needs to focus on bringing over a top draw coach and his staff and having the rest of the league feed off them. Football isn't about running fast and pass, pass, hoof which is essentialy what the u.s national team does and all they really train to do. Bringing in a bunch of over the hill players is not going to fix a grass roots problem. A coach and his scouts is more important long term than a superstar any day of the week.

Devilsbane

RobertKaucher wrote: »

I doubt it. In N Korea there would be some sort of TV issue and the news departments would just declare a victory for their side regardless of the actual outcome.

Oh no! We're going into a tunnel.

Turgon

Pash wrote: »

Occasionally they pipe up and pretend to know the offside rule.....losers!

4-1, honestly we were well and truly outclassed.

1. Cap these overpaid pansies salaries (there is no way any person should get the sort of salary in a week that many presidents and prime minister's get in a year).

2. Every premiership team should out at least 60% of the team as english players.

3. Invest further in the youth academies in England and stop putting the young players we develop into positions at young ages!!!!! Develop them, let them find their own way and then when they are 17-18 we will know where they can play best.

I think we (England) were alright for 5 minutes at the beginning of the first and 5 at the beginning of the second half. The best period was the last 10 minutes of the first half when Germany looked really rattled by the English comeback. It should have been 2 - 2.

But we cant escape that the rest of it really was a truly terrible mess. I thought Germany played very well indeed but they probably couldnt believe their luck as England practically handed three goals on a silver platter to them. I think a couple of goals started from an English freekick outside the German box! Our midfiield got sliced open time and time again. Players seemed lost and often out of position. This really didn't help the defence at all who played poorly all game. I thought it was impossible for England to defend worse than they did in the first half but they did the impossible in the second.

It's a shame because if they could have kept it together for 90 minutes I think they could and should have won this match. But you cant give Germany a two goal start and expect a good day at the office when you play like this. German reaction was one of delerium and shock that the English team played so poorly. They were favorites even in Germany to win.

I expect there will be some changes!

ilcram19-2

Kaminsky wrote: »

C.hrist... you joking ? That match could start off world war 3!

no one would wutch the game unless is for that, both arent really at a good level may be the US but no North Korea, and they both know that so no point on watching it,

Kaminsky

I watched the first German group game and thought they would get to the final. Their attack is almost surgical.

When England won their last group game I was over the moon until that goal USA scored the very last minute of extra time which meant we then had to play Germany instead of Ghana. I was gutted. I think we could have closed down Ghana quite well.

Oh Well. I just hope now that we get rid of the old guard and their old mentality. We need younger players coming up but there just isn't anyone that can replace those positions unless we accept a restart with a younger team and don't expect anything from them for a few competitions.

What really irritates me about England at the world cup is how our press always, without fail, bring up our 1966 win and start saying it is our time again and putting up hype about our players and how wonderfull they are. The team we have now and for the last 4 years are not that great compared to some of the other teams in the world. So when they lose, we feel like we have been robbed rather than saying well done to the other team for outclassing ours so well.

snadam

Italy and US are gone , and now I have nobody to really root for. Don't get me wrong, I was cursing at Italy more than cheering . I was hoping for a strong US rally this go round, especially since the implications for this game had ties to their elimination in 2006. I was gutted when Ghana scored in extra time. Myself and a friend of mine (an Irishman no less) went to the local pub to watch. The atmosphere was amazing, but the result was not. I guess I get to watch the rest of the world cup as a neutral fan. Looking forward to Brazil/Netherlands game!!!

Devilsbane

Wow, more referee screw ups... And how does FIFA respond? Banning instant replays on the jumbo-tron to cover up the mistakes.

za3bour

Devilsbane wrote: »

Wow, more referee screw ups... And how does FIFA respond? Banning instant replays on the jumbo-tron to cover up the mistakes.

Yea it's really a shame but I'm sure they will use technology. they have no choice ultimately.

moss12

Yeah I enjoyed the worldcup cricket
what a score by sri lanka

snadam

I think my new team to root for is Paraguay. Simply for this fact: Larissa Riquelme

RobertKaucher

Today I nearly cried... Brazil went down to Netherlands. Then that vagabundo de Felipe Melo goes and gets a red card on top of the disgrace of heading the ball into his teams own goal. I could nearly cry again.

Devilsbane

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Today I nearly cried... Brazil went down to Netherlands.

If this was skiing then the Netherlands should win... but Soccer?? Who would have thought.

Kaminsky

Best game of the tournement so far. Uraguay V Ghana.

Missing that extended time penalty will live with that Gyan for the rest of his life...

Apart from the whole of Africa willing him on, a good portion of the rest of the world's viewers were routing for Ghana to win... and to hit the cross bar and miss and send it straight to penalties and then they lose on penalties ...

Hell of a game that one! End to end for 120 minutes and then the tragedy of penalties.

That's what the World Cup is about.

varelg

Kaminsky wrote: »

Best game of the tournement so far. Uraguay V Ghana.

Missing that extended time penalty will live with that Gyan for the rest of his life...

Apart from the whole of Africa willing him on, a good portion of the rest of the world's viewers were routing for Ghana to win... and to hit the cross bar and miss and send it straight to penalties and then they lose on penalties ...

Hell of a game that one! End to end for 120 minutes and then the tragedy of penalties.

That's what the World Cup is about.

Haha, Uruguay took over the Cardiac Kings throne from the US. Asamoah needs a squadron of grief counselors. Brazil is out deservably, they didn't play true to their tradition and tried to be someone else.
Argentina lost 4:0, writing this seems unreal. But the clue is offered by Klinsman: "We don't have ego games in our squad".

za3bour

Germany is unstoppable, man what a match today against Argentina I do like Argentina but maradona proved he's just a great player but not a good coach as well. Another stunning victory for Germany 4:0 against Argentina and another great performance after beating England.

I think they are capable of winning this world cup and to me they are the best team so far, Spain and Holland does have a chance but I think Germany is too strong to be beaten but who knows it's been a cup full of surprises so far.

za3bour

Kaminsky wrote: »

Best game of the tournement so far. Uraguay V Ghana.

Missing that extended time penalty will live with that Gyan for the rest of his life...

Apart from the whole of Africa willing him on, a good portion of the rest of the world's viewers were routing for Ghana to win... and to hit the cross bar and miss and send it straight to penalties and then they lose on penalties ...

Hell of a game that one! End to end for 120 minutes and then the tragedy of penalties.

That's what the World Cup is about.

Have you seen the last penalty by Uruguay ? it was magical

Kaminsky

What's left now ?

Uruguay V Holland.
Holland are playing really well. I would think they could do it even though it will be another great match. Uruguay are good but I think they have gone passed the stage they should have gone. Ghana should really be playing this match. You never know though. It wouldn't surprise me if they caught Holland napping.

Germany V Spain.
I think this should have been the final personally. They thrashed England which was a payback for us beating them 5-1 a while back and they wonderfully thrashed Argentina and we still haven't forgiven Maradona for that "Hand of God" incident 23 years ago... so thanks for that Germany! No hard feelings... we'll get you next time!

I watched Germany's first group match and thought they would be in the final to be honest and I'm old enough to have watched a lot of world cups. The trio of Klose, Podalski and Ozil running at you followed by Schweinsteiger is almost surgical. However, some of the best short and long passing I have seen so far in the competition has been by Spain and Villa just loves scoring goals. My money is on him getting the Golden Boot. Well deserved. He gets so much joy out of it.

I reckon Germany should just edge it.

That leaves a Holland v Germany final and those two absolutely hate each other. Expect a lot of fouls in that match.

za3bour

Kaminsky wrote: »

That leaves a Holland v Germany final and those two absolutely hate each other. Expect a lot of fouls in that match.

That's so true i saw a program about this a week ago and was surprised to know how much they hate each others (not only in football) i can imagine the stadium full of thier fans cheering and shoting all the game.

It will be a good match that's for sure i do prefer to have Spain Vs Holland in the final but I think Germany is too good to be beaten now.

We'll have to wait and see, we can't say for sure holland will be in the final too, Uruguay is a strong team although they are missing one of their stars (Suarez) but they got other talented players.

Turgon

Johan will be pleased. Webmaster and Cruyff.

Kaminsky

Some of the goals tonight in Uruguay v Holland were amazing. Hoping for more of the same or better tomorrow. Shame Uruguay gave up after holland's 3rd goal. Think they could have equalised the way they were playing.

Those who don't follow football/soccer might want to watch that one as an example of two of the best teams in the world right now playing for a place in the final against Holland.

Tomorrow's match is going to be a doozey. 7.30pm GMT.

motogpman

Please don't post spoilers..... Man, I am waiting to see the games, LOL.

I felt bad for Ghana. I think that they were a lot better at the passing game/teamwork, but it was a good game overall. The family is rooting for any South American team at this point, everyone was really upset that Brazil got shut down. I started watching in 2006 and now I plan on watching as much as possible when it starts. Being part German, I was estatic that they kicked a$$!

One thing that I have noticed, and having played a lot of soccer growing up, why do so many of the players have to fall down and wiggle in pain like their leg/shin just got broken, only to get up a few seconds later like nothing happened. I understand that some blocks/kicks are painfull, but it's seems overkill. Is it a tactic just to possibly get fouls or something?

Kaminsky

They fall down and writhe in agony whilst their teammates run to the ref gesturing for a card to be issued. Famously done by Portugal's Renaldo against Rooney in the last world cup I think whilst they were both team mates and Manchester United. The locker room back at ManU would have been very painful for Mr R next league match.

1 yellow, the annoying opposition (usually midfielder or defender) has to then be very carfull he doesn't get another. This then allows the fouled player more advantage in future tackles and ultimately a better chance on goal. It's a game winning tactic although everyone detests it but loves the goals it can generate.

I think the brazilians invented it. The Dutch and Italians mastered it. Klinsman famously tripped over his own bootlace whilst near a defender and rolled about 15 meters. Unfortunately the ref was standing in plane view and I think he did or very nearly got sent off. Those that do it very obviously end up with a card themselves.

Webmaster

Turgon wrote: »

Johan will be pleased. Webmaster and Cruyff.

Honestly I've never been a huge soccer fan myself but getting this far in the wc sure makes it interesting and fun to watch. I'm sure Cruyff is happy with the results so far, and I know my top-floor neighbors enjoyed the match It's a shame Suarez couldn't play, he's actually a very popular soccer player here in the Netherlands playing for one of our major clubs.

I never met anyone in my life who 'hates' our Germans neighbors, that's an outdated cliche (at least outside the stadium), but certainly Cruyff will be more than pleased if they can beat Germany in the finals after that match in 1974. Many of our top players (and coaches and trainers) actually play for clubs in Spain so that could be interesting too. Either way it should be a match worth watching.

za3bour

motogpman wrote: »

One thing that I have noticed, and having played a lot of soccer growing up, why do so many of the players have to fall down and wiggle in pain like their leg/shin just got broken, only to get up a few seconds later like nothing happened. I understand that some blocks/kicks are painfull, but it's seems overkill. Is it a tactic just to possibly get fouls or something?

That's so true and i hate it as well and especially when they fake that they were beaten on the face while they are slightly touched in their stomach for example. Another thing is in corners and free kicks when you see all the wrestling and kicking and doing every thing behind the referee.

All in all football is not the same, it's becoming more scientific in a way I'm glad that Uruguay (with a population of 3 million only) has reached semi final and they could have been in the final if they played with more confident against Holland.

Today's match is promising to be really nice, I hope that Spain will win but i will not be sad if Germany won because the final will be interesting the old rivals again.

Thanks for clarifying the fact that they don't really hate each other i heard it in a tv show.