World Cup Soccer Thread

Re: Italy -- the worst luck team of the tourney?

oh jesus...are u here to watch football or judge the player or nation?

For better or worse..em are the rules everyone will have to put up with until FIFA get their act together n update themselves
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Re: Italy -- the worst luck team of the tourney?

>I think it's high time soccer start embracing trail by video when it comes to ref's decisions in crucial moments.

I disagree with you here, to an extent. If video replays were introduced, the game would be severely slowed down. However, I think they should be used in one instance: to see whether the ball has crossed the line or not during very close moments (like when the ball rapidly ricochets off the crossbar and down near the line, then goes back away from the line). If replays were fully integrated, then it would become like American football where there is constant stopping and starting, and I haven't got the patience for that (in soccer) /versus/images/icons/wink.gif

 

US Journalism at its best?

This is a BBC reporter's "US journalist-style" report I found on the BBC's World Cup site. Please take it in jest. It's meant for light-hearted humour only. Without further ado:


BBC Sport Online takes a look at the USA's World Cup success in the style of an American sportswriter.

A zip-two shutout for Team USA saw Mexico bested and the US elevated to eight-left status at soccer's World Tournament Monday.

Eddie Lewis' 40-yard speed-play upfielded for Landon Donovan to put through the scorebag on his head - equalling jubilation in the US locker-room.


Bradley Friedel's blanking left Mex facing a negative score-stat scenario and brought America to a 9-6-5 close-out on the road.



Friedel, rostering for Kasey Keller, performed big when Mexico's offensive hitman Blanco had a net-shot opportunity late in the third quarter.

And the USA defense performed hang-tough also, though a non-call on fieldman John O'Brien with 23.12 on the game-clock could have led to a Card Red ejection.

Field player Donovan now has 323 out-field minutes, a raise of 71 on USA at Italy Soccer World '90.

USA is now to face a sudden-death match-up with spunky Germany, who is a three-time champion looking for another World Cup ring.



USA beat Mexico

Last week, Team States sneaked one out against Portugal when MC Bride hit into the shot-zone, earning bragging points for years to come.

Veteran coach Bruce Arena placed two cornermen in the net-box to negate Portugal firing-boots George Costa and Louis Figo, and his thinking bore heavy fruits.

Free agent Jeff Agoos went ape down the 11th when whistled for a clamber on Paul Eta, but Eddie The Pope holed in from the loop for O'Brien and the bird was flown.

Awesome kick-fest

Elsewhere, 1966 champion England is locked in the final game of a one match series with high-shooting Brazil.

England is hoping star offensive lineman Mikey Owen finds his net form and snatches the championship game off Brazil team owner Phil Scolari.

The ball game sees sophomore success Ron Aldo hard up against British hope Davie Beckham.

Aldo, whose face is the most-sported pin in tournament merchandising stat-history, is .654 to June 17 and has the chance to move within .087 of all-time net-shake legend Mary Dona this regular season.

Beck, leader of the England team on converted set-plays, is lended from the Manchester Hot-Rods franchise over the summer semester.

The midfieldman scooted through backfield Saturday to slap back upcoming Danemark on a zip-three reverse.


Beck was left staring at a rap-sheet at World Tournament France four years back when he was sin-binned for stud-checking Argentine centre Diego Simeon.

Now he has bungeed back to claim the top-dog collar on England's special team outfit.

Freshman Daniel Mills, 24, known for landing big defensive hits, will be used on wing-plays allied to rookie Trevor St Clair to jostle Brazil's tight end - mostly strikerback Dennis Nielson.

Head coach Gordon-Eric Son hints power-strikes will hit upstarts Brazil early. He hopes goaltender Dave Seaman can perform his third smother-shut of the series.

The soccer World Cup, a regional show based on Major League Soccer, concludes June 30 at the Grand Series finale in Japorea.

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Here are some Internet posts made by some American readers who were less than impressed with The Beeb's attempts to mimick a seemingly clueless US 'soccer' reporter:

We wouldn't say, "Defense wins zip-two". We would say, "Defense wins two-zip." Next time when you want to poke fun at your Yankee cousins, do it right.
Brian, USA

Laugh now, Mother England. Two centuries ago, your former colonies took your notion of liberty and made it reality. We didn't need England's approval. Now we're taking your game of football, calling it soccer and making it ours as well. We don't need your approval now either.
Alex, New York, USA


Not bad, although you inadvertently used some correct grammar and punctuation occasionally. So there is some room for improvement.
David Brown, England


No matter what the scoreline or where a fixture took place, a shutout would ALWAYS be described as 2-zip rather than zip-2
Eoin, Canada

Do Britons find this article funny? I don't.
Andrew Monaco, USA

It is a shame that the pompous British press, rather than to congratulate the improved US team, would write such garbage for the world to read. As an American, I represent most citizens in that I have only a passing interest in the sport you call "football". But your ridiculous style of "American sportswriting" only reveals the inferiority complex that most Brits have.
We produce the greatest minds, the greatest products and the best athletes while the Brits sling their hopes on football and the Spice Girls. How revealing that we have achieved near-equal standing in a sport no one even takes seriously. Perhaps your fervour should soon be directed toward cricket and ... oh yes, your economically laggard country!
Randy Dorsey, USA


Which section was done in the style of an American?
Dennis Burton, USA

I think this is over the top. The comments ascribed to a US journalist are obviously a translation (possibly via software) on the web. No Americans would use such poor English, and there is no "goal-bag" in American sports.
Nick

As a student in linguistics and an ex-journalist, I can confidently say that this article is garbage. No American sports writer would ever use incomprehensible expressions like, "Eddie Lewis' 40-yard speed-play upfielded for Landon Donovan to put through the scorebag on his head". Nor would it be the standard to call David Beckham by the nickname, "Davie," a name that went out of style during the cold war. In the same way, the expression, "Hot Rods" is also completely outdated.
Brent Strickland , USA

Keep on watching! Our children learn a different game than yours do. They always push the ball control game, the finesse. They play, run, gun, and shoot to the open field runner. We also know how to send goons into games and understand that it is a short term strategy.
Tom, H, Chicago, USA


What!? I don't know what US papers Tom Fordyce is reading or which American sportswriters he claims to be parroting (or parodying), but as an American who has read sports pages and columnists from a substantial number of US papers including all of the major ones, I would claim he has no idea what he is doing. I have never read or heard the terms upfielded, rostering, eight-left, scorebag, fieldman, etc. English wit, I guess, is not as good as self-advertised.
Andy Hall

Lovely and highly amusing.
Bradley, South Africa

WWF star 'The Jelly' commented that the Germans had better come prepared because the USA were going to kick some ass. He added, "If those guys wanna rock then we will roll and outscore their powerplay."
Paul W, UK


Why does a small island off France need to use such big words?
Juice, USA

I haven't laughed so much in ages. Let's just hope that Ron Aldo and the boys slip up and Gordon Eric Son can bring home the bacon. Or should I say baloney!
Adam , UK


Superb stuff, I hope the Americans can laugh with us at themselves. Well done!
Craig McCormick, England

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I do not want flame wars for this. Like I said, merely a bit of fun /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

 

Re: US Journalism at its best?

Video replay does not fit into soccer's game that easily. American Football is a "stop and go" game, in which each action (down) is a sperate act from the others. So if the referee sees a foul but not quite sure, he can always let the play go on until the end of this play, then looks at the replay to determine whether there was a foul. However soccer is a continuous action, when referee suspect there is a foul, he can't say "ok freeze there, let me see the replay", because once the play is interrupted, there is no fair way to reconstruct the situation before the interruption. So the referee has to make an instant decision, either call a foul or let it go.

However I do think it would be better if they add two more assistant referees on the field, just to watch any fouls. It just too much a burden for one man to watch 22 men on a huge field.

 

Re: US Journalism at its best?

>Video replay does not fit into soccer's game that easily. American Football is a "stop and go" game, in which each action (down) is a sperate act from the others. So if the referee sees a foul but not quite sure, he can always let the play go on until the end of this play, then looks at the replay to determine whether there was a foul. However soccer is a continuous action, when referee suspect there is a foul, he can't say "ok freeze there, let me see the replay", because once the play is interrupted, there is no fair way to reconstruct the situation before the interruption. So the referee has to make an instant decision, either call a foul or let it go.

Isn't that exactly what I said? /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Maybe you were responding to Summers.

>However I do think it would be better if they add two more assistant referees on the field, just to watch any fouls. It just too much a burden for one man to watch 22 men on a huge field.

Well, I haven't heard of this idea before. I suppose it could work, but the referee gets in the way sometimes on his own, and with another two officials on the pitch, it would get even more cluttered. And, who would have the final say? There are too many disadvantages to this idea, imo, to make it realistic.

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

Brazil vs England

I give Brazil a slight edge over England. (by the way, it's England, not UK )

Yeah it's "England", don't give any credit to our neighbours /versus/images/icons/smile.gif
Really they're bitter ingrates.

We're going to beat Brazil because every wrong result is happening...

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

If England beat Brazil we should have a national holiday, no joke!. I want Brazil out of the world cup, they've won it 4 times which is more than enough for now. If spain play like they did against Ireland there is no chance of them beating korea. The Germans should'nt even be where they are now, any team that loses to england 5-1 should stay at home! GO KOREA!! GO USA!! GO ENGLAND!!

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

Working in a multi-cultural environment (US firm in Japan with many brits, yanks, and a few aussies) I get a high exposure to cross-cultural humor. That article really wasn't done too well. I've heard much better humor poking fun at Americans.

Best one I ever read was the "American successfully understands sarcasm". I'll try to find a link -- brilliant.

On a similar note, me and some fellow yanks have been discussing aspects which we would like to see by next world cup. They are:

1: 2 Refs, since 1 obviously can't get the job done
2: Yellow card means 2 minutes out of the game. During that two minutes, the ball must stay off of the yellow-card holders side of the field. Haven't sorted out what happens if both sides have a yellow card.
3: Back and forth rule (one team can't take the ball on the opposing teams side of the field, then back to theirs)
4: Shot clock

can I get an amen?

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

"2: Yellow card means 2 minutes out of the game. During that two minutes"

yeah 'football' really needs the power play to bring it more in line with hockey /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

>1: 2 Refs, since 1 obviously can't get the job done
2: Yellow card means 2 minutes out of the game. During that two minutes, the ball must stay off of the yellow-card holders side of the field. Haven't sorted out what happens if both sides have a yellow card.
3: Back and forth rule (one team can't take the ball on the opposing teams side of the field, then back to theirs)
4: Shot clock
can I get an amen?

Well I don't agree with any of these points really. You seem to be trying to turn the sport into an American national sport-type game (shot clock, penalty cards, etc.). The shot clock idea is particularly unrealistic. I admit, it sounds like a good idea. I mean, surely this would mean more end-to-end action and less midfield passing, but a shot clock on a 100 yard pitch would probably mean too many long range shots and would overall ruin the flow of the play. And what would it be like if a team only had 5 seconds left and they were already in the own half (or even their own box). They would have to kick the ball way up field, and this, again, leads to less chance to create real goal scoring opportunities and more scope for extremely unlikely attempts at goal (40 yard shots, etc.).

I actually think one referee is fine as it is, without replays or another ref. The proviso though, is that a good ref is used, especially for big games where some bottle (guts) is needed to make big decisions. That is where experience comes in.

These are just my opinions, of course...

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

>yeah 'football' really needs the power play to bring it more in line with hockey.

You mean 'ice hockey', no? I believe that is the correct term. Hockey is played on grass pitches. /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

Why is it that American's have changed the name to lots of sports? I honestly want to know. With ice hockey, it's like the people who decided to call it 'hockey' got together and said, "wait a minute, we don't play that grass crap, let's override the word 'hockey' and use it as the new name for ice hockey. There, it's official!" No?

 

Re: Thursday 11:30 PDT, Brazil vs. UK

Man! you would have really hated football a while back! When Teams got only 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw ( made playing for a stale mate a very reasonable option ). Before the 'back-pass' rule was invented ( many teams that were 1- 0 up would have the keeper throw or pass the ball to a defender, who could then pass it back to the keeper, who would then throw it to another/the same defender, who would pass it to another defender, who would then pass it back to the keeper), you get the idea. Imagine this for 20 - 45 minutes. How about before the new offside rules, when it didn't matter wether you were involved in play or not you were ruled offside, it meant attack minded teams had to be very careful. Before penalties, there was the days of infinate full match replays, games got replayed until someone won a match outright ( many still believe penalties to be unfair, especially after a great match ). Before the golden goal ruling (which is being abandoned i believe) extra time had far less nail biting drama (i personally do not like the golden goal rule). Dam football has changed alot! this is just stuff i remember of the top of my head. It has a huge world wide audience and i don't believe the suggested changes would give it a wider audience still. Despite the changes made to make the game more exciting, you'll still get matches like germany VS Paraguay, which was like watching paint dry!. Anyhow the game of the tournement is happening tomorrow England VS Brazil. one for the neutrals to savour aswell me thinks!

 

Re: Ahn causes serious rancor in Italy

Luciano Gaucci, the passionate soccer junkie and owner of the Italian team that Korea's Team star, <font color="white"> Ahn</font color> plays for during regular season play was <font color="red"> livid</font color> /versus/images/icons/mad.gif after <font color="white"> Ahn</font color> scored against Italy in World Cup. Perugia team owner Luciano Gaucci was quoted as saying he would cut the South Korean star's balls off with a butter knife. "Enough!", That !@#$%^! <font color="red">* </font color> will never again set foot in Perugia," Gaucci told La Gazzetta dello Sport of Milan. "I am not going to pay the salary of a guy who has been the ruin of Italian soccer." /versus/images/icons/frown.gif /versus/images/icons/crazy.gif /versus/images/icons/mad.gif /versus/images/icons/confused.gif
World soccer's governing body said it would not interfere in the dispute.
<font color="red">* </font color> Gaucci mentioned something about Kimchee but it was hard to hear clearly through the tears and sobbs. /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

England out

Why the *€#¡ did England field a 104 year old, addled goalkeeper? Ah well..

 

Re: England out

Older = more experience

 

Re: England out

Well, I guess that's the theory, yeah.
I guess I can't complain, seeing as the Brazil sending off was a joke decision. /versus/images/icons/wink.gif

 

Re: England out

the match was obviously bought (tm) /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

Re: England out

Hehe. Now why doesn't that surprise me /versus/images/icons/grin.gif

 

USA out, there is justice after all

lol, too bad!

 

Re: Fan sets self on fire!

A man who said he wanted to help South Korea's soccer team by becoming a phantom 12th player set himself on fire last Friday. The 39-year-old man was in critical condition, hospital officials said. A few hours before South Korea's 1-0 World Cup win against Portugal, the man lit a candle and bowed several times toward the sea in the southeastern city of Busan. He then poured paint thinner over his body and set himself on fire. Police said he left a note saying, "The sweat and tears of coach Guus Hiddink and his players were the biggest birthday gift ever given to me. But we now have to overcome South American and European teams, and I am driven to take this road....
and you think you are a die-hard fan! /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif