World Cup Soccer/football thread

[MichaelB]

A great match. Too bad it had to end with penalties.

I thought it was the best refereeing (is that a verb?) so far in the tournament.

 

[Texas Proud]

I'm new to World Cup soccer rules. How many ties and losses does the USA need in order to win the cup?

From now on there are no more ties....

If you lose, you are out.... this is called the knockout phase... lose and go home....

 

[Alan]

A great match. Too bad it had to end with penalties.

I thought it was the best refereeing (is that a verb?) so far in the tournament.

I do believe refereeing is a verb

Yes it was disappointing (to me) that the fantastic strike from Chile deep into extra time hit the bar. It was struck incredibly hard, re-bounding back about 30 yards.

Columbia have just scored the best individual goal of the tournament so far (for me). Taking the ball on his chest with his back to goal, swiveling and volleying in off the crossbar from about 25 yards.

 

[MichaelB]

Columbia have just scored the best individual goal of the tournament so far (for me). Taking the ball on his chest with his back to goal, swiveling and volleying in off the crossbar from about 25 yards.

+1

And he's only 22

 

[Chuckanut]

Brazil vs Chile was the best game so far, IMHO


Sent from somewhere in the world with whatever device I can get my hands on.

 

[audreyh1]

Not watching, but living in the RGV it's impossible to get away from World Cup fever.

First clue today - driving past Tilted Kilt we noticed the parking lot absolutely packed. Very unusual before noon on a Sunday.

Upon arrival at our Mexican restaurant we realize that Mexico is playing Holland (Netherlands). Aah - that explains the Tilted Kilt parking lot. A bunch of patrons are wearing Mexico jerseys. Score is cero cero (that's zero zero).

A while later while we are eating, the kitchen errupts in a loud cheer. Huh? 2 seconds later the bar goes crazy. Ahah! Mexico must have scored! Not sure how the kitchen guys are getting any work done.

Later at Costco all the TVs are tuned to you know what, and half the shoppers are stopped there.

As we left Costco, Mexico ended up losing. That was our WC experience.

FWIW I played varsity soccer, but we just don't watch sports.

Edited to add: my local Facebook buddies are saying this means Mexico is eliminated.

 

[Alan]

Heartbreak for Mexico as Holland score 2 goals very late in the game. Mexico were the better team overall imo.

Heartbreak for Costa Rica when Greece equalized in the last minute of normal time. They thought they were through to play Holland in the last 8. However, they held their nerve, and after 30 minutes of extra time it came to a penalty shoot out and they scored all 5 of their penalties to go through. Very impressive for a country of less than 5m people. Now unbeaten in 4 games

 

[MichaelB]

Mexico played their hearts out yesterday. I am not a fan of the Netherlands style, but they did play a smarter game.

 

[donheff]

Another shoot out to put Costa Rica into the quarter finals. They deserved the win after holding Greece off undermanned. I even saw a bicycle kick which probably makes the Onion's fan happy.

 

[Chuckanut]

How does FIFA decide who can be on a nation's national team? It seems that to me that Pablo can play all year for Barcelona and then end up on the Australian team. ?? Does one have to be a citizen? If so, for how long?

 

[nash031]

Must meet the citizenship requirements for whatever country you play for, it's not really up to FIFA in that regard.

Where you play professionally means nothing. Half the US team plays in various European leagues.

 

[tulak]

I seem to recall that once you play on a national team, you're not allowed to switch to a different team.

 

[nash031]

I seem to recall that once you play on a national team, you're not allowed to switch to a different team.

You are allowed a one-time switch under certain circumstances, but generally if you've played for someone in the World Cup, that's who you go with for all time.

Here you go - all the rules (some from the FIFA standards, some commentary and note that I wrong about the citizenship standards above):

According to Article 16, a player may represent more than one Association in an international match so long as that player, in addition to having the relevant nationality, fulfils at least one of the following conditions:

• His birth is in the territory of the relevant Association;
• Either his biological mother or father was born in the territory of the Association;
• Either his grandmother or grandfather were born in the territory of the Association; or
• The player has lived continuously in the territory of the Association for at least two (2) years4.

The two-year commitment was implemented so that players at least had some connection to a particular Association and to prevent certain countries from awarding ‘instant citizenship’ in order to quickly put together a team.

Further, in recognition of modern world migration movements (and the fact that there are some players who might migrate simply for competitive advantage, FIFA’s regulations also contemplate a situation in which a player obtains a new nationality under specific circumstances.

Under Article 17, a player who assumes a new nationality and who has not already participated in a match for another Association, is eligible to play for a new Association so long as he satisfies one of the following conditions:
• He was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
• His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
• His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association; or
• He has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant Association.

One purpose of the last requirement was to prevent the exploitation of young players.

Despite its apparent promotion of player mobility, the FIFA Regulations make clear that a player is not entitled to switch Associations more than once.

Article 18, which was referenced above, states: ‘If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions:
• He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at ‘A’ international level for his current Association, and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current Association, he already had the nationality of the representative team for which he wishes to play.
• He is not permitted to play for his new Association in any competition in which he has already played for his previous Association.’

Even if a player meets these criteria, FIFA requires that any change in Association be requested in ‘a written, substantiated request to the FIFA general secretariat’. FIFA’s Player’s Status Committee will then evaluate that player’s request. In short, there is no guarantee that a player can switch Associations at all.

 

[MichaelB]

Columbia have just scored the best individual goal of the tournament so far (for me). Taking the ball on his chest with his back to goal, swiveling and volleying in off the crossbar from about 25 yards.

Still the best goal To go along with it, today I heard the best announcer's line when Messi missed a similar opportunity: "James did what Messi couldn't do".

 

[Alan]

Still the best goal To go along with it, today I heard the best announcer's line when Messi missed a similar opportunity: "James did what Messi couldn't do".

Just finished watching that game, and just like the Germany game yesterday there just seemed to be an inevitability that Argentina were going to grind out a win. The ending was typical, 1 minute from the end of overtime Argentina scores, a minute later a Swiss player heads against the post, the ball rebounds and hits his knee but goes narrowly wide.

However, 2 big upsets in the 2 games I watched at Wimbledon today. When the 19 year old defeated Nadal it was the first time ever in the men's game that a player outside the top 100 defeated the current world #1 in a Grand Slam tournament. Each set went to a tie break apart from the second set which was won by Nadal 7-5, and I, along with everyone else, kept expecting Nadal to step up his game or for the wild-card outsider to lose a little of his edge as the hours rolled by.

 

[Chuckanut]

Well, one win in four games does not make a champ. Wait 'till 2018!!!

Howard should get a medal.

 

[Alan]

Well, one win in four games does not make a champ. Wait 'till 2018!!!

Howard should get a medal.

+1

The substitute striker who came on and had a glorious chance in the 93rd minute but blazed the ball over that easy easy chance from 4 or 5 yards will probably wake up in a sweat to that nightmare for many months to come. Scoring then would have put the USA through.

However, it was a thrilling game and I think the USA team have done well overall. Fantastic invention on their free kick with a couple of minutes of time left was only thwarted by an excellent stop by the Belgian keeper.

 

[Meadbh]

You don't have to be human to be a World Cup fan.

http://www.kelownanow.com/columns/v...ng_Reaction_to_Portugal_World_Cup_Elimination

 

[Chuckanut]

Sorry the USA is out, but I think there us a lot of good futball left

 

[target2019]

Landon Donovan. Could have used his creativity. Oh well.

 

[steelyman]

I learned the outcome from a collective groan from a huge group of people standing outside a bar at O'Hare. We were boarding for my connecting flight so were otherwise occupied.

 

[6miths]

Still the best goal To go along with it, today I heard the best announcer's line when Messi missed a similar opportunity: "James did what Messi couldn't do".

Yes that was beautiful. I've deleted all the games from the PVR to this point but I've still got that one for the goal.

 

[nash031]

Landon Donovan. Could have used his creativity. Oh well.

We could've used his possession. We had too many guys trying to be creative in very little space.

But the reality is, any run past the round of 16 was probably dependent on Altidore being as good as he is capable. Missing that top flight target striker killed what the offense had been doing.

 

[target2019]

We could've used his possession. We had too many guys trying to be creative in very little space.

But the reality is, any run past the round of 16 was probably dependent on Altidore being as good as he is capable. Missing that top flight target striker killed what the offense had been doing.

We may have different interpretations of creative. What I was thinking of was Landon's ability to show for a ball, receive it, and actually do something with it.

It was an incredible game. Howard kept them in it, but they could not keep the ball generally. Belgium was quicker to the ball, and won most of the battles.

 

[nash031]

We may have different interpretations of creative. What I was thinking of was Landon's ability to show for a ball, receive it, and actually do something with it.

It was an incredible game. Howard kept them in it, but they could not keep the ball generally. Belgium was quicker to the ball, and won most of the battles.

Yes, I was thinking "creative" like Dempsey is creative. Dempsey played all but about 40 minutes of this tournament out of position, IMO.

Biggest issue I noticed for most of regulation was the difference in first touch by Belgium vs. those by the US. Belgium controlled the ball because they rarely mishit the first touch. The US couldn't settle the ball to save their lives in regulation. It got better later as they seemed to stop thinking about it once they were down 1-0.