Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

Not likely. The players will find a way out of their contracts, sign new lucrative deals elsewhere and make out like bandits.

If the clubs do go down, the rest of Italy will just have a one-year respite from the Six Sisters gobbling up all the Italian talent.

 

The teachings of Greg Lougainis never cease to amaze me.

 

I missed the match, and I'll watch it eventually. But I must say this much -- great outcome.

 

In the spirit of Team Fiver's World Cup review:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/comment/story/0,,1816453,00.html

What are your picks for --

Best match:


Worst match:


Favorite player:


Most disappointing player:


Best goal:


Suggested rule change for WC 2010 (wherever it might be):

 

Anyone else wonder how Barthez got to Chicago in time to manage the Red Sox?

 

Love this excerpt:

;D

 

Best match: Australia-Croatia. End-to-end action, late dramatics and even a small hint at Guus Hiddink's fallability. Honorable mention: US-Italy, Brazil-Japan, Germany-Costa Rica.

Worst match: Ukraine-Switzerland. Absolutely, mind-numblingly dull -- a game that made me wonder if they even intended on scoring. Two hit posts summed up the action over 120 minutes. Honorable mention: Switzerland-France.

Favorite player: Frank Ribery. Added tenacity, creativity and attacking intent to a team that sorely needed all of the above. Honorable mention: Fabio Cannavaro, Clint Dempsey, Yuji Nakazawa, Tim Cahill.

Most disappointing player: A seemingly endless list of world-beaters who played more like egg-beaters. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Lampard, Shevchenko, Donovan, Nakata Hide, Totti, etc.

Best goal: Maxi Rodriguez vs. Mexico. An extra-time golazo, plus it sent Mexico home. What's not to like? Honorable mention: The 24-pass move and goal for Argentina against Serbia.

Suggested rule change for WC 2010 (wherever it might be): A two-parter, designed to limit grass-rolling (not the good kind, anyway).

1) If the stretcher comes out, you ride it off the field, no matter if you can make it on your own or not.
2) Any player who leaves the field with an injury will be required to stay off the playing surface for at least five minutes.

That way we can be sure that these **winkwinknudgenudge** injuries are fully cleared up and the players won't be putting themselves in any undue danger. It's all in the interest of player safety, you understand. ;D

 

Best match: Might not have been the most important in the tournament, but I was never as entertained as I was during Ghana-Czech Republic. Completely fit the oft-overused word "pulsating." I maintain that there was no better single-game performance by a team in a game as Ghana in that match.


Worst match: Switzerland-Ukraine, which I watched even though I knew better.


Favorite player: Owen Hargreaves, England. OK, yes, I'm an England supporter. But there's no player more vilified by his country's own fans than Hargreaves. They hate him, mostly because he's not really English. But given his chance, he went out and played nearly flawlessly. He, unlike so many of his teammates, never did anything wrong. A truly redemptive World Cup.


Most disappointing player: Ronaldinho.


Best goal: Maxi Rodriguez vs. Mexico, which would have been top two or three anyway, but went straight to the top because it came in extra-time. Others include Arjen Robben vs. Serbia, Joe Cole vs. Sweden and Grosso vs. Germany.


Suggested rule change for WC 2010 (wherever it might be): Um, it's in South Africa. Add a second referee. I can't speak scientifically to this, but there may be no sport in the world where the proportion of players to officials is higher. The purists won't like it, but I think it's time. I like the idea of automatically booking players who wave for cards, but I don't want any more automatic yellow-card offenses.

 

I like the idea behind this, but it would only lead to badgering the stretcher crews not to go out on the field. By the players, by the coaches, by the reserves, etc.

The big problem is that there's no way to truly tell whether a player is really hurt until a minute or two after the injury. You can't be sure that someone's faking until he gets up. By then, play has resumed, usually, so it would be tough to go back and reverse a call or book him or whatever. That's why this is such an insidious problem.

 

I know it's in SA - for the time being, anyway.

Truthfully, players waving imaginary cards can already be booked for Unsporting Behavior, but it's rightly just ignored in the interest of allowing the game to flow.

 

I like the stretcher rule. Five minutes will be very good.
A couple of others:
-- Make it three cumulative yellow cards until you miss the next match.
-- In the knockout round, go until someone wins. After every 15 minutes, allow one extra substitution.

 

The stretcher crew comes on at the behest of the referee. If the players, coaches, etc. have a problem with that, let them take it to the referee.

You don't need to tell whether a player is injured or not, just take them off if you have to stop play. If they're actually injured, then they can receive treatment on the sideline. If they're not hurt, then they have five minutes to think about what they've done and watch their team play down a man.