Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

THAT's AWESOME!!! Great turnaround on that.

 

This should work:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-soccer8jul08,1,27770.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-soccer&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

Jones has been bitching all month long, as usual.

 

Best match: Mexico-Argentina: End-to-end throughout, with a great goal deciding it.

Worst match: Didn't see Ukraine-Switzerland fortunately, but I'll go off the board and say Tunisia-Saudi Arabia. Yes, it had an interesting ending, but those teams flat out sucked for the most part.

Favorite player: Tie between all of the Argentine attackers, particularly Messi. For the first time in my life, I can honestly say it was a shame they went out.

Most disappointing player: Wayne Rooney. All the pre-Cup hemming and hawing, will he play? He did. He did almost nothing except knock down the Portugese birth rate. Awful. Of course Lampard, Ronaldinho, Shevchenko, Ibrahimovic, Robben, etc. also laid eggs.

Best goal: Maxi Rodriguez vs. Mexico. No contest. Great goal in a crucial situation. Honorable mention: the Spanish goal against Ukraine that had five quick passes to it. Beauty.

Suggested rule change for WC 2010: I'm with Bari, if you go off on the stretcher you sit for a predetermined amount for "your own safety." I thought for 10 minutes, but five will do.

Also, instead of penalty kicks, go with sudden death corner kicks. Play continues on a corner kick exchange until the ball goes out of bounds, then the other team gets its chance. If a team scores, the other team gets one chance to equalize.

Still kinda blows, but at least all 11 are involved and its not as much of a lottery.

 

From reading the Web sites of the European papers, it looks like the use of instant replay might be hotly debated over the next four years.

 

the corner kick idea is brilliant. Still not as good as settling it in the flow of play, but at least it's soccer, and not just what the guys do to fuck around at the end of practice.

 

How about they keep the penalty kick idea, but just have them kick from a farther area like the top of the penalty box or something like that. It will give the goalie a better chance to save the ball. Where they put the ball is WAY to close.

 

Why most of America mocks soccer (and my apologies if this is a d_b, but there is no way in hell I am wading thru 150 pages of this):

The same day the championship game in soccer's ultimate event is settled via shootout, the Red Sox and White Sox went 19 innings to determine a winner in a regular season game.

Yawn. See you in four years.

 

And if the White Sox didn't run the bases like a t-ball team the game would have ended in 11 and would never have gotten this mention (Gload not going back to the bag once it was hit, Dye? not retouching third, Nixon giving his best Matsui impersonation on how to get a ball back in to the infield) and innings 12-19 were hardly riveting baseball.
Olympic hockey is settled with penalty shots.

BTW, haven't seen it yet, but back in the day the FA Cup used to have replays. Game would go 90 minutes, if tied play it again in 3, 4 or 7 days time. If tied, see you in a few more days. It's since been amended to if the initial game is tied you replay it, but the second game (played at the other team's field) goes to ot and then PK's.

 

So the innings themselves were hardly riveting. But the mere fact the game went that long MADE it riveting and unforgettable for anyone who saw it.

Maybe the soccer game was exciting. But you knew there was a forced ending right around the bend. I'm not much of a hockey fan, but I'll watch any NHL playoff game once it hits double OT, because the anticipation builds with each scoreless minute. You know somebody's going to win in sudden fashion, even if they have to battle until guys are passing out.

I'm sorry, but settling a world championship by penalty kicks is a huge letdown.

 

Yeah, it's quite the strain on all those guys to stand around for five hours.
How ever did they survive it?

 

The bulk of the people I watched the Sox game with were rather edgy to see the game end for the sake of ending, it had become shit baseball with guys trying to end it themselves.
Rudy Seanez is a forced ending every time. No way were Tavarez and Seanez both going to blow their load in the same game.

I'd love to see a "golden goal" type ending as much as the next person, but unless they do something along the lines of adding extra substitutions after 90, 105, 120, etc... it ain't going to happen. Henry was cooked after 105' after getting knocked out cold 2 hours before.