Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

I'm torn on this.

I love soccer, which was aided by growing up with parents that played and reffed at a fairly high level. And I love hockey. Hell, I was at the Dallas-Anaheim playoff game that went to five freakin' overtimes.

Soccer is a little bit of a different beast though. It's highly aerobic (unlike hockey and football which are anaerobic) and doesn't have long enough built in rest-periods (like baseball or basketball) to rejuvenate players beyond the 30 minutes of OT that already exist. Hockey players can go back to the room and get IVs between periods to rehydrate. Baseball players aren't that active and get a nice break every half-inning. Football is the closest in terms of the structure of the breaks, and you will see the very occasional tie in the NFL.

It's a lose-lose situation for soccer. PKs are what they are - a skills contest. But with the players simply not able to run anymore, it's really the only solution.

I guess you could feasibly simply add golden-goal halves. If the teams are tied after 90 minutes, gives them another 15-20 minute halftime then bring them out for the next 45 minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat until a goal is scored.

Of course, that would probably lead to the first three-day soccer match when Switzerland and the Ukraine met in the round of 16.

 

Which one were you yawning about?

 

Maybe I don't know what aerobic means anymore, but playing hockey has always gone in that category for me.

Unlike the other three major sports here, you are skating for 40 seconds to a minute uninterrupted, till your legs and lungs are burning and you hop the wall again.

What am I missing?

 

I am still stunned. I wonder what the Italian player said? According to the Guardian, it looked like the Italian tweaked Zizou's nipple about 10 seconds earlier (seriously). But in the words of Bill Walton, Zizou simply cannot do that.

At the end of the day, France wasn't hurt by the ejection -- Trezuget would have taken a PK regardless.

Form over substance, but I don't think that the on field refs saw it. If they looked at a video replay, he should have been not be sent off.

I wonder what Henry's "injury" was -- PK-phobia?

 

Webster, it seemed to me that the ejection came after a video replay. That is quite disappointing.

As to the game ending in PKs, this is only the second time a World Cup Final has been decided in PKs. Think about how long this tournament has been going on and think about it like that. It sucks, but it happens.

Italy played a solid game. It seemed fairly even. I didn't like pulling Henry out of the game, even though he seemed gassed. The Zidane headbut, well, that was just stupid.

 

P. Crass -- I thought that the Italians had the better of the match. Malouda was very dangerous for the French, but Ribery, Henry and Zidane were kept under wraps for most of the game. Italy was tiring at the end, but they impressed me.

The refs did a decent job, but they let some clear fouls go. The play where Zidane was clobbered on a goal kick was a terrible no call. Overall, the refs did a good job from the QFs on.

It had to have been video evidence, because the linesman would have run onto the pitch if he saw Zidane's headbutt.

Both goals were iffy. Very slight contact on the penalty call, and Materazzi could have been called for climbing on Vieira.

I am stunned that Henry came off. You are a top 5 player -- I don't care how tired you are, you stay in the game.

The announcers, especially Balboa, were just awful. Zidane never signaled for a sub, he was asking for an icepack on his shoulder.

With the exception of the Zidane header, neither keeper did much all game.

 

In this Soccernet.com article, FIFA is claiming that a fourth official saw the incident and used the headset to tell the other officials while also claiming replay was not used. I don't buy it in the slightest.

You are right on the goals. The keepers just weren't that busy.

I didn't mind the refs in the final matches. I thought they called it well.

I'm still trying to figure out what caused Zidane to just blow up like that.

 

Whatever Materazzi said, it better have been especially vile.

Any incident which results in soccer analysts using the phrases "red mist" and "Glasgow kiss" is always a highlight.

 

Zidane gets the Golden Ball.

Baseball writers must have crossed the pond after the games yesterday.

Bullshit.

 

Zizou was the best player. As stupid as his headbutt was, that single incident doesn't overshadow the rest of his performance.

And how gutless of Materazzi to refuse to answer questions afterwards. Makes him look guilty.

Italy didn't deserve to win. France owned the second half. They had chance after chance, but not enough men in the right positions to finish. But Italy didn't win this match - they just got lucky on pks. Trezeguet's shot bounced off the post - it wasn't a save.

 

He won the award because voting concluded at halftime of the final.

 

ESPN said at halftime that FIFA changed it because of what happened last time.

No way Zidane should have won it. Italy won with defense, so my vote would have gone to Buffon or Cannavaro.