World Cup Thread - DawgTalkers.net

Soccer would be a better game if they could use their hands to pass and catch the ball, and if you were allowed to tackle the guy with the ball.

At least Uruguay lost too, so you still have a really good shot. And I completely agree about the WC so far. I never thought that Ecuador/Switzerland or Japan/Ivory would be some of the best games. Hopefully Nigeria and Iran can keep it up.

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Soccer would be a better game if they could use their hands to pass and catch the ball, and if you were allowed to tackle the guy with the ball.

That would be called rugby

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Soccer would be a better game if they could use their hands to pass and catch the ball, and if you were allowed to tackle the guy with the ball.

That would be called rugby

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Now thats a sport for Real Men !

JC

When will Pepe ever learn?

Portugal is really pooping the bed. We can definitely beat them if they continue like this.

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JC

When will Pepe ever learn?

He shouldn't have done that, should have kept his emotions in check. But I don't really blame him for calling the guy out. Muller is on the ground, pretending to be hurt, and the minute Pepe puts his head on his, Muller is up and ready to go in a furry. Pepe goes home with a red card, but he did show what was happening. Muller was acting. And I hate that

It's the stupidest thing in this sport. Grown men, acting like they're hurt on the ground like babies. Just play the game. It really just ruins the sport. When I was in Germany watching the Bundesliga, I felt like I didn't see that so much. I've watched a decent amount of Czech soccer, and that wasn't such an issue there I don't think. I don't have too much experience watching much else,, but it's a plague on the World Cup IMO.

The diving, crying like your hurt nonsense is pathetic. Otherwise I love watching good soccer, especially world cup where it's country vs country

I wish FIFA awarded penalties after the match to guys for doing that. Give Muller a yellow card for that. Then in his next match, he knows if he does it again (and even if he doesn't get caught by the onfield ref), he could be forced out of his next match for two yellow cards

And I like Germany. I'd never wear a German soccer jersey or anything, but I've spent a lot of time there, and that would be wear my ancestry comes from if you go back far enough. But what Muller did was an example of everything that pisses me off about soccer. At least in football, when a receiver tries to sell a pass interference he just goes and cries to the ref. He doesn't play injured on the ground or even worse, lays down with his hands over his face (like he's crying) on his stomach. Guys have been known to do that at the end of games I guess (defensive linemen trying to get a substitution when their team doesn't have timeouts), but it's nothing like this garbage in soccer

I do not think that the play acting is any worse in soccor than in most american sports. The only differences is that the rewards are so much greater. Getting a15 yard penalty by pretending to be mugged, getting a foul called in the NBA, are not as bad a penalty or a red card. I think as spectators we shrug them off more easily. I think Wade reaction to Manu in game 3 was a much more egregious play acting. Granted he did get fined for it, but it is less of a talking point than the same thing in soccor is.

Atleast mueller was hit in the throat and face area when he went down. I agree it was slightly over exaggerated reaction, but you cannot head butt a player who is down. I bet most players regardless of the injury, would have immediately got up if they were actually struck by an opposing player.

I am not sure that Mueller would deserve a retroactive yellow. He was hit. There were many more people who tumbled like leafs in the wind with the slightest tough that I think would be more deserving. I do like the idea of retroactive discipline. It would just have to be implemented fairly and consistently.

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Portugal is really pooping the bed. We can definitely beat them if they continue like this.

I've heard Portugal is Ronaldo, and that's it. If you can contain CR, then you can beat them.

I think that's why I enjoy the women's game so much. While the skill level is not close to the men, those girls play with dignity and pride, and don't fall dead to the ground at every little bit of contact.

It's also why I respect Messi so much. He plays with the same dignity. He really doesn't complain that much, and he's not over the top with ridiculous celebrations. He lets his game do all the talking.

Diving happens in basketball a ton, especially the NBA. It happens a bit in football, and it is actually an in-game penalty in hockey.

ON soccer, I used to hate Soccer, because I'm an American, but after time and the longer it is around and the more I see of it, I have come to appreciate Soccer for what it is. I always knew / heard it was the most popular sport in the world, so there had to be something to it.
After watching some MLS here in Columbus, and learning a little bit, I happen to appreciate that they can only make 3 substituions all game, even if there's an injury, they'd just have to play " a man down" ( a phrase that means with one less player on the field).

I don't call it a " Pitch" when it is a Soccer Field, Because I'm an American! and nobody scores " NIL" when I refer to it, because I'm an American! It's either zero or nothing.

The interesting thing about " good " soccer, is not the chances, or the scoring, it is the possession, the ball control, and realizing that there really are some intricacies and strategy going on out there and teamwork to the passing.

It helps to understand what a foul is, (it's when a person runs into the person instead of running into the ball, but hitting the person is ok, as long as you were Aiming for the ball).

It helps to know what offsides is, or sometimes they just stop a team about to get a goal and you feel like, " What the! Why'd they do that that's stupid!" but really you can't be beyond the defenders at the time that a pass ,(a kick to you from a player on your team), is originated.

It's better to know that a yellow card usually means nothing, unless you get 2 in one game, or back to back games, and then it's like a red card and the player has to sit out the rest of this game, (like ejected) or maybe even the next game they're eligible to play, and you can't substitute for them.

There are set plays, usually just two. The reason they have a corner kick is because the offense won an out of bounds behind/beside the goalkeeper. The reason they have a "free kick" (where they stop and let one team set up and restart at any point on the field without oppisition, sometimes the defenders set up a wall in a direct line to the goal) is because one player commited a minor foul by running into the person instead of the ball. ( if it's more than minor, there is often a yellow card, but like I said, usually a yellow card means nothing.)

They can have a penalty kick, if a foul that would result above in a regular free kick occurs in the goal keepers box, or against the goalkeeper, but those are rare. And on those, it is just the keeper and the one player and the keeper isn't allowed to move until the others foot touches the ball.

They play 2 45 minute halves, and count up, ( which is stupid!) and the 28th minute is actually 27:00+ because they count the minute from 0-1 which is also stupid! and at the end of the half, ... and game, they add usually between 2 and 5 minutes for the time spent on substutions, out of bounds, and injuries, called injury time... it's arbitrary, up to the referee, (and is also stupid!), and they usually end it when a defense clears / an offense in scoring position doesn't get cut off.

Once you get used to watching it more often, the stupid things make more sense.
It's not really about the scoring, it's the threat of getting scored against, because once you do give up a goal you're really behind the 8-ball.
And they score alot more than 10 times a season.

I was told to hate soccer, because I'm an American, but I don't like to like or hate sports because that's what I'm told.
It's not football, but I'll appreciate soccer for what it is. I won't call it football, or futbol, because it's not. Football is football, and Soccer is soccer, because I'm an American.
Ya Can't use yer Hands? That's stupid!

This is a re-post of my post from over a year ago, ... Thanks copy and paste.

LOL.. pretty funny, pretty accurate, dry.. nice.

The rules of soccer are some combination of hockey and basketball... if you understand those, you can understand soccer pretty easily.... but only its better because hockey and basketball are stupid.

USA are on and 1-0 up v Ghana. Goal by Dempsey in 30 ish seconds of starting.

What an unbelievable effort by our guys. Gutsy. What a finish.

They had their heart ripped out, scrambled for a few minutes, regrouped, and earned that corner kick. Unreal.

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What an unbelievable effort by our guys. Gutsy. What a finish.

They had their heart ripped out, scrambled for a few minutes, regrouped, and earned that corner kick. Unreal.

Great game. But we have the same weakness we had in the last world cup. Our ability to pass and hold the ball is very lacking. The other team always seems to have it when we play. It makes it very difficult to win.

Great game! But it felt like we scored twice on two shots, while dodging about half a dozen near misses ourselves. I feel like we'll get trounced if we play like this against Germany.

I was at a TGIFridays when that second goal went in. The sound wasn't all the way up, so everyone cheered briefly when the goal went in, but then groaned in confusion thinking he was off-sides, because he put his hands to his head.. Guess we've been burned by that so often, we were kind of expecting it.

Great second goal but man they played poorly in June second half... Couldn't keep the ball and couldn't get out of our own end.... Lucky Ghana didn't score a few more... Have to play better next match

I was at a packed bar/restaurant in downtown Chicago. The place went nuts when that goal went in. My goodness, that was freaking awesome. If you watch the replay closely on the play just before the corner, the ball was going out by a USA touch, but the Ghana defender shielded the ball but was forced to touch it after his foot ricocheted off the US attacker. If that doesn't happen, it's a 1-1 tie probably.

What a game! Probably the best futbol game I've ever seen (2nd to Man City winning the EPL a few years back with 2 goals in stoppage time).

Did you not see Algeria/USA 4 years ago? That game was nuts!

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I was at a packed bar/restaurant in downtown Chicago. The place went nuts when that goal went in. My goodness, that was freaking awesome.

Grant Park is right near where I live, so I went to that event there. I don't think I'll go again because it was so crowded, but it was fun for that one time. Place erupted after the second goal, plus that Lupe Fiasco concert before the game was fun.

Watching the game there reminded me of being at an outdoor concert with how many many people they packed in there. I got there early, set up seats, and relaxed (I didn't have much else to do with my day), but people poured in and poured in, and it didn't really matter. My good spot when kaput. Had to stand for 90 minutes in tight quarters, although the lawn chairs came in handy at half-time and before the game

So Sunday I'll probably watch it at the bar or on the couch at the condo.

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Did you not see Algeria/USA 4 years ago? That game was nuts!

I saw that game after I knew the score, so maybe that hurt my grade of the action. I was thinking though, a header off a set piece is a "better" goal than the rebound Donovan kicked in, but that's my opinion. Plus, this was against Ghana, #payback.

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I was at a packed bar/restaurant in downtown Chicago. The place went nuts when that goal went in. My goodness, that was freaking awesome.

Grant Park is right near where I live, so I went to that event there. I don't think I'll go again because it was so crowded, but it was fun for that one time. Place erupted after the second goal, plus that Lupe Fiasco concert before the game was fun.

Watching the game there reminded me of being at an outdoor concert with how many many people they packed in there. I got there early, set up seats, and relaxed (I didn't have much else to do with my day), but people poured in and poured in, and it didn't really matter. My good spot when kaput. Had to stand for 90 minutes in tight quarters, although the lawn chairs came in handy at half-time and before the game

So Sunday I'll probably watch it at the bar or on the couch at the condo.

Right, I figured there would be way too many people. Tough to get over there, tough to see and tough to get home....but maybe it would have been worth being in that atmosphere.

Well, we'll be at the same place on Sunday. Patron Hacienda in River North.

I don't have cable so I ended up watching it at a sports bar (BW3s) in town. It was pretty packed and the place blew up for Brooks' goal. It was pretty awesome. Nice to see US soccer fans turn out even for the first game.

her is a nice little niblet on our chances to get out of the group stage, and get to the knockout rounds.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-u...ainst-portugal/

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Here’s the Americans’ outlook, in brief:
Win twice, advance to the knockout stage.
Win once and draw once, advance.
Draw twice, advance.
Win once and lose once, almost certainly advance (there’s one highly unlikely mathematical exception).
Lose twice, and almost certainly go out (there’s one highly unlikely mathematical exception).
Draw once and lose once, and it gets complicated. It’s considerably better for the U.S. to draw against Portugal and lose to Germany than the other way around.

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Draw once and lose once, and it gets complicated. It’s considerably better for the U.S. to draw against Portugal and lose to Germany than the other way around.

This is what I see happening too. I love Team USA, but yesterday's game reminded me of past world cups and international games. Ghana seemed to have the ball most of the game. It's much easier to get some offense in when you have the ball, lol. Also, having the ball makes things much easier on your defense too.

I watched Germany, they seemed to have the ball the whole time vs Portugal, some of that might have had to do with that red card that guy, Pepe got. But overall, Germany was very good at getting the ball back, and holding onto the ball when they had it. They didn't have silly turnovers like USA, they were proficient in passing the ball and getting open.

So I'm thinking, we draw Portugal, lose to Germany. Make it through. As Ghana beats/draws Portugal and loses to Germany.

Then we pray that we face a crappy team in the first round of knockout, and afterwards, hope that miracles happen for us. But, good teams play poorly, and great things do happen.

Look at today, Brazil went to a draw with Mexico. We've beaten Mexico at their own field (probably the worst places to play in anywhere. Such a dirty hostile fanbase in that stadium). So, anything can happen.

Couldn't you easily say the US scoring so early made the possession differential seem worse. Seems like in soccer when a team gets behind a goal, they tend to press more, and therefore will have the ball more. I think the US really packed it in too and played conservative when Altidore went down.

I dunno, Mexico drew with Brazil today, and the US has been better than Mexico all through qualifying.

Mexico's goalie played lights out today. I highly doubt that the US could produce similar results.

That Cahill goal was amazing! I'm aroused.

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Today is FIFA World Cup kickoff day - or as Americans call it, "Thursday." -

Stephen Colbert

"I don't watch soccer. If I want to watch somebody struggle to score for 90 minutes, I'll take my friends to the bar"

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Couldn't you easily say the US scoring so early made the possession differential seem worse. Seems like in soccer when a team gets behind a goal, they tend to press more, and therefore will have the ball more.

Sometimes. USA seemed more than willing to go into a defensive shell after that goal and try to protect the lead for the next 89.5 minutes.

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"I don't watch soccer. If I want to watch somebody struggle to score for 90 minutes, I'll take my friends to the bar.

Funny stuff.

I had CBS Sports on the radio driving to work today, and they were pretty invested in the soccer angle - which is fine. Its not my cup of tea, but I don't mind if they want to cover it. What I do mind though, is when the guy reading baseball scores says "The Dodgers beat the Rockies 8-nil. Come on, man!

I've actually listened to Mike and Mike for more than 20 seconds this week...

Usually when I get in my car to leave in the morning, I flip it on to see if they are talking about Cleveland, especially lately with us having the first pick, and Johnny Manziel, etc..

But they have talked quite a bit about the WC and Team USA's run. It's been nice to listen to. Something different. Not the same Yankees-Red Sox-Lebron/Heat-Tebow-Jets talk that it is every day.

I'm pretty excited for Sunday, although it blows that I'm probably going to have to leave in the second half, because I have a game at 7:50 (USA plays at 5 my time) and I have to leave a full hour before puckdrop because of how far the rink is...

Sounds like Altidore is officially out for Sunday.

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Sounds like Altidore is officially out for Sunday.

I think Alexi, whats his name, said hed be shocked if he played against Germany

Anyone watch Costa Rica vs Italy? My g/f was born in Costa Rica, so we went to the bar to watch the game.

I can't stand Italy's Soccer Team, and she's a pretty big supporter of Team USA, so Costa Rica is my number two team now. Man, quite the game. Costa Rica has something going for them. They play very well (as a team) and they really have about four guys who are world class players. One, above all, that seems to hold the team together and do everything. Brian Ruiz.

I've watched a fair amount of Costa Rica because of her, and they have really been clicking the past two games. Love to see a country of 5 million people kick butt, especially vs Italy.

I'm Italian and I'm not even really a fan of their team.

Quite a showing for the CONCACAF so far though huh?

The Italians seemed to be flopping a lot more than other teams. I can accept a certain amount of flopping because it's part of the game, in fact, it's part of a lot of sports, but they seem to go to the ground in agony more than normal.

I've always felt that the WC and other big leagues should do something about it. And it doesn't have to be during the game. Have a group of anti-flopping officials review the tape of every game, if they see a guy grabbing his face when it wasn't hit, that's a retroactive yellow card and a potential fine (league play only). In the WC, that would be huge because players would be missing games (not sure how each Euro league handles the accumulation of yellows throughout the season).

But overall, most of the games so far have been very good. Very few ties and teams are still pressing when they have a 1 goal lead.

And one more comment about the Costa Rican win. They had 4 WC wins before the start of this tournament. The Italians had 4 WC titles. And they beat them up. Good win for them.

A lot of dives, but the ref didn't call anything which is how it should be played. Though future AC Milan star striker*, Joel Campbell, got robbed. Unfortunately Italy just played really poorly today and completely undisciplined. Super Mario had a few good looks, but just couldn't convert.

*Assuming that Super Mario does leave us

jc

Lexi Lawless LOL..what a joke.

To Punchsmack

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The Italians seemed to be flopping a lot more than other teams. I can accept a certain amount of flopping because it's part of the game, in fact, it's part of a lot of sports, but they seem to go to the ground in agony more than normal.

This I've noticed. That and when Zidane headbutted the Italian guy in 2006 final. I mean, to get someone to do that at that moment, you really have to say something awful. I guess Italy won the headgame in that instance and was victorious. But if Zidane was going to get kicked out, he should have just pummeled the guy.

Anyway, between that and 2010 when they seemed to be flopping a lot and just being dirty players, I really have a bad taste for the Italian Soccer Team. Doesn't mean I hate Italians, I just don't like their team.

I feel the same way about Mexico in the CONCACAF Cup, although a lot of it's dislike of their fanbase as well (and mostly toward those that watch the games at Azteca Stadium).

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Though future AC Milan star striker*, Joel Campbell, got robbed

Campbell definitely got robbed though. It's as if the ref was checking out a hot chick in the crowd or something. I mean, I don't know how he missed it. Then later in the game, Campbell was getting bullied by two guys, finally he pushed them and grabbed another's shirt. I dunno how he didn't get a red or yellow card. Might have been a makeup no-call or something. But Costa Rica saw he was letting his emotions get to him, and they took him right out

Well that sucked.

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Well that sucked.

Sure did. Man, a draw never felt so bad

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Well that sucked.

Sure did. Man, a draw never felt so bad

I feel like we lost 10-2. Ugh.

Those two points will probably haunt us.

I thought only teams from Ohio ended games that way.

That's why we have real football, not futbol.

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I feel like we lost 10-2. Ugh.

Those two points will probably haunt us.

I hope not, but we're still in good shape. If either Germany/US or Ghana/Portugal end in a draw, we're through. If we lose, we should pull for Portugal to win a close one. They have to make up a 5 goal differential to beat us in the tie-breaker.

I wonder if Jurgen can call the German coach and "arrange" for a tie on Thursday. We'd both advance and they'd win the Group.

Just to get this correct...

Our head to head with Ghana wouldn't be the deciding factor, it would be goal differential? (in the event we lose to Germany and they beat Portugal)

Yup, GD is the first tiebreaker.

Do any of you guys coach soccer or at least know strategy?

I watch a lot of soccer, but I wouldn't say I'm schooled on the strategy...

I just don't understand why with a few minutes left, your players don't just stay on their own side of the field. Kind of like a neutral zone trap in hockey. They let Ronaldo get out and he put up a picture perfect pass and we only had 2 guys back. I just don't get that. Why not as a team, get everyone to not cross that center line?

I think it's a way to stop the play from developing. Giving them free access to your end of the field is just as bad as trapping a little higher maybe.

I was just ticked they weren't bombing it down the field every chance they got, in the last minute. Get it out of bounds, make them throw it in, and the time will run out. Ugh.

That felt like a 4th quarter loss to the Steelers. I'm still not feeling well.

It sucked, but at the same time, I think if you put a win against Ghana and a tie against Portual on the table before this thing began, you'd have signed up for it.

This group is so tough. I know we don't have the skill or the depth, but I really feel like they can play with just about anyone. Don't get me wrong, the odds are against them, but I really thought they looked better than their FIFA ranking yesterday... They dominated the ball, the created so many good chances. Really, one dumb play to start the game, and then whatever you call that last play kept them from looking like a top 5 squad.

For my money, the Netherlands looks like the team to beat right now. With their experience in the last few cups, and the way they can score, that's who I would put my money on right now... Although there are a few other teams that are right up there with them, Chile, Columbia, France..

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Do any of you guys coach soccer or at least know strategy?

I watch a lot of soccer, but I wouldn't say I'm schooled on the strategy...

I just don't understand why with a few minutes left, your players don't just stay on their own side of the field. Kind of like a neutral zone trap in hockey. They let Ronaldo get out and he put up a picture perfect pass and we only had 2 guys back. I just don't get that. Why not as a team, get everyone to not cross that center line?

Think of it in a hockey perspective. If you are up a goal do you put your five skaters in the defensive zone and let them shoot away at you?The best defense is not stopping the ball, it is stopping the ball and moving it upfield.

KING

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Do any of you guys coach soccer or at least know strategy?

I watch a lot of soccer, but I wouldn't say I'm schooled on the strategy...

I just don't understand why with a few minutes left, your players don't just stay on their own side of the field. Kind of like a neutral zone trap in hockey. They let Ronaldo get out and he put up a picture perfect pass and we only had 2 guys back. I just don't get that. Why not as a team, get everyone to not cross that center line?

Think of it in a hockey perspective. If you are up a goal do you put your five skaters in the defensive zone and let them shoot away at you?The best defense is not stopping the ball, it is stopping the ball and moving it upfield.

KING

No, but I would also not have my guys deep in the offensive zone, and my defensemen would not be pinching at all.. Basically I would have them clog the neutral zone, especially with a minute or two left.

I just don't understand the concept of letting a player of Ronaldo's caliber get out in the open field, and allow him to send a ball into that area with only two guys back. I'm not saying have all of them just sit in front of the goal, but I think someone should have told them to not cross the center line. Just stay around mid-field and get ready to defend. That way you can at least get your legs going as they try their attack. With a minute left it just would have been my strategy.

I'd probably feel the same way about Italy's team, but I got into the sport when I was learning Italian, so to practice the language I was watching a lot of Series A. That said, I completely agree with you on Mexico's fans. It's completely disgusting what they chant and it should be banned. Just like the many countries shouting neo-nazi chants.

Anyway this Uruguayan game is rather infuriating between the dives to get Super Mario out of the game and having to watch Luis Suarez get a lot of shots. But we just need to survive another 30 minutes.

Talked with a guy on my team last night who has coached a little, has kids who play college, and also grew up around the game...

He said he doesn't understand why the US wasn't blasting the ball into the stands to waste time. You burn off precious seconds here and there, but he was also baffled as to why they didn't have the majority of their team at the midfield area.

Looks like Suarez bit again.

At least Prandelli will be booted after this WC. He's made some real head scratching decisions during his career.

Good thing we took Balotelli out before he could get a red card, would hate to see him not play the next game despite him already being suspended for the next game.

Apparently he is a fan of Italian food.

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Looks like Suarez bit again.

I say ban the guy for life. 3 Bites and a Racist Comment is justified.

Hell, in the NBA just a racist comment is justified............. I mean seriously, who bites people? A three year old?

Yes ... it should be a rule. Three bites and you're out.

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Yes ... it should be a rule. Three bites and you're out.

That's right, three bites and you're out. But after the second bite, you should have to wear a Hannibal Lector mask.

FIFA CHARGES LUIS SUAREZ FOR BITING INCIDENT
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
— Jun. 24, 2014 11:47 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — FIFA has charged Luis Suarez for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in the World Cup.

FIFA said early Wednesday that its disciplinary committee has opened proceedings against the Uruguay forward.

If the panel finds Suarez guilty of assaulting an opponent, FIFA rules call for a ban of at least two matches up to a maximum of 24 months.

FIFA asked the team to present evidence by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

A decision must be published before Saturday, when Uruguay plays Colombia in a round-of-16 match.

Uruguay advanced by beating Italy 1-0 on Tuesday in Natal. One minute before the decisive goal, Suarez clashed with Chiellini and was caught by television cameras biting his shoulder.

Match referee Marco Rodriguez of Mexico appeared not to see the incident and took no action.

web page

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Yes ... it should be a rule. Three bites and you're out.

That's right, three bites and you're out. But after the second bite, you should have to wear a Hannibal Lector mask.

is there a Tyson corollary if you take off someone's ear?

We've moved on! We looked tired but at least more confident toward the end. And we got some chances, especially at the end of the game.

Time to get some rest and prepare for Tuesday's game. Belgium, South Korea, Russia, or Algeria (probably Belgium)

A comfortable 1-0 loss!

While I only watch the World Cup. I've been arguing with my dad the last week about how "boring" soccer is...

Arguing with a guy who watches Nascar about something being boring...

"They made left AND right turns today!"

#Exhale.

Good game even if it was a loss. I think Germany was taking it a bit easy once they scored and it helped that Portugal and Ghana were playing close too.

We're one win away from my own dream scenario (winning 1 game in the knockout round). Lets get is done!

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While I only watch the World Cup. I've been arguing with my dad the last week about how "boring" soccer is...

Arguing with a guy who watches Nascar about something being boring...

"They mare left AND right turns today!"

This topic came up a lot over a BBQ we were at over the weekend. Outside of basketball and hockey, most of the others are "boring" to an extent.

NFL - Commerical, kickoff, guys walk on the field, false start, wait 35 seconds, run up the middle for 3 yards, wait 35 seconds, run wide left for 2 yards, wait around for 35 seconds, incomplete pass, punt, commercial, rinse and repeat.

MLB - Commercial, pitcher is warming up, batter walks up to the box, fixes his gloves, hit the cleets, fix the helmet, kick part of the chaulk outline away, get set, the catcher makes a sign, the pitcher waves him off, the catcher makes another sign, the pitcher waves him off, the batter freaks out and calls time, rinse and repeat.

NASCAR - left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn...

And the NFL and baseball are 2 of my 3 favorite sports to watch. I don't watch NASCAR, but I respect the heck out of what they do (same with F1 and other racing circuits).

I think the thing for me, if you understand the game, you'll get where the excitement is. Scoring isn't the only exciting thing in soccer. A good pass, a great give-and-go, a good tackle...mush like how I'd cheer for a 2 yard gain from your 29 for a 1st down. None are scoring plays, but if you understand what's going on, it's a good play.

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Scoring isn't the only exciting thing in soccer.

No, sometimes they act like Mike Tyson and bite somebody...

I used to be the guy that couldn't stand soccer. I gave it a chance and it has really grown on me. The rules are very easy, and I think it's not hard to understand the concepts of it. I never played growing up, it's not big in my family. It's something I stated enjoying on my own when I was in my 20's.

I like the Euro leagues, but it gets hard to follow them because the majority of their games are Sat-Sun during college football and NFL season. The games can also be super early on the weekends, and they also have games on the weekdays in the afternoon because of the time difference..

I think a lot people who rip soccer, do it with a preconceived notion that they don't like it. They really don't give it a chance. They'll watch for 10 minutes and then say boring.

The funny thing is, I learned a ton about the game, and the leagues, from video games. I literally learned the entire transfer window system from the FIFA series.

As far as today's result though, you have to be proud how our guys gutted it out today. What an unfair hand to get dealt. 3 days rest after playing in the rainforest. Germany got the extra day and didn't have to play in Manaus.

I like this group of guys. I know they're not the best or anything like that, and they won't be favored in any game for the rest of this world cup, but they're tough. They really hang in there together. I was really really impressed with how they looked in the Portugal game.

Can't wait for Tuesday. I've watched Belgium, and they're good, but I think we have more than a chance.

I wonder how much ESPN loses in advertising with almost two hours straight of no commercials...

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I wonder how much ESPN loses in advertising with almost two hours straight of no commercials...

I think they get a chunk for the ads on the sidelines that are constantly changing. I think KIA is an overall sponsor too. Viewership in the US has been really impressive too. This tournament, even with USA's success aside, has been so much fun to watch. As I said before, the scoring averages are up, and the best players are the ones doing it. There is a really awesome crop of good players right now. I wish this thing was every 2 years instead of 4. Just do away with the confederations cup and make it happen. It's way too fun.

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I wonder how much ESPN loses in advertising with almost two hours straight of no commercials...

There are constant commercials in soccer games.

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I wonder how much ESPN loses in advertising with almost two hours straight of no commercials...

They're not losing anything, else they wouldn't be showing it. Sunday night's game was their most watched non-football broadcast ever so I'm pretty sure they're thrilled with the ratings for this World Cup. Personally, since I don't have ESPN, I know the bars have been PACKED for these games, so there's definitely a lot of interest out there.

As far as how boring the game is, Punchsmack described it perfectly. Every game can be boring to the viewer given specific circumstances. The constant timeouts, delays, and commercials in the big 3 "American" sports of football, baseball, and basketball really irritate me. It's why I've been recording games and watching them on a 1-hour delay. Having "TV timeouts" just makes me shake my head... it's so over-marketed.

Soccer may have constant advertising in the background, but at least the game is 45 minutes of pure soccer in the foreground before and after the half... and if you're fortunate enough to understand the nuances and not just the scoring, it's pretty damn exciting, especially at the World Cup level where the stakes are so high.

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I wish this thing was every 2 years instead of 4. Just do away with the confederations cup and make it happen. It's way too fun.

What they need to do is make the CONCACAF Gold Cup every 4 years instead of every two, and try to promote it as much as possible. The Copa Americas (South American Cup) and the Euro Cup are two pretty huge events that happen every four years in between the World Cups. They are just as popular as the Cup itself.

I guess the only problem is that there really aren't any "huge" teams in North America. Maybe the could try and combine with the Copa America Cup, but I'd doubt the South Americans would want that.

You know you could just watch the EPL after the World Cup

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You know you could just watch the EPL after the World Cup

We already do.

I suspect we'll have more viewing options than just the EPL in the coming months (La Liga, better coverage of the Copa, etc.). The networks are seeing their are eyes available (not as many as for the NFL).

Well they are available if you have beIN Sports, but hopefully a real network picks the La Liga and Serie A. But at least Bundesliga is getting on Fox next season.

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I wonder how much ESPN loses in advertising with almost two hours straight of no commercials...

There are constant commercials in soccer games.

Unless im missing something, the only commercials in soccer, from the start of the game, to the end of the game, is halftime. I wouldnt call that constant.

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I guess the only problem is that there really aren't any "huge" teams in North America. Maybe the could try and combine with the Copa America Cup, but I'd doubt the South Americans would want that.

They would never do something like that. . .

Wait, what?!?!

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MIAMI -- The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) revealed in a joint press conference today in Miami that the Centennial Edition of the Copa America will be played in the United States in 2016.

The Centennial Cup America will mark the first time the historic South American championship has been played outside of that region, and represents the most important sporting event to come to North American shores in decades – rivalling the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in grandeur and relevance to the world of sport.

“I congratulate CONMEBOL for inspiring players and fans throughout a century of fantastic football, and thank them for extending the legacy of this hugely successful event to CONCACAF territory,” said CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb. “The American continent may have been discovered in 1492, but I can’t imagine a better way to unite this continent than with football and an exceptional celebration of talent in 2016.”

“We are proud to play a leading role in the celebration of the centennial of a tournament born to unite all America. Year after year the Cup has gained prestige, which has allowed the opening of doors to the football of an entire continent. Now, CONCACAF and the United States will play host to the world’s oldest national team competition,” said Eugenio Figueredo, CONMEBOL President.

The Centennial Cup America will be held in cities across the United States in the summer of 2016, kicking off on June 3 and culminating with the Final on Sunday, June 26.

In the 16-team field, CONMEBOL’s ten Member Associations – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela – will be joined by six competitors from CONCACAF, including host and 2013 Gold Cup champion United States, and six-time Gold Cup champion Mexico.

Additional CONCACAF representatives will include the 2014 champion of the Caribbean Football Union -- victor in November’s Caribbean Cup -- and the champion of UNCAF, winner of the Central American Cup scheduled to be staged in the fall of 2014.

The final two CONCACAF teams to earn a ticket to the Centennial Cup America 2016 will be determined by a four-team playoff. The four national teams advancing furthest in the 2015 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup that are not the ones already qualified to the Centennial Cup America via the above mentioned criteria (Mexico, the United States, CFU winner and UNCAF winner), will dispute playoff matches to determine the final two CONCACAF qualifiers to the Centennial America Cup.

The teams advancing to the playoff round will be seeded one through four according to their performance in the 2015 Gold Cup. The highest seed will then face the fourth seed, and the second seed will face the third seed in a playoff doubleheader, with the winners of each of those two matches advancing to the Centennial Cup America.

The Centennial Cup America falls between the 2015 and 2017 editions of the biennial CONCACAF Gold Cup, which decides the regional champion of North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The previous edition of Copa America was celebrated in Argentina in 2011, with Uruguay claiming a record fifteenth title. The next edition of the tournament is set to be played in Chile in 2015.

wematch, a recently announced partnership between three international leaders in the soccer industry, Full Play, Torneos and Traffic Sports, holds the commercial rights for this tournament.

Link

Surprised a bigger deal wasn't made about that. Is this just a one-time thing, or will it continue? A North and South American Copa could rival the World Cup in popularity.

For now it is a one time thing. I am guessing if it is successful (which it will be) then they will figure out a way to keep it going. There is no reason to no keep it going if the cash flows in.

Just noticed this part ....

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The previous edition of Copa America was celebrated in Argentina in 2011, with Uruguay claiming a record fifteenth title. The next edition of the tournament is set to be played in Chile in 2015.

This doesn't seem to be the actual Copa America cup, though. That's held every 4 years, and would be in 2015. This seems to be a new competition, that they're holding a year later. Unless they plan on handing out the same trophy and rebooting the format? I don't know.

At any rate, I hope it gains some traction. I know the UEFA Euro cup is huge over in Europe. It would also bring a World Cup type event every 2 years instead of every 4.

They're delaying the 2015 competition to 2016 to celebrate 100 years of it Copa America.

I was the exact same way. I mocked the sport for the longest time. Now, I really enjoy the World Cup games and even took a vacation day to watch the Germany game.

I will say, however, that soccer at lower levels can still be brutal to watch. Its the same with me, anyhow, for football. I can't watch 90% of high school football games and I can't soccer either.

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They're delaying the 2015 competition to 2016 to celebrate 100 years of it Copa America.

No, in the article it says the 2015 edition will be in Chile.

Oh, my bad. When I read some of the quotes I thought they were just going to push it back. But it appears, at least on the wiki, that this will be a new championship?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copa_Am%C3%A9rica_Centenario

Anyway, looks interesting.

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I was the exact same way. I mocked the sport for the longest time. Now, I really enjoy the World Cup games and even took a vacation day to watch the Germany game.

I will say, however, that soccer at lower levels can still be brutal to watch. Its the same with me, anyhow, for football. I can't watch 90% of high school football games and I can't soccer either.

I don't watch college or anything like that. I did check out a Sounders/Timbers MLS game on TV though. The atmosphere was really cool. There's a backstory about how that rivalry has filled the void between both cities that had such a cool NBA rivalry, once the Sonics took off for OKC. The game was actually not that bad. I don't know if I could ever get into MLS, but the fact that it has stuck around so long is good news. Pro soccer has never really been able to sustain anything and MLS has definitely changed that. Slowly but surely anyway. It doesn't have to beat the NFL to be successful. I'd just like to see it somwhere near the NHL level one day.

But I guess I'm just an ugly American. It's not about the score to me. I'm a hockey fan. It's about shots on goal and pace. Two things soccer have little of. Here in Portland the Timbers are all the rage... Meh.

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But I guess I'm just an ugly American. It's not about the score to me. I'm a hockey fan. It's about shots on goal and pace. Two things soccer have little of. Here in Portland the Timbers are all the rage... Meh.

Probably about as exciting as hockey, racing, bowling, or golf, (and yes, soccer as well) for me.

Hey Ann Coulter, shut your mouth.

I remember the old days, I didn't even know how they played soccer, all I knew was America sucked, at the game. In the late , say 1989, I still thought the point of the game was to keep the ball on the other teams side of the field. I thought it was just 10 guys out there, and one of them was supposed to be bigger and stronger enough to kick the ball into the other teams net.

And then teams from other countries would play vs USA and I'd watch, and be like, (oh, see, they move the ball all funny without using their hands, they can use their heads, and they seem to catch the ball with their feet, it's all stupid.) And , ( Oh look they can pass the ball between the players on their own team and move it all around, and it's not even worth watching, because the USA never barely touches the ball and constantly is almost giving up a goal.)

It's changed somewhat from those days.

That wasn't the point. The point was to say.

I don't even speak or understand Spanish, 99.9%, but its almost more entertaining to watch this on Univision (telemundo) than on ABC.

Anyway, it's not like I've got Jay Mohr and that guy from 22 jump street calling the games on ABC, it's some Brittish souding announcer who seems smug, uninterested, and above it all. Networks just don't get it.

Are you kidding? That's Ian Darke, who has one of the best voices and paces of soccer calls that I've ever heard. He's amazing. Gus Johnson calls for FOX, and as much as I like Gus Johnson, he's not very good.

Going to penalty kicks, It would be more interesting if Chile knocks out Brazil
....... it Didn't happen..

That was absolutely brutal to watch and I'm not even a fan of Chile. Hell of a way to go down. They deserved better with their effort today.

I'm not much for soccer. I only watch because both of my kids play. But, World Cup Soccer is really fun to watch. Too bad for Chile today.

On a side note: My daughter's co-ed team became city champs today by beating a team that beat them earlier this week twice this morning. My daughter scored the go ahead goal in the elimination game to seal the win.

I know that has nothing to do with the World Cup but it's a pretty good day in our house

At first I couldn't stand watching it. But it kind of grew on me. I mostly watch the world cup games when I'm doing other things. It isn't so boring then. I am sure there is a lot of strategy that I don't know about. If I understood it, it would be more exciting.

I actually flipped over to watch the PK's -- The most soccer I've ever watched in my life.

If every game was just PK's, I could really get into soccer. Too bad it took 120 minutes of nothing happening for it to get to that point.

If by "nothing" you mean "tons of things" then yes, nothing.

Columbia with two of the best goals in the tournament. The first was flat out amazing. Perfect.

As for the negative Nancy's, stay out of the thread if you're just coming in to tell us how you don't like soccer. It's just bad form.

that first goal was like a hockey snipe. Tucked it right under the crossbar, out of mid air too, that kid can play!

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As for the negative Nancy's, stay out of the thread if you're just coming in to tell us how you don't like soccer. It's just bad form.

+1 I hate when people do that in the hockey threads also. I don't like soccer at all, but don't feel a need to interrupt a good discussion to tell everyone about it. The only reason I read this thread is to see how the US is doing (without actually having to watch the games) and find out about the interesting side stories like the biting incident.

I did watch that vicious US/Canada women's game in the Olympics and was entertained.

Wow, Mexico just choked/got screwed. Gave up a goal with 2 minutes left to go ... then gave up a penalty injury time, because a stiff breeze knocked over the Dutch guy in the penalty area.

I agree with what was said before ... they REALLY need to have instant replay for penalty box infractions. It would of taken 30 seconds to review that and give the yellow card to the right guy. It took longer than that just for the referee to listen to all the complaining.

Great game today, even if Mexico did lose. Watching the Dutch play is something spectacular.

I didn't watch the beginning of the game but I hear there was a bad no call earlier that would have been a PK...what do you do in those situations.

Just got home and found out Mexico lost, and the way they did.

Isn't this just another important lesson / example, of how when you are, especially in a loser ends their season, in a game, that its just not over because you have the lead late, because as the time runs out that other team is going to do EV--erything in their power to come back and beat you.

Hey! If America wins, (which they won't but), if they do, then they can brag they are better at soccer than England, Mexico, and Spain, all in the same year. And that really is something. And without Jose Altidore and Landon Donovan, to boot.

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I didn't watch the beginning of the game but I hear there was a bad no call earlier that would have been a PK...what do you do in those situations.

I get the feeling that if there was instant replay, the ref wouldn't be so hesitant to NOT call a potential penalty if he knew the booth would review it anyway. And if the "booth" would call out dives and hand out yellow cards for that after the review, it would probably cut down on the number of people trying to fall-for-a-call.

Hats off to Costa Rica. Were those guys even supposed to win a game? Unreal. Had their heart ripped out in stoppage time and still found a way. That's impressive. As much as I love the US team's story, Costa Rica is the real cinderella.

It's weird, I mean, I watch every single Browns game, because I love football. Not just the Browns. The sport itself.

Basketball has become my number two, and I think it was 09 I literally watched evry single game, which is hard to do with that schedule.. This year not so much (even a Browns fan/masochist has his limits)

I got really into the Blue Jackets playoff run this year, which is new for me. If they could just keep a few guys around I might be able to pick out a jersey... Will probably watch more going forward... And I think 2014 is the year I got to a Browns, Cavs, and Blue Jackets game finally...

Which bring me to baseball. 07 I watched EVERY inning of the playoffs, my lady at the time hated it, because as I've come to realize, baseball is REALLY boring..

We went to an Aeros game in 2012 for AT, about halfway through the first half of the first inning I remembered how much I dislike watching baseball.. It's a sport IMO that's made for radio...

And Soccer has always been a World Cup thing for me, but going to Akron U I'm apparently supposed to care more about other soccer events than I do. I will say that going to college matches is waaay more fun than watching them on TV, it's an atmosphere thing...

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that first goal was like a hockey snipe. Tucked it right under the crossbar, out of mid air too, that kid can play!

Amazing shot.. that ball was touched by 5 different people without touching the ground...

I think soccer is a lot like golf, if you've never played it then its hard to appreciate exactly how hard it is to do some of the more subtle things these guys are doing.

I've already watched more of the world cup than I watched of the NBA finals and the NHL finals combined. I've watched entire games that have no bearing on the US at all...

I watched the US vs Germany game at a pool side bar in Myrtle Beach with dozens of guys who had no idea what was going on but watched anyway.. it was fun explaining to them what was going on, why it was ok that we were losing by 1, etc...

It's crazy to think how popular soccer has become in the U.S. in the past 8 years. Especially among the real young kids (13 and younger), for example I read a report a few months ago that said that the English Premier League is more popular than MLB. It's going to be real exciting to see soccer in the next 10-20 years as the kids become more and more serious about it and the U.S. goes to being the real deal.

I said 10 years ago that what the US has been lacking in getting to the next level in soccer is coaching.. not at the highest levels, the big colleges and the national teams have excellent coaching but a lot of the kids are being coached by dads who never played soccer before, my high school soccer coach had never played in his life but he took the job... what we are seeing now is this transition to where high school coaches were good players, even small colleges have qualified coaches, there is coach training for youth leagues.... as the next generation grows up with 12-15 years of good coaching before they get to the higher levels, that is when soccer is going to go to the next level and we are starting to see it now.

the number of good athletic kids playing soccer has been rapidly growing for 20-30 years but now the coaching is starting to catch up.

I think the 3 greatest events in sports are the NCAA Tournament, World Cup, and NBA Playoffs...

The Super Bowl and NFL playoffs are also really good...but without the Browns ever being in them...I think that they've lacked the punch that they deserve.
The NHL playoffs lack their punch because I don't get the NBCSports network which ruins them...

But...The three that I marked as the best...are that because even if my team aren't in it, I still watch as much as possible.

As for this world cup...I think its been the most interesting in a long time. Lots of great stories. The USA team escaping the group of death. Costa Rican surprise. Algeria escaping group play for the first time ever. Suarez and the bite. England continuing to be no shows in the world cup for the 2nd straight event. Messi finally living up to his billing as the best in the world. Belgium and Brazil not living up to the hype. Mexico having their hearts torn out. Several comeback victories in group stage. 3 of the first four knockout stage games being decided after the 90th minute, including 2 games going to penalties.

Its been an incredible world cup so far.
As for Soccer...I find club soccer to be unwatchable. Champions League, Premier League, MLS, La Liga...cant do it. But give me an international game of any kind and Im glued to the set. A friendly, EuroCup, World Cup, CONCACAF, Gold Cup, African Cup, Olympics...all of it. Any of it...im in. and the world cup is the greatest.

Gonna be a tough test on Tuesday as they play Belgium, but theyre down a sub, and aren't used to the big stage.

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I think soccer is a lot like golf, if you've never played it then its hard to appreciate exactly how hard it is to do some of the more subtle things these guys are doing.

I've been following it for around 10 years. '02 World Cup kinda got me into it.

People who are newer into watching all ask the same questions... Why does the clock not stop ever? Why is a PK so heavily favored towards the shooter? Why cant you use your hands?

Obviously the last one is self explanatory. For the longest time I thought the PK was stupid, because it's been scientifically proven that a goalie cannot wait to react to the kick to stop the shot. He has to cheat to one side.

While that may be true. The game iso dependent on good players being able to display their skills, that you have to punish someone severely for commiting a foul inside that box. If the PK was made more even somehow, you'd have guys committing more fouls and the game would get ugly. It took me a while to fully understand that.

As far as the clock goes. It keeps everything on schedule. It's the anti NFL game.

I was against PK's deciding big games like the World Cup or a Champions League final, etc... but I just don't think you can take the NHL route and just have them keep going, especially without the ability to sub players more than 3 times, and usually by regulation, all 3 substitution moves have been exhausted...

I do wish the World Cup extra time goals were golden goal/sudden death, but that's not the end of the world.

The one thing I have never been able to get behind is the 11v10 thing. Today's game with Greece and Costa Rica for example. I think it's ridiculous that the entire game was changed, and slanted toward Greece, simply because Costa Rica's guy got 2 yellow cards. I think that's a little extreme. They have to change their entire strategy in a win-or-go-home situation. There is just something about it that doesn't seem right.

I have come to really enjoy the sport though. Sure, it has its negative points. The diving, the crying, a few rules that aren't exactly fair, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I'd rather watch soccer than baseball. I don't really care about MLB anymore outside of the Tribe, and even they have taken a backseat during the WC. The games have been really exciting this time around.

And really, I can point out negative stuff about all the other sports..

Football games drag out 3 and a half almost four hours, half of which seem like commercials.... If you don't have a QB, you're pretty much done. There is a giant gray area with rules. On top of there being a ton of rules which I can see driving away people who didn't grow up around the game like all of us...

Baseball is slow moving, a lot of guys either standing and sitting around. It's way too easy to fall out of relevance, and fall out early. The people running the league still think it's 1925.

Hockey's season is way too long. You can argue that the playoffs, while fun, is a battle of attrition more than anything else. The game can be hard to follow on tv. The rules can be a little bit complicated.

Basketball has the same diving/flopping problem as soccer, although not nearly as severe. The game is star driven, which limits who really has a shot to win. The rules, like football, also have a gray area that is always the subject of controversy.

If you wanted to, you could dig up negatives on every sport.

There has also been increased attention played to soccer. Even though we aren't the top league in the world in Soccer...the MLS has some visibility, and having big names like Beckham, and Thierry Henry, and Freddie Adu...even off the top of their game...we have guys who bring eyes to the sport. The visibility and star power of guys like Messi, Ronaldo, Dempsey, Donovan, Ronaldinho (a few years back), Neymar, David Villa (a few years back), Muller, Van Persie, Klose (although some of them are only visible during the world cup) have popularized the sport with their celebrity.

Also...the concerns of football, and the push for healthy kids, have driven people to the sport of soccer.

the 11 v 10 thing is kinda the same as the PK. It would create more fouling...you have to play carefully if you get a yellow.

I go back and forth on the if you get a yellow in game 1 and game 2 you miss game 3...That's wild to me...but, you have to play the game cleanly.

Could you imagine what the NFL game would be like if you got 2 holding penalties in a game and you have to leave? and miss the next game? Or if in the NBA on your 2nd foul you fouled out? The games would clean up so much...but those aren't practical in those sports.

In soccer they have fouls that aren't cards...cards are reserved for plays that directly skirt the rules...so if you don't do things correctly, you get booked and on a 2nd booking you get removed. Its kinda special in my opinion.

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I think the 3 greatest events in sports are the NCAA Tournament, World Cup, and NBA Playoffs...

The Super Bowl and NFL playoffs are also really good...but without the Browns ever being in them...I think that they've lacked the punch that they deserve.
The NHL playoffs lack their punch because I don't get the NBCSports network which ruins them...

But...The three that I marked as the best...are that because even if my team aren't in it, I still watch as much as possible.

I would agree with that even though i don't really get into the NBA playoffs all that much.. the only one I might add to your good list is college bowl season because (up to now) only one game really mattered but it was still fun to watch a lot of the games.. (I might also add the Masters and the US Open if there is a decent mix of players in the running on the weekend)..

I also agree that the thing keeping the NFL playoffs off the list is that I'm so emotionally invested in the Browns and they are never in it

Could you imagine an NFL game if you had to play with 10 guys on defense because Buster Skrine got 2 PI calls?

It just seems a little severe. I could see if a guy did something dirty and got the red, but 2 yellows, it just doesn't seem fair.

On the flip side, if you only had to send the guy off, but could replace him. Teams might be doing that on purpose to make de facto substitutions after using their 3 already.

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I think the 3 greatest events in sports are the NCAA Tournament, World Cup, and NBA Playoffs...

The Super Bowl and NFL playoffs are also really good...but without the Browns ever being in them...I think that they've lacked the punch that they deserve.
The NHL playoffs lack their punch because I don't get the NBCSports network which ruins them...

But...The three that I marked as the best...are that because even if my team aren't in it, I still watch as much as possible.

I would agree with that even though i don't really get into the NBA playoffs all that much.. the only one I might add to your good list is college bowl season because (up to now) only one game really mattered but it was still fun to watch a lot of the games.. (I might also add the Masters and the US Open if there is a decent mix of players in the running on the weekend)..

I also agree that the thing keeping the NFL playoffs off the list is that I'm so emotionally invested in the Browns and they are never in it

I really believe that this college football +1 could be just as cool as all of these. We're finally getting a final four.

Those are both good...but Ive missed all of the majors the past 2 years...and my life hasn't missed anything because of it...

The one knock I have on Bowl Games...is that there are a lot of useless bowls.
I do watch the BCS bowls...

I still want to see a 16 team NCAA playoffs for college football. With 12 leagues, you let the champs play, and 4 at large bids...and a 4 week playoffs would be excellent. It wouldn't disrupt the school schedule as the playoffs would be run during winter break.
It would allow the regular season to retain its meaning, allow for teams that had terrific seasons, but slip up in the conf championships...and allow for the teams to decide the champion as opposed to computers, votes, etc...
Id watch every second of that.

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Could you imagine an NFL game if you had to play with 10 guys on defense because Buster Skrine got 2 PI calls?

I've seen several NFL games where we had to play with 10 guys on offense, because we had Brandon Weeden as the QB.

One other thing I wanted to get in, was that I can see soccer growing even more as they years go on.

USA soccer really had some momentum going into this world cup. It was like a continuation of 2010 with more steam.

But I really think there are going to be some parents who have taken note of what football is doing to people as they move through their life, and may start putting their kids into soccer instead. I'm not saying soccer is replacing football, but I think the numbers are going to change over the next 10 years. Football will still be the boss, but I think the margin will not be as big. Especially as these football players keep donating their brains for research and we're finding out just how horrible it is for them.

yep...

I feel like Soccer actually has the most logical set of rules. They don't often change either...
NBA rules have gotten to a point where they clog up the quality. Baseball rules and unwritten rules make it darn near unwatchable...NFL rules are pretty convoluted and don't make sense unless you know the game...and even then, theyre stupid.

Soccer...I pretty much understand everything despite not playing it. It makes sense. out of bounds...throw in. No hands, don't trip guys, don't challenge people in ways that can be dangerous...

The only thing I don't like is the amount of diving in the sport...but it so often works, and draws attention to a play where as fighting through and acting as though the foul didn't happen wouldn't draw the free kick...I understand why its done. Short breather, draws attention to the call, nets a free kick.

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But I really think there are going to be some parents who have taken note of what football is doing to people as they move through their life, and may start putting their kids into soccer instead.

Decades ago, soccer was considered the sport for kids who weren't big enough or athletic enough play football or basketball and that's just not the case any more... We have enough first class athletes starting in soccer that it will never be an issue again..

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I'm not saying soccer is replacing football, but I think the numbers are going to change over the next 10 years. Football will still be the boss, but I think the margin will not be as big.

Soccer has a long way to go to pass football primarily because it's so entrenched as an entertaining sport to watch and for the money, they will always be able to find great athletes to play.

yeah, and there's always going to be parts of this country where football is what you do. Texas, Ohio, SEC country, etc..

I don't think it will die like some do, but I do believe the numbers will fall a bit as more kids do other stuff. I just think soccer is one of those options.

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Could you imagine what the NFL game would be like if you got 2 holding penalties in a game and you have to leave? and miss the next game?

The thought of this is enough to send Oniel Cousins into fits of panic.

On another note, this has been a fantastic World Cup and can't wait to watch the US play tuesday. Like someone else previously mentioned, Costa Rica has been a great story.

Oh I agree, soccer is really the only option.... None of the sports are going to die in order for soccer to rise...

Soccer has the advantage of being more available to everybody.. if you don't want to risk the physical beating you get in football and if you aren't going to be 6'5" to play basketball but are a good athlete, you can still play soccer at a high level...

It's been a crazy tournament. Through the 4 games in this second round, everyone has looked human, with the exception of Columbia. Those guys look scary good. They're fast, and they're skilled, and it really seems like they have it all together.

I agree, Columbia looks like the most complete team but I haven't seem much of France yet...

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but going to Akron U I'm apparently supposed to care more about other soccer events than I do.

USMNT member DeAndre Yedlin also went to Akron.

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but going to Akron U I'm apparently supposed to care more about other soccer events than I do.

USMNT member DeAndre Yedlin also went to Akron.

The only reason I knew that was because the announcer said it when he came in.

Akron won a title the year before I started going there. And still spent two million dollars on a new football field. When the soccer team basically plays on a high school field.

that mexico-netherlands game was crazy good. germany plays at 3 today against algeria. i have to route for them cause my wife is german.

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There has also been increased attention played to soccer. Even though we aren't the top league in the world in Soccer...the MLS has some visibility, and having big names like Beckham, and Thierry Henry, and Freddie Adu...even off the top of their game...we have guys who bring eyes to the sport. The visibility and star power of guys like Messi, Ronaldo, Dempsey, Donovan, Ronaldinho (a few years back), Neymar, David Villa (a few years back), Muller, Van Persie, Klose (although some of them are only visible during the world cup) have popularized the sport with their celebrity.

Also...the concerns of football, and the push for healthy kids, have driven people to the sport of soccer.

To add to your list, Kaka is signing with the Orlando expansion MLS team tonight.

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Kaka is signing with the Orlando expansion MLS team tonight.

He'll be over in 2015. I'm happy for him to go where his heart contends after he's helped out AC Milan so much in his career. But he'll also be 35 when he starts playing in the MLS, so it's basically like Beckham on steroids. MLS is basically screwed until they get rid of the salary cap like in Europe. There also needs to be an Americans Champions Cup for all the best teams in America. Speaking of which, is anyone going to the Champions Cup when they play in the U.S. this year?

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There also needs to be an Americans Champions Cup for all the best teams in America.

You mean like this?

CONCACAF Champions League

No, to be more specific, I'm talking more about the UEFA Championship league. Say we do that with both of the America's sports teams. So it'd be the best of the MLS, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and so on and so forth. It'd make fair competition with most of South America's talent being up and coming or average players and MLS being average players. Would help MLS's brand, especially if they can win the cup. Just biding our time until we can face off with the premier leagues in Europe.

Right. But they all play in the same European confederation. South America and North America don't.

Yes, this would need to change too.

Kaká has signed a three-and-a-half year deal with Orlando City that runs through the end of the 2017 season, according to a post on owner Flávio Augusto da Silva's Facebook page.

Orlando City officials declined to comment on terms of the deal. A source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel the deal is guaranteed through the end of 2017.

Kaká was greeted Monday night at Orlando International Airport by more than 100 Orlando City fans. The Lions planned to announce his signing as the franchise’s first MLS designated player Tuesday morning. The team will also introduce Kaká to fans during halftime of the U.S. men's national team World Cup game against Belgium at the Wall Street Plaza. Television coverage starts at 4 p.m. and Kaká will likely greet the crowd shortly after 5 p.m.

The 2007 Ballon d'Or winner and 2002 World Cup champion is one of the highest-profile signings in the history of Major League Soccer.

The Brazilian midfielder had played for AC Milan and Real Madrid, once commanding one of the highest transfer fees of all time.

Kaká will go on loan to his home club, São Paulo, through the end of 2014. He will join Orlando City for preseason workouts in January ahead of the Lions’ debut season in MLS.

Email at [Email]ptenorio@tribune.com.[/Email] For more soccer news, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/OnThePitch or follow @oslions on Twitter.

So he will be joining the team in January. He just turned 32 so he will actually still be 32 when he starts playing here and turn 33 shortly after the season starts. Link

Well it looks like everyone else it too deflated to post anything ... Tough Loss.

When we missed that chance from about 10 feet out at 92 mins, I thought that was ball-game for us.

The future is bright.

So why don't we play like we did the last 10 minutes of extra time for the whole game?

Because we had to throw everyone forward and used all of our energy on offense. No team can commit that many players forward for the whole game.

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Well it looks like everyone else it too deflated to post anything ... Tough Loss.

When we missed that chance from about 10 feet out at 92 mins, I thought that was ball-game for us.

Deflated is right. We had some opportunities there at the end.

Loss or not, Tim Howard gave an effort for the ages. Guy played out of his mind. His reactions are so quick it's amazing. He would be diving one way and in a fraction of a second, while still moving with his dive, shoot a foot or hand in another direction to deflect a shot.

Truly fun to watch.

Well keeping everybody back didn't do much to stop shots on goal. And in doing so that allowed Belgium to be in attach mode all game. We scored on a significantly higher percentage of our shots. They just outshot us by so much.

The best defense is a good offense. We never put consistent pressure on the other teams goalie.

Had we attacked the whole game Belgium would have won 5-1. The reason the game was close was because of our defense. It was a great strategy against a superior team and we had a few opportunities we just didn't execute.

Had we attacked to aggressively all it would have taken is one off pass Belgium intercepts the ball and they would have been attacking us and without our defense set they would have scored.

We are getting their despite Soccer being our 4th/5th sport (Football/Basketball/Baseball and arguably Hockey). This World Cup we lost to #2 Germany, #4 Portugal scored a goal with 27sec left to tie us and we lost to #11 Belgium in extended time. All of those team have far superior talent and a deeper squad than the USA team. I'm proud of what those men did this World Cup.

I dunno.

Our goal keeper was playing the game of his life, but let's be real, that many shots on goal means our defense was getting man handled. That whole game iwas sitting on the edge, SCREAMING at them to just get the damn ball. We keep playing not to lose, and that bit us.

Every time we actually push the ball down the field Belgium was on their toes. Fabian Johnson's injury actually bettered us, but my god I'm trying to figure out Michael Bradley was allowed to play the entire game, let alone start. He's been trash ever since group.

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I dunno.

Our goal keeper was playing the game of his life, but let's be real, that many shots on goal means our defense was getting man handled. That whole game iwas sitting on the edge, SCREAMING at them to just get the damn ball. We keep playing not to lose, and that bit us.

Every time we actually push the ball down the field Belgium was on their toes. Fabian Johnson's injury actually bettered us, but my god I'm trying to figure out Michael Bradley was allowed to play the entire game, let alone start. He's been trash ever since group.

Yup. That many legitimate shots on goal means they were getting through our defense and getting the ball in position for a shot. We could have easily gotten thrashed had our keeper not been having a game for the ages. Now that it's been a day and the emotions are gone, I think it's a wonder we went to extra time and only lost by 1.

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Well keeping everybody back didn't do much to stop shots on goal. And in doing so that allowed Belgium to be in attach mode all game. We scored on a significantly higher percentage of our shots. They just outshot us by so much.

The best defense is a good offense. We never put consistent pressure on the other teams goalie.

Easier said that done ... the biggest reason we had so much going on late in the game was because Belgium took their foot off the gas. They were up 2-0 and just went into prevent defense.

It wasn't like we weren't trying to go forward. Every time we tried to push the ball up, our midfield would get stripped of the ball and the defense was scrambling to recover. That's part of the reason why they had so many shots on goal, we couldn't keep possession when we tried to push it, and Belgium countered so effectively.

You could just see the technical difference between them and us. While our athleticism and skill has improved by miles, you can still see these countries who have played soccer their entire lives still have much better ball skill. They can string passes together and hit their guys. When the ball comes to them on the receiving end, they have a great first touch and don't kick it 10 yards in front of themselves. It's pretty hard for us to push things on offense when the majority of the time, we're missing passes to open guys or the guy taking the pass flubs the ball and gives it right back to the opposition.

That said, we've been producing world class keepers for years now!

Really proud of our guys though! We got out of the group of death and held our own against 3 of the top teams in the world. We should continue to improve with the number of kids going through soccer programs these days. Looking forward to this new Copa America 2016!

The difference between our ability to control the ball and some of these other teams ability to control the ball is like watching Tony Romo and Peyton Manning run an offense... Romo looks good in practice and against average opponents until he stands toe to toe with Manning....

The Belgiums and Germanys of the world, their passes are just crisper and more on target, their knowledge of where their teammates are is better but perhaps what stood out to me the most is this... their ability to take the ball and just make a guy miss and beat him one on one is on a whole other level than ours.

As my daughters soccer coach I get all of these e-mails from the league, one of them had an article by a famous European coach (whose name I can't remember) and he said the single biggest problem the US has in mens soccer is lack of creativity with the ball because we don't teach it (or let it happen). We spend all of our time teaching our kids to play a position and pass the ball around... the minute you get defended, pass the ball. What we should be letting them do is work on beating the guy in front of them with the ball.. go one of one. He said he doesn't work on passing or positions until they are about 11 or 12 years old.. everything before that is, if you get the ball take it as far up the field as you can until somebody either takes it off of you or you get a shot. Having watched a bunch of international and American soccer since I read that, it is painfully true. Even our World Cup players very seldom just tried to face up a guy, make him miss and go around him... yet other teams did it to us repeatedly.

Mike and Mike this morning were talking about what the next step in American soccer needs to be and the point came up that we need a Messi level player to emerge to get people even more excited... even though he would probably go play in Europe, he would be an American that the kids could follow... then they wondered where that player would come from. They offered up the usual excuses that guys like Lukaku from Belgium is 6'2, 220.. that guy would never play soccer in this country.. to which I say, Messi is 5'7".. or that Tiger is 6'1", 195.. could have been a point guard or a cornerback but instead plays golf... I don't buy the argument that the best athletes play other sports any more.. used to be the case, not any more. Plus with all of the kids starting soccer and ONLY playing soccer from about the age of 5, you never know which one is going to be 6'2", 220 by the time they mature.

I think that as our kids programs improve, travel opportunities improve for kids to play against better competition, kids coaching improves from the early years all the way through college... that rising tide of talent is just going to make everybody better and it won't be too long before this country puts out a world class player..

I think soccer is going to have some really, really good stars coming from it in the next few years. And it mostly comes down to youth soccer. If the kids play it, you're going to reap the benefits down the road. Although many people don't want to admit it, American football is going to have some serious issues down the road due to head injuries. Parents aren't going to want to put their kids into something that's going to cause long term problems. Flag football leagues are already gaining a ton of steam because of this, but soccer leagues are also gaining a lot of momentum as well.

Like you mentioned, the coaching is drastically improving as well, because we're starting to get people who've actually played the game before in as coaches. I think a "star" player could very well be in the works sooner than we know it.

The media always expects some sort of "overnight" change with soccer. It's never going to happen that way. 50-60 years ago ... Boxing, Horse-racing and Baseball were the undisputed sports of America. Now, only one of them barely crack the top three. If I were a billionaire, I'd probably seriously consider buying an MLS team. People talk about how Donald Sterling is going to make billions of dollars because he bought the team decades ago when the NBA wasn't as huge as it is now ... I think that's a possibility years down the road with one of these MLS franchises. It's just not going to happen overnight.

jc

As an European, having played soccer my entire life and being a huge soccer nerd when it comes to tactics, this thread is both fun and nice to read.

Soccer seems to gain popularity in the US, but I have to say that I was very disappointed when I saw the US roster for this WC. I expected better players and more development from past WCs, but to me the roster was more of the same.

When your best players and "stars" are AVG players in mid to upper level European league teams, getting as far as you did was already an accomplishment.

The game yesterday should have never gone to OT. Belgium at one point had like 30 to 5 shots on goal, that's the equivalent of 12 to 2 hits in baseball, so reaching the OT was already a wonder, though Belgium carelessly wasted most of their chances and a magnificient Howard did the rest.

The US team lacks a lot. No striker, no playmaking midfielder, speedy crossers from the wings. Pretty much everything enabling to score. They're at their best disrupting the opponent's game and fighting as a team, though not much talent on that side of the ball either, a bunch of overachievers. The US team simply lacks a lot of talent and when Howard is going to retire, there will be another big need to fill.

Good luck going forward. I really hope the MLS gets better and more competitive as the young US players need to play against better competition in order to develop properly or they have to go to European Clubs. Over here, the MLS is still viewed as sort of a retirement home of past and washed up heroes from Europe, collecting their last big paycheck.

I think the MLS has to start adding (younger) players from other countries instead of chasing hyped and washed up European league players in order to improve their competition. They should add players from South and Mid America at a young age, it's a huge and talented market and Europe is all over it too, but the MLS should have both the money and the advantage of being closer to home for those kids, which is often a huge issue with 20yo players arriving in Europe.

Anyway, hopefully in 4 years the US roster looks much better. The potential to be a top team is there considering the huge population.

It only made a ripple in the news cycle but just a couple months ago MLS signed a TV deal with ESPN and Fox for less than $1 billion (don't remember the exact number) for the next 8 years... this will infuse a lot of money into the league and do wonders for its ability to market itself and attract (and keep) better players... it's pocket change compared to other leagues TV deals but I bet 8 years from now, when it's time to renew, that price tag is significantly higher... and that's what the MLS needs, more money to attract players and gain exposure... I mean Renaldo is making $23 million/year in Madrid, it's going to be a while before the US can afford to pay even it's best player anywhere near that...

The Durham Bulls are a pretty big deal as a minor league baseball team around here and they drew about 7k in average attendance last year, the Carolina Railhawks, the minor league soccer team drew almost 5k and have gone up every year for the last 5 years.

also, as much as the $$ is good, having ESPN have a stake in your league is important to it's success. just ask the NHL what happens when ESPN $$$ is not tied to your ratings.

Although its probably not fair to say all of the best athletes play other sports, it is very fair to say that MOST of the best athletes play other sports. Or, at least, have the desire to play the other sports.

I'm a father of 2 young boys. Both have played soccer. American kids grow up watching stars on American TV. ESPN. Sunday NFL Football. Even golf to some degree (Tiger). They see the big money contracts and paydays. These guys are on television commercials and talk shows. Soccer players don't have this level of visibility. My 10-year old son could name 30 athletes in Football, Baseball, Basketball and probably even a handful of golfers and NASCAR drivers. But i'm sure he couldn't name 1 soccer player.

I don't know of any kids in our community that start with soccer at age 5 and only play soccer. Parents rightfully expose the kids to all kinds of sports at different ages. And from what i'm seeing, the best athletes eventually bail on soccer and choose one of the other sports to concentrate on. A very small percentage of the best athletes might stick with it, but overall...the talent pool for soccer is much lower than other sports.

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I think that as our kids programs improve, travel opportunities improve for kids to play against better competition, kids coaching improves from the early years all the way through college... that rising tide of talent is just going to make everybody better and it won't be too long before this country puts out a world class player..

I would like to see this actually happen, I really would. But people have been saying this same thing for the past 20+ years. Even with the formation of the MLS in 1996, the real talent pool for soccer hasn't increased where some hoped it would.

At least the US team is decent, competitive and respectable...which is a far cry from where it used to be. But hey....we are Browns Fans! Winning 1 out of 4 games is pretty good for our standards!

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Although its probably not fair to say all of the best athletes play other sports, it is very fair to say that MOST of the best athletes play other sports. Or, at least, have the desire to play the other sports.

Then I will say something that may or may not be fair also..

Soccer is still a middle to upper middle class suburban sport in the US and most of the best athletes don't come from that demographic... kids who are playing for a way out of poverty will work harder than kids playing because they want to.. and they will chase, as you say, the sport with the most notoriety and the biggest pay checks... I'm not disagreeing with any of that.

But in a country of 320 million people, we need 23 to make a World Cup team.. how hard can it be?

Soccer is going to have to find a way to do what baseball hasn't found a way to do and that is to grow into inner cities and develop that pipeline of players. The MLB is, by a wide margin, the richest baseball league in the world, which is why the best Latino and Asian players all want to come here. American kids playing at the highest level all dream of playing EPL... it's not going to change over night, it's not going to change because of one world cup.. or two... or three...

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A very small percentage of the best athletes might stick with it, but overall...the talent pool for soccer is much lower than other sports.

Those other two sports are football and basketball, that's it. But I agree with what others have stated, I think the whole injury concerns with football may help some in shifting that just a bit. And like I've said, I don't anticipate soccer to compete with football but in a country this size, it shouldn't really have to for us to still be really good at soccer.

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I would like to see this actually happen, I really would. But people have been saying this same thing for the past 20+ years. Even with the formation of the MLS in 1996, the real talent pool for soccer hasn't increased where some hoped it would.

Every major soccer event like a good showing in the world cup or the Olympics and there is a band of people who pronounce it as the "arrival" of soccer and there is another group that dismisses the idea as if it could never happen... and both are wrong. Soccer has continued to grow in popularity, it has continued to grow in participation, professional soccer has continued to become a more viable product.. Most of the MLS teams have about the same average attendance as the bottom third of MLB.. granted they play a lot fewer games but these games are drawing on average about 20K people.. so it's never going to take some giant leap, even if we win the world cup, but I don't see it stopping in its growth either.

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But in a country of 320 million people, we need 23 to make a World Cup team.. how hard can it be?

Yes, this is the part that baffles me sometimes too. But it makes more sense when you consider that other World Cup countries probably have their very top athletes playing that sport (everyone from all economic classes). They don't have any competition for the athletic talent.

We need to field 23 athletes with the leftovers from the 1600 in the NFL, 360 in the NBA and whatever contribution the US is making to MLB these days. Granted, not all of these guys are soccer material but the point is obvious.

I agree that it can (and should) get better but we won't be putting out our best until something dramatic happens to one of the other sports. Until then, we are stuck in World Cup mediocrity.

Can you imagine what our team would look like if guys like Lebron James, Calvin Johnson & Colin Kaepernick played soccer and only soccer since they were kids?

It just a fact that our top athletes look at other sports first. There are more high profile scholorships to more universities in Football, Basketball and Baseball than soccer. I graduated in 1998 and back then not every school had a soccer team, but pretty much everyone has a basketball, baseball and football team.

Kids like CC Sabathia get drafted out of High School and get a 1.3 million signing bonus.

Those are the reasons our top athletes look at other sports first.

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We need to field 23 athletes with the leftovers from the 1600 in the NFL, 360 in the NBA and whatever contribution the US is making to MLB these days.

That's not exactly the problem.. remove those who end up making a professional career from the equation... it's hard to argue they should have played something else...

Now go back into college and look at all of the kids who are pretty good football and basketball players but not NFL/NBA good who will never make a dime even though they devoted 15 years to that sport.. take those kids and get me the 20 best athletes to start playing soccer when they are 6 and I'll still build a damn good world cup team.

Or look at it another way.. there are what, 4500 division 1 college basketball players on the mens side and probably 4 times that many football players (and I'm just talking RBs, WRs, DBs, guys with more of a soccer build)? 75 of them might fashion a career in the NBA? and maybe several hundred in the NFL? That leaves literally THOUSANDS of our best athletes falling short of professional sports when it's there for the taking for many of them if they would commit to a different sport... kind of staggering when you think about it.

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Can you imagine what our team would look like if guys like Lebron James, Calvin Johnson & Colin Kaepernick played soccer and only soccer since they were kids?

But I don't know that you need a "top athlete" like that to really have a super-star in soccer. Look at the best players in the world right now. Lionel Messi is 5'7 and a buck and change in weight. It's not like he would of gone into football or basketball. Cristiano Ronaldo is 6'1, 175 ... he's not some huge hulking athlete. Garreth Bale is 6 foot, 165. Suarez is 5'10, 180. Rooney, 5'10, 170. Soccer is all about footwork and technique, not necessarily size and strength. If any sport is hurting the influx of athletes into soccer, it's probably baseball.

Soccer isn't nearly as specialized as football but you still need guys with certain skills.. one of those skills is controlling balls in the air, being the target on corners, etc.. to have a Calvin Johnsonesque athlete in the middle to air for on corners would make that job quite easy.

Plus, it becomes a numbers game... the more top tier athletes you have playing the game from a young age, the better your chances of one of them turning into an elite player.

I still maintain that those guys you listed are that good because they have played since they were weeeeee little kids against the other great athletes that the country has to offer... You could be a great athlete and interested in soccer but if you spend your first 4 or 5 years of soccer playing against overweight suburban white kids who would rather be home playing Pokemon, you are only going to get so good.

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Can you imagine what our team would look like if guys like Lebron James, Calvin Johnson & Colin Kaepernick played soccer and only soccer since they were kids?

I'd argue that they most likely would suck at it.

Soccer does NOT need athletes, get that out of your minds asap.

Yes, you need "specialists", but the best soccer players are "soccer smart", they know how to play the game with their head too. Tactics isn't just a word, it's essential in soccer. Tactically smart teams and coaches will almost always beat athletic, but tactically dumb teams.
Best proof are African and some eastern European teams: blessed with talent, athletes etc, who play in top European Clubs, but they fail every time because of that lack of chessboard ability.

With that said, I'd argue that the biggest reason the US can't develop 23 good soccer players is basically lack of understanding and thus TEACHING the game properly on a broader, national level. It's simply a cultural consequence and needs time and devotion to how to play the game. Soccer is also much more of a team sport than football or baseball due to its fluidity and even basketball due to being many more players on a much larger field. The psychological dynamics is much more important. If a football, baseball or basketball player "loses it", you simply bring in his replacement. In soccer, you get a red card and leave your team shorthanded. That's a game elemtn simply missing in US sports. You also can't replace as many as you like in soccer, especially when "weakness" or "passiveness" has infected half the team or more. The rules of the game simply make the game much more a "any given sunday" sports game than football.

If US sports are and work more like films, soccer is theater. In football you train plays over and over until perfected. Baseball is all about repetition. Soccer otoh, is live acting. You can and have to train certain situations, but every ball comes to you differently under specific circumstances and every player has many more choices where to go with the ball. Compared to US sports there are simply many, many more game situations. It's a different sport and needs approached differently, I honestly think that's the biggest hurdle.

People in the US have to understand that first instead of debating about stats (which are close to meaningless, soccer is the most anti fantasy game out there), athleticism, tools etc etc

Looked like a prison brawl for this last game, but at least Brazil goes through.

Win and rains it pure don't it. Germany treating Brazil like its a practice game. My wife is screaming in German right now. Lovin it!!!

WOW

I think Germany is cheating. They set the difficulty setting to Semi-Pro. That makes sense because I score about 5 goals after 30 minutes with that setting too. On Rookie it would be 10-0.

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I think Germany is cheating. They set the difficulty setting to Semi-Pro. That makes sense because I score about 5 goals after 30 minutes with that setting too. On Rookie it would be 10-0.

It's like an exhibition game out there. It's like the German team versus 11of us from this board lol.
They probably gonna put the water boy out there to score. Maybe even a make a wish kid. His game is over.

I saw the annimated GIFs of each goal here - http://www.cbssports.com/world-cup/eye-o...germany-preview

It's like the same afro Brazil player is flopping his arms after each goal (though I know the 2nd goal is a different guy). Just funny.

Yes, they've given up. It's over.

Dang, missing Silva and Neymar make Brazil look like a under-35 intramural after-work beer squad out there. 11 us from this board might be worse, but not much worse. Goodness Brazil!

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Win and rains it pure don't it. Germany treating Brazil like its a practice game. My wife is screaming in German right now. Lovin it!!!

Some people were just shooting off some fireworks not too far from here... haha.... Don't they know it's quiet hours!

Just to put it in perspective ... If you give 7 points for one score (sort of like American football), the final score would of been 49-7. Last year's Super Bowl blowout was only 43-8.

The last time Germany rolled over somebody like this, Paris got occupied.

How's this for a curse ... the Nike World Cup Ad curse!

First off ... this was their ad 4 years ago:

You've got Drogba ... breaks his arm right before the Cup and can't get past the group stages. Cannavaro who had a pretty poor tournament and couldn't get past the group stages either. Ribery for France, who had an awful tournament. Rooney and Ronaldo both had a goal between them and lost in the first round of eliminations ... and finally there's Ronaldinho who couldn't even make the national team that year, and they lost in the quarters.

Heck, even Kobe Bryant shows up for one US game that year, and it's the only one they lost! (against Ghana), and Roger Federer missed his first Wimbledon final in a decade right after that ad.

So now there's THIS year's ad:

Let's go down the list of the main participants:

Ribery breaks his back, and can't even make the trip. Neither can Ibrahimovic because his team doesn't qualify.

Rooney and Ronaldo each muster a goal apiece and failed to get out of the group stages. Inestia and Spain got buried by the Dutch and never recovered.

Howard probably had one of the "better" performances, yet he still failed to keep a clean-sheet in 4 games and still lost the game where he set the record for most saves. Brazil made it into the quarter finals ... but then Neymar broke his back and Luiz let 7 go in against Germany. Not to mention ... Lebron's team got destroyed in the NBA Finals.

Yikes!

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I saw the annimated GIFs of each goal here - http://www.cbssports.com/world-cup/eye-o...germany-preview

It's like the same afro Brazil player is flopping his arms after each goal (though I know the 2nd goal is a different guy). Just funny.

Yes, they've given up. It's over.

Dang, missing Silva and Neymar make Brazil look like a under-35 intramural after-work beer squad out there. 11 us from this board might be worse, but not much worse. Goodness Brazil!

Well, I saw this.

https://vine.co/v/MPX5pTaIVPJ

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Just to put it in perspective ... If you give 7 points for one score (sort of like American football), the final score would of been 49-7. Last year's Super Bowl blowout was only 43-8.

But if you do a simple ratio... the average number of goals scored per team during the World Cup prior to this game .95 goals per game per team..

the average number of points scored in the NFL playoffs last year was 23.1. So let's just round and say that's 3 touchdowns per game, per team...

So a simple ratio of .95/7=3/X... is the equivalent of an NFL team scoring 22 touchdowns in a game.. not 22 points, 22 touchdowns.

...AND they were the favorites as the host country too. Crazy!

What a match.

Watching the final games of the World Cup gave me an idea.

What if you just took the final 3 games of the NFL season. The Superbowl and the two conference championship games. If you just did a careful study of those games from history recent, say the last 16 years or so, I think you'd begin to see what these teams do excellent that got them there, and then if you made everyone on your team study those things intently, ALOT, constantly, and try to immitate them, then maybe your team would do better than 4 and freaking 12.

"I'm sure they already thought of that."

Really disappointed in how Brazil played. They're far too talented to get blown out like that. It would have been a lot worse had Germany not slowed down.

That said, I'm really looking forward to the final. Hopefully Argentina wins

It's a better story to me if Argentina wins. Argentina winning on Brazil soil will be good for bragging rights, Messi needs this win for his legacy, and I just don't like the German team (I respect them, and even thank them for letting the US only lose by 1 in the Group stage to help us advance, just don't like them).

With that being said, I want to see a great game on Sunday. I'd prefer a 2-1 or 3-2 game too. I'm down with PKs or a 1-0 game, I just think I want to see something different. Both teams scoring and pushing the ball.

I really think FIFA needs to rethink Extra Time and PKs as they stand today. I understand why they do it this way, but I think it needs some refinement. Extra Time seems so slow because all the guys are too tired to make anything happen. Maybe give them more subs? Reduce the guys on the field? Split the 30 minutes into three 10 min periods for more rest? Introduce a golden goal in ET?

I know it's very American of me to try changing soccer to fit my style, but I think our "new eyes" on the sport can help see through all the tradition that everyone is used to elsewhere.

They're already talking about adding a 4th sub for ET.

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Really disappointed in how Brazil played. They're far too talented to get blown out like that. It would have been a lot worse had Germany not slowed down.

That said, I'm really looking forward to the final. Hopefully Argentina wins

Brazil lost their two best players due to injury. It's not an excuse to suck, but it seem to just take all the wind out of them.

Yeah, I think they knew it was all over once Neymar got injured. But you still hope to see some fight in them. They're too talented to get beaten that badly.

I only saw highlights of that game, but I swear it seemed like Brazil was just standing around most of the time.. their goalkeeper was pissed..

So far so good. Lots of chances.

FIFA will start getting a lot of heat for letting players stay in with concussions. That German player was out before he hit the ground and still looked lost 15 mins later.

Congrats Germany. I'm sure your wife is thrilled Swish!

Great match.

Does Germany get to keep the World Cup?
Graham Watson By Graham Watson

As German players posed with, kissed and hoisted one of the most coveted trophies in all of sports, it’s a fair assumption that many of the players had no idea their time with the historic 18-carat gem was running short.

After the celebration ends and the Germans board their plane, the trophy they worked so hard to achieve will be locked away and a gold-plated replica would be headed back to German soil.

It seems like one of the biggest teases in sports.

The feeling of lifting 13.61 pounds of 75 percent pure 18-carat gold and then watching that prized possession be taken and locked away for the next four years is heartbreaking, but Germany isn’t the first team to go through this loved-and-lost scenario. Since 1974, the winners of the World Cup have all walked away with replicas.

Why? Well, it’s because the trophy isn’t only coveted by the players, it’s also coveted by thieves.

In 2010, Cash4Gold, the world’s top public gold buyer, said the trophy was worth upwards of $10 million and its value continues to rise as the value of gold rises. Because of this, the trophy has been stolen twice and was once saved from thievery.

During World War II, Dr. Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president of FIFA, hid the original trophy – the Jules Rimet Cup – in a shoebox under his bed to keep it out of the hands of the Nazis. However, all that work was for naught because in 1966, the trophy was stolen in England while on display at a public exhibition in London.

Seven days later, the stolen trophy was found by a dog named Pickles, who was relieving himself on a bush when his owner saw the trophy wrapped in newspaper.

In 1970, the Jules Rimet Cup went to Brazil – permanently – after it won its third World Cup. The trophy we know today replaced the Jules Rimet Cup and that prize was first handed out in 1974. However, thieves were still very much in love with the old version and in 1983, the trophy was stolen from the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and never recovered. Legend has it that it was melted down and sold.

So, understandably, FIFA has some trust issues when it comes to its fancy trophy and keeps it heavily guarded whenever it is on display, being celebrated with and even when it’s locked away for safe keeping.

But, each winner since 1974 has had its name engraved on the base of the real trophy. After Germany gets its engraving, there’s only room for three more names. It’s unknown what FIFA will do after it runs out of space in 2030 on what will be the 100th anniversary of the tournament.

So, Germany’s long-awaited rendezvous with the World Cup trophy lasted maybe a couple hours. Let’s hope they savored it.

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter Follow @Yahoo_Graham

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Seven days later, the stolen trophy was found by a dog named Pickles, who was relieving himself on a bush when his owner saw the trophy wrapped in newspaper.

and

Unless you're a 'professional' thief you probably don't have the means to fence something so famous. So then what? Pawnshop? Cash4Gold? Lol
Whoever ended up with it realized they had something that was invaluable. The moment they surfaced with it they were jail bound. So they ditched it when common sense set it. That's my take.

You could always melt it down... but you are right, unless you a big time thief you are not going to have the "network" it takes to find a buyer for something like that.

Now on to a more uplifting topic.. I see where some things in Europe are exactly the same as they are in the US.. rich athletes get the girls. Did anybody else see Mario Gotze's girlfriend?

I am not a soccer fan at all, but I found that game winning goal just sick! I was only tuned in because I saw online that it was probably going to penalty kicks (which I do find watchable). That goal being scored in extra time was pretty damn exciting. Here is a page of GIF's of that goal.

http://www.highlighthub.com/mario-gotze-scores-vs-argentina-gif/

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Now on to a more uplifting topic.. I see where some things in Europe are exactly the same as they are in the US.. rich athletes get the girls. Did anybody else see Mario Gotze's girlfriend?

Did you notice ANY of the German player's girlfriends?

(I should of brought back "Shot of the Day" for the World cup)

It was an amazing goal.. to take it off your chest while on the run and direct it exactly in the direction you need it, while allowing it to come off your chest soft enough to not get away from you, then turning on it to kick into the far post corner of the net with the goalie leaning near corner is all fairly amazing... to do it in extra time of the world cup just makes it that much more amazing.