.

Agreed.
Zero exciting moments.

when did penalty kicks get so slow??? In the 90s it was kick it as hard as you can to a corner... now it's tap it and hope the goalie jumps the other way

WC is a snoozer. So here is Atlanta United's Joseph Martinez's bicycle kick that got MLS Goal Of The Year. Then we let him go.

France just scored twice in the final game in two minutes real time
while trailing 2 to 0 to tie it up with Argentina
with only twelve to eight minutes remaining plus about 6 minutes of extra time.

will be pretty epic probably in the future looking back.

I just got a notification and actually turned it on. Hopefully there will be a shootout. Now that's exciting.

Next goal in wins the world cup, for the country for 4 years, it was only tied for the last few, soccer will never get more exciting than the last few minutes, whether it's extra time or penalty kicks

extra time rules
they just said , regardless if a goal is scored there will be two extra fifteen minute periods.

Unbelievable, both teams have scored and Arg. threatening again, 3 to 3 stoppage time plus 30 seconds until the shootout.
France with a chance.
3 min stoppage.

OH my gosh shots at each end in 20 seconds real time.

Now that was frickin' intense. Shootout time.

That was an absolutely incredible final. Wow.

There is absolutely Nothing exciting about shootout kicks, what a letdown.

They should have made the extra time periods sudden death anyway, would have been the same outcome.
shootouts suck so bad it's not even like winning.

ehh, I guess I wanted france, always nice when the hyped up superstar doesn't win, like
Micheal Jordan, Tiger Woods or in this case Messi,

A championship decided on free kicks? LOL LOL LOL LOL
And people watch this? LOL LOL LOL LMFAO

I have never liked soccer.

Many years ago, I sat down and turned a match on (because there was nothing else on) and as soon as I heard the announcer say: "This has to be the most exciting nil-nil match of al time", I turned it off and never watched another. Bleh.

All those hours of soccer came down to whether or not a goalie could guess which direction to jump.

And the world goes bonkers for it.

I watched a lot of the world cup. Got to admit I found it exciting. And I liked the penalty kicks.

It's the way it is. It's brutal, and the reality is there is much more pressure on the penalty taker than the keeper... But you have to have a winner. 120 minutes of open play with the players running nearly 8 or even 9 or 10 miles, the idea of just keep playing has been raised and dismissed because by that long running and sprinting, players are cramping and often simply exhausted.

Unlike American sports most EU or Rest of the world have limits on substitutes, rugby is the same, aussie rules etc.... To them the idea of limitless substitutions and players who ever come on to play one side of the game or just to kick is lol funny and odd... Different sports and different cultures. Just as exciting imo - this year's final is one of the best ever.

We love watching the World Cup. My wife and daughter got really into it this year. For some reason they root for Brazil- big let down when they got bounced. - I heard that they were crying in the streets down there when they lost. The championship today was awesome. I was rooting for Argentina so that Messi could get his trophy. I’m not a soccer guy but it looked like France was the better team- Could play 10 times and France would have won 9 of em. Anyway, It was great seeing Argentina win. What an awesome trophy presentation as well. I loved it.

I started this thread as a joke because from what little I saw the games were boring as hell with most of them ending in a tie and players flopping all over if somebody brushed up against them. I caught the end of this final after getting some notification on my phone that France scored 2 goals to tie it up after the 80m mark. It was one exciting finish to a game. Both teams were very aggressive and there were a lot of scoring chances. I love hockey shootouts and thought this ending was cool.

Glad Argentina won the match

I don't know how people watch this sport and get excited. It's like watching paint dry to me.

Atlanta United player plays for Argentina. First MLS player in history to get to World Cup finals.

I don't watch soccer...
If I wanted to sit around and watch a bunch of guys struggle to score for 90 minutes, I'd take my friends out to the bar.

(not an original quote)

My daughter started playing soccer the last couple of years so I have a better appreciation for and more in interest in the game. Plus, I like all kinds of competition. One of my favorite things to watch on TV is professional cornhole. It's funny and awesome all at the same time.

Argentinians are having the time of their life.

The finals were amazing. Probably the greatest game I've ever seen. Six goals scored, 2 remarkable comebacks by France... then the PKs.

That said, I do understand why Americans struggle to embrace the sport. During the group round, the US played 3 games. We scored twice..... in almost 5 hours of soccer, we scored twice. 2 of our 3 games were a tie and America hates a tie. Which football coaches are highly regarded? The ones who go for 2 at the end so there is a winner and a loser, but never a tie. So I get it, hey, on the bright side, it's still more exciting than fishing.

I heard there were 4 million people there, which is about the population of Croatia.

And bowling. You forgot bowling.

I don't agree with this. I think the action within the game, scores or not, is exciting. Breakaways are exciting. Good defense is exciting. Near goals are exciting. Competition is exciting. How is this much different than a 2-1 hockey score? And hockey is exciting as hell.

I think Americans don't embrace it as much because we have other sports too...baseball, football...there's just a lot more offerings. A lot more to take up our finite attention span. If it was just soccer Americans would be all over it because we love to watch competition. We love the emotion of it all.

My daughter plays soccer. They had a three game stretch this past season where they only gave up 1 goal in three games. It was awesome. Most fun three game stretch of the whole season.

Bowling rocks. Recently joined a league to get out of the house and drink beer. Quickly turned into "wow, it sucks to suck". Got some lessons, new ball, and bowled a 211 last night (for me this is good). I'm addicted. Would play every day if my wife would let me.

I meant watching it. Bowling is a great pastime. Especially for people who can't compete in real sports.

Bowling is like golf, and fishing. Can't stand to WATCH them, but love doing them.

same... my dad LOVES watching Golf... bores me to no end... but I enjoy bowling, golf, and fishing.... just can't watch them...