World Cup 2010 Thread!!!

[Quickie]

Messi misses all his chances. Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0.

Anyone knows why the background noises at the stadium is so damn noisy. Sounds like there's a airport just nearby.

 

[KYli]

The plastic trumpets of south Africa that are the cause of much noise which are called vuvuzela.

 

[ravenshield936]

Argentina werent all that convincing during the qualifying phases

Beckhams not in the English team. I don't think Ferdinand is playing in the US Game and other key players form have been indifferent, so it could be rather interesting, though theoretically they have the easiest draw through the competition.

I don't bet on longshots or exotic betting mainly near certainties. I rememeber one year my wife got a nice tax refund, out of interest sake sake she gave me half of it to bet with, and she didn't care whether I lost it. but I only chose what i considered were certainties. eg during theoff season top clubs visit asia and play friendlies etc etc I bet on Manchester United playing 2 Chinese clubs and each time I could get $1.11 to $1-15 on MU at William Hills etc, man over the year I got over 100% for her. It was the easiest couple of grand I ever made. (It took a whole year though, its a matter of having patience and waiting for those gift bets.)

lol playing against the chinese = instant win

 

[ravenshield936]

I believe Argentina is good in qualifying phases, but when it gets near the final, you better be careful. I don't even remember when it last got the world champion.

The English team has many star players like Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard... I wonder why they never got any world champion --- world cup or european cup.

Can anybody confirm if Drogba of the Ivory Coast team will show up in world cup?

there's sth about france and england being one of those teams that can screw up even against the easiest teams at times....but england is a bit more consistent..france lost to the chinese in a friendly match..

 

[bd popeye]

So.... US England played to a 1-1 tie.. How thrilling...NOT!

These early games exhibit what many of us in the US don't like about soccer;
1) Low scores
2) Ties..

How can you have a tie in a WC game/match? Someone should win. Period. I wanna see someone on the turf crying because they lost and the other side jubilant because they won. I know there's some sort of shootout in the later rounds. Why can't that be employed now???

 

[ravenshield936]

So.... US England played to a 1-1 tie.. How thrilling...NOT!

These early games exhibit what many of us in the US don't like about soccer;
1) Low scores
2) Ties..

How can you have a tie in a WC game/match? Someone should win. Period. I wanna see someone on the turf crying because they lost and the other side jubilant because they won. I know there's some sort of shootout in the later rounds. Why can't that be employed now???

The tie's so stupid
Green lost the ball just like that?! He wasted his entire team's effort completely. The tie shouldnt even have existed!!

 

[Finn McCool]

I think football would be made a lot better if they did a few things:
-Did away with ties.
-Changed the offsides rules significantly to make it easier to score
-Allowed substitutions at any time, and going in and out at will
-Stopped the clock when the ball was not in play
-Shortened the field by like 10-15%

I think those rules would make it a LOT more exciting and fun and cut down on some of the "owwww I'm hurrrttt" business.

 

[ravenshield936]

I think football would be made a lot better if they did a few things:
-Did away with ties.
-Changed the offsides rules significantly to make it easier to score
-Allowed substitutions at any time, and going in and out at will
-Stopped the clock when the ball was not in play
-Shortened the field by like 10-15%

I think those rules would make it a LOT more exciting and fun and cut down on some of the "owwww I'm hurrrttt" business.

ohhh i understand your thoughts
but as a hk person who grew up watching soccer( and im not that crazy already compared to others, who watched every single game from the premier to uefa and on..), part of the fun about soccer will be that it's not a tactical game. it's more strategic, with the placement of players, the formations, the big fields, the passing, and a lot of that stuff. the substitutions also made the game more exciting in a way cause u cant switch players too often. if you follow soccer, you'd know that Peter Couch of England was a very vivid player, esp. from his performances in Liverpool(English Premier). years back, he scored 3 against arsenal, one with both legs, and the last with his head. (his height also gave him advantages)
however in this game, they kept him out as his age meant less stamina, and he usually enters when they're at quarter finals. in this england-US match, they finally brought him in at 80mins, which meant they're trying to break the stalemate.

also formations are important. a 4-3-3 can mean a difference in contrast to a 4-5-1 as a tighter defense formation like the ones italy and france used can mean all the difference. however star players can also prove some really exciting stuff, and if you guys ever followed zidane, u'd understand. sadly he retired, and along with that, my spirits for le bleu.

anyways, this match the US performed well. onyewu and their goalie saved US a lotta times, esp preventing major players like gerrard, rooney, and lampard from scoring. this is why they attempted to break the stalement with bringing in couch, since he's even taller than onyewu,

 

[Finn McCool]

ohhh i understand your thoughts
but as a hk person who grew up watching soccer( and im not that crazy already compared to others, who watched every single game from the premier to uefa and on..), part of the fun about soccer will be that it's not a tactical game. it's more strategic, with the placement of players, the formations, the big fields, the passing, and a lot of that stuff. the substitutions also made the game more exciting in a way cause u cant switch players too often. if you follow soccer, you'd know that Peter Couch of England was a very vivid player, esp. from his performances in Liverpool(English Premier). years back, he scored 3 against arsenal, one with both legs, and the last with his head. (his height also gave him advantages)

Well my proposed rule changes are designed to create more exciting moments and more scoring opportunities because personally thats what I think is fun to watch and play. And as far as substituting goes, I can see how a star like Crouch coming off the bench creates an air of excitement in the stadium. But I think allowing substitutions would make so it players don't have to fake injury to catch their breath, which is something that annoys me.

 

[bd popeye]

Originally Posted by Finn McCool View Post
I think football would be made a lot better if they did a few things:
-Did away with ties.
-Changed the offsides rules significantly to make it easier to score

Finn & others, there once was a league in the US and Canada called the North American Soccer League(NASL). They did away the offside and ties. They used the shoot out to settle ties.

The NASL was in business from to 1968 to 1984.

From wiki which does have good info on the NASL.

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The NASL faced obstacles in regard to selling the sport of soccer to Americans, which was then completely foreign to the majority of them. The league "Americanized" the rules in the attempt to make the game more exciting, and comprehensible, to the average American sports fan. These changes included a clock that counted time down to zero as was typical of other timed American sports, rather than upwards to 90 minutes as was traditional, a 35 yard line for offsides rather than the usual half way line, and a shootout to decide matches that ended in a draw. The league began a college draft in 1972 in an attempt to increase the number of US- and Canadian-born players in the league. The foreign image of soccer was not helped, however, by a league that brought in many older, high profile foreign players, and frequently left Americans on the bench. This effort was often doubly futile, as while many of the foreign players were perhaps "big names" in their home countries, almost none of them qualified as such in North America, and they quickly absorbed most of the available payroll, such as it was, which could have otherwise been used to pay North American players better.