[Mentalist]

Sombra, on 04 July 2014 - 05:38 PM, said:

http://www.news.com....2-1226978403470

Word.

PS: Go Germany. Beating the Frogs should be a genetic thing by now, surely?

Zee Gehmans ground down the French, all right. quickly and efficiently.

But, dear God, did I want someone to slap Muller silly for his diving antics.

Geramny should've had a few more. France just didn't seem to have that drive... their few opportunities came after tearign through a wall of defenders, and when they did, they had limited angles and Neuer was always there. they didn't have a single shot where he was likely to be beat.

Looking forward to Columbia-Brazil, didn't really get a chance to see much of ither of these in the WC so far.

[amphibian]

Brujah, on 04 July 2014 - 02:01 PM, said:

Soccer is so huge in so many other countries. This attracts their best and brightest athletes. We can't compete with that level of skill produced by that fervor.

I don't think our soccer teams will ever be able to compete at that highest level. The interest just isn't there, and that leaves our world cup teams to always be filled by athletes who aren't among our best.

With that said, PLEASE don't take this as me saying that if we player our best athletes, that we'd win. Not saying that at all. No matter how much better our players would be, it wouldn't diminish the fact that certain countries have teams that are just superb. I'm only saying our teams could be much better if our society wasn't so heavily focused on the big three. I believe we would be much, much better, that's all. Which would equate to escalating from our current level to at least slightly above average. Still shy of reaching elite status.

The US would do a little better if they were able to field the likes of LeBron James, Randy Moss and so on. But they would likely not win the World Cup even then.

The US will not approach the overall skill levels of the general population of soccer playing kids elsewhere on the globe for 30 to 40 years yet. We're about that far behind in coaching too. The tactical approaches taught to children in progressions over the age groups in Europe and South America is something we cannot do because there are not enough coaches who even know that stuff, much less are able to impart it well to children.

It's only in the last 15 years that MLS players, coaches and WLS players, coaches have started to actually play soccer with tactics approaching those of the world level. Those are going to take a long time to filter out into the general population (through the kids of the players/coaches and those they coach later in life) and even the importation of coaches from Europe and South America is only a drop in the bucket.

There are millions of kids playing soccer here, sure. But they're all playing a crappy 4-4-2 and not learning how to develop their skill or vision. The ball moves faster than any player. Spain showed us for years what a crop of 3/4s decent athletes who can move the ball around very well can do vs. decent athletes who can't move the ball around that well. So even if LeBron, Randy and many others were on the field, their skill levels and their tactical approach would likely lead to them losing in early knockout stages just like the current US team.

[Brujah]

Yeah, I actually have to concede to you on the point made about kids growing up playing soccer in these countries with the top teams/players. Even naturally gifted athleticism won't overcome that type of experience and ability that comes from playing the game all your life.

But I'd actually like to clarify further on my theory. I agree with you when you say, for example, have a Lebron James or Randy Moss on field instead of the current setup., and that this really wouldn't net the US anymore success than they already experience.

My thoughts focused more on how the entire atmosphere would have to change so that the big three sports no longer interested nearly all our kids from the start, and instead we could end up with the scenario for success you mentioned above, where millions of kids would actually want to focus on soccer from the start, instead of having one of the big three sports grab their attention.

To summarize, not only am I saying we need our Lebrons and Randys on the soccer field, but we need to have them, and all the other star athletes, to have focused on soccer from childhood. So yeah, I agree with your timeline of about 30 years or so before we could even begin to enter this realm of play. And that's only if the changes start now.

A good thing about the US though, is that our Latino population has risen drastically over the last 15 years, and still growing. Our largest minority has been African-American for decades. Hispanics(I think I said Latino earlier) will make up the largest minority population in a decade. The point as it relates to the topic, is that a new vigor for soccer is flourishing with the demographic change, which is exactly what we need to bolster enthusiasm for the game.

My family is multiethnic, so I have a fairly broad view on what I hope for the future for the US, both as it pertains to soccer/sports, and just in general.

[HoosierDaddy]

That early Brazil goal is going to open up this match fantastically.

[Khellendros]

Come on Vamos Colombia!

This post has been edited by Khellendros: 04 July 2014 - 08:16 PM

[Tapper]

Well, it looks like everyone had a bag of white powder in their left shoe. What a crazy pace.

[Binder of Demons]

I hate this Brazilian team. And Phil Scolari. A collection of tossers.

[Tapper]

Poor, poor Colombia. But this match... It's like 2 second division teams playing for the FA quarter finals. Such energy. And so many yellow and red tinged moments. Seriously, the referee ought to send off two or three of each team.

[Khellendros]

Tapper, on 04 July 2014 - 09:34 PM, said:

Poor, poor Colombia. But this match... It's like 2 second division teams playing for the FA quarter finals. Such energy. And so many yellow and red tinged moments. Seriously, the referee ought to send off two or three of each team.

The lack of cards until just recently has been unreal. But come on Colombia, back in it!

[HoosierDaddy]

Yeah, the refereeing has left something to be desired, but by not carding anything this game is just wide fucking open with ridiculous fouls all the time. Very entertaining.

[Binder of Demons]

Just sad to see that the the Brazilian tactics of persistent fouling managed to achieve their aim. The Colombians were very young and naive, and allowed themselves to get distracted by the Brazilians shitty behaviour. But I guess it's easy to use that tactic when the ref won't book a Brazilian.

It was only when Colombia went 2-0 down that they just stopped reacting to the Brazilians and started attacking, and looked like they had in the previous games.

Really disappointing game, and result.

[Mentalist]

Huh. Poor Colombia.

Brazil played with just enough flair to win it. The second goal was pretty gorgeous, though.

Colombia just couldn't get their players enough open space around those defenders. dissapointing, but expected.

The fouls... they weren't terrible, imho. But I fear Germany will suffer due to Brazillian acting in the semis.

[Binder of Demons]

I thought the referee was very very poor. They've been showing the "highlights" of the match here, and the fouls by Brazil in the first half were obvious, deliberate and persistent. But as long as the ref does nothing, it does what Scolari wants, to rattle the Colombians. And it worked, with the two Colombian stars Rodriguez, and Cuardrado looking visibly angry and frustrated at being kicked with no sanction. In the end, Rodriguez got himself a stupid yellow card for a niggly foul, and gave away the free kick for David Luiz' goal.

It's only a pity that the serial foulers of the Netherlands and Brazil hadn't met each other at this stage to have been rid of one of them.

Looks like we'll be left with the usual suspects in the semi's, and more's the pity.

[polishgenius]

It's absolutely laughable that Rodriguez got booked for that when not one person got booked for fouling him. It's amazing that he managed to play as well as he did considering the circumstances. In the end, though, Brazil might have shot themselves in the foot for the semi final, with not only Silva suspended, but when Colombia eventually got fed up and started kicking them back, they put Neymar in hospital. I hope he's not seriously injured (there's some rumours that he's got a spinal injury), but if he misses the semi final, it would serve Brazil right.

Shame that it was about the only player not being a complete twat that got injured, though.

[Brujah]

So it's ok to hate the Brazil team? I wasn't quite sure why I started wanting one of them to get kicked in the teeth. I chalked it up to being Noob fan.

I've also decided I like Liverpool. Which is somewhat of an odd sensation. Traditionally, I follow the home team, or the team closest. But there are no local soccer teams in the Southeast US. So next season - Liverpool it is.

Now I have to learn which teams it's proper to hate on. (Not wasting my time self hating on American teams )

As far as the rest of the Cup goes, Heil Hitler. I'm going with the Germans. Gotta love those crazy sons of bitches. The 'white' part of my ancestry are mostly German, splashed with a sprinkle of Irish. The other part being Cherokee Indian, but I don't think they have any soccer teams. Only a new Bingo.

[HoosierDaddy]

Orlando FC is starting in MLS in 2016 I think. You also have DC United in the general area. I know Atlanta and Charlotte have USL first division teams as well.

I cheer for teams that have Americans on them overseas. So: Everton, Villa, Sunderland (where strikers go to die), Borrusia Montgladbach (or something like that), Hertha Berlin, AZ Alkmaar, etc., etc. I miss Fulham's Team America, though.

[Khellendros]

Neymar out of the World Cup - broken vertebra. 4-6 weeks minimum. That's a pretty awful injury to sustain.



Edit: When I first saw him go down, I must admit I thought 'oh hear we go again', as he always does that irritating screaming like he's been shot face whenever anyone touches him. So I had a bit of a boy who cried wolf reaction to it. Of course, when he was still screaming while on the stretcher, that's when I thought, 'oh, hmm...this could actually be an injury.'

This post has been edited by Khellendros: 05 July 2014 - 12:45 AM

[HoosierDaddy]

Khellendros, on 05 July 2014 - 12:43 AM, said:

Neymar out of the World Cup - broken vertebra. 4-6 weeks minimum. That's a pretty awful injury to sustain.

Yeah, that is awful. Neymar was about the only Brazilian I liked.

[amphibian]

HoosierDaddy, on 05 July 2014 - 12:45 AM, said:

Khellendros, on 05 July 2014 - 12:43 AM, said:

Neymar out of the World Cup - broken vertebra. 4-6 weeks minimum. That's a pretty awful injury to sustain.

Yeah, that is awful. Neymar was about the only Brazilian I liked.

Oscar has been amazingly fun to watch. Put your hopes on him.

Maicon played very well. Dani Alves maybe is too tired from the long season before to contribute as he will (or getting old/losing his mojo).

Neymar getting hurt is terrible. Zuniga had a full fifteen yard run-up into him and deserves a post-match yellow card for that.

That leads me to my proposed idea - have a much more active and assertive review of each game. Assign post-match yellows/reds and fines ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 for each card. I also propose a change to the "two yellows in consecutive games before a one game suspension" rule to be "three yellows in consecutive games". Keep the red card suspension rule where it's at. Make anti-diving an emphasis of these cards and you'll see a big shift in how soccer is played and that'll result in less delays to the individual games, more positive sportsmanship being displayed and remove a big element of criticism from the meta-game.

The FIFA games should have their own committees and suspensions limited to FIFA games. The professional leagues should have their own committees and suspensions limited to their games.

And also two referees, one per half. Having tired referees missing things is terrible.

[Tapper]

As a friend of mine said today; it almost seemed as if the referee was instructed to not give too many cards, and that created a gliding scale to where something awful as the knee in Neymar's back only became a yellow.