My Thoughts on World Cup Soccer

[Guest EagleBackr]

TEN LEGITIMATE REASONS WHY SOCCER IS GOOFY (in no particular order):

1. Players are allowed - even expected - to fake injuries in order to get calls from the referees. Some of the worst acting I've seen since "Gigli".

2. Players get carted from field on stretchers in seeming agony, only to re-enter the game within minutes miraculously healthy. Trainers all Benny Hinn/Richard Roberts followers?

3. Arbitrary penalty calls are enough to make even C-USA and Mid-Con basketball referees look good. Well, maybe not Mid-Con officials...

4. Referees can dramatically alter outcome of game with phantom yellow/red cards and/or ejections. How do these guys keep from getting punched in the face? Put Ron Artest or Bobby Knight on the U.S. National team - then maybe we would start getting some calls.

5. Every single goal that looks halfway decent is called back because of offsides. "GOD FORBID WE ALLOW ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT INCREASE THE CHANCE OF A GOAL!"

6. A two-touchdown lead in football is a nice lead, but is surmountable. A two-goal lead in soccer means the game is over - period.

7. "EXTRA TIME"?!? DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH TIME IS TRULY LEFT IN THE MATCH? What kind of a game that USES a clock doesn't allow the fans or players to know how much time is left on the field?

8. Celebrations by goal-scorers are at the least ridiculous, and at worst embarrassing. Where exactly DID that one guy keep his Spiderman mask hidden in his shorts all game long?

9. Name me ANY other sport where a SCORELESS TIE is not actually allowed, but is actually A GOOD THING. "Man, did you see that play where we ALMOST scored?!? WHAT A THRILL!!"

10. Scintillating halftime shows!!  (check THIS out!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T-geLfWlkI

Seriously, every time I watch an international soccer match, I am reminded of why we live in the greatest country in the world. Could you imagine if this crap was the ONLY show in town? NO WONDER BASKETBALL (the only American sport 90% of these guys can afford to play) HAS BECOME A WORLD-WIDE PHENOMENON!!

[vcboy2000]

It sure is great to live in the land of basketball, but soccer is far from goofy.

1. Players are allowed - even expected - to fake injuries in order to get calls from the referees. Some of the worst acting I've seen since "Gigli". Like Manu Ginobli.

They have been trying to eradicate this from the game by issueing cards for obvious flops. doesn't seem to be working yet.

2. Players get carted from field on stretchers in seeming agony, only to re-enter the game within minutes miraculously healthy. Trainers all Benny Hinn/Richard Roberts followers?

I hate this part also. It's crazy because it almost seems like the more they scream and get the ref to bring out the trainers, the more likely that the other player will get a card. Very frustrating. You see this more with the other teams than with the US and the Asian nations. It's almost like  that's how they train you to play everywhere else. That might be why Manu Ginobli (from a huge soccer nation) has brought that with him to the NBA. I think he's starting to realize that he is one of the only players that does it so much.

3. Arbitrary penalty calls are enough to make even C-USA and Mid-Con basketball referees look good. Well, maybe not Mid-Con officials...

Have you watched the NBA Finals lately?

4. Referees can dramatically alter outcome of game with phantom yellow/red cards and/or ejections. How do these guys keep from getting punched in the face? Put Ron Artest or Bobby Knight on the U.S. National team - then maybe we would start getting some calls.

Again, I'm sure Dallas fans would agree with the above response. Reggie Miller said the other day on Dan Patrick's show that it's not hard for a ref to take a team out of their flow. Just call 2 quick fouls on their star player and you've forced them to play a different game.

5. Every single goal that looks halfway decent is called back because of offsides. "GOD FORBID WE ALLOW ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT INCREASE THE CHANCE OF A GOAL!"

You have to see the best guys do it before you can make a judgement. It's like watching two 5-7 yr old church league teams play. Nothing is pretty when you're a novice. Watch some of the great players on Brazil's team or Argentina or Portugal. The way their forwards play and move the ball is like poetry in motion.

6. A two-touchdown lead in football is a nice lead, but is surmountable. A two-goal lead in soccer means the game is over - period.

...and a two point lead in basketball is just 1 hoop. Not sure what your point is. It's just the nature of the game. You have to work harder to score in soccer so obviously the games aren't going to be high scores.

7. "EXTRA TIME"?!? DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH TIME IS TRULY LEFT IN THE MATCH? What kind of a game that USES a clock doesn't allow the fans or players to know how much time is left on the field?

At the end of regulation the referees anounces to the coaches how much stoppage time will be played. It is estimated based on the number of times they have had to stop play for fouls and substitutions. They place the time under the clock for the tv. viewers to see, and I thought they did that in the stadium as well.

8. Celebrations by goal-scorers are at the least ridiculous, and at worst embarrassing. Where exactly DID that one guy keep his Spiderman mask hidden in his shorts all game long?

The NFL is just now starting to clamp down on these themselves.

9. Name me ANY other sport where a SCORELESS TIE is not actually allowed, but is actually A GOOD THING. "Man, did you see that play where we ALMOST scored?!? WHAT A THRILL!!"

A tie is never the OPTIMUM for a team. A win would have been greatly received by both teams if one came about. Italy could have all but stamped their card into the next round with a win, and the US would have incresed their chances of going to the next round with a win also. When a tie happens it can be a good thing for a team that needs to pick up a point (the US had no points). A loss would have gotten them nothing. So logic says you would have loved to take the win, but you allowed your team to gain a point by not taking a loss. So be happy.

Seriously, every time I watch an international soccer match, I am reminded of why we live in the greatest country in the world. Could you imagine if this crap was the ONLY show in town? NO WONDER BASKETBALL (the only American sport 90% of these guys can afford to play) HAS BECOME A WORLD-WIDE PHENOMENON!!

America is the greatest nation in the world. We have so many great sports to choose from. But that doesn't mean soccer is crap. I agree that it wouldn't be fun if soccer was the only option we had to choose from, but having played the game for several years I have a great deal of respect for the athletes and the game in general.

[praetorfenix86]

I couldn't agree more on flopping.  I love soccer and can't get enough of it but watching players take dives is embarassing.  I don't think that an Italian soccer player has ever actually been fouled.  You go to England to learn English, Morocco to learn tapestrys, and Italy to learn to take a dive.

[richieoru]

Well said VCboy, Soccer is a truly wonderful sport especially when some of the best teams are playing.  Although the two things that I do not like about soccer as have been said are dives and fakeing injuries.  I wouldn't mind the dives so much if the refs would stop giving them the free kick.  I do love when a player is given a card though for a dive, for example Francesco Totti in the last world cup recieved a 2nd yellow card for diving and was awarded a red card and ejection from the game, now thats some justice for diving.  The fake injuries though they are really annoying thats one thing that does need to be fixed.  Perhaps if the stretcher is called for you are out for the next 5 minutes or so, something like that.  All in all though its a beautiful game, I love watching it.

Joga Bonito

[richieoru]

WHY I LOVE THE WORLD CUP

By Bill Simmons

Page 2

Editor's note: This article appears in the July 17 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

My morning ritual used to go like this: Roll out of bed at 7:15, play with my daughter for a few minutes, suck down 185 ounces of coffee to wake up, then answer e-mails and zoom through Web sites for a couple of hours as "SportsCenter" blares in the background.

Then the World Cup started.

Much to my surprise, the 7:30 a.m. game quickly became part of my routine. Soccer, it turns out, is the perfect sport to watch while you're doing other things. Maybe it's that constant soothing sound, a never-ending din of cheering and singing in strange languages. Maybe it's that you only have to glance at the TV every so often. Whenever something seems like it might happen, the play-by-play guy warns you with the rise in his energy level. There's always time to catch a play before it unfolds ? even though it usually ends with some exhausted striker rocketing the ball 25 feet over the crossbar. Maybe it's that you know what you're getting every time out: six or seven exciting plays, a game that ends at a specific time, no annoying sideline reporters or goofy camera angles. All in all, a peaceful two hours of competition.

Luca Bruno/AP Photo

Italy's overtime goals against Germany were about as exciting as it gets.And when something does happen, it happens. There isn't a more electric moment than a World Cup goal, especially one of those crazy ones, like when that Argentine absorbed a long cross with his chest, wheeled 90 degrees and whipped a soaring lefty kick to beat Mexico's goalie in OT (degree of difficulty: 12.9). I looked up from Chad Ford's 332nd online mock draft just in time to see it. Yes, this is the perfect morning viewing: better than old NBA games, better than Red Sox replays, better than anything on TV Land. On the morning of June 28, when I realized no games were scheduled, I actually made this noise: "Oh-awwwwww." What was I going to do? No game? What now?

Does this mean I like soccer? Of course not. I'm a World Cup fan, not a soccer fan. Here are 10 reasons why:

1. I like watching anything that lets you say, "Hey, these guys are the absolute best of the best." That's why pro soccer will never catch on here: Nobody wants to watch a bunch of second-rate guys playing a sport that isn't that interesting in the first place. Fundamentally, it can't work. You have a better chance of uncovering a Star Jones-Al Reynolds sex tape.

2. These games feel like life or death. No, really. When the Colombian defender was murdered after 1994's World Cup, the stakes were set: Screw up and you may die. You can see it on everyone's face. After Argentina's OT goal, the shell-shocked coach of Mexico looked as if he'd gotten a terminal diagnosis from his doctor. I half expected him to start hastily scribbling a will. For most of the countries involved, soccer is the equivalent of baseball + football + basketball here, if those sports came around only one month every four years. You can feel the tension. It's suffocating. The winners are relieved, the losers decimated. There's no in-between.

3. The red card/yellow card thing. Nonsensical, completely arbitrary, even crooked to some degree ? I love it. Why hasn't the NBA adopted this yet? Can you imagine how many yellows and reds the Mavericks would have gotten in the Finals?

4. There's something fascinating about the underlying baggage in every game. My buddy Kurt e-mailed me last week, "If you're a Nazi war criminal who escaped the Allied forces after WWII, who do you root for tomorrow: Germany, who propelled you to the top of their system, or Argentina, who took you in and helped hide your crimes against humanity?"

5. The postgame ritual of players exchanging sweaty jerseys cracks me up. Imagine if some Czech guy, drenched from running around in 95-degree heat for an hour and a half, handed you his shirt. Ah, gee, thanks ? Can't wait to put this in my duffel ? No, really, this is great.

6. The whole player-with-one-name thing is fantastic. Nene tried to start the trend in the NBA, but it never caught on. There's still time. Carmelo should legally drop his last name. So should LeBron. And the Clippers' center should just go by Kaman.

7. You know my Remote Control Test that says you can't deny someone's or something's appeal if you can't flick the channel when he/she/it is on? (Like when some Sox fans wanted to trade Manny last season, I asked: Do you turn the channel when he comes up? No? Then why trade someone like that?) Well, no matter how you feel about soccer, would you ever turn the channel right before penalty kicks to decide an elimination game? Ever? In a million years?

Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo

After watching all the flopping, don't pictures like this just make you want to scream?8. Everyone makes fun of the flopping, and it is hideous, but it's also funny as hell. These guys drop like they were gunned down by a sniper, then they roll around for 10 seconds in absolute agony, heroically hop up and limp around to "shake it off," and within 30 seconds they're running full speed again. Even Ric Flair didn't sell pain so well. More important, it's the one thing that will keep soccer from ever, ever, ever becoming a bona fide force in this country. Americans won't stomach such dishonesty. We see right through it. No way Dwyane Wade pulls that crap; we'd never allow it. OK, bad example.

9. The whole injury-time thing. I mean, what other sport keeps some arbitrary amount of extra time in an official's back pocket? It's so stupid yet weirdly effective. I'm convinced the guy who came up with that was drunk.

10. I have enjoyed soccer's partisan songs and chants since "Victory," when the crowd inspired Sly Stallone to stone Werner Roth's penalty kick. Yes, part of it is that soccer fans need to invent ways to kill time because so little actually happens. But you have to admire their creativity. It makes you wonder why we don't have more chants and songs for our sports. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" brings down the house every time, right? So why stop there? We can't muster enough brainpower to do anything but sing along to crappy music that blares from the PA? We should make chants for goal-line stands, for closers looking for one more out, for opposing players shooting free throws. Instead, we settle for an expletive (the one involving cattle) after bad calls. What's wrong with us?

No, soccer isn't so bad, and that brings me to my big question: Why put four years between World Cups? Long ago, someone decided that significant international sporting events should occur only every four years, and everyone else agreed, even though the reason was probably something like, "We don't have planes yet, and since everyone has to arrive by boat, we'd better not do this too often." Why not whittle the window to three years? Would anyone be against this?

When I asked my dad about this, he dismissed me, saying simply, "That's the way they've always done it." Well, if we used that argument for all things, we'd still be drinking tap water. So here's my vote for a triennial Cup.

In the meantime, I'm preparing for life after soccer. So long, World Cup. My morning coffees won't taste the same.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060705&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos2

[tmh8286]

Great post.  Totally changed my opinion of soccer.  I haven't watched a single World Cup game, but after reading that story, I probably still won't.

[ORUTerry]

Watching soccer = Watching paint dry

[Guest Blevins]

Here are my thoughts on World Cup Soccer:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[richieoru]

Only 2 games left in the World Cup give em a try, they are the 4 best teams in the world playing.

[tmh8286]

Guys like this don't do much to increase my interest  - Sean Wilsey writing in the June, 2006 National Geographic:

"The world of the World Cup is the one I want to live in. I cannot resist its United Nations?like pageantry and high-mindedness, the apolitical display of national characteristics, the revelation of deep human flaws and unexpected greatnesses, the fact that entire nations walk off the job or wake up at 3 a.m. to watch men kick a ball. There are countries that have truly multiracial squads?France, England, and the United States?while other teams are entirely blond or Asian or Latin American. A Slovakian tire salesman, an Italian cop, or a German concert pianist?having passed the official fitness tests?will moonlight as referee. There are irritating fans: "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" (Blessedly few.) There are children who hold hands with each player as he walks onto the field. National anthems play. Men paint themselves their national colors and cry openly at defeat. An announcer shouts "GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL! GOL, GOL, GOL!" on the Spanish-language channel you're watching. (It's often the only way you can see the game live.) There are two back-to-back 45-minute segments without commercials. To quote the book every traveling athlete finds in his hotel room: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." Or, as my copy of "Soccer and Its Rules" says: "Are you ready? Ready to cheer the players to victory, marvel at their fitness, speed, and skills, urging them to win every tackle for the ball, ready to explode at a powerful shot? Ready for the excitement of flying wingers, overlapping backs, curling corners, slick one-two passing and goals scored with panache? Ready for another moment in a fantasy world?"

Apparently any form of exuberance expressing national pride is acceptable to this guy, unless it comes from Americans.  Then it's just irritating.

[ORUTerry]

Any game where you cannot use your hands is not a real sport.... soccer will NEVER be popular in the USA. The rules are silly and restrict action (scoring). I'm sure it is fun to play but to watch it is pure torture.

[richieoru]

Guys like this don't do much to increase my interest  - Sean Wilsey writing in the June, 2006 National Geographic:

There are irritating fans: "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" (Blessedly few.)

Apparently any form of exuberance expressing national pride is acceptable to this guy, unless it comes from Americans.  Then it's just irritating.

But don't you want to see America win and put it right back in the faces of guys like that.  And I can see how soccer could be boring to people who never really played the sport.  I played soccer for 10 years and probably the only reason why I like soccer so much and probably the reason that I hate hockey so much, that I never played it.  Soccer is a growing sport and when the younger generation who are really getting into it become the primetime audience America will embrace soccer.  When the older generations move on and the youngens take over you will see a lot more soccer I would think, it will just take time.  So, to say that America will never embrace soccer, just think of all the kids that are playing it now and when they grow up.

[Guest Blevins]

But don't you want to see America win and put it right back in the faces of guys like that.  And I can see how soccer could be boring to people who never really played the sport.  I played soccer for 10 years and probably the only reason why I like soccer so much and probably the reason that I hate hockey so much, that I never played it.  Soccer is a growing sport and when the younger generation who are really getting into it become the primetime audience America will embrace soccer.  When the older generations move on and the youngens take over you will see a lot more soccer I would think, it will just take time.  So, to say that America will never embrace soccer, just think of all the kids that are playing it now and when they grow up.

Yeah, but haven't we been hearing this for like 20 years now? All these grass-roots soccer fanactics keep telling us "Just wait. Soccer's gonna be the most popular sport in America when all these kids who are playing now grow up."

Well, I'm grown up and I'm still waiting....

[tmh8286]

I'm partly teasing with my posts, richie - I really don't have feelings for soccer one way or another.  But I do have a story that is related to what you are saying.

The summer I graduated high school (1974) I worked with a guy that was a little older than me.  He was REALLY excited about an investment he'd made in a professional soccer team that played in Portland, OR.  Part of his excitement came from the fact that so many kids were playing soccer, and as they grew up they would become fans of the team that he was a stock owner of.  

Within a season or two, the team went bust.  Thirty years later we're still waiting for all of those little kids playing soccer to become mature fans.  My experience is that you are one of the few that carried their love of soccer to adulthood.  

There  is something about the American mindset that just doesn't take to the sport in large numbers.  Truthfully, I doubt that that will change any time soon.

On the other hand, don't many other countries complain about baseball and football as being slow and just a lot of standing around?  The fact that we view these things differently isn't really a bad thing.  I'd actually prefer maintaining a national identity, as far as sports are concerned.

[richieoru]

I'm partly teasing with my posts, richie - I really don't have feelings for soccer one way or another.  But I do have a story that is related to what you are saying.

The summer I graduated high school (1974) I worked with a guy that was a little older than me.  He was REALLY excited about an investment he'd made in a professional soccer team that played in Portland, OR.  Part of his excitement came from the fact that so many kids were playing soccer, and as they grew up they would become fans of the team that he was a stock owner of.  

Within a season or two, the team went bust.  Thirty years later we're still waiting for all of those little kids playing soccer to become mature fans.  My experience is that you are one of the few that carried their love of soccer to adulthood.  

There  is something about the American mindset that just doesn't take to the sport in large numbers.  Truthfully, I doubt that that will change any time soon.

On the other hand, don't many other countries complain about baseball and football as being slow and just a lot of standing around?  The fact that we view these things differently isn't really a bad thing.  I'd actually prefer maintaining a national identity, as far as sports are concerned.

Yeah no biggie tmh nothing was offensive to me, you can make fun of soccer all you want I don't take much offensively except for personal attacks which doesn't really happen since this is an ORU board..  I'm just trying to point out some of the better aspects of the game, maybe try to change some minds about it thought I had you for a second in your change my mind post it...was funny.  The one part in that article that I posted that I really like was "8. Everyone makes fun of the flopping, and it is hideous, but it's also funny as hell. These guys drop like they were gunned down by a sniper, then they roll around for 10 seconds in absolute agony, heroically hop up and limp around to "shake it off," and within 30 seconds they're running full speed again. Even Ric Flair didn't sell pain so well. More important, it's the one thing that will keep soccer from ever, ever, ever becoming a bona fide force in this country. Americans won't stomach such dishonesty. We see right through it. "  That bolded part is really true, I really hate the fakeing the injury, the flops and dives I can handle but to get carted off when your not hurt at all is aggravating just to waste time or try to get a card on the other team (and if you watched the US in the cup at all you didn't see our guys doing it). 

Sad part of soccer is I gotta wait another 4 years to see how well the U.S. can do in the next cup.  I'm hopeing that we can get Germany's coach (Juergen Klinsman) if they decide to drop him for the next World Cup, but if we stay with Bruce Arena I will be fine with that too. 

[Dr. Cornelius]

The AP is reporting that the World Cup viewership topped this years NBA finals! A sad day for America.

[ORUTerry]

Notice that close to 30% of the US audience watched the game/match on the Spanish language station. How many viewer actually stayed with the game/match and how many were 'drive-by' viewers?

I can tell you that in my office there was absolutely no talk of the game. A total non-event.

[richieoru]

The AP is reporting that the World Cup viewership topped this years NBA finals! A sad day for America.

The NBA is just not that exciting to a lot of people.  They just don't hustle and only a select few play defense, and the league makes rules so that really good defense can't happen.  We set the league up for the superstars to just go to the hoop with no double teams and now they can't put a hand on them in the perimeter.  And that is a good reason of why the NBA fails at the international level (cause they play great defense) and failing at the international level is another reason why people are less interested in the NBA (it isn't the greatest league anymore like they used to be).  With the NBA I usually only watch the playoffs and then only in the latter stages of the 4th quarter.  It looks like they just want to turn the league into the "and 1" league.