Great weekend of World Cup soccer. It seems the quality of play in this tournament is much better than recent ones. Two out of 4 games went to penalty kicks which is not best way to decide the game but was tremendously exciting. The thought that Brazil could easily have been knocked out was just unbelievable. CONCAFCAF earmed a lot of respect with the showing of Mexico and Costa Rica. Mexico should have won but I think they made a mistake of packing it in with the lead. Playing defense was right but you have to have a counterattack. By taking out Dos Santos, they couldn't counter and let the Dutch attack at will. Costa Rica almost suffered the same fate but hung on to penalty shots despite being down a man. If someone watching this weekend do not like soccer afterward, you will never convert him.
The Holland-Mexico game was decided on a penalty shot. It was a foul although as I talked about before, the punishment was much too great for the crime. The Alexi Lalas said that it was an accumulative call. In other words, there were maybe possible penalty shot calls earlier on Mexico that was not called and so finally this one had to be called. Other commentators also said that a play in the first half involving Robben should have been a penalty. Interestingly, Robben said that the deciding call was correct but that he had dived on the first one. So if you believe Robben, then the referee got it right. But even in slow motion, the commentators felt that the first one was a penalty. This goes to show how difficult it is to referee these games. So again I call for more fouls called but less penalty shots so that the referee is not the deciding factor in these big games.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
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Am I the only one waiting for Brazil to bust out and start dominating? Maybe the pressure is too great for them or maybe they're just not that good. I don't know. But they were very lucky to win the other day.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the other day that shootouts should be like the ones they had in the NASL, which let the scorer dribble the ball toward the net. The goalie could then come out off the line and try to get the ball.
I didn't watch much of the Holland/Mexico game. To me it was pretty boring and Holland didn't look very good at all. I was surprised that Mexico lost.
I got to watch the end of the Greece game yesterday. I was surprised how good Greece was, but then maybe it was the extra man advantage!
I am a big soccer fan and these games have been pretty good. Still, unless it's the U.S. I have a hard time watching the whole game. I was falling asleep watching a couple of the games and found myself wanting to turn the station.
I would get rid of the running clock and extra time. This is a stupid rule and not fit for modern times. I think they should have the clock stop when it goes out of bounds. I also would like to have a rule where you can only pass the ball backwards a limited amount of times (like 3). I would be in favor of another referee or maybe two in the defensive area.
I am not feeling confident with the Belgium game. They have our number. Plus, I have not been too impressed with our ball handling. Part of it is Bradley, who isn't playing on a high level. Maybe they just miss Altidore. It seems like the play has been on the defensive end too much. They are lucky Howard is a very good goalie.
-LBOAYM
The gap between nations have narrowed. Witness France and Germany barely got by African teams today! The favorites for the final 4 before we started were Brazil, Germany, Spain and Argentina. Sub in Holland for Spain and a big final four is still possible. But who expected Colombia and Costa Rica in the elite 8 and the U.S. still has a chance which nobody believe was possible before the tournament?
ReplyDeleteDo you know the percentage of shootout scores in the NASL? I would think that it is almost as high as PK. The goalie has to come out and the shooter should be able to go wide and create a good shooting angle. I guess I agree that it would be more interesting than PKs.
I don't think Greece is good at offense at all. They didn't really create many chances given that they were a man up. Their lone goal was off a rebound. For some reason the Greeks are very good at offense in basketball but in soccer, almost all of their goals seem to be only by accident or luck. They are great at defense, just opposite their basketball team.
I fall asleep during most of these games as well. But unless you have a rooting interest, that is the case with any sport. I fall asleep watching basketball, football and of course baseball if I am not rooting for anybody. I have fallen asleep a lot less watching this world cup than previously, so I think this is the best world cup for me in recent memory. There seems more spectacular goals and saves than before to me.
I agree with the clock situation. The game time can be shorten since there will be no wasting time if the clock is stopped with out of bounds plays and player changes. I would let the referee determine if the final offense play is fizzled out after the clock ran out before blowing the final whistle.
I think our chance tomorrow is about 40%. But a 40% chance of getting into the elite eight would be something I would have taken before this started! If it was easy, like the original Dream Team, it would not be so special of a ride.
I found some old footage from another blog about the NASL's penalty kicks. I didn't realize that they started from 35 yards out. I thought it was at the top of the box. This seems a lot more difficult to score. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.thescore.com/counterattack/2012/05/25/old-timey-nasl-penalty-kicks-not-as-cool-as-you-think-they-are/
-LBOAYM
Great effort by the U.S., esp. Howard. Klinsmann did a great job but after the first goal he should have subbed Green in then. Fresh leg and speed was the only chance they had. Belgium dominated but even they relied on a sub with speed for their 2 goals.
ReplyDeleteHave not found that blog above yet. I seem to remember there was a time limit to for the shooter to score. That would be a way to make it tougher to score than pks.