Glad you guys enjoy, you're welcome. If you'd like to really break down your local 'know it all' either online or in person, I've got some numbers for you. Most people fuss about the US being out played or being out classed or whatever because they lose time of possession and have a mediocre success rate on completed passes. Keep this in mind.. The 2 teams who, by far, had the most completed passes, time of possession and successful pass completion rate were Spain and Italy. Those 2 teams have something else in common and it's not one with a happy ending. Also, no player in the tournament has covered more ground on the pitch than America's Michael Bradley. This alters, slightly, my opinion of his performance. Since we use him to chase, it's clear what our opponents are trying to do. They're trying to run Bradley out of the game and to an extent it has worked. I'm wondering if Klinsmann's staff (Vogst) will have a counter for this measure. I bet they do.
Another interesting number. James (James Rodriguez) for Colombia has 5 goals in 4 matches in this World Cup. He's scored in every game so far and he scored twice in the elimination game today. James is widely considered to be Colombia's 2nd best striker behind Falcao who is missing the World Cup due to injury. James is 22 years old.
Colombia looks a lot better than Brazil to be honest. Now we've hung the Jifster jinx on them, if anything goes wrong, we know where to send them BTW, Brazil vs Chile was an absolute classic. It's a shame we don't get to see more football in non-World Cup years. CONMEBOL qualifications and CONCACAF qualifications are like prison riots held in the middle of a junta. It's so much fun.
Today's games: Netherlands v. Mexico This is the acid test for Mexico. The Dutch have looked fabulous in this WC and their best players are as famous and talented as anyone has on this planet. If Mexico can beat these guys...they can beat anyone. Costa Rica v. Greece Everybody can't be Cinderella. One of them is going to get whacked...
If I wanted to see people rewarded for acting, I'd tune into the Academy Awards. The Oscar for best Euroflopping in extra time goes to Arjen Robben of The Netherlands. If there is a legitimate criticism of this sport it's that the supposed stars of the sport actually believe that out acting your opponent makes you the better football team. They take "sport" to a new low level.
Netherlands 2 Mexico 1 What a wonderful game! This result was PERFECT! El Tri went down the toilet sniveling, crying and whining about the unfairness of it all. Keep in mind, this is the same country that has a racial slur in their national anthem and sings it out lustily before every game. The Mexican coach said afterwards that this same officiating had happened in every match they played because, "They all hate Mexicans." All of this on a day when my Dodgers moved into first place as the San Francisco Giants continued to circle the commode. Oh rapture! Oh joy! "Chicharito" Hernandez failed again too. When courage and heart were required, "El Tri" choked again. Every little kid in Mexico went to bed crying. As George Patton said, "God help me, but I do love it so." Now we'll get to hear four more years of pathetic excuse making. Call the Waaambulance! Grab your crying towels! It's all music to my ears! Costa Rica 1 (5) Greece 1 (3) These Costa Rican players have more guts in their little fingers than the entire Mexican team. This "least talented" of all World Cup teams got a goal by Bryan Ruiz to start the 2nd half and carried it all the way to stoppage time, despite being down a man, because of a red card. The Greeks tied it up at the 91st minute and the Ticos had every excuse to quit. They were as out-of-gas as any futball team I've ever seen. They had a hard time getting back on defense or even getting up off the ground. They played all through the OT with only 10 men too, with the Greeks running them side-to-side and then flooding the box, but the Costa Ricans held on like grim death. Finally, at the penalty kicks, with what little strength they had left, they were perfect, converting every penalty kick, to win the match when Greece missed one. This was the most courageous effort by a soccer team that I've ever seen. I felt exhausted just watching it. Tomorrow's schedule: Germany vs. Algeria The Algerians have been waiting to get revenge on the Germans since 1982. Let's see if emotion can carry them to victory against a far superior team... France v Nigeria France may be the third best team in Europe at this time, but we all know how the French are when they're favored. I hope the Super Eagles run right over them...
Question: Would it totally ruin the game if soccer adopted a more liberal substitution policy? Since they have a running clock, they could do it like Hockey does line changes...on the fly.
Youth soccer has liberal substitution rules. Of course the whole point is to get all of the kids playing time. On the WC level they want to give the image of the "iron" man on the pitch. The fact of the matter is that you see over and over again players lying on the ground near death in order for everyone to get a breather. Besides hockey, lacrosse also has players that change on the fly. I can work but from the bench to the far sideline is pretty far.
I posed that question to nephew Brian, who has 2 girls in soccer and coaches/refs. He also played HS Soccer, he's almost a Euro. His response. No, what you would see is chaos. The reason substitutions on the fly works in hockey is because the rink is so small and you only have 5 players on the ice Basketball only allows subs at a whistle and players have even less space to walk to get off the court; allows that on a 110 yard by 70 yard field would just delay a lot of the game. Additionally, the card system in soccer needs to be considered. If you had unlimited substitutions, I could see coaches sending a player on to take a hard foul against the other team's most talented player, get a yellow, and then bring the player off. You could repeat that for 6-7 players. It would be the equivalent of Hack-a-Dwight. But even beyond that, you're bringing an Americanized view of sports to this. By that I mean that Americans tend to favor sports where the coach plays a very important role in the outcome of the game. Yes, players still play but the most popular sports (football, baseball, basketball), coaches still set line-ups and call most of the plays. You just can't do that in soccer. Introducing rules like you are suggesting allows coaches to control more of the game and that's not in the spirit of the game. I don't even think the most exhausted players would vote against. In the end, it's no different than golf. If part of having players walk in golf is a fitness/stamina thing, the same argument goes for soccer. Why not make the case that the PGA should allow a golfer to ride? I do think FIFA will start allowing water breaks but I don't think you will see them change the 3 substitute rule. There are even substitute limits in college (but I think it's 6 subs). Even at Rachel's age, some leagues limit the number of substitutes you can have. The bottom line is that there will be abuse and "management" of the game if you give coaches a chance to sub liberally. I don't think anyone is in favor of that.
I mentioned that lacrosse allows on the fly substitution. There is a box on the sideline that the entering player stands in until the outgoing player enters the box. A lacrosse field is 110 yds. long and 60 yds. wide.
I think Brian is right. As for the matches, JOCO absolutely summed up the mood of those 2 games perfectly. It should be noted, this time, the Mexicans actually did get hosed. At the same time, they really deserve it. Today's matches... France beat Nigeria. France were the better side, still, I'm seeing some... inconsistencies in officiating that has been to the benefit of the European side. CONMEBOL has forever claimed that FIFA favors the Europeans. They still find ways to win in spite of all that stuff. Most years, there's a few raised eye brow moments but nothing as consistently as I've seen in this year's world cup. Mind you, I am absolutely in love with this version of the Cup. Still, the officiating has been garbage and it does seem to tilt to Euro sides. Don't worry, they make tin foil hats in my size, I checked. Algeria and Germany did not disappoint. I didn't get to watch the match until a few moments ago on replay. If the officials kill one more damned counter attack against the Germans by calling a foul on the Germans, I'm going to scream. Mind you, I'm generally rooting FOR the Germans. I just hate bad football. The whole damned world is out there leaving their souls on the pitch now that the Euro pretenders are gone, and we can't get 3 officials off an AYSO pitch in Columbus to just not mess this up?! Ugh...
Germany 2 Algeria 1 Algeria deserved a better fate than this. They were a good team, but in the end the difference was the German depth. Second half substitute Andrea Schurrle (Sorry my keyboard doesn't have an umlaut.) scored in stoppage time and Mesut Ozil added the dagger in OT. Today's games: Swiss Cheese v. Argentina USA v. Belgium Nothing to add to these matches. It's time to do or die...
LOL!! Google has hit the nail on the head!! https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app&gws_rd=ssl
Messi...wow! Argentina 1 Swiss Cheese 0 In the end, the Swiss got what they deserved. They made no attempt to win this game. They stalled and played all 11 men in front of their goal for the entire game. Their strategy was to run out the clock and force the game to be decided by penalty kicks where they had a better chance. They almost made it. Once again, the guy who spoiled the party was Lionel Messi. With only two minutes left in the second OT, Messi dribbled through the very center of the Swiss Cheese defense, sucked in all the defenders to himself, then passed to an open Angel Di Maria who rammed home the winner. This saved the entire Republic of Argentina from a fate worse than death. They rather pay back their loans to the United States than leave this World Cup without the trophy...
:cry: :cry: :cry: Belgium 2 USA 1 This was the biggest mismatch of the entire World Cup. American goalkeeper Tim Howard blocked a World Cup record 16 shots (!) in the greatest performance by a goalie...ever. We looked like Cameroon out there and police around the world are investigating those guys as we speak... In the end, we never gave up. This was definitely a game where I wish we had taken Landon Donovan. On the other hand, the kids that Klinsmann chose made history again. Twenty year-old DeAndre Yedlin was fast and fabulous all day, replacing Fabian Johnson who was injured. Nineteen year-old Julius Green substituted in and scored a goal in OT that almost created an American miracle, but it was not to be. We got beat by a better team and it wasn't close. The American side never recovered from the loss of Jozy Altidore in the first game and the failure to place Landon Donovan on the roster. Our defense was porous, our offense was anemic and our mid-fielders so clueless, that they often gave away the ball as soon as they got it, leaving even the broadcasters speechless. There's lots of room to improve in the next four years, but in the meantime, we have yet another World Cup Finals that include the usual suspects: Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France and the Netherlands. The only suspect missing is Italy. I'm going to cheer for Costa Rica to ruin them all. Go Ticos!
Boy, it's the same performance WC after WC. The USA is the soccer power of tomorrow.....and always will be. :x