World Cup 2010

i'll be at home.

gotta bust out something powder blue for jonas. i'm pretty pumped for uruguay/france too. sunday isnt nearly as good

godsshoeshine wrote:
i'll be at home.

gotta bust out something powder blue for jonas. i'm pretty pumped for uruguay/france too. sunday isnt nearly as good

Uruguay-France is a really good match up.

lagas wrote:
so, who's going to Dupont Circle to watch USA vs England this Saturday?, I'll be there  :)

right now it's looking like i'll be in dupont, but inside.  maybe wander out after USA-ENG if the US wins, should be a fun atmosphere.  i'll be surrounded by a number of brits… come to think of it, i'll probably also wander out if the US loses.  those limeys are insufferable enough as is.

less than 12 hours to kick-off. 

DVR programmed.

get yer grateful dead world-cup t-shirts:



http://store.dead.net/t-shirts/usa-soccer-t-shirt

brazil and spain also available. 

uhmmmm . . . part two.

Which team is that Beckham guy playing for?

James wrote:
Which team is that Beckham guy playing for?

the one that goes home without a win.

is it really the ball . . . or the goal tender.  uhmmm, tender.  like kfc chicken.

wait a minute . . . is it goal tender or goal keeper?  is tender for hockey and keeper for soccer?

and are those horns annoying.

Walkie, according to the NY Times, it's goalkeeper.  And ours is hurt!

Shots on goal:

England 7
USA 4

Kobe alone put more shots IN the goal in one half last night.

Good lord, could there be a more boring sport?

I think my wife had it right when I asked her what the rest of the world sees in soccer and she said, "They like it because they don't have any other sports."

She raised an interesting question…is the rest of the USA as interested in world cup soccer as DC seems to be, or are DC people alone in their quest for "coolness"?

James wrote:
Shots on goal:

England 7
USA 4

there are lots of shots taken, but only those that would have been in save for the goalie are counted as shots on goal.  a great break-away that yields an interesting shot but happens to be a foot wide doesn't count as a shot on goal.  in other words, shots on goal aren't the only indicator of action.

how very american: only shots on goal - the only thing that you can comprehend in this game - make the game worth watching.  it's hardly surprising that you don't like the sport if you're going to be so one-dimensional.

James wrote:
is the rest of the USA as interested in world cup soccer as DC seems to be, or are DC people alone in their quest for "coolness"?

 
right, the only reason to like world cup soccer is coolness. 

project much? :)

If DC thinks soccer makes them cool why does no one go to DC United games? The 2nd best if not the best DC team.


Only behind the Washington Warthogs.

my take as a hockey fan is this.  in hockey, you (mostly) just fire it on the net and hope for a deflection or a goalie screen or a mistake or something. In soccer, these guys are forever shooting it high and wide trying to pick the top corner instead of working for a slip up, rebound, etc. and then they just get a goal kick. make the goalie work people, you never know when he's gonna fuck it up

  i preached this all morning at the bar on saturday…til the english goalie did just that.


  soccer isnt boring to me, but what is lame is that there are so many teams in the world and so many leagues its just so hard to keep the hell up with it. and i have a job and stuff.

  but i do love the world cup…and bars in baltimore were packed all weekend too, btw.

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
If DC thinks soccer makes them cool why does no one go to DC United games? The 2nd best if not the best DC team.


Only behind the Washington Warthogs.

Euro-snobbery. I guess that can come out of supposed "coolness," but ultimately it's snobbery. In many soccer fans eyes (certainly not all), DC United isn't Manchester United, in terms of player quality, so DC United is not worth their time.

This is not my belief FWIW.

blinkboy wrote:

  soccer isnt boring to me, but what is lame is that there are so many teams in the world and so many leagues its just so hard to keep the hell up with it. and i have a job and stuff.

Just watch Champions League, you get to watch the best clubs and players. And DC United, so you don't become a Euro-snob :-)

dc united is pretty bad this year, and they didnt make the playoffs last year but going to games is pretty fun. i'd rather do that than go to a nats game any day. the main issues with mls for me are 1) they play in ridiculous heat and 2) they play on saturday night. which is ok if you are going but hurts for watching on tv

the matches havent been that good so far but no one's making you guys watch. its still early too

So far this WC is underwhelming….

I'm thinking of buying a vuvuzela and blowing it outside the South African embassy…see how they like it

On pace for lowest scoring WC ever…by far..

hutch wrote:
So far this WC is underwhelming….

vuvuzela

do you think there is a link between the two?  players have been complaining about the inability to hear each other (and the ref's whistles) on the field because of the damn noise-makers.  i first i thought the vuvuzelas here fun and added a fun local flavor to the WC, now they just annoy me.  they certainly aren't contributing to a better game on the field.

possibly related: what are your thoughts on the ball?  damn thing seems to have wings.  crosses are consistently too long and shots for more than 15 yards out end up in the upper deck seats behind the goal.  it was supposedly designed to increase the scoring but other than being too slippery for some goalies to hold on to (*ahem*green*ahem*) it appears to be detrimental the game.  players have only been able to practice with the ball for 3 or 4 weeks, which i wouldn't think is enough time to really get a feel for it - and practice long shots in game situations.

i agree, there hasn't been a game i've really been able to sink my teeth in to other than US/ENG, but that was because of its personal significance as opposed to than actual game itself.  and yes, mr. ford, this despite all the exciting shots not on goal…

the ball maybe, but the horns i dont think make the play worse. i hate them too, though

just think we've only seen the teams once or not at all yet. too early to pass total judgement

Something is wrong.. this is what I wrote on my FB note yesterday… The two games today only serve to raise further misgivings..
———————————————-
I owe my loyal readers the truth: not good so far.

Teams more afraid to lose than eager to win, vuvuzelas taking crowd participation out of the game, few moments of magic, too many key players coming in banged up or simply unable to play at all, players almost to a man who can't- so far- bomb the goal from outside the box and get even close (balls sailing by miles from the goal!), etc. Pretty much every game ends 1-0 or 1-1. Goals often scored due to goalkeeper miscues… Clearly superior teams unable to make that difference count.

Except for Argentina which had the most chances of any team and Germany, which was by far the most ruthless turning chance after chance into goal, few teams have really actually tried to win a game! This is a World Cup so far on pace to end with the lowest goals per game of any (and that will say something to those that remember 1990). So far in this World Cup average goals per game is about 1.5 which is far lower than any other WC (1990 2.2). THe difference with 1990 is that unlike that Cup teams are not using fouls to prevent scoring but aren't fully committing to attack or are simply unable to score even with possession of the ball. Worse yet, in my experience it is in the early part of the WC that you tend to see more goals! Its still early but anecdotal evidence would support the conclusion that the ball- at least in South Africa- is not working that well perhaps due to the altitude: there are hardly any shots on goal that are close even though these are some of the best in the world. Basically we are seeing games without more than 3 or 4 real scoring chances at all lets not mention goals. Many of the goals we are seeing are in fact from goalkeepers misplaying or misjudging the ball. When you take these out of the equation how many goals are there? Its not all about the goals but nobody who watches soccer regularly would argue that the level of play at this World Cup is anywhere near that of say Champions League soccer… Usually its the group round that sees the more open flowing soccer and scoring as the heavyweights pounce on the minnows. Perhaps things will change tomorrow…lets hope so…or rules changes will be necessary (something I've been advocating taking a look at for a while…). The fear of giving up just ONE goal and having no chance to get it back is leading countries to take every possible measure not to give up that goal leading to a stunted game. It will be interesting to observe what Brazil and Spain, the two favorites, are able to muster.

What we are seeing is teams are so afraid to concede that first goal that they are hardly going on the attack at all. Cameroon earlier today started without its talented #10 in the lineup. If only he had started and partnered up with Eto'o it might have been an entirely different story but Cameroon only really went for it the last 10 minutes against a very inferior opponent (known to be inferior coming in having lost its last four friendlies!) and this is typical of this World Cup.

Ultimately one may support country X or Y but any fan of the game wants to see a great and exciting World Cup and as Argentine sports writer Horacio Pagani noted today in a Clarin video note "This World Cup, so far, is in debt with people."