World Cup 2006: Other matches [R]

[Pierre-Henri]

You want to be a part of the game ?
You want to live a World Cup from within ?

Nothing is simpler than this : be an international referee.

No qualification is required. Anyone can do it !

Walk slowly around the center of the field, wave your arms in a random choregraphy of meaningless movements, sometimes make "tweet-tweet" with your nice new whistle, disorderly pick the colour cards in your pockets without knowing what they are for, and - most important - don't look a single second at what is happening on the pitch (it would spoil the spirit of the game).

Follow my advices and you too, one day, will be the referee of a Holland/Ivory Coast game.

[Lensois]

Non-MLS players are substitutes, and don't play big games with their team.

Not quite true:
Keller-starter Borussia Moenchengladbach
Cherundolo-starter and vice captain Hannover (started with club in second division)
Onyewu-starter Standard Liege
Berhalter-starter and captain Energie Cottbus (promoted this year)
Reyna-starter (when not injured) Manchester City (played in pressure of Old Firm matches)
Lewis-starter Leeds United (involved in promotion play off this year)
McBride-starter Fulham
Hannehman-starter Reading (promoted this year)
Bocanegra-started 20 matches for Fulham this past season

You could argue Beasley to a point as well (started 22 games this year). He began the season as a starter but seemed to have a falling out with Hiddink at some point and he was sent to the bench. There is debate as to whether he was benched because of signs he was not on form or his poor form the last six months are because of the benching.


Soccer was an opportunity to have a different kind of sport experience for the US audience, but MLS repeated all the common mistakes of american sports :

- No relegation (because everyone has to be a winner). Since I lived this with Strasbourg, I can tell you a league with possible relegations is a completely different thing. Just imagine the supporters sweat : "oh no, if we don't win this game, next season we're in A-league...". It builds character.
- Weird draft system
- And, above all : NO PRESSURE. Americans like their sports dull : endless (and mostly worthless) regular seasons, plenty of time-outs, best-of-7 qualifying rounds, no relegation....

In all sports, Americans don't know how to play do-or-die games anymore.

I'll disagree with these points. Economically the promotion relegation set up is a tough sell, particularly without true integration between the "premier" league and the lower leagues in the US. MLS setting up lower leagues at the time of its inception would have been a non-starter as the lower division United Soccer League had a good foothold on that market. There are a lot of people into the game here that would like to see it and one day it may come to pass but the game needs to evolve much more at a professional, structural level before it happens.

The draft system is not the only means of acquiring young players but it is the most predominant. This is a cultural issue more than anything. University education is an important ideal clung to by the overwhelming majority of Americans. It is how most professional athletes are developed (although the NBA has more and more high school players drafted and baseball as signed players straight out of high school for a long time) in the US. College soccer is for a variety of reasons still the goal for most players and parents of young players in the US. Again, with evolution you'll start to see les reliance on this means to get players but I think it will always have a place as long as society looks at university the way it does.

As for people in the US liking long, dull seasons that's really not the case at all. The length of the seasons are something people complain about all the time but comes down to, what else, economics. The owners and shareholders like the longer seasons because it represents more revenue opportunities. What is the most popular sport in the US? Gridiron football. Why? One of the biggest reasons is the fact that with only 16 games almost every game has meaning. You can't start out 0-3 or 0-4 and expect to get very far. On top of that, the league is structured to be ultra competitive with teams having the ability to go from worst to first and vice versa within the span of a few years or even less!

Overall, I think the community that loves the game here would like to see a more traditional set up in terms of competition structure. It may take time to move in that direction (and, in fact, since the beginning of the league there has been a decided drift in that direction) but it will continue to edge closer, IMO.

[ilv2]

You want to be a part of the game ?
You want to live a World Cup from within ?

Nothing is simpler than this : be an international referee.

No qualification is required. Anyone can do it !

Walk slowly around the center of the field, wave your arms in a random choregraphy of meaningless movements, sometimes make "tweet-tweet" with your nice new whistle, disorderly pick the colour cards in your pockets without knowing what they are for, and - most important - don't look a single second at what is happening on the pitch (it would spoil the spirit of the game).

Follow my advices and you too, one day, will be the referee of a Holland/Ivory Coast game.


lol, i'm in complete agreement that ref was shit.
Holland really should've lost that game, with their negative tactics and rough play, it became absurd. When they play their game, then they are dangerous, but even so, Holland doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence and I sincerely hope they get knocked out in the 2nd round for effectively taking out cote d'ivoire. I guess when your best striker is drogba, you can't expect too much final product :rolleyes: :D

Speaking of final product, Argentina.... :( wow...just wow.

Argentina is here.






(add in about 100 line breaks because i don't want to take up an entire page).











England (they managed to finish off opponents)

France is way down here. on est complètement nul.

[ilv2]

Italy 1-1 US

fair result, ugly game.

(ref... not terrible ;))

[sl7vk]

I was proud of the US today. Playing with 9 men. If France shows that kind of drive tommorow, things should go well. The ref was a disgrace in the US game. 3 red cards, and none of them were warrented. There are some serious issues with Fifa and the refs at the moment.

[ilv2]

I was proud of the US today. Playing with 9 men. If France shows that kind of drive tommorow, things should go well. The ref was a disgrace in the US game. 3 red cards, and none of them were warrented. There are some serious issues with Fifa and the refs at the moment.

i actually believed all of them were legitimate. De Rossi's elbow IMO was purposeful, and he didn't put too much of an argument against the card; Maestroni's (sp?) tackle was awful and extremely dangerous play. It was at least an immediate yellow, borderline justified red; Pope second yellow was merited as well, as the tackle came from behind and got most of pirlo's ankle and none of the ball if I remember correctly.

Again, like I said in the other thread, I liked the US's drive but not the way they played. They came out literally to do battle and as a result the game turned ugly really quickly. If France came out playing like that, I would be disgusted (although sentiments change quickly with 3 points :D )

[Pierre-Henri]

All 3 cards were legit.

The italian player tried some sort of thai-boxing action. It was plain ugly.

Mastroeni tackle was utterly stupid, rough and completely pointless at this time of the game (referees tend to equalize the red cards. After the italian one, it was the perfect time to play like cute and nice innocent angels, keep the ball rolling, and wait for the right moment to strike. USA did the exact opposite.)

Pope was warned more than once for a succession of lesser fouls... He took no notice of the referee's warnings, and was rightfully sent out.

In short : USMNT turned a potential 65 minutes power-play into a struggle for survival. They turned a easy victory into a very difficult draw. That's no big achievement.

Now, they have to beat Ghana, and pray for an Italian victory over the Czech. And, in the best case scenario, they'll probably play Brazil (!). All of this because of Pope and Mastroeni foolishness.

[guignol]

ITALY - USA: Well, i knew de rossi had it in him to do something really foul... he didn't keep us waiting long! all in all, too bad for the USA, they showed all the drive necessary to beat italy, but were naïve... pope's second yellow, mcbride's offside... they have some growing up to do but they did a bunch of it in this match! as for lippi, with typical italian negativity pulling totti for gattuso, and then having to put del piero in for zaccardo just to get back to zero, THAT made me laugh and laugh! :D

NETHERLANDS - IVORY COAST: football can be cruel, but never moreso than in this match. cruel to the ivorians to dominate so handily and yet lose, cruel to all of us when, on a couple of absent-minded defensive lapses and a couple of uncalled penalties, a team that offers 90 minutes of motion, imagination and excitement loses to a bunch of cynical thugs, and crueler still when the assassins are holland. when oranje plays like this, whither "the beautiful game"? depressing indeed. :(

GHANA - CZ REP: awesome. amazing. that a team can play with so little discipline and attention to detail and still crush the czechs like that! :eek: even without the missed penalty they should have won 3 or 4 to nothing. their manque de rigueur will be the black stars undoing.

[guignol]

All 3 cards were legit. The italian player tried some sort of thai-boxing action. It was plain ugly. Pope was warned more than once for a succession of lesser fouls... He took no notice of the referee's warnings, and was rightfully sent out... Pope and Mastroeni foolishness.

yes, de rossi's a thug, end of story (until the next time he confuses football with streetfighting)

mastroeni's came from a rough tackle from behind, the kind of thing that draws red. the only reason it surprises is because it comes on the heels of the first red. as for pope, it was crystal clear he wasn't going to finish the match. a player as naïve and sloppy as that with one yellow, playing against italy... :rolleyes: arena's the really naïve one, pope shouldn't have come out for the second half.

[Pierre-Henri]

please go there and rep Dan Loney for me, please. The story is so funny.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=371788

[RandyNA74]

ITALY - USA: Well, i knew de rossi had it in him to do something really foul... he didn't keep us waiting long! all in all, too bad for the USA, they showed all the drive necessary to beat italy, but were naïve... pope's second yellow, mcbride's offside... they have some growing up to do but they did a bunch of it in this match! as for lippi, with typical italian negativity pulling totti for gattuso, and then having to put del piero in for zaccardo just to get back to zero, THAT made me laugh and laugh! :D

Again, guignol, just some minor editing to what you say, no spite intended. ;)

Personally, I think that taking off Totti and replacing him with Gattuso is something Lippi should have done after 2 minutes. The 4-3-1-2 just wasn't working against the US' 4-5-1. The US owned the midfield. Ironically, De Rossi's idiocy proved to be a blessing in disguise for Italy. It gave Lippi the impetus to take Totti out, and replace him with a midfield anchor like Gattuso. Italy looked more stable from that point on.

Essentially, what I'm getting at is this. Yes, sometimes the 4-3-1-2 formation works for Italy (Ghana). Often, it doesn't. On Saturday, it didn't from the opening kickoff. That was the only smart sub Lippi made...though he was forced to make it.

I did groan on seeing Del Piero come on. Lippi screwed up the entire second half. That Italy didn't put the US away 10 on 9 for almost a whole half is simply unacceptable.

Oh, and yes, De Rossi is a thug it seems. I wasn't trying to deny it last time we chatted about him. I was just pointing out that one shouldn't make a broad overgeneralization over an individual like him...

[RandyNA74]

France-Korea: Well, we learned in 2002 that a high percentage of legitimate goals scored against South Korea don't end up counting in the final standings.

What else do you want me to say?

[sl7vk]

I never thought I'd be writing this... But watching Tunisia and Spain, I can't help but think, I really miss Roger LeMerre.... :(

[allezlesbleusno1]

I agree, as badly as things ended up for him during WC '02, I do think he could coach better. How the hell have we ended up so lowly?!!? I'm still in loss of words after yesterday. As talented as our squad is, there is la ack of organization and vision from our coach. If we had stuck with a simple mindset we could have more success.
I never thought I'd be writing this... But watching Tunisia and Spain, I can't help but think, I really miss Roger LeMerre.... :(

[sl7vk]

Looks like the poor Tunisians are now giving up goals.... Too bad, a spirited effort today!

[sl7vk]

The thing with LeMerre was, he wasn't concerned about putting strikers on the field. When Wiltord equalized at the Euro, Henry, Trez, Pires, Wiltord, and Zidane were all on the field! The guy just kept putting offensive minded players onto the pitch until we equalized! That takes guts, more then Raymundo has.

[ilv2]

feel bad for the tunisiens, they defended well for most of the game and then started making silly mistakes (i.e. the last two goals). the goalkeeper was amazing though

[allezlesbleusno1]

By the way, if we qualify then we would finish second overall in group G. That would mean we face the winner of group H which will more than likely be Spain! Breakout the heartburn medicine and be prepared to bash your TV set at that point, lol!

[Pierre-Henri]

feel bad for the tunisiens, they defended well for most of the game and then started making silly mistakes (i.e. the last two goals). the goalkeeper was amazing though

don't say this. Given Boumnijel age (40), it means Barthez can still be there in 2010.

[guignol]

and in 2014! what great news!