France just defeated Spain 3-1 and will face Brazil, who beat cinderella, Ghana, 3-0 this morning. Ghana played really well, but couldn’t finish their opportunities. Jerome a Paris is having a party and he must be very happy. I’m still pulling for England (they face Portugal in the next round).
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I wish England also wins, and then beats Brazil. That way, the final could be Argentina- England in the finals 🙂 The other option I would also like is the finals to be Argentina-Brazil. That of course if we beat Germany on friday!!
Portugal lost two key players to red cards. For my money FIFA should also have tossed Figo. England should get through assuming Rooney continues to improve.
I’m not sure I care who wins at this point, which is a weird thing to say since I have seen every game so far. All of the cards are incredibly frustrating to watch, especially since too many cards leads to even more diving, which is what frustrates me most about the sport. I’m just not a do-anything-to-win guy in sports any more than in politics, integrity and honor mean more than a single result.
I guess if you forced me to choose I prefer England, though the Wolcott selection in the team was so bizarre I hate to see Eriksson rewarded for it, and they aren’t playing nearly well enough to beat one of the top teams if they don’t step it up a few notches. The team I most enjoy watching is Argentina, their current generation of players is more dazzling than the Brazilians.
The thing about soccer is that you can get outplayed, as Brazil did today, and still win easily. It’s a very hard sport to predict.
I’ve noticed that. I don’t watch a lot of soccer except when the World Cup comes around, something I have to remedy someday, but it sure seems to me like a lot of players are hitting the ground and making ow-ow-ow faces, presumably in the hope of getting the referee’s attention.
I’m not in favor of turning it into ice hockey or lacrosse, but geez, save the cards for the really serious infractions.
Oh, and I was kinda rooting for the Ghanans, but I didn’t think they’d get past Brazil. Frankly I don’t know who I want to win at this point.
Maybe a longtime soccer fan or historian can answer a question for me: Why is it that a match like the Ukraine-Swiss game that ends in a tie gets decided on penalty kicks? I mean, this is the World Cup. My opinion, and I’m an American raised on American sports to take it for what it’s worth, is that in case of a tie they should play out an overtime period. If the score is still tied at the end of the overtime, keep playing and go into sudden death. First team to score wins. Iron man football. After three or four hours someone is going to put the ball into the net just so everone can take a bathroom break. 🙂
My opinion: They play 30 minutes of extra time before the penalty kicks, for 120 minutes total. By the end of the overtime, everyone other than the goalkeepers looks exhausted and barely moves when they don’t have the ball. It isn’t interesting to watch. Plus, the longer you play, the less likely the winner will recover completely before their next match, which would be a serious handicap in a single elimination competition.
Soccer is a high-fitness sport compared to most because substitution is so limited, my guess is they don’t want to make it worse. Imagine a hockey game with only 3 substitutes, where once you’re out you can’t go back in; then lower the intensity a little, quadruple the size of the field and double the length of the game. Soccer is a tiring sport already.
Yes, penalty kicks are rather arbitrary, but so is soccer when you think about it. You can completely dominate and still lose if you can’t score and the other team gets lucky once near your goal. PKs aren’t a particularly good solution, which is why regular season games can end in ties, but there probably isn’t a better one for a knock-out tournament.
The Americanized ‘Golden Goal’ was tried. It sucked. Shalimar’s comment is right on point with the fitness thing. I played soccer for a long time and at a pretty high level travelling up and down the east coast for tournaments from middle school through high school. We weren’t limited to the 3 sub FIFA international standards, but damn were we tired after an overtime and PK shootout in tournament play. I can’t imagine doing so against the likes of the top stars in the world and the pace that these teams play on a 120 yard x 75 yard field [NFL length + 20 yards wider].
Since this is an open thread, I just have to pass along the email of today to you all. read it and weep..NOT!!!!! :o) These are a bunch of real funny ppl, arent they…:o) From Libby Dole in her republican emails standard production…
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Several months ago, there was a report that came out about the deaths of several US service women, in Iraq, who died from dehydration from not drinking from 1600 hrs and afterwards, for they were being raped going to the bathroom after hours. Well I can remember the discussion we all had and that I was so disturbed by this that I got busy and talked to some ppl at DHS medical division. Can’t remember how I actually got there, but did and reported just how disturbed I and others were to this report. Remember this?
Well today there was a house hearing to this effect. It covered many things and it was quite interesting. If you want to further info on this look up the Miles Foundation and they will follow this up with you. I can say it has been addressed anyhow. I can only hope that our complaints did help make a difference.
The cog in the old wheel of justice does turn very slowly…but it does turn…
Thank you Brenda – I was just thinking of those women today.