World Cup 2010 - South Africa Thread

[SmoothieX]

My wife is into soccer, and any time I watch with her, I ask a lot of picky questions because I really don't know the rules, and I can tell it annoys her. So I let her watch in peace.

I instead wrote a paper for my MBA class, which was almost as fun as wiping my bum with 80-grit sandpaper.

I hear it ended in a tie. Can someone please explain to me why ties are such an integral part of the game and considered exciting? I'm honestly wondering.

They did away with ties in the NHL because no one wants to spend all that time and money to watch something where an outcome isn't decided. In baseball and basketball, it isn't set up that way. And in football, you can have a tie, but it's extremely rare.

 

[Shaytan]

I hear it ended in a tie. Can someone please explain to me why ties are such an integral part of the game and considered exciting? I'm honestly wondering.

At this stage of the world cup they're part of the game because they're playing small championship inside each groups. A victory is 3 points and a draw is 1 point.
Now you have good draws and bad draws. It's a good one for the USA because that's unexpected so it's a bonus point. It's a bad one for England because they had only 1 point instead of the 3 points they were expecting.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I hear it ended in a tie. Can someone please explain to me why ties are such an integral part of the game and considered exciting? I'm honestly wondering.

They did away with ties in the NHL because no one wants to spend all that time and money to watch something where an outcome isn't decided. In baseball and basketball, it isn't set up that way. And in football, you can have a tie, but it's extremely rare.

I don't know how to explain that to someone who's used to a different sports-culture, it's just the way it is.
Sometimes you're happy about a tie - especially when your team was inferior during the game or your team got lucky or was an underdog to begin with etc for example, sometimes you're unhappy with it.

And sometimes a tie is simply enough to achieve your goal. For example in European Cup cometitions there is an "away goals rule" which means that a team can win by tieing if only they score more goals at their opponent's stadium than the other way round. For an extreme example of that look up Atletico Madrid's "Europa League" matches this season ->> link
Or another example, lets say team A and B play against each other:
- the first leg is in A's stadium and A wins 1:0
- the second leg is in B's stadium and the game ends 1:1
-> A advances to the next round
Why wouldn't you be happy with that if you're a fan of team A?

 

[Roger Wilco]

This is it baby! Let's go!

I'm rooting for Slovenia to do well, but I'm seriously considering going cycling for an hour or two right now, that match is not the most exciting of the WC so far.

Why does Slovenia play in green shirts anyway, especially against a country that has green as its national colour?

 

[Shazam!]

This match is terrible. England AND the US will surely kick their asses.

 

[Shaytan]

I prefer Algeria but it's a very selfish option. My neighborhood is going to be crazy if Algeria wins

 

[BigFoot]

This is it baby! Let's go!

I'm rooting for Slovenia to do well, but I'm seriously considering going cycling for an hour or two right now, that match is not the most exciting of the WC so far.

Why does Slovenia play in green shirts anyway, especially against a country that has green as its national colour?

Yeah we're not playing well at all. Which is weird because the guys know how to play better than this.

Algeria is the "home team" so they use the white shirts. So we're using our away shirts which just happen to be green.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Even with one man more on the pitch Slovenia is nowhere to be seen. Amazing that this team kicked out the Russians.

eta: haha, I clicked "submit reply" literally three seconds before the ball hit the net.
Grats, Slovenia.

 

[Danny99]

Poor Green. I think that horrible ball they're forced to use played a big part in that slipping past him, to be honest.

I disagree. It'd be like Michael Leighton complaining the Patrick Kane goal got by him because of the puck.

 

[BigFoot]

^ To be honest to Green, he admitted himself it was just a mistake by him and he should have had it.

 

[Roger Wilco]

That was stupid, Kuzmanovic... Total blackout.

 

[Count Zero]

Looks like I didn't miss much today. I came back home minutes before the send-off. So far, only 2 teams have stood out for me, Argentina and South Korea (though South Korea probably won't make it very far, but they're entertaining to watch).

 

[Shaytan]

It's the beginning of the competition, it's never exciting at this stage.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yeah, teams are always cautious in the first game, it gets more interesting later when it's do-or-die for many teams.

 

[tomalak301]

I really had not inclination to wake up early and watch these first two matches. Kinda sucks Slovenia is at the top of Group C, but it's early. I am kinda looking forward to Germany/Australia though in a few hours.

 

[clint g]

I really had not inclination to wake up early and watch these first two matches. Kinda sucks Slovenia is at the top of Group C, but it's early. I am kinda looking forward to Germany/Australia though in a few hours.

Yeah I'm trying to debate whether I should watch the Yankees/Astros game or the Germany/Australia game I missed out on a hell of a baseball game yesterday when I watched US/England

 

[O'Dib]

Chances are slim Serbia will recover after this fuck-up. Kinda wish they played more of the match with the same urgency as after the '10 players on the pitch' situation came around.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Yes, they only seemed to really start playing after the 80. minute. I think they can still do it, but it'll be tough, they almost certainly have to beat Germany now.

 

[StolenThunder]

Didn't see much of Algeria/Slovenia, Ghana/Serbia. Just caught up with the highlights and looks like they weren't too exciting. Nonsensical handball by Ghezzal.

Looking forward to the Germany game. I hope they win. At the last World Cup Australia played a pretty ugly and rough game.

 

[Starkers]

I hear it ended in a tie. Can someone please explain to me why ties are such an integral part of the game and considered exciting? I'm honestly wondering.

They did away with ties in the NHL because no one wants to spend all that time and money to watch something where an outcome isn't decided. In baseball and basketball, it isn't set up that way. And in football, you can have a tie, but it's extremely rare.

I don't know how to explain that to someone who's used to a different sports-culture, it's just the way it is.
Sometimes you're happy about a tie - especially when your team was inferior during the game or your team got lucky or was an underdog to begin with etc for example, sometimes you're unhappy with it.

And sometimes a tie is simply enough to achieve your goal. For example in European Cup cometitions there is an "away goals rule" which means that a team can win by tieing if only they score more goals at their opponent's stadium than the other way round. For an extreme example of that look up Atletico Madrid's "Europa League" matches this season ->> link
Or another example, lets say team A and B play against each other:
- the first leg is in A's stadium and A wins 1:0
- the second leg is in B's stadium and the game ends 1:1
-> A advances to the next round
Why wouldn't you be happy with that if you're a fan of team A?

Plus draws can be very close run, very exciting games. I've seen some cracking 0-0s, yet one of the dullest games I ever saw was my own team, Derby County, putting 5 past Tranmere, it was just so one sided.

Plus to ensure you always got a result in each and every fotball game would recquire extra time/penalties etc. Games would just go on way too long. In knock out competitions it obviously makes sense but overall it'd ruin football.

As for England/ USA. Sadly I predicted this, we never start well in tournaments, and the US aren't a bad team. That said really we should have won. Hesky played well but showed his main limitation with the one on one he missed. Rooney got better, but on the whole had a poor game. I hope Capello sticks with Green, but it was an awful mistake. I do wish people would stop going on about error prone England keepers and bring up Seaman. He was chipped by a freak goal, and it's a shame that a man who was a fantastic keeper for England (I wouldn't want any other goalie between the sticks if we were in a penalty shoot out) has a great career blighted by one freak occurance.

I hope Green bounces back, certainly he played ok for the rest of the game.