World Cup 2010 - discussions & random thoughts

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Spain went through. Whew, my favored team is still in it.

Bummer about Japan though. Damn penalties.

 

I agree that its more about mental toughness than skill. The shooter has two possible roles: he can just do what a player's supposed to and score OR miss and be the villain/traitor/loser for years to come. Sometimes it seems that especially star players crumble under the pressure. Goalies part is easier as there's not much pressure on him - but he has the hero option available. Blocking penalties isn't all about luck, though. Some goalies can read the shooter quite well and make an educated guess instead of just jumping blindly to a corner.

 

David Villa is causing me headaches! They have Paraguay next to, I bet he gets another one or two goals in that match. Noooo!

 

haha stressing about your higuain bet barmy?

 

Big time! Not good.

 

But that is true of all major sports. American football doesn't have a continuously running clock, but I know that if a game starts at 1:00, there is a very high probability that it will end sometime between 4:00 and 4:15. Same thing with ice hockey and basketball (although the total time is shorter for those sports).

Which is also true of a lot of other sports - hockey most notably.

But why would the action stop in such a situation? If there wasn't a score or a penalty, and the ball remained in play, of course the action would continue.

Most sports which involve penalties that are judgement calls by the referee are not subject to review. You cannot review a pass interference call by a referee, or a holding call in hockey for example.

What about the final, when there is no "next match"? Here's another idea, although I admit it's probably too revolutionary. If the match goes into extended time, reduce the number of players on each team. If you took, say, two players off each side, it would seem like that would open the field a lot more, and make scoring more likely.

That could well be true. I watch the WC, but soccer is not a sport I follow much beyond that.

My point was more that world class soccer players should be able to shoot for one of the four corners of the net (without missing) consistently.

Oh, I don't doubt that at all. Still a game where "next goal wins" would also be high pressure.

 

I'm still winning my office World Cup competition, but the pressure is on (like an intense penalty shootout) for me to pick the next four games correctly.

What about Argentina v Germany? Draw? I have to pick the score before shootouts.

 

3-1 Argentina I think.

 

Try 10-7 for Germany.

 

Evolution got in the way of that.

 

Just reading a sporting piece on the WC, and the sports writer says he thinks he's reached the point where he's developed Stockholm Syndrome regarding the vuvuzelas. It cracked me up... We now return you to your soccer thread, already in progress.

 

Looking forward to the major game tomorrow:
Brazil vs Netherlands.
I don't know whom to favor, I like both, may the better one win.

 

Heh, yeah, they do sort of grow on you. The annoying thing is that blokes in my town have been buying them from eBay and now take them into bars, pubs and club and use them as makeshift 'yards of ale' (don't know if you have those in the US?). So now when you're having a pint with your mates, every so often you hear some drunk guy BUZZZZZ on his vuvuzela. Annoying!

Without intending to blow the English trumpet here (heh), our fans are the only ones I've heard so far this World Cup whose singing and chanting actually drowned out the vuvuzelas! Shame our team doesn't match that on the pitch really.

 

We have them here too. (Yards of alcohol that is - I don't think we have people using vuvuzelas as makeshift yards.)

EDIT:

Yup... That was the writer. However, if you aren't a frequent reader of ESPN, you'd have no idea who Bill Simmons was, so I just went with the generic "sports writer".

 

Hands up if your country's team is unbeaten in the 2010 World Cup!

 

Everyone has a soft spot for New Zealand.... unless it's rugby union, then the All Blacks are just too good and need to start losing! :-)

 

Don't worry - South Africa will make sure the All Blacks get a fair taste of losing this year (and unfortunately, probably at the World Cup next year too). Springboks looking ominous.

 

I fancy 3-1 to Germany. Which probably isn't the most helpful advice given Barmy's prediction. I reckon Argentina's defence is there for the taking if you can keep them out and keep the ball yourself a bit.