Anyone watching the World Cup?

You seem to forget that my local NFL team is the Cardinals. In other words, the World Cup will be the best football action I see all year!

I guess I'm the luckiest man on this forum, then. I just got my season ticket (well, electronic "swipe card" as it's now become) for the football season which starts in August. Here's our shiny new stadium (60,000 capacity and it will be full for every game this year): www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/emirates9/ . And these are the World Cup names who play for us: Lehmann (Germany) K. Toure, Eboue (Ivory Coast), Senderos, Djorou (Switzerland), Campbell, A. Cole, Walcott (England), Rosicky (Czech Rep), Gilberto Silva (Brazil), Fabregas, Reyes (Spain), Van Persie (Holland), Abedayor (Togo) and Henry (France). Come and see us play, BobAnthony. You'd love it!

You seem to forget that my local NFL team is the Cardinals. In other words, the World Cup will be the best football action I see all year!

Having grown up in St. Louis with the "Big Red" I can feel your pain. I was glad to see them go and we finally got a real team in the Rams. But hey, you've got the "Edge" now. So how can you lose?

Whoops, straying off topic a little. Go England!

Whoops, straying off topic a little. Go England!

Yeah, jd. If you're going to write something that can be viewed on a PC in Europe/Africa/Asia/S. America, STICK TO THE RULES!! And there's plenty of people who hate me even more than I do. No, wait, that didn't come out right. Er...

Speaking as someone who thinks a quarterback is what you get when you hand over a dollar bill to pay for something that costs 75 cents, I'd just like to say that "The Cardinals" are now my official U.S. team.

What sport do they play? I did an internet search for "cardinals" and all I found were old men in drag...

Yeah, jd. If you're going to write something that can be viewed on a PC in Europe/Africa/Asia/S. America, STICK TO THE RULES!!

Oh, come on. I think that most of the world knows that Americans are provincial enough on sports that if:

a) We didn't invent it (American Football, Basketball, Baseball, ect), or
b) We suck at it (Soccer, Rugby)

then 90% of Americans think that the game is stupid anyways and why are we bothering.

Then there's the other 10% like me that think that mainstream America isn't worth bothering with anyways.

No disrespect to Mother England, guys, but I'm going with the Fatherland on this one. The bennefit of being your average American European mutt: there's plenty of 'home-countries' to root for. Too bad the Irish and Scottish didn't make the cut, though.

Deuchland uber-alles

What sport do they play? I did an internet search for "cardinals" and all I found were old men in drag...

The american football Cardinals have traditionally played like a bunch of "old men in drag." So that picture you found is not too far off.

Taliesman, I'm pretty much a European mutt myself. So I guess I can root for any of the remaining euro teams and get away with it also. Right?

Hmmmm, let me try to figure this out. My last name is German, but my mother's maiden name was Italian, but her grandfather on her mother's side was British, who married a Frenchwoman...

Oh screw it all! Go England! Go Germany! Go France! Go Italy! Go Portugal! Heck, why not? Go Ukraine!

There! That should make everyone happy. Except if Argentina or Brazil wins...

Well, I guess it is time for someone to say something.

France vs. Brazil was everything we expected and more. Without a doubt, the Greatest Show on Turf (with apologies to my beloved Rams) of this Cup at least. France’s terrific offense in the second half made Brazil look sloppy and careless. The entire Brazilian team looked frustrated, and the Ref seemed to let them get away with a little more contact than France as if they were down a man rather than a score. That little Ribery is quite a player. He was my favorite guy in the match and his play really stood out. Zindane and Henry didn’t look too bad either. Seeing Ronaldo shoving other players in frustration was priceless, for everything else, there is MasterCard.

England vs. Portugal. I know how tough this one was to take for you CF.
My son and I were screaming in front of our set for 60 minutes. Next to the Battle of Brittan, this was one of England’s finest hours!

When you said that Rooney was not match fit, I though you meant PHYSCALLY, not MENTALLY! Beckham has gone off with an injury,
and you know that Crouch is the guy behind you. Certainly the head coach must have cautioned the team that Portugal would try to get guys sent off like the TWO they got sent off in the last match! But no, you spike a guy’s leg in frustration, and then shove CF’s favorite player in front of the Ref and now your team gets to play down a man and one half (Crouch is a terrible mid fielder when playing down a man). And Play they did! Rock Solid defense that bent but never broke and even down a man they created several good scoring opportunities but just couldn’t get it done (They must have watched too many of the US games). I thought that Lampard looked like a dangerous guy, but time and time again in this cup, he did not come through.

My Son and I just knew that if England could hold out for 60 minutes down a man that Portugal would be so psyched out that they had missed their chance that England would take it. What the hell ever happened to shooting for the upper rear corner of the net instead of rolling the shot on the ground?????? And just to add injury to insult, everyone’s favorite pretty boy C. Ronaldo got to shoot the winning goal in a limited pressure situation. From the look on his face, I knew that he would not screw up that photo-op.

I don’t want to rag on Rooney, I know he is just a young kid, but if he had just stood up without spiking that player, one of the Portugal guys would have picked up a yellow card I am sure. He needs to learn to play with his head as well as his feet!

Argentina vs. Germany. Argentina looked better and dominated but the hosts hung on. Those old German “nerves of steel” took over in the shootout and they escaped elimination.

Italy vs. Croatia. Minor League Club bludgeoned to death by Major League Club.

I can't speak for everyone who was rooting for England in that Portugal game but I can speak for myself.

*Rant warning*

Rooney! What the f%^$ were you thinking?!! First you step on the Portugal player's cajones and then you try and push another player down?! All right in front of the referee?!! I mean, the ref was right there! It's not like he was on the other end of the field where you might be able to get away with something. Use your head son! Now your team has to play a man down for the rest of the game because of your stupidity! I thought FIFA was going to great lengths to rid the "beautiful game" of hooligans. I didn't know that England has one on the pitch! See you in four years friend!

*Rant off*

Well now I feel better. Like you ace, I was certain that England was going to pull it off afetr getting the game to PKs. But give Ricardo credit, he guessed right on every single attempt. Obviously, he studied his opponent and was well prepared.

As for the Brazil/France match, I didn't even watch it. I already saw that game eight years ago. No need to see it again.

Anyway, now we have an all-Euro final four. I look for Germany to win it this time, but would like to see the underdog Portugal take home the gold.

I am not sure just who I will root for. I am still mad at Italy for sending our boys home in a controversial Match. I don't like Portugal's style of conning the ref's and tryng to get guys sent off.

I think the smart money will go with France at this point. Of the four left, they certainly have the best team, esp from an offensive standpoint.


A Germany, France final would be nice. Portugal will be back to full speed
I think, but I would think that is a long shot and they would need a lot for luck. I think Italy besting Germany is much more likely than Portugal getting by France.

You guys are spot-on. Rooney=Stupid, stupid idiot.

Yes, England did well playing for an hour with a man short, and they created the better chances. But failure to take such chances is an even worse crime than Rooney's. Lampard! My god, he has been frustrating. I'm told he tried to kick himself in the dressing room afterwards... and missed. And what pathetic penalties. Truly awful, as the whole England World Cup performance has been.

Portugal certainly did not deserve anything either. Their harrassment of the referee and inability to mount any kind of pressure despite their extra man was pitiful. True, England would have been f**ked without strikers (and no clue how to play) in the semi-final, but I don't believe for a second that the watching France squad saw anything to worry about from Portugal.

The French have timed their run perfectly. They have gotten a little better in every game. I thought they were magnificent against Brazil. Finally, a team to punish the Brazillian sloppiness, and they got their reward. Facing Portugal, the weakest of the last 4 by miles, in the semis, they must fancy themselves to win the tournament, and why not? Of all the teams left, they've been the most impressive.

Germany found the formula to cancel Argentina's awesome midfield. The result was a boring game but they deserve to go through, IMO. Now they must find the system to get through the Italian defence. I wouldn't read too much into Italy's 3-0 quarter final win. Ukraine started the tournament with a 0-4 defeat to Spain, ended it almost as humiliatingly, and didn't do much in between except thrash an awful Saudi side and beat the boring Swiss on penalties. I think Luca Toni will find the Germans vastly harder to score against....

So, it's extra-time in the World Cup semi-final. You're German. You think "We've an excellent track record in penalty shoot-outs. We'll just hold on till the end of the game, and we're in the final."

But the more you "sit back" to "hold on", the more you invite the opposition on to you, the more your line of defence retreats ever your goal...

Now, you're Italian, in the same match. You think "We've the second worst track record in penalty shoot-outs in the world (nice to see England take the number one berth at something...) so if it goes to penalties, we're probably f**ked. By far our best chance is to try and win this game BEFORE the end."

And that's what the azzuri did. And they got what they deserved. Wasn't a bad match, but it was a long, long wait. At least the two goals were worth it.

I'll be stunned (and not happy) if France don't join the Italians in the final.

Yeah. I can't believe that Germany gave up that very late goal. What was there? About a minute or two to go until PKs? I'm sure that all of Germany is still crying in their beer.

Anyway, I'm sure that France will win today over Portugal. But then again, I was sure that England would win over Portugal also, so what do I know?

Zidane - what an idiot! He'll have to live with that moment of stupidity forever. What the hell was he thinking?

It wasn't a bad final. Both teams looked more interested in winning than not losing. I felt France created the better chances from open play throughout the 120 minutes, but Italy looked dangerous every time they got a corner. 1-1 was a probably fair result.

Can't take anything away from a team that scores 5 out of 5 of its penalties.

It's been a strange tournament though. The teams that looked likely winners in the early stages couldn't sustain it, and the two eventual finalists seemed to get there almost unnoticed.

Overall though, a lot of fun wasn't it?

Looking forward to South Africa in 2010....

STOP PRESS!

Exclusive video footage reveals WHY Zidane did it:

Yeah. I still can't figure out what Zidane was thinking. You're in your last game, in overtime of The World Cup Final, and you get yourself thrown out by head butting an opposing player in the chest? Some legend....

I've been trying to put my finger on why soccer/football doesn't catch on here in the US and I think I have a theory. In short, it seems sissy.

What I mean by that is that the American mindset is to fight through tackles and go to the goal. Whereas the rest of the world seems to dive and hope a foul is called.

For example, the controversial play in the Italy/Australia game when the Italian got the penalty kick. If the Italian player was American he would have simply stepped over the Australian player and tried to score. Whereas the Italian player fell to the ground like he had been shot and got a penalty kick that won the game for them. It seems like your acting ability is more important than your soccer skills I guess is what I'm saying.

I know I'm not explaining it very well.

Football didn't used to be like that JD. I blame Cronaldo.

If the Italian player was American he would have simply stepped over the Australian player and tried to score.

And missed, as the angle would have been too tight - even for a good player. Than again, on the evidence of the three US matches I saw, if the Italian player was American, he'd never have been within thirty yards of the opposition goal

And surely the cissy sports are the ones that are constantly interrupted every few seconds for lengthy breaks? Or the ones where players cover themselves in padding? Zid Vicious (see the gif above) was stupid, but on the evidence of that would YOU call him a cissy?

Interesting that you present reasons that "soccer" hasn't caught on in the US of America. A much more pertinent question might be why have US sports not made any impact in the rest of the world... (I think it's because they're cissy.)


Oh and Zidane is a legend IMO. I'm basing that on what he has done, forty-five weeks a year, for 12 years and not on a moment's utter stupidity. And at least he's a legend in more than one country! A thousand million people saw that headbutt...

Football didn't used to be like that JD. I blame Cronaldo.

If the Italian player was American he would have simply stepped over the Australian player and tried to score.

And missed, as the angle would have been too tight - even for a good player. Than again, on the evidence of the three US matches I saw, if the Italian player was American, he'd never have been within thirty yards of the opposition goal

And surely the cissy sports are the ones that are constantly interrupted every few seconds for lengthy breaks? Or the ones where players cover themselves in padding? Zid Vicious (see the gif above) was stupid, but on the evidence of that would YOU call him a cissy?

Interesting that you present reasons that "soccer" hasn't caught on in the US of America. A much more pertinent question might be why have US sports not made any impact in the rest of the world... (I think it's because they're cissy.)


Oh and Zidane is a legend IMO. I'm basing that on what he has done, forty-five weeks a year, for 12 years and not on a moment's utter stupidity. And at least he's a legend in more than one country! A thousand million people saw that headbutt...

Woa. Calm down there friend. I obviously touched a nerve.

I never said that I didn't like soccer/football. I was simply trying to search for a reason that it hasn't caught on here. And from what I can tell by reading U.S. sports pages and websites, soccer is percieved as being a little sissy.

I mean, look at it from an outsiders perspective. You have players flopping around all over the place on the pitch, even when they are not touched. All in a hope to get a free kick from the ref. And then, when they don't get the call, they cry and moan like the ref has some preconcieved bias against them.

I understand that that is how the game developed and the US will have to adjust if we ever want to be any good at it. I'm just saying, that it is a different mindset than what we are used to.

As for American sports, the NBA, MLB, NHL, and the NFL have a number of foreign born players. These players had to learn their respective games somehow. Will they ever be as big as soccer/football in the rest of the world? No. But these sports are being played outside of the US. With the best of the best coming here.

You're right about commercial breaks. That is one thing I love about soccer/football. No commercials. If I had my druthers, I would eliminate all commercials everywhere.

I know nothing about Zidane's legacy. All I know is that he let his team down in the biggest game. I mean, you're in the finals of The World Cup, you're last game no less, and you get tossed because you headbutt an opposing player's chest? It sad really because that is the lasting image of that guy.

First of all, Soccer has “caught on” big time in the USA. When I was much younger in the very early seventies I use to ref for the YMCA. It was American Football in the fall, Basketball in the winter and Baseball in the Spring. About 1972 our Y offered the youth clubs the option of playing football or soccer. Within two years, all the clubs were playing Soccer. My son started playing when he was 5, my daughter when she was four (voted “Miss
Throw-in” by her team mates no less). She quit after two years but my son played until he was twelve and went to year round Baseball. Maybe ½ the kids in their schools played recreation soccer with the better player quickly moving on to competitive soccer.

The head pro for our club Sereno Soccer was Les Armstrong, a former English Division one player. The head pro for the club just to the north of us was a member of the 1960 Spain World cup team. This sort of thing is going on all over the US. It’s a game we love to watch our kids play, but we don’t seem to want to shell out money to see pros play.

The market for sports dollars is tough. Do you shell out money for the Suns (NBA Basketball), The Diamondbacks (2001 Major League Baseball champs), The Coyotes (a mediocre NHL hockey team) or the God Awful Cardinals (NFL Football). There is virtually no way a fifth sport could come into this market and have a chance of surviving.

Baseball is becoming world wide with many stars playing now from Japan, Korea, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.

In terms of soccer being a wimpy sport, TRY PLAYING IT!
You need the stamina of a cross country runner, with the speed of a
100 meter dash runner. In addition, you need some skills with you feet, head and body. Great game to watch, even better to play, but hard to do this when you are old and out of shape (unlike “D” league slow pitch softball).

In terms of Zidane pulling a Rooney, I think you have to look at his mind set. At about the 14th minute of the first overtime he had a perfect scoring chance on a cross to his head and he did not angle his shot away from the goalie enough. I think he was really pissed off at himself for missing a Golden opportunity to win it for France and go out on top. My guess is that the Italian player made a comment about it (like "you would have made that shot before you went over-the-hill") and he just lost it. Can’t say I blame him. At least the Italians did not pay off the ref. They were 5/5 without any help.

And CF, in regards to the US soccer team, who was the only squad not to lose to the World Cup Champs? Come on now, left me here you say it. USA! USA! USA!

I mean, look at it from an outsiders perspective. You have players flopping around all over the place on the pitch, even when they are not touched. All in a hope to get a free kick from the ref. And then, when they don't get the call, they cry and moan like the ref has some preconcieved bias against them.

Completely opposite fromt he flopping, acting, and overreacting seen in the NBA and other fine American sports, of course.

Oddly enough, one of the local papers started today's sports section with the headline question: Will the US Ever Win This Thing (as in the World Cup)? And my response would have to be no. Not how athletics in America are now. Every player with tallent is far too concerned about what is as stake for him instead of things like national pride. The players in the major sports make millions of dollars in thier salaries, and the MLS is right behind the NHL in catching up to the pay levels of the big three (NFL, NBA, MLB). And as the pay structure is rubbing off on the newcommers, so is a lot of the attitude. Very few professional athletes want to risk their season along with the pay and the endorsements for this year and possibly the next few, on (in the minds of Americans) a simple international tournament.

And before the rest of the world decends on me for calling the World Cup a simple tournament, note that i said in the minds of Americans. This attitude is across the board, in any sport played on the international level and the US is involved. I direct your attention to the evidence of the US national Basketball teams in the past 2 Olympics, the failure of the US national Baseball team at the Athens Olympics and the World Baseball Classic this year, and the general yo-yo like state of the US national Hockey team. These are competitions that are now open to the professional players, sports that we claim to be the best in the world at. Yet no team owners will stand up mid season and lest the best players represent the US, on the off chance of an injury in a 'meaningless' competition. Most players feel like that too, IMO. There is a flawed logic that is being followed here, based on an arrogant premise: a) the US is the greatest nation on earth, which leads to b) therefore, who ever wins a team sport at the US National level must be the greatest team on the earth at that sport.

It just ain't so.

And like I said, it seems that US soccer is doomed to follow that level of arrogance.

As I watched Italy score on the corner, I thought to myself One Billion other people on the rest of this planet saw the same play at the same time I did. It was really something to think about! It reminded me of the July 69 moon landing which I think was the most watched show up to that point in time.

I just hope we can field a better team and make a better showing next time!

Interesting you mentioned the Apollo 11 landing in the World Cup thread. A friend of mine that picks up tons of odd triva showed me a book called 'The Soccer War' by Ryszard Kapuscinski. He was a Polish journalist who was on-hand for the outbreak of a war between Honduras and El Salvador around the time of the Apollo 11 mission. Tensions had been running high between the two countries in 1969, and the violence surrounding a best-of-three elimination match between the two for the next World Cup set the war off. There's a brief description here:

www.onwar.com/aced/data/sierra/soccer1969.htm

As my friend said when he told me about it: The height of human achievement coupled with the height of human stupidity.

JD, first up: wasn't an attack, just an impassioned defence of my way of life which had just been called "cissy". Please don't think I love you any less than before...

It was fabulous to see the US represented at the nearest thing on Earth to a global party, along with the teams from the 31 other countries who qualified. To know that the tournament is generating excitement in your home (or bar) and in homes (and bars) all over every continent (including countries whose teams didn't qualify) is the best thing about the World Cup. How wonderful (and how rare) to have something enjoyable in common with such a significant portion of humanity even if it's only for a few weeks.

Oh, and please don't think I was having a dig at the US. I made a joke about that team not being great in attack (and coming from an Englishman, I'll admit that was throwing stones in a glass house...) in response to JD's claim that a US player wouldn't have followed the Italian example of "going to ground easily".

It is true that the US were the only team to play the Italians and not get beat. To be fair, the azzurri only really started to come good in the knock-out stages but full credit to Bruce Arena and his team for that achievement. If Ghana had taken their chances in their opening game of that group, and the US had shown more clinical qualities when attacking, there would probably be different World Champions right now. But "what ifs" are for us losing teams. Fat Frank Lampard had 25 shots at goal during the tournament for England - including a couple against Portugal - without scoring once. Maybe if he'd practised a bit more in training instead of dreaming about hamburgers...

On the point of soccer in the US: leaving aside the difficulty/impossibility of competing for the big spectator crowds, one thing was clear from the USA team in Germany 2006: The players with experience of playing in European leagues seemed much more prepared for the tournament, those that did not (the heart of defence particularly) appeared a bit out of their depth sometimes. Now, the top wages at the top European soccer clubs can't be that far behind the top wages paid for US-based sports stars. (The top soccer players get wages in the region of $150,000+ a week)
There's a big incentive for talented American soccer players to continue in the sport - they just have to move abroad. If they do, and do so in enough numbers, and they bring with them the stereotypical qualities of American sportsmen such as the win-or-nothing mentality, then it's not so ridiculous to think that the US might one day win the World Cup.

Incidentally, "soccer" clubs are forever moaning about losing their players to international tournaments. Tournament qualifying matches take place during the European club season. Players have to fly away, play for their countries and fly back. There's always a furore when someone comes back injured or simply tired. Newcastle United are currently trying to sue the English Football Association because, they claim, their striker Michael Owen was played in the World Cup when he wasn't fit, resulting in his current long-term injury (he'll be unavailable when the season starts in August because of playing for his country in June). The top African players (just about all of whom play for European clubs) disappear for a month every other year for the African Nations tournament. Their club teams play on without them. Yes, it is a disadvantage,but clubs know all about it when they chose to sign good African players. It is the clubs who pay the players' wages (not to mention transfer fees), but most players want to represent their countries and see it as their right to do so, regardless of the fact that it is their club, not country, that actually fills their bank accounts. It is a case of divided loyalties, but most players see playing at a World Cup as a very great honour, and which clubs want to piss off their best players by trying to stop them? That's how it works here, on the whole, anyway.

On the subject of Zidane, various newspapers have hired lipreaders to work out why he reacted so strongly to the comments. Yes, Zidane had not scored the header (from that distance, coming on to the ball as he did, it would have needed to be an unbelievable header or awful goalkeeping error to have been a goal - he did well to force a save from the keeper, IMO). But the truth is: it wasn't the first time Zidane has been sent off for violent conduct in a match. Nor was it the second, third, fourth time either. He had a history. The Italian knew that, tweaked his nipples from behind (now that is cissy, but that's what he did!) and then insulted his mother/sister/origins to provoke a reaction. Sad that such a unclassy tactic paid off. Great player, Zidane, but not a perfect human being. The exceptional will-to-suceed / hatred-of-defeat that drives the best to become the best has made many an excellent sportsman snap. I wouldn't compare him to Rooney who IMO is an immature unintelligent oaf in comparison. I'd like to think Zidane will be remembered for the two goals he scored in the 1998 World Cup final, rather than the for the headbutt he landed in the 2006 final.


For a bit of perspective from a land/culture where soccer is the norm, the main "moans" about the World Cup over here (apart from the failure of just about every England player to find semi-decent form and the inadequacy of the system they were forced to adopt) are:

1) That there were no "classic" games in the knock-out stages (IMO, Germany-Italy was the nearest thing to it) In previous tournaments, there were games that still linger in the mind. Not sure how many I'll remember from Germany '06.

2) There wasn't a team that really looked like worthy World Champions for more than a game or so... the eventual finalists played better then everyone else, but not by a big margin. Again, in many previous World Cups the winners have been a class apart. This time, that certainly was not the case.

3) There was only one case of a team coming "from the dead" - i.e. 2 or more goals behind - to win. That game was Ivory Coast vs. Serbia & Montenegro, in the group stages, when neither team had anything but pride to play for anyway. There's nothing more exciting than a come-back in sport, and it was a pity that Germany '06 failed to produce a good one. That might have to do with the heat making it too difficult for teams to raise themselves after they'd already been playing for a while, but whatever the reason, it was a shame.

4) The biggest talkest point here is the failure of the referees and their assistants to punish any number of blatant diving attempts. JD, you are right to comment on this. It has been the worst aspect of Germany '06. In so many cases, the referee gestured to the fallen player to stand up again, indicating that he knew there was no foul. But, if you know there was no foul and the player is rolling on the grass, that should be a yellow card. It seems the officials chickened out of punishing the culprits far too many times. It will be interesting to see what happens to the various players involved next season. Fans, opposition players - and, most importantly, referees - in their respective leagues will have all seen those players "cheating". I'll bet the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo find themselves not winning a few genuine free-kicks when they do get fouled, simply because an uncertain referee is all too well aware of their past actions... Now whilst that would be poetic justice for the individual players, it's hardly fair on their team-mates or supporters...

Fortunately, the first pre-season "friendly" matches are this weekend, so I don't have long to wait for more soccer action. The players who featured at the World Cup get another couple of weeks' rest, thankfully, because in theory, they have to play 2 top-level competitive games a week from August until May without a break. (In the UK, we play EXTRA games over Christmas and the New Year...) Bring it on!

Here's a funny compilation of the infamous Zidane head butt:



I'll miss the World Cup.

There is a possibility of getting an MLS team near my hometown. That might be cool.

conceptfan, I do agree with you that our players need to go to Europe to get better. I would have no problem with our league being a sort of minor league/training ground for the top Euro leagues. In other words, once our players get good enough here where they have nothing else to prove, they should move up to the big leagues.

Are you listening Landon Donovan?

I would have no problem with our league being a sort of minor league/training ground for the top Euro leagues. In other words, once our players get good enough here where they have nothing else to prove, they should move up to the big leagues.

Are you listening Landon Donovan?

There's a lot more respect and benefit to be gained from a league that feeds young talent into other leagues, than a league that serves as a retirement home for past-it stars from those other leagues...

Loved the Zidane clips! Apparently, his car wouldn't start this morning...

conceptfan, I've been meaning to ask this but kept on forgetting:

Why did FIFA get rid of "The Golden Goal"? Was there some valid reason behind it? I kind of liked it and it would have made Rodriquez's goal against Mexico even more spectacular that it was since it would have ended the game right there.

Why did FIFA get rid of "The Golden Goal"? Was there some valid reason behind it? I kind of liked it and it would have made Rodriquez's goal against Mexico even more spectacular that it was since it would have ended the game right there.

The Golden Goal, like most (all?) of FIFA's "innovations" to make the game "better", back-fired. Instead of encouraging teams to try and get the goal to kill the game, it made teams afraid to comit players forward in attack, for fear that they might be caught on the counter-attack. You only need to make one slip in the first minute under the Golden Goal rule and that's it. I can remember many classic games in which teams have overhauled a defecit to win inside Extra Time. Teams are much more likely to attack from the start of Extra Time if they know that, should they concede, there's still time to equalise. Some teams, and some coaches, of course will always play "not to lose" no matter what rule is in play...

Besides, once you get to the last few minutes of Normal Time and also when you're in the last few minutes of Extra Time, any goal is as good as a Golden Goal. Rodriguez's goal was earlier than that, true, but could it really have been any more stunning considering it did win the game in the end?