2022 World Cup

[dolphins4life]

Pretty Simple

If the USA wins their last game of the group stage, they advance.

If they don't win, they are eliminated.

[Dave Gray]

I've been watching a lot of this tournament, considering I don't really "get" soccer.

I find these 0-0 ties pretty hard to stomach.  You watch for 2 hours and nothing happens.  I don't think I understand the game well enough or something.  Like, I understand the rules, but it seems like an entire game of "almosts."  And if you don't actually score, everything resets anyway -- it's not like there's some greater field position battle.

It's just hard for me to feel invested, other than gambling or blind nationalism.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I've been watching a lot of this tournament, considering I don't really "get" soccer.

I find these 0-0 ties pretty hard to stomach.  You watch for 2 hours and nothing happens.  I don't think I understand the game well enough or something.  Like, I understand the rules, but it seems like an entire game of "almosts."  And if you don't actually score, everything resets anyway -- it's not like there's some greater field position battle.

It's just hard for me to feel invested, other than gambling or blind nationalism.

It's a lot more exciting once the scoring starts because those "almosts" are either soul crushing or thrilling depending on who you're rooting for. Still, not as exciting as football.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Still, not as exciting as football.

But it is nonstop. 90 minutes of soccer = 90 minutes of  action and takes 90 minutes of your time.  60 minutes of NFL is 20 minutes of action and takes 3 hours with all the timeouts and commercials.   

[Sunstroke]

I can honestly say that I have never watched an entire soccer match. Not a single one.  I start watching, but then about 15 minutes of them running around not scoring, I think "Surely there is something else on TV that I could be watching..."

[Phishfan]

The schedule has prevented me from watching any USA group games. I usually catch one replay at night and most of the weekend games live. There has been a lot of controversy about this tournament even before it started. That isn't going to keep me from watching though.

[CF DolFan]

But it is nonstop. 90 minutes of soccer = 90 minutes of  action and takes 90 minutes of your time.  60 minutes of NFL is 20 minutes of action and takes 3 hours with all the timeouts and commercials.   

You can't appreciate the game of soccer off the ball if you don't already understand it. That's why so many Americans do not "see" the action you speak of. It's much easier to see a guy lay out another guy or break away and score ... even if they are doong it between the commercials.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You can't appreciate the game of soccer off the ball if you don't already understand it. That's why so many Americans do not "see" the action you speak of. It's much easier to see a guy lay out another guy or break away and score ... even if they are doong it between the commercials.

You can witness this complete lack of understanding at every youth game as parents yell at their kids to chase the ball even though the coach is teaching them not to.

[Dave Gray]

You can't appreciate the game of soccer off the ball if you don't already understand it. That's why so many Americans do not "see" the action you speak of. It's much easier to see a guy lay out another guy or break away and score ... even if they are doong it between the commercials.

I don't think it's this.

I can see the flow of play and the spacing and I can see pressure.  It's not all that different from hockey in that respect.

I think what troubles me the most about it is that there's really very little damage done unless you actually score a goal -- all the pressure in the world doesn't matter once you miss the goal.  The other team gets the ball in a complete reset.

With football, you at least flipped field position, you hit the opposing QB and rattled them, you kept the defense on the field for a long time to tire them out -- there are elements to winning a football game besides actually scoring the points.  OT games are rare.  Ties almost never ever happen.  And 0-0 ties ....I don't think I've ever even seen one.

[CF DolFan]

You can witness this complete lack of understanding at every youth game as parents yell at their kids to chase the ball even though the coach is teaching them not to.

I used to be the President of one of the largest clubs in Central Florida now operating as Orlando City Youth so I've seen some things. I've been fortunate to be around some very successsful people in the sport in both mens and womens.

The American clubs will always be behind unless the pro teams actually start investing in the clubs. As it is, places like Barcelona do not keep score until kids get to a certain age because they don't want kids worried about failing and since parents aren't paying they have no say so. They teach to maintain possession of the ball until an attacking opportunity presents itself and to not be afraid to take risks at an early age. That's how dynamic players are created.

In the US we have parents who pay thousands of dollars who want to win now so we kick the ball to the fastest player so they can outrun everyone and score. You aren't allowed to try something new if you aren't going to be successful and if you aren't winning players will leave and so will their thousands of dollars they are paying. Once you get to the higher level athleticism will only take you so far so if you haven't learned to posses, counter attack, and create opportunites then you are screwed.  

We've had coaches who didn't say anything during games and parents would get goofy but that's how kids learn. I used to laugh because one of them was Barry Hulshoff who was a former Ajax defender who helped them dominate in the 70s. He played many years with legendary player and coach Johan Cruyff. These parents really had no idea. Most of us don't and only "get it" once our kids are much older.  

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

  And 0-0 ties ....I don't think I've ever even seen one.

The last NFL game to end in a 0-0 tie was 1943.

[masterfins]

Watching some of these games I will say that some of these players are much bigger flop artists than even the most talented flop artists in the NBA.  Seems like every time a guy goes down he's writhing in pain grabbing his ankle or leg trying to draw a penalty.  And when he doesn't get the card he gets up and sprints down field like nothing happened. lol

[stinkfish]

Watching some of these games I will say that some of these players are much bigger flop artists than even the most talented flop artists in the NBA.  Seems like every time a guy goes down he's writhing in pain grabbing his ankle or leg trying to draw a penalty.  And when he doesn't get the card he gets up and sprints down field like nothing happened. lol

Yeah? That’s soccer for you. Not the NBA. Soccer is played by a flopping  drama queens. Don’t compare it to the NBA. You can find a plethora of whiny flopping little baby soccer players falling down for no apparent reason. YouTube all of that. It’s disgusting sportsmanship. But part of the game. So that’s soccer.

[Dave Gray]

I think that flopping and performance is literally part of the game.  Yellow cards are administered, in some cases, for continued harrassment.

In the NBA, a play is either a foul or not, and sometimes the refs get that wrong.  In soccer, what is not a yellow card now starts to become a yellow card the more you keep doing it.  It's almost like a technical foul in the NBA, but even more murky than that.  You can get a yellow card for not that big of a foul if you've been skirting the line for a while.

So, it's kind of the job of the players to roll around and show off contact to build a case, almost moving the refs in "make up call" territory.

This happens to some level in the NFL and NBA but is definitely more prevalent in soccer culture.



Props to soccer about two things, though -- pace of the game and technology.  And not just the running clock part.  The games move along.  They start when they say, there aren't a bunch of timeouts when the ball goes out of bounds.  There isn't a lot of waiting around to make decisions from refs.  They use technology to make decisions quickly.  It's a brisk process and I wish we could adopt some of that here.

[CF DolFan]

Flopping in soccer is a learned part of the game in some parts of the world. In many places in South America it is taught. Marta is the best female player I have ever seen but when she plays for her national team of Brazil she becomes a huge flopper but while playing for a US professional team she does not.  LOL ... One time after flopping against the US team she was carried off on a gurney but jumped off while going along the sidelines to reenter the game. It was pretty comical.