Soccer World Cup -06

[Whatever Works]

There was no replay on the main screen in the stadium. Such replays are not allowed (I guess no ref wants 60000 people to see that they were wrong) According to FIFA the 4th official didn't have access to replays either. It looked like the linesman saw the incident which is logical as he had to look along the line of Italian defenders in order to do his job.
The 'nobody saw it' defence is a nonsense even apart from the fact that clearly someone saw it. Headbutting someone is a red card offence, headbutting someone even if nobody is looking is still a red card offence.

The American commentators went ON AND ON about the referee's seeing the replay on the big screen which WAS in the stadium. They showed a camera focussing on the giant monitor several times from the long distance to close up zoom the did of the stadium over and over (pregame/half time/1st overtime/2nd overtime)...

However, Note that it was american commentators who really were very clueless in my opinion. After spending a summer in England and listening to the commentary in Britain there is absolutely no comparison in quality. Its like the difference between listening to Bono and then trying to listen to a 5 year old sing... No comparison (no matter how talanted the 5 year old is!)

So, perhaps the idiot american commentators were wrong...

I would like the golden goal back under 1 condition. After 30 minutes there is NO penalty kicks... Team vs. Team until there is a winner... Dont care if it takes 300+ minutes... Longer it goes... the more anticipation builds up... the more exciting it becomes!!! Can you honestly tell me that you would change the channel in a golden goal situations in the 70th minute of extra time...

Also I find the games more entertaining when both teams are exhausted... It causes more players to dive and get injured, but it also shows toughness, tenacity, determination, and a real sense of pride to keep going when your body has nothing left. However, thats why they are the best athletes in the world.

I agree, Argentina/Brazil should be the favorites... Gambling odd predictions should be something like this: Brazil 4:1 (were 3:1 this cup)... Argentina 5 1/2: 1... Italy 7:1 (champs always have high odds regardless of chance)... England/Gemany =10:1 or 15:1 depending on many things...

What I cant wait to see is what the FIFA rankings look like after they get updated... if the US is in the top 10 I will laugh... Germany should now be in the top 10... Brazil should remain #1... France should probably drop because of age... Argentina to #2... Americans LOVE POLLS!!! if you havent noticed Americans have poll rankings for College football (american football), Basketball, hockey, baseball... Every non-proffesional sport has to be ranked... does it have any affect on anything ??? Not really, but we love to argue about completly irrelevent crap! It gives us something to do when we arent sueing are neighbors.

Oh well, cups over... now its time to get ready for 2008... That and watching the Chelsea team owner buy off some small countries since he already has purchased perhaps the best soccer team money can buy... That team could easily beat any world cup team out there even w/o the normal chemistry they would develop in the course of a premiership season.

[jpmeyer]

Neither Zidane nor Materazzi have revealed what Materazzi actually said, but Materazzi has said that he did not call him a terrorist and did not say a your mom.

[Yare]

Neither Zidane nor Materazzi have revealed what Materazzi actually said, but Materazzi has said that he did not call him a terrorist and did not say a your mom.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/soccer/specials/world_cup/2006/07/11/bc.eu.spt.soc.wcup.materazzi.zidane.ap/index.html

I presume this is JP's source.

[freakish777]

I absolutely hate Golden Goal.  In my opinion, penalty kicks are a much better resolution to the climax of the game than the game suddenly being over in the blink of an eye (very anti-climatic).  At 120 minutes, I'm positive that determination, toughness, and tenacity play a key role.

The 30m 1 on 1 with the keeper sounds interesting, similar to penalties in Hockey, just with the keeper having to come out of the goal (seeing as how in Hockey the goal is far far far smaller).  I still like Penalty kicks as they are now though, the better team will usually win, as penalties currently reward teams that are in better shape (less exhausted -> upping their chance of making their penalties) and won't crack under the pressure (putting it wide or over).

[Godder]

News media around the world have been getting Italian lip-readers to give them the low-down on what was said...

[Gabethebabe]

I thought of another system: after 90 minutes soccer they do penalties. After somebody wins penalties they do the 30 minutes extra time. He who lost penalties must win after extra time or loses the match. This makes it sure that things will happen during the extra time.


Golden goal is horrible. We have had some thrilling extra times with 4 goals (France-Germany, wasn´t this 86?).

[Dozer]

There was no replay on the main screen in the stadium. Such replays are not allowed (I guess no ref wants 60000 people to see that they were wrong) According to FIFA the 4th official didn't have access to replays either. It looked like the linesman saw the incident which is logical as he had to look along the line of Italian defenders in order to do his job.
The 'nobody saw it' defence is a nonsense even apart from the fact that clearly someone saw it. Headbutting someone is a red card offence, headbutting someone even if nobody is looking is still a red card offence.

The American commentators went ON AND ON about the referee's seeing the replay on the big screen which WAS in the stadium. They showed a camera focussing on the giant monitor several times from the long distance to close up zoom the did of the stadium over and over (pregame/half time/1st overtime/2nd overtime)...

There definitely was no replay in the stadium. The FIFA rules say explicitly that a video-proof does not exist, that's why they don't replay anything in stadiums. The FIFA even went as far to mangle the staments of Lippi and Domenech, who *both* said after the game that the fourth official had re-assured himself by looking at an off-field monitor. FIFA denies that, and quoted Lippi as having said "the fourth official saw it" (which he did, only Lippi added "on a monitor"). At least that's how newspapers in Germany are reporting the story.

I absolutely disagree with Zidane receiving the "best player of the tournament" title. Anyone who has been red-carded for assault should be disqualified without price -- that also means any tournament awards. The penalties for assault are still too lax, in my opinion. However, both teams would have deserved the title and congratulations to Italy for taking home the second World Cup ever to be given away in a penalty shoot-out!

[Bram]

I don't care what anyone says; giving away the world cup based on what is essentially a coin flip ("Do I dive left or right?") is just silly.

[Yare]

I don't care what anyone says; giving away the world cup based on what is essentially a coin flip ("Do I dive left or right?") is just silly.

I thought the suggestion I saw on ESPN of periodically reducing the number of players on the field was at least interesting, although I don't know how reasonable it is.

[Limbo]

I absolutely disagree with Zidane receiving the "best player of the tournament" title. Anyone who has been red-carded for assault should be disqualified without price -- that also means any tournament awards. The penalties for assault are still too lax, in my opinion. However, both teams would have deserved the title and congratulations to Italy for taking home the second World Cup ever to be given away in a penalty shoot-out!

Problem with this is that the people allowed to vote for this player award actually vote BEFORE the final is played. As such, any acts (either positive or negative) apparently don't influence the result of this vote too much...

[BigMac]

The 30m 1 on 1 with the keeper sounds interesting, similar to penalties in Hockey, just with the keeper having to come out of the goal

I can see that now. A keeper charging the player completely putting him in hospital. How are you going to avoid that, by awarding a penalty???
In hockey you can easily get around the keeper when he should leave his line. In soccer that is not as easy. When a keeper is comming from his goal he actually makes it smaller. To get the ball past or over the keeper will mean more risk of missing.

So, keep it this way.

[dandan]

The 30m 1 on 1 with the keeper sounds interesting, similar to penalties in Hockey, just with the keeper having to come out of the goal

I can see that now. A keeper charging the player completely putting him in hospital. How are you going to avoid that, by awarding a penalty???
In hockey you can easily get around the keeper when he should leave his line. In soccer that is not as easy. When a keeper is comming from his goal he actually makes it smaller. To get the ball past or over the keeper will mean more risk of missing.
So, keep it this way.

The Yanks had few problems with the system, it must be simple. If I were a professional footballer and a goalie charged out of his goal, I would simply lob him. I have played in goal a lot and a full-speed charge only works against crap players.

The argument against extra-extra time and reducing the number of players are to do with players' health and not making the result a lottery of how many injuries a team gets.

[freakish777]

I have played in goal a lot and a full-speed charge only works against crap players.

A full speed charge sure, but I'm talking about coming out to reduce the size of the net, and then reacting to the player as opposed to simply diving for the ball at full speed.

Again, as my previous statement says, I still support penalties the way they are.  Also, it's only a coin flip for the keeper (dive left/right) where as for the shooter, there's still the problem of the pressure to perform and exhaustion causing wide shots.