Anybody watching FIFA???

[Hermskii]

Being a former good soccer player and taking a beating from peers who didn't play it, I have to admit it is nice to see it being watched by so many.

If USA wins tomorrow against Belgium it will really get everyone amped up.

[a nameless entity]

Chico of Excalibur Holland got me interested in it during the FIFA world championships four years ago. Since Canada doesn't have a team and part of my ancestry is Dutch, I happily root for Chico's NL team.

I wasn't sorry I watched the whole match on Sunday either. There I was ready to tip my hat to Mexico when NL scored that awesome goal! And when Mexico lost the match due to that penalty shot I had no qualms about it. Robben should have been awarded a penalty shot much earlier in the game. But going as it did instead the game had the kind of exciting finish we all love to see.

[Terraniux]

Well, The Netherlands are about to come world champion. They are naturally a strong team with long legged sprinters. In comparision 4 years ago, the last game versus Spain was a thriller I'd say. Both were in perfect shape, and are fine polished opponents.

We kicked their a.sses big time. No doubt about that.
Never seen that much anxious watchers and spectators for that very match. This year they trained even more and are full of energy. The streets, pubs , homes and cafe's are bursting this year. You can't set a single step in any direction without poking the person standing next to you with your elbow or shoulder.

But may the best men win, and be glorious about it. They all deserve it.

[Hermskii]

While I love our team and had the highest hopes I think our losing today either gives the sense there is a David vs or Goliath or that there is none of that in soccer. Either way, it is a win for soccer. Like i said, I'm impressed we had so much support this year! Now soccer needs to find a way to have the big game each year rather than every 4.

[a nameless entity]

Now that it's all over and I've had a little time to think about it......

I think that this world cup series was far better than the series held four years ago in South Africa. And that says a lot because the games four years ago were awesome too.

I'm pleased for Chico's team from NL, because although they "only" won bronze, they were also undefeated in regular play. Perhaps saving that last substitution for their other goalie like they did before would have been a better strategy. But I can see how they wanted to avoid penalty kicks and just go for the win in regular play.

To be bruatally honest I think that if the Dutch had made the final, Germany would most likely have ground them down like they did the Agentines. But an early goal by the Dutchies might have changed everything, just as it would have if the Agentinian player had not been offside when he scored early on. We'll never know. But a penalty shoot out would have quite possibly loomed also.

And in any event if it had come to that in the final, I would not have been happy with the outcome no matter who won. Penalty kicks suck. Perhaps for the earlier games, sure ok, but it still sucks. Certainly by the quarter finals after the 30 minutes of extra time are played and there is still no winner; in my opinion the decision should come down to as many 15 minute sudden death overtime periods as necessary.

But all quibbles aside, I think that it's just a matter of time now before the US and Canada start to take an even greater interest in this sport, and make a professional league possible on the scale of the NHL.

[Hermskii]

Agreed. I never saw so much of a following for soccer before.

What I would change to speed up soccer being the biggest sport in the US is:

Get rid of the off-sides penalty.
Have better advertisement options
Have well known USA sports casters do the games like Marv Alberts.
Have the champion ship yearly rather than every 4 years.
Video replay so you can yellow card the bad acting injury player
Red card and possibly even permanently remove from soccer any player who clearly tries to hurt another player.
Never have tie-breaker shoot outs. Always keep playing another 30 minutes until somebody wins.
Have goals scored from behind the halfway line count as 2.
Fire. Fire! FIRE!
Reduce the maximum amount of players on the field be 9.

[Hook]

Yeah, I'd rather actually watch Soccer than football anyway.
All good ideas Hermskii.

[a nameless entity]

Agreed. I never saw so much of a following for soccer before.

What I would change to speed up soccer being the biggest sport in the US is:

Get rid of the off-sides penalty.
Have better advertisement options
Have well known USA sports casters do the games like Marv Alberts.
Have the champion ship yearly rather than every 4 years.
Video replay so you can yellow card the bad acting injury player
Red card and possibly even permanently remove from soccer any player who clearly tries to hurt another player.
Never have tie-breaker shoot outs. Always keep playing another 30 minutes until somebody wins.
Have goals scored from behind the halfway line count as 2.
Fire. Fire! FIRE!
Reduce the maximum amount of players on the field be 9.

I don't think you'll see the offside penalty go away. It exists for a good reason. And it's the same one as in the NHL. You'd just have a forward hanging around the goal all the time waiting for the ball to be passed to him, and bang he scores. NO.

I agree that there is too much diving going on. Ordinary collisions from spirited play should not generate yellow cards. Or free kicks. Deliberate interferance of any kind is quite another matter, of course.

You watch too much basketball. Clearly I don't watch enough, because I was quite shocked about a dozen years ago or so when I found out about the "new" 3 point rule. I still disagree with that one. And I like the soccer scoring the way it is.

If we had our own North American soccer league similar to the NHL, both the USA and Canada could draw from that pool to send a team to the FIFA world championships every four years. In the mean time we'd have the excitement of playing for our own championship cup every year.

[Hermskii]

Great replies across the board.

In the end, Soccer will get huge fast here in the USA. If we ever get a team to get in the final 4 it will go up 33% that year I bet. I was very proud of our team this year. Our goalie was pretty awesome too!

[UnrealGecko]

lol USA goalie was like a brick wall there.