World Cup Efficiency

[roadwreck]

Offsides in soccer is simply a penalty for outrunning your opponent, that is really gay.

Actually it's quite the opposite. It forces players to outrun the defenders rather than just camping out next to the goalie.

The flops are annoying, but as others have mentioned, it's a function of only having one official on the pitch to call all fouls. Sometimes A lot of the time they don't get it right. Penalties can be called on players for flopping, but they seldom are b/c it can be very difficult to determine if a player was taking a dive or legitimately fouled. A player in the England - Slovenia game was penalized for diving in their game yesterday despite replays clearly showing that the England player was elbowed in the face, so the bad calls go both ways. You may be asking yourself, why don't they use instant replay to get the calls right? Because one of the great things about soccer is the game never stops. You don't have an opportunity to stop play and do a review. So bad calls are going to happen and there isn't much you can do about it without drastically changing the game (for the worse in my opinion). I would be in favor of officials reviewing the game after the fact and assessing penalties (yellow/red cards) for flopping. I think you'd see a lot less diving then.

I understand why players do it. Since games are so low scoring any advantage to score has to be taken. Set pieces deep in your opponents territory are a huge advantage, so players are willing to take the risk of a penalty for that advantage. It's not being a pansy, it's playing smart.

The low score is what makes the games exciting. A game's outcome is almost always in question. A 1-0 lead is not safe until the final whistle blows. A 0-0 tie in the 91st minute of a game and an almost almost certain elimination from the world cup can turn around and be a 1-0 win, and winning first place in your group. That is what makes soccer exciting.

 

[TouchDown]

USA ! USA ! USA !

But I haven't watched a game or part of a game yet. Just not a soccer fan.

 

[EM_PS]

I think that hummingbirds are pretty cool, and we plant flowers to attract them. does that make me gay?

According to EM_PS you're :f_115m_e45d7af:

Woah! its just an expression guys, sorta like queerer than a $3 bill (?) - shutting up now...

Offsides in soccer is simply a penalty for outrunning your opponent, that is really gay.

Actually it's quite the opposite. It forces players to outrun the defenders rather than just camping out next to the goalie.

The flops are annoying, but as others have mentioned, it's a function of only having one official on the pitch to call all fouls. Sometimes A lot of the time they don't get it right. Penalties can be called on players for flopping, but they seldom are b/c it can be very difficult to determine if a player was taking a dive or legitimately fouled. A player in the England - Slovenia game was penalized for diving in their game yesterday despite replays clearly showing that the England player was elbowed in the face, so the bad calls go both ways. You may be asking yourself, why don't they use instant replay to get the calls right? Because one of the great things about soccer is the game never stops. You don't have an opportunity to stop play and do a review. So bad calls are going to happen and there isn't much you can do about it without drastically changing the game (for the worse in my opinion). I would be in favor of officials reviewing the game after the fact and assessing penalties (yellow/red cards) for flopping. I think you'd see a lot less diving then.

I understand why players do it. Since games are so low scoring any advantage to score has to be taken. Set pieces deep in your opponents territory are a huge advantage, so players are willing to take the risk of a penalty for that advantage. It's not being a pansy, it's playing smart.

The low score is what makes the games exciting. A game's outcome is almost always in question. A 1-0 lead is not safe until the final whistle blows. A 0-0 tie in the 91st minute of a game and an almost almost certain elimination from the world cup can turn around and be a 1-0 win, and winning first place in your group. That is what makes soccer exciting.

Nobody likes to see cherry pickers, but where exactly does offsides end? It seems like its at the goal box - make it the midfield stripe and the game could get alot better.

Yesterday's game was pretty exciting - I do like the fact that the clock never stops & these guys play balls to the wall the whole way thru - but the diving makes me wanna uke: , whether its in the NBA, NHL or whatever. Strategic I guess, but no less pathetic

 

[roadwreck]

Nobody likes to see cherry pickers, but where exactly does offsides end? It seems like its at the goal box - make it the midfield stripe and the game could get alot better.

Huh? :huh: What do you mean where does offsides end? It doesn't "end". If you are on your opponents side of the field then you can be offsides, period.

The rule is pretty simple. An offensive player has to be behind the ball or two defenders (one usually being the goal keeper) when the ball is last touched to be considered onside.

In this diagram the blue "player" would be offside b/c there is only one defender between him and the goal line.

The blue player in this diagram is onside b/c he is "behind the ball" (i.e. the ball is between him and the goal line).

You are allowed to be between the goal line and the last defender as long as you were onside when the ball was last struck. This means that if you are on the same plane or behind the defender when a ball is passed forward and you out run the defender to get the ball you are still onside. So in essence the rule means that in order to collect the ball before the defender you have to be able to outtrun him, rather than camping out next to the goalie for the whole game and having your teammates lob the ball forward to you.

...but the diving makes me wanna uke: , whether its in the NBA, NHL or whatever. Strategic I guess, but no less pathetic

Players in other sports dive to gain an advantage. They do it all the time in basketball to draw a foul. Have you seen Duke play basketball? Football players do it occasionally to draw pass interference calls. It happens in all sports, I think it's more prevalent in soccer b/c it's harder for the one official to get a good view of the play. In basketball their are three officials on a much smaller court. In football their are a half a dozen officials. Also the advantage gained by flopping in soccer far far outweighs the negatives. You will only ever see the offensive players flop in soccer. The defenders never go down. If they do they run the risk of giving up a goal. The penalty for flopping on the offensive end is maybe a yellow card and giving up possession of the ball deep in your opponents territory.

 

[EM_PS]

Nobody likes to see cherry pickers, but where exactly does offsides end? It seems like its at the goal box - make it the midfield stripe and the game could get alot better.

Huh? :huh: What do you mean where does offsides end? It doesn't "end". If you are on your opponents side of the field then you can be offsides, period.

The rule is pretty simple. An offensive player has to be behind the ball or two defenders (one usually being the goal keeper) when the ball is last touched to be considered onside.

In this diagram the blue "player" would be offside b/c there is only one defender between him and the goal line.

this is exactly my point. Could you imagine in hockey, if a player couldn't get between the defense and the goaltender unless he has the puck!? People complain about the blue line or 'two-line pass' violations in that sport! Soccer should have a 'blue line' of its own, or really open up the game and only call offsides at the midfield line. Once the offense is 'onsides' (the defense side of field), there can be no offsides until ball goes back over midfield. Cripes, no wonder there is little to no scoring.

[edit] great visual aids, btw! :thumbs:

 

[roadwreck]

this is exactly my point. Could you imagine in hockey, if a player couldn't get between the defense and the goaltender unless he has the puck!? People complain about the blue line or 'two-line pass' violations in that sport! Soccer should have a 'blue line' of its own, or really open up the game and only call offsides at the midfield line. Once the offense is 'onsides' (the defense side of field), there can be no offsides until ball goes back over midfield. Cripes, no wonder there is little to no scoring.
[edit] great visual aids, btw! :thumbs:

so you are arguing that soccer should be like hockey to make it more appealing to Americans? Last I checked, the NHL wasn't what I would consider a popular American sport.

in soccer a player can get behind the defenders and not get called for offsides so long as that player isn't involved in an ensuing play without getting back onside.

Little to no scoring makes the game that much more exciting. Every score is a big deal. One goal can make the difference and a goal can be scored at any moment. It keeps things interesting.

 

[EM_PS]

so you are arguing that soccer should be like hockey to make it more appealing to Americans? Last I checked, the NHL wasn't what I would consider a popular American sport.
in soccer a player can get behind the defenders and not get called for offsides so long as that player isn't involved in an ensuing play without getting back onside.

Little to no scoring makes the game that much more exciting. Every score is a big deal. One goal can make the difference and a goal can be scored at any moment. It keeps things interesting.

No where did i state or argue this. Truthfully I'm learning in this discussion about a game i know little about. I am simply saying that it would be more appealing to me (I certainly don't speak for all of America), if the game of soccer / football was faster paced with breakout plays allowed and more actual scoring. Penalizing players for getting ahead of the defense and making them jump back in with the 10 others on offense for some kind of united frontal attack of the goal just really makes for a boring watch (again, my opinion). its a bit like watching a car race (or even an american football game) where no passing is allowed. A 7-6 game to me would be much more satisfying of a sports experience than a 1-0 match any day (or a 0-0 tie!), but thats just me. Little to no scoring makes the game lame - agree to disagree

 

[roadwreck]

Truthfully I'm learning in this discussion about a game i know little about. I am simply saying that it would be more appealing to me (I certainly don't speak for all of America), if the game of soccer / football was faster paced with breakout plays allowed and more actual scoring. Penalizing players for getting ahead of the defense and making them jump back in with the 10 others on offense for some kind of united frontal attack of the goal just really makes for a boring watch (again, my opinion). its a bit like watching a car race (or even an american football game) where no passing is allowed. A 7-6 game to me would be much more satisfying of a sports experience than a 1-0 match any day (or a 0-0 tie!), but thats just me. Little to no scoring makes the game lame - agree to disagree

I don't think you can say that many offensive players have to "jump back onside" in most situations. If the ball is being played towards a goal, the defenders are all falling back towards the goal anyway, making offsides almost irrelevant. Really the only time offsides comes into play is when an offensive player gets behind the defenders before the ball has been passed forward. Again, it's a strategy that the defenders can employ to keep the opponent away from their goal. It's a strategy which can be very risky b/c if the ref or linesman doesn't call the offensive player offsides you have now created a one on one situation for your goalie.

You'll have to take my word for it that it's a fun sport to watch and to play. That doesn't mean you'll enjoy it, and that's okay.

I think if American's start winning matches in the world cup (on a regular basis) more and more people will find the sport enjoyable. It probably doesn't help that the world cup is only played every 4 years. That's a long time to go for people in the USA to not have any meaningful soccer to watch.

 

[snickerd3]

wow, the world cup is only year 4 yrs. you learn something new everyday.

 

[NCcarguy]

what's a world cup? a great big jock strap?

 

[roadwreck]

what's a world cup? a great big jock strap?

What's a super bowl? A great big toilet?

 

[Road Guy]

I had mexican for lunch yesterday and I asked them to change the television channel to somethign other than soccer (after I had received the food of course ) I did not get a pleasant response to my joke...

 

[Dleg]

what's a world cup? a great big jock strap?

What's a super bowl? A great big toilet?

Well done... :appl:

 

[twindadtodd]

Little to no scoring makes the game that much more exciting. Every score is a big deal. One goal can make the difference and a goal can be scored at any moment. It keeps things interesting.

 

[ElCid03]

Why did you quote me on that post? I do support the USMNT, and have been following the games as much as possible. I didn't make it to any qualifiers for this WC, but I went to 3 when we qualified for the 2002 WC.

I meant nothing negative at all. I was trying to give you an "amen"! Must have been playing my vuvuzela too much that day.

Landon Donovan for president.....think about it America.

 

[Dark Knight]

I had mexican for lunch yesterday and I asked them to change the television channel to somethign other than soccer (after I had received the food of course ) I did not get a pleasant response to my joke...

Next time go there wearing a jersey with Uruguay colors. Then let us know if there is a difference. I hope Argentina beats them really good.