Soccer

[Jimmy Higgins]

The good, it is nice to see smaller Arab or African nations have more of a home field advantage in this tournament. The bad, while the victory for Saudi Arabia was great for the team, the leader of their country is a monster.

 

[rousseau]

Canada played well enough to impress people who don't really know soccer, so I guess that's what matters.

I was surprised by their ball control, but they didn't play a disciplined game, and blew the penalty by giving it to Davies. An interesting watch, if nothing else.

Then yesterday:

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Canada looked awesome against Belgium. That wasn’t a bad performance by them. Canada was passing very well and their stamina held.

Funny that Iran and Saudi Arabia have likewise. The smaller nations are holding their own, even if not winning or drawing.

I’m tired of the already old fait accompli for the US as they “just” need to beat Iran to move on. The US, who has yet to score a free play goal in the tournament. That Iran team isn’t a pushover.

Wales is utterly disappointing. Otherwise, this has been a competitive tournament, despite some crappy attendances.

 

[rousseau]

Canada looked awesome against Belgium. That wasn’t a bad performance by them. Canada was passing very well and their stamina held.

Funny that Iran and Saudi Arabia have likewise. The smaller nations are holding their own, even if not winning or drawing.

I’m tired of the already old fait accompli for the US as they “just” need to beat Iran to move on. The US, who has yet to score a free play goal in the tournament. That Iran team isn’t a pushover.

Wales is utterly disappointing. Otherwise, this has been a competitive tournament, despite some crappy attendances.

Don't get me wrong, I was surprised by how well they played. But they definitely looked like Canada, and not a European team that does this every two years.

That's to be expected, but the pundits here were playing it up a little too much. Everyone was eager to give them a gold star, and not offer critique.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Man, the smaller nations continue to make these games interesting. Hoping Canada gets three pts to continue the trend.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Canada looked awesome against Belgium. That wasn’t a bad performance by them. Canada was passing very well and their stamina held.

Funny that Iran and Saudi Arabia have likewise. The smaller nations are holding their own, even if not winning or drawing.

I’m tired of the already old fait accompli for the US as they “just” need to beat Iran to move on. The US, who has yet to score a free play goal in the tournament. That Iran team isn’t a pushover.

Wales is utterly disappointing. Otherwise, this has been a competitive tournament, despite some crappy attendances.

Don't get me wrong, I was surprised by how well they played. But they definitely looked like Canada, and not a European team that does this every two years.

That's to be expected, but the pundits here were playing it up a little too much. Everyone was eager to give them a gold star, and not offer critique.

Canada played like they belong.

 

[rousseau]

I was mainly thinking about their game management in the game against Belgium, they played well but without much pace. It looked like they corrected for that today, but Croatia was just too strong of a side.

I was much more impressed with them in this game. And at least they avoided the longest scoreless streak in WC history.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Odd, because they appeared on form against Belgium. Their defense today was flat footed to nearly incompetent. They have better offense than defense it seems.

 

[rousseau]

Odd, because they appeared on form against Belgium. Their defense today was flat footed to nearly incompetent. They have better offense than defense it seems.

I can't watch too closely because of the kids, but in both games it looked like they started strong but then petered out. When Croatia netted two that likely killed a lot of their confidence.

I thought their first thirty minutes or so today looked good, better than their last game. They were playing well in both just didn't pace themselves against Belgium.

 

[laughing dog]

Mexico look likely to be eliminated unless they score some goals and Argentina loses big to Poland.

 

[bilby]

Germany are looking very shaky after losing to Japan, and clinging on with an 83rd minute equaliser to draw with Spain. To advance, they will need to hammer Costa Rica (who were thrashed by Spain in their first match, but who defeated Japan in their second), and will need Spain to beat Japan (in a match Spain would be happy to draw, as a tie would suffice to keep them at the top of their group unless CR pull off a major upset against the krauts).

Australia have recovered from a poor start against France to stand a decent chance of progressing, with Denmark standing between us and a place in the knockout stages; It's bizarre to consider that Australia now seem more likely to progress than Germany are.

 

[laughing dog]

Germany are looking very shaky after losing to Japan, and clinging on with an 83rd minute equaliser to draw with Spain. To advance, they will need to hammer Costa Rica (who were thrashed by Spain in their first match, but who defeated Japan in their second), and will need Spain to beat Japan (in a match Spain would be happy to draw, as a tie would suffice to keep them at the top of their group unless CR pull off a major upset against the krauts).

Australia have recovered from a poor start against France to stand a decent chance of progressing, with Denmark standing between us and a place in the knockout stages; It's bizarre to consider that Australia now seem more likely to progress than Germany are.

It may be bizarre, but it is pretty satisfying.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

World Cup news... Qatar paid for people to cheer for them.

In a country of 300,000 people... most of whom apparently don't care about football... they needed to fill a void of silence, so they paid people to cheer. And Saudi Arabia is in the running for a nearby World Cup. At least they have a team.

 

[steve_bank]

I lisned to a BBC segment of the first World Cup.

It looks like geopolitics and influence peddling goes back to the beginning.

Ecuador wealthy in the day offered to pay all expenses for all the teams to get the tournament.

Soccer was already a souce of ethnic and national rivalry. When Ecuador beat Argentina Argentinians stoned the Ecuadorin enbassy.

I don't usually watch soccer but some of the games I watched were pretty good.

 

[bilby]

Australia are through to the eighth finals!

We will face the winner of Group C, currently led by Poland. If Poland beat Argentina or it's a draw, then Poland are our next opponents; An Argentine win would mean we play them next.

An Argentine defeat would give either Saudi Arabia or Mexico a chance to knock the South American side out altogether.

Unfortunately my shift at work starts just as those Group C matches kick off, so I won't know the results until my meal break.

 

[steve_bank]

Not knowing much about the gane I had to educate myself.

Soccer positions. Makes more sense when you undertsnd the position play.

Soccer Positions: A Complete Guide | Your Soccer Home

The game of soccer has been around for almost 2,000 years. Over these years, the positions of the players on a soccer field have dramatically…

yoursoccerhome.com

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I lisned to a BBC segment of the first World Cup.

It looks like geopolitics and influence peddling goes back to the beginning.

Ecuador wealthy in the day offered to pay all expenses for all the teams to get the tournament.

Soccer was already a souce of ethnic and national rivalry. When Ecuador beat Argentina Argentinians stoned the Ecuadorin enbassy.

I don't usually watch soccer but some of the games I watched were pretty good.

Uruguay won a couple World Cups early because they didn't ban a portion of their population from playing.

And they were the first to have a cannibal on their team.

 

[steve_bank]

BBC Sport looks back at the story behind every Fifa World Cup since its debut in Uruguay in 1930.

The story of every Fifa World Cup

Watch BBC Sport's series of short films about the history of the World Cup.

www.bbc.com

 

[bilby]

Well, in a massive upset, football minnows Argentina managed to defeat the colossus that is Australia.

The Socceroos managed not to totally embarrass themselves, apart from a total brain-snap by our keeper, who decided to single handedly take on two Argentine strikers in his own penalty area, dribbling the ball as though he were a rookie midfielder overconfident in his abilities. What could possibly go wrong?

So that's another World Cup over and done with. We equaled, or perhaps exceeded, or best World Cup performance to date, so that's something.

For a nation where association football isn't even the third most popular football code, versus a nation where association football is a national religion that makes Catholicism look like a vague hobby, we did pretty well.

We looked like a lesser side, for sure; But not like we were utterly outclassed.

Roll on North America 2026...

 

[laughing dog]

Morocco pulls off a well-earned upset over Portugal to make the semifinals a 3 continent affair.

I was pulling for Argentina to beat the Netherlands. Argentina needs to be better in holding onto a lead. Frankly, I cannot stand the Dutch teams. They tend to be dirty and sore losers. Once again, they are in a match with the most yellow cards in World Cup history (now 18). They broke their record of 16 from the 2006 game vs Portugal. And who can forget their disgraceful (Johan Cryuff's description of the 1st half performance, but it fits the entire game) World Cup final vs Spain. A player to get 2 YCS in a shootout (Dumfries) epitomizes their performance.

I had mixed feelings in the Brazil - Croatia match. Brazil did beat the ethnic cleansing Serbs in the group stage, so I was sort of pulling for them to be consistent and finish off the other remaining Slavic ethnic cleansers. But Luka Modric is fun to watch as is the Croatia goalkeeper who has kept them in every match with his play, and who basically won the shootout with his initial 2 saves.

I am sort of hoping for a rematch of the last WC final of France vs Croatia, but all the remaining teams are fun for me to watch play.