Achtung! Sooooooooooo any of you guys interested in the international sawker cup?

bsman said:
I keep hearing this, and frankly, it's bullshit. Are you telling me that there's a lot of room in soccer for 7'2" shooting forwards or 6'5" 375 lb offensive linesman? No, our national team pool represents the best all-around physical specimans out there who don't happen to be genetic freaks three standard deviations from the norm in terms of size...
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What I'm telling you is, to play any sport at the highest level you need to be physically gifted. In many cases freakishly gifted. Many of the physically gifted athletes choose at a young age to pursue sports other than soccer because they believe they can make the big money. Most dont make it but there are plenty of 5'8" to 6'3" incredible athletes that spent their life trying to make it another sport that never gave soccer a chance. If those athletes chose soccer from a young age, players like Donovan and Bradley and the like would never have seen the pitch on a national team. Our national team certainly has a bunch of guys who are in great shape but to think they are a representation of the speed available for "normal sized" guys is false. The biggest knock on our striker, the guy who is supposed to be faster than everybody, is that he is too slow.

Add to all that the fact that we dont have a great mechanism to move young gifted players to the next level and we are sitting about where we are going to be with little chance to get a lot better as a national team. We have a program called Olympic Development Program in youth soccer and it is anything but Olympic Development. It cost a good bit of money to participate and the higher you go, the more it costs. And it has no link to the Olympic team. It is a series of camps and games that dont lead anywhere. Too many people in youth soccer that want their piece of the pie so we dont have a unified approach. We arent taking the best of the best and moving them together in the right direction. Greedy parents can take the blame for that one.
 
shoeless said:
Yet the rest of the world seems to be having some fun at his expense.

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Just bringing this back because I noticed that #7 is Chris Kamara, who appears to just be over in Brazil wandering around fighting crime and chatting with the locals. And I'll always look for an excuse to post this video:
 
FIFA/UEFA/whoever need to do something about 'simulation'. It's ruining the game. It's difficult for the refs because it happens so fast and if they get a call wrong and book someone who was actually fouled it's very unfair and they look really stupid. Retrospective (and harsh) punishment using video evidence would soon cut it right down. They do it for violent play, so why not?


And it's not just the disgust you feel for cheats. If they weren't able to resort to diving maybe they'd actually have to use their skills to play football :idea:
 
pmc100 said:
FIFA/UEFA/whoever need to do something about 'simulation'. It's ruining the game. It's difficult for the refs because it happens so fast and if they get a call wrong and book someone who was actually fouled it's very unfair and they look really stupid. Retrospective (and harsh) punishment using video evidence would soon cut it right down. They do it for violent play, so why not?


And it's not just the disgust you feel for cheats. If they weren't able to resort to diving maybe they'd actually have to use their skills to play football :idea:
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well, you can't deny that Robben has shown his skills throughout most of the tournament. I think his diving is a bit blatant sometimes and he deserves to be booked for it. However, sometimes it's a response to continuously being hacked on by defenders.

ps does your idea mean that Maradona can still be retroactively be punished for his 'hand of god'? :lol:
 
wok said:
well, you can't deny that Robben has shown his skills throughout most of the tournament. I think his diving is a bit blatant sometimes and he deserves to be booked for it. However, sometimes it's a response to continuously being hacked on by defenders.

ps does your idea mean that Maradona can still be retroactively be punished for his 'hand of god'? :lol:
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My granny always used to tell me that if someone hit me, hit them back. She did not say 'roll around on the ground like a little girl' :embarrassed:

And Maradona should retroactively be given a medal for the hand of God :grin:
 
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pmc100 said:
FIFA/UEFA/whoever need to do something about 'simulation'. It's ruining the game. It's difficult for the refs because it happens so fast and if they get a call wrong and book someone who was actually fouled it's very unfair and they look really stupid. Retrospective (and harsh) punishment using video evidence would soon cut it right down. They do it for violent play, so why not?


And it's not just the disgust you feel for cheats. If they weren't able to resort to diving maybe they'd actually have to use their skills to play football :idea:
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They do this in MLS. Retroactive suspensions and fines. It's made a huge difference, I think. You can see it in the CONCACAF Champions League. MLS players, with only a few exceptions, really do not dive.
 
Well boys, it's noon on a Tuesday, I'm at home watching the World Cup, and i have premium tequila. Life is good.*





* except for the real reason I'm home, which is to wait for the plumber to get here and fix a leaking pipe and charge me $500.
 
I woke up close to noon (I already took the day off today). At some point after I got home after the Germany match I slumped three feet from my bedroom door and couldn't move. This is what happens when you know the owner and staff of a German bar and they keep buying you shots. Apparently, I was conscious enough to sit in front of my computer because my glasses where there in the morning. I even managed to plug in my phone and iPad to charge. Nothing broken - except maybe my pride.

I'm making mussels and steak now - and have a bottle of Chimay Gran Reserve to open no matter the result later.
 
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¡PUM!

And almost an equalizer for the Swiss!

Finally some action - it just took a couple hours for them to get warmed up.
 
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