Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
The video here shows one of the most exciting results in Women's World Cup soccer play. The game was brutal, with horrible refereeing. Team USA was down a player and there were just moments left in the game. All of a sudden, Megan Rapinoe centered the ball for Abby Wambach's header goal in the 122nd minute, tying Brazil at 2. Team USA went on to win in a shootout. The last shot in this video might show it best as a Brazilian defender and the Brazilian goalie are unable to stop this perfectly placed ball and Abby brilliantly heads it in. The game ended in a shootout victory for the good guys (sorry to any Brazilian Ricocheteers). USA! USA!
My brother was visiting us this past weekend and kept insisting on watching Women's World Cup. My husband was claiming that soccer was not fun to watch. My husband and I are flying cross country right now (yes, I'm posting on Ricochet from the sky!) and I just caught him watching the replay on his computer.
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Sep '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
I was totally disgusted by the dreadful officiating, and even worse was the blatant simulation (i.e. diving/faking) by the Brazilian players.
When we scored that goal in the waning minutes of extra time I jumped out of my seat. We have the best women's soccer team in the world, and we proved it yesterday.
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
My brother and I took our spouses and kids to the sports bar after church (we're Lutheran, this is how we roll) and I was pleasantly surprised to see it full of soccer fans cheering on the team. We couldn't believe some of those ridiculous calls, particularly how inconsistent the officiating was. The awesomely named Hope Solo should not have been yellow carded when she did but that the Brazilian goalie was allowed free movement at the same time was frustrating.
Nov '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Every sport has it's exciting moments. Even baseball. Doesn't mean they're not boring in general, though.
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
TheRoyalFamily
Every sport has it's exciting moments. Even baseball. Doesn't mean they're not boring in general, though. · Jul 11 at 8:03am
"Even baseball?" Even baseball? If I were in charge of the Code of Conduct, comments like this would lead to immediate banishment.
Sep '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
A big part of the entertainment value of sports comes from having an attachment to a team. I can hang on every pitch of a Brewers game, but if ESPN is showing the Phillies and Braves I have only passing interest.
When it comes to World Cup soccer (or Olympics or any International event) I find the entertainment value very high for sports that would otherwise be very boring. And there is a long history of American soccer teams (men and women) being totally bamboozled by international referees. The redemptive feeling of that win yesterday, having overcome the attrocious officiating, was just awesome.
Oct '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
120+ minutes of play and just two real goals (of the 4, one was an own-goal mistake by Brazil and one was a PK, and a re-do (!) PK at that), and just a smattering of shots-on-goal.
Professional soccer - the general rules, the officiating (only ONE person knows when the game is going to end, and that person is the ref??!!), the flopping, the offside rule - is a joke of a sport.
A baseball game CAN occasionally be boring. Soccer games are organically boring; the exciting game is rarer than rare (actually, has there ever been an exciting soccer game? I don't mean an exciting moment or two; I mean a wealth of exciting moments that compose a full game, like a 1-0 hockey or baseball game can easily be).
Oct '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
It should be pointed out that the US/Brazil game was decided on "penalty kicks."
Imagine deciding the outcome of an important baseball game on a Home Run Derby, or a football game on a field goal kicking contest, or a hockey game on penalty shots (no, that doesn't happen in the NHL; the penalty shots are only to determine which team gets the extra point in the standings), or a basketball game on a game of H-O-R-S-E.
The greatest indictment of soccer, the greatest indicator that the sport is silly and unserious, is the fact that so many games need to be decided on PKs. The construct of the game is so flawed, so fatally flawed, that it has to resort to the equivalent of cutting-the-deck in order to decide the winner not just of most of its games, but even of its most important games - see USA vs. China in the Women's World Cup final, for example.
ONE rule change would probably fix that - make the offside rule the same as it is in hockey. Gain the offensive zone and you can go anywhere in there. Never'll happen.
Sep '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
dittoheadadt:
ONE rule change would probably fix that - make the offside rule the same as it is in hockey. Gain the offensive zone and you can go anywhere in there. Never'll happen. · Jul 11 at 8:41am
That would ruin the game. Going soft on the offside rule would result in a frenzy of garbage goals, and would reduce the strategy and tactics to that of a youth game.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 9:07amMay '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
dittoheadadt, it's as if you wrote my own thoughts. I agree with every single letter and comma in your post. I made all the same points to my friends last year during the men's World Cup. I'm glad to see I'm not crazy--or at least only half as crazy as I thought.
Edit: As I sit here at my computer wearing a sweaty soccer uniform after a gripping 1-0 victory in our corporate league, I can't help thinking I over-endorsed dittoheadadt's comment. I can't agree with the characterizations "organically boring", "silly and unserious", or "fatally flawed", but I do agree with the analysis that the game could be improved with some tweaks, namely, to the offside rule and the penalty shootout.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 8:27pmMay '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Mark Belling Fan
dittoheadadt:
ONE rule change would probably fix that - make the offside rule the same as it is in hockey. Gain the offensive zone and you can go anywhere in there. Never'll happen. · Jul 11 at 8:41am
That would ruin the game. Going soft on the offside rule would result in a frenzy of garbage goals, and would reduce the strategy and tactics to that of a youth game. · Jul 11 at 9:06am
Edited on Jul 11 at 09:07 am
How many legitimate scoring chances are ruined by offside calls? It's a strange game when you're not allowed to outrun the other team.
Sep '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Mark Wilson
Mark Belling Fan
dittoheadadt:
ONE rule change would probably fix that - make the offside rule the same as it is in hockey. Gain the offensive zone and you can go anywhere in there. Never'll happen. · Jul 11 at 8:41am
That would ruin the game. Going soft on the offside rule would result in a frenzy of garbage goals, and would reduce the strategy and tactics to that of a youth game. · Jul 11 at 9:06am
Edited on Jul 11 at 09:07 am
How many legitimate scoring chances are ruined by offside calls? It's a strange game when you're not allowed to outrun the other team. · Jul 11 at 9:38am
When we were kids playing in the back yard we used to call it "cherry picking."
Even many 8 year olds know that there isn't anything "legitemate" about playing the game that way.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 9:44amMay '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Mark Belling Fan
When we were kids playing in the back yard we used to call it "cherry picking."
Even many 8 year olds know that there isn't anything "legitemate" about playing the game that way. · Jul 11 at 9:43am
I only remember cherry picking being an issue when you're playing with a bunch of amateurs and you're six players short of a full team. Anyway, the proposal is to make it like hockey, not to eliminate the offside rule completely.
Sep '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
You mean they would have to constantly clear the zone every time a defender booted the ball up field? And no attacking runs could be made unless the ball had already crossed into the zone, regardless of where the defenders were playing?
I guess I don't see the appeal of such a rule change. A soccer field is massive, and the current offside rule is definitely the ideal mechanism for keeping the game honest, in my opinion.
Of course, having had these kind of debates on sports blogs for years every time a World Cup takes place, I am aware that most American sports fans aren't on my side.
Oct '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Mark Belling Fan: I was totally disgusted by the dreadful officiating, and even worse was the blatant simulation (i.e. diving/faking) by the Brazilian players.
When we scored that goal in the waning minutes of extra time I jumped out of my seat. We have the best women's soccer team in the world, and we proved it yesterday. · Jul 11 at 7:31am
They really need to clean up the fake injury thing, and it would not be hard to do. You just need to allow the officials to issue red cards after the game based on video replay. Other sports use replay to issue suspensions, FIFA should do the same.
May '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
It took hockey a while to find the best place for blue line. You could define the "blue line" as the 18 and "clearing the zone" wouldn't be a big deal. You could even make it the 18 or the last defender, whichever is farther downfield.
This would eliminate the absurd situation of putting oneself offside when you have the ball near the goal line and you pass it five yards upfield to a teammate. Remember the offside call that denied the US a winning goal in the Slovenia game last year? And the fact that the Brazil goal in the recent game should have been called offside by rule, even though the player was only a few yards ahead of the ball and a few yards from the goal line. The rule is broken.
The real issue is that the size of the field, speed of the players, and range of kicks are in an unfortunate proportion. The field is so large, the players are so slow, and the movement of the ball has such a long range that there is no elegant solution.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 8:29pmJun '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
I've never bought the concept that more scoring equals more exciting. The counter-example is basketball, it has far more scoring plays than any other team sport and as a result most baskets are dull, ho-hum. Only really exciting if it's in the last few minutes of play, or else a slam dunk or otherwise stylish basket. A routine jumper is just that, routine. Dull.
Apr '11
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Geez, what is it with Americans and soccer? Why is it that anytime the sport is mentioned on any news board (with any diverse political leanings) you get the [people] who feel compelled to denigrate the sport? I'm an Italian immigrant who loves the USA and loves soccer, do you realize that calling it boring, as if it were not your opinion, but etched in sacred stone somewhere, is totally offesive to me?
Besides the fact that Molly was simply reporting on a great triumph by a group of classy, hardworking gals who happen to be our countrymen! Is their hard work and achievement yesterday in the eyes of the entire world mean anything less because the sport they play happens to not be your cup of tea? For goodness sake, a simple "nice job, you made us proud" is all that's required, or simply ignore the post. Are you all so self-conscious that there's another sport in the world that the USA doesn't dominate and isn't our own that it makes you feel better to degrade it than to ignore it or simply congratulate those who achieve in it. Get a life!!
[Ed.'s Note: It's clear that you're passionate about soccer, but please refrain from calling people names and do familiarize yourself with the CoC]
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 10:00pmOct '10
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Mark Wilson
How many legitimate scoring chances are ruined by offside calls? It's a strange game when you're not allowed to outrun the other team. · Jul 11 at 9:38am
I'm not sure you're understanding the offside rule correctly. It requires that you be able to outrun the opponent by getting in behind them after the ball is passed, rather than just cherry-picking while the other team is in possession. If there were no offside rule, the forwards would just loiter around the goal, waiting for the ball to be played forward to their feet.
IMO the way to make the offside rule less restrictive is to only apply it in the attacking thirds of the field, rather than the full attacking half. Right now, you can't be offside in your own half of the field. If that was just expanded to another line further into your attacking third it would force defenses to stretch out and open up the field for more attacking play.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 1:35pmJul '11
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
Soccer can be boring to watch (and I speak as someone who played into university), but when it's played at the highest level, such as the Euro championship and the World Cup, there's nothing like it.
I'm planning on going to the Euro championships in Poland to catch some of the action. I just wish we got the women's World Cup here.
Apr '11
Re: Big Drama At Women's World Cup Featuring Team USA
dittoheadadt: It should be pointed out that the US/Brazil game was decided on "penalty kicks."
Imagine deciding the outcome of an important baseball game on a Home Run Derby, or a football game on a field goal kicking contest, or a hockey game on penalty shots (no, that doesn't happen in the NHL; the penalty shots are only to determine which team gets the extra point in the standings), or a basketball game on a game of H-O-R-S-E.. · Jul 11 at 8:41am
Less than 10% of all direct elimination games in the history of the World Cup (both men's and women's) have gone to penalty shoot-out. By contrast, over 80% of overtime NFL games have been won by the team winning the coin toss. By your logic, you're stating that NFL matches that go to overtime are statistically decided by a coin toss. I wouldn't make that conclusion though because [redacted].
Ed.'s Note: Watch the ad hominems. We at Ricochet strongly believe that its imperative to exercise civility and respect in order to achieve good, productive conversation.
Edited on Jul 11, 2011 at 8:13pm