*World Cup Game Discussion Thread* (SPOILERS)

[AlexB]

Zelkjo 'Spider' Kalac (the GK who replaced Schwartzer) used to play for Leicester - he was awful! We signed him unseen for a fair amount of money, and he played four games in a season for us.

[And one of those was a 20 second appearance at the end of extra time in preparation for a penalty shoot-out (which btw never occurred because the opposition were so distracted by a ten foot GK we scored in the remaining twenty seconds, either that or we realised we were fooked if we let Spider try and save anything so scored before he had a chance to drop it ) ]

He ran underneath crosses, dove over low shots, dropped regulation saves, and couldn't kick. Other than that he was alright !

To be fair, it was a hell of a FK by Srna

[MIJB#19]

Man, how much longer did the Croatian defender had to hold Viduka to make it penalty worthy?

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Man, how much longer did the Croatian defender had to hold Viduka to make it penalty worthy?

About three minutes.

Hope that clears it up for you

[MIJB#19]

LOL


Kalac used to be a good keeper with Roda JC, even almost guided that team past AC Milan into the UEFA Cup quarterfinals a couple of seasons ago. I guess that's where he got his 15 minutes of fame to win a contract with AC Milan.

[TazFTW]

Japan leads Brazil 1-0.

[MikeVic]

Oh great.. even if Croatia wins... if Japan wins, they advance right?

[cartman]

Ronaldo has turned completely into a fat tub of lard.

[TazFTW]

Originally Posted by cartman

Ronaldo has turned completely into a fat tub of lard.

He's looked better in this game.


Australia equalizes with a penalty.

[cartman]

He's got zero speed when he has the ball. The 2002 Ronaldo would have had two goals in this game already.

[cartman]

Whaddya know. Tubby got his head to a ball and scored a goal.

[Groundhog]

C'mon Aussies!

Viduka should have had a free kick back when he was rugby tackled, but right now we are dominating. Just need 1 more goal in the 2nd half and we should be through.

Brazil and Japan are now tied at 1 a piece.

[thealmighty]

Go Italy!!!

[3ric]

Great combination there by Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

[cartman]

Beautiful strike by (I think) Junihno. A long knuckleball kick with speed.

[3ric]

Juninho Pernambucano, the greatest distance shooter there is.

[MIJB#19]

Maybe Kalac isn't such a great goalkeeper afterall. :o

[AlexB]

That's the Spider I remember so well. Seriously - how is this guy even a professional, let alone in the WC?

[cartman]

The Brazilian giants have been awoken. Gilberto takes a beautiful through ball from Ronaldinho and scores a great goal.

[MIJB#19]

Aussies going all out again!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

Bah. I need a gate dollars per roster spot per season number. If a football team charges $100 weighted average per ticket and sells out the 60,000 seat stadium for all 8 games then they make about $1M per season per roster spot. Basketball at $42.50 and 15,000 makes about $2M. $2M also for a baseball team at $15.50 and 40,000 seats.

I have no idea what the attendance figures are or what the range for ticket prices is for the MLS. But I'd be surprised if they made more than $250K per roster spot.

Sorry, if you can find that stuff you're a better Googler than me today.

But ... just for a quick sample
NY/NJ tickets range from $20 to $36, with the most seats at $28
Chicago ranges from $20 to $60, with mid-price being $35
Dallas ranges from $15 to $50, probably most at $20 or $25
Chivas ranges from $10 to $40, most either $21 or $23

[cartman]

El Gordo gets another goal. A give and go where he just stayed in place, wheeled around, and kicked the ball in the goal. He's definitely used the least amount of energy to score two goals in a game that I've ever seen.

[3ric]

Now Ronnie has tied Gerd Müller for most World Cup goals scored in his career.

[MIJB#19]

10 vs 10 now in between Australia and Croatia.

[AlexB]

Ans there goes Graham Poll's WC final chances

[MIJB#19]

Wow. Croatian defender gets his second yellow, but the ref misses it!
Guy get his third yellow now!?
Final score 2-2 or 3-2? I'm confused.

[Katon]

What on earth just happened there?

Nice to see Poll back to his usual form.

[AlexB]

Graham Poll realised a couple of minutes I think he should have sent Simuinic off, and just foudn an excuse to send him off for a 3rd yellow

And the last five minutes were just horrible to watch England's best ref go to pieces

[3ric]

Go Australia!

[cartman]

Congrats to the Socceroos!

[Groundhog]

Is 3 yellow cards a new record?!

[Groundhog]

What a horribly officiated game... a Croation defender picks up 2 yellow cards and still stays on the pitch... picks up a 3rd yellow and finally a red at the end. A socceroo 3rd goal is declared "out"??

WTF happened at the end there... bizzare finish... but BRING ON ITALY!

[3ric]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Is 3 yellow cards a new record?!

I just said that to my wife - it has to be some kind of record...

[Groundhog]

I really hope they can patch this bug before the next game.

[AlexB]

I remember a guy in Scotland (think it was for Aberdeen, maybe even Dean Windass?) got four red cards in the same game!

edit: actually it was three (and two yellows )

http://football.guardian.co.uk/news/...623070,00.html

Having picked up a booking in the first minute of a game at Dundee United in November 1997, Windass took 21 more minutes to procure a second for another trademark industrial challenge.


Off he went. But before you could say "toy" or "pram", Windass let rip a volley of abuse in the direction of referee Stuart Dougal. The man in black was unimpressed with all the effs and cees pouring into his lugs, and sent the bulky forward off again.

Windass left the field of play in that lofty vehicle, high dudgeon, stopping awhile to rip a corner flag out of the ground and fling it to the floor like a great big bairn. Off he went again!

Windass amassed 22 penalty points for his three red cards, at a rate of exactly one point per minute of "action". For his trouble, he was suspended for seven weeks.

And how did the game end? Aberdeen lost 5-0, a defeat which cost manager Roy Aitken his job. But you can't really blame Dean; they were already three down before he walked.

[DeToxRox]

I'm by no means a soccer fan, but I've kind of kept up with all this. The common theme has been shitty officiating. How do you guys deal with this in the biggest event in soccer?

I'm waiting for a righteous riot, but I doubt it happens.

[Huckleberry]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Sorry, if you can find that stuff you're a better Googler than me today.

But ... just for a quick sample
NY/NJ tickets range from $20 to $36, with the most seats at $28
Chicago ranges from $20 to $60, with mid-price being $35
Dallas ranges from $15 to $50, probably most at $20 or $25
Chivas ranges from $10 to $40, most either $21 or $23

Hey, I'm working on my timewasting delegation skills. Thanks for the numbers. Looks like MLS teams claim to average in the 13,000-15,000 range. I'll go with 15,000 to give them the benefit of the doubt. $25 per ticket. 16 home matches. I went to two team sites on Wikipedia and they both showed 26 players. So all of those numbers put them right at $230,000 per roster spot per season in ticket revenue. I was much closer than I thought.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

WTF happened at the end there... bizzare finish... but BRING ON ITALY!

My questions exactly... why was the goal disallowed? what was the cause of the 3rd yellow card? should it have resulted in a penalty kick?

bizzare ending indeed, but im happy since i was rooting for Australia. wild match.

[EagleFan]

What was the deal with the refs in these past couple games. Wow, this guy starts out by handing out a yellow card not long into the match for an accidental hand ball at mid field and then kept getting worse. Don't even get me started on the penalty shot call.

That said, what got under my skin even more was all of the acting by the Ghana players in the second half. The amount of time that they chewed up with fake injuries should be something that they should be ashamed of. How many times did their goallie end up looking like he was near death, sure as hell didn't seem that way when he was swinging from the cross bar like a kid on a jumgle gym after one shot went well high of the goal. I have no problem with the running clock under the other circumstances, but maybe they should consider stopping the clock when these injuries occur, that way it's not some subjective time that gets added on at the end of a match. At that point I would have said to hell with tradition if I was on the US team and kept playing on after they got out of hand with all the acting.

Now for the players.... Where was this Donovan that I heard was supposed to be so great? I saw nothing that impressed me at all. And this Beasley guy, he seemed to put in about as much effort as Bobby Abreu chasing down a deep fly ball in right.

Okay, I think that's about my limit for soccer commentary for the year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

... when he was swinging from the cross bar like a kid on a jumgle gym after one shot went well high of the goal.

Well I'll be damned, I figured I was the only person who noticed that & found it annoying.

[Groundhog]

Also; we may have advanced, but this match may be Spider's last shot at goalkeeping for the Aussies... terrible performance. I don't know why Schwarzer was taken out. He'd had a good cup so far by-and-large, and there's no way he'd have let that 2nd goal through.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Also; we may have advanced, but this match may be Spider's last shot at goalkeeping for the Aussies... terrible performance. I don't know why Schwarzer was taken out. He'd had a good cup so far by-and-large, and there's no way he'd have let that 2nd goal through.

Yeah. The goal against Japan, that was a mistake, but you can't blame a goalkeeper allowing 2 goals against this Brazil team, especially not the second one when the defense was all wide open due to the tactic of trying to push for the equalizer. Schwarzer back in against Italy?

(By the way, got to be cool to play both Brazil and Italy in the same World Cup!)

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

What was the deal with the refs in these past couple games. Wow, this guy starts out by handing out a yellow card not long into the match for an accidental hand ball at mid field and then kept getting worse. Don't even get me started on the penalty shot call.

That said, what got under my skin even more was all of the acting by the Ghana players in the second half. The amount of time that they chewed up with fake injuries should be something that they should be ashamed of. How many times did their goallie end up looking like he was near death, sure as hell didn't seem that way when he was swinging from the cross bar like a kid on a jumgle gym after one shot went well high of the goal. I have no problem with the running clock under the other circumstances, but maybe they should consider stopping the clock when these injuries occur, that way it's not some subjective time that gets added on at the end of a match. At that point I would have said to hell with tradition if I was on the US team and kept playing on after they got out of hand with all the acting.

Now for the players.... Where was this Donovan that I heard was supposed to be so great? I saw nothing that impressed me at all. And this Beasley guy, he seemed to put in about as much effort as Bobby Abreu chasing down a deep fly ball in right.

Okay, I think that's about my limit for soccer commentary for the year.

Beasley actually set-up the only goal with a great cross. However the goal opportunity arose through him turning the ball over to the Ghana defender who then gave it right back. Beasley must have had the most turnovers of any player today.

To be fair, I truly believe the US players were handicapped by poor tactic selection. Playing Beasley in the middle or on the right is a dumb thing to do.

[rexallllsc]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Now for the players.... Where was this Donovan that I heard was supposed to be so great? I saw nothing that impressed me at all. And this Beasley guy, he seemed to put in about as much effort as Bobby Abreu chasing down a deep fly ball in right.

The saddest thing is Beasley playing without a care, without passion, and seemingly content to sit back had the nicest pass of our tourney (it really was perfect). What does that say about the rest of our mids!

[Easy Mac]

We may have lost, but all I have to say is FU baby. At least my boy Clint got the US goal.

[rexallllsc]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

We may have lost, but all I have to say is FU baby. At least my boy Clint got the US goal.

The only bright spot of the entire tourney was Clint Dempsey's play.

Where is he playing next year? Please don't tell me MLS.

[Easy Mac]

He's in the MLS now. He always goes to Spain in Football Manager

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by DeToxRoxDVHStyle

I'm by no means a soccer fan, but I've kind of kept up with all this. The common theme has been shitty officiating. How do you guys deal with this in the biggest event in soccer?

I'm waiting for a righteous riot, but I doubt it happens.

It's probably because now the real tourney starts (single elimination) and none of the BIG teams have been eliminated due to bad refereeing. Now if England or Brazil or someone like that loses because of bad calls, then you'll see the riots.

Anyway, for the US team. It appears that the US squad just doesn't like Europe (or is good one WC then bad the next). Just sad state of affairs. Now, I didn't think the US would go on to the next round initially, but I thought we'd play with more heart!

As for if this will kill the rising interest in soccer in the US, I don't think so. After 1998, it seemed the soccer revolution was dead. But in 2000, the MLS had its highest attendance numbers ever up to that point. The US was disppointing and that won't add much to the US growth in soccer interest, but it'll still continue. After all, we still have Fox Soccer Channel and GolTV on our cable systems and maybe Setanta Sports soon thereafter. And as pointed out, the more Hispanics grow in this country, the more soccer will be watched. We just have to weed them off the Mexican League.

[Easy Mac]

Just finished watching the 1st half. Reyna could never play again for the US and I wouldn't care. Dempsey's goal is how you fucking finish. He left nothing in doubt there. Perfect cross from the Bease. BS PK, but what are you going to do. Maybe if we played more than 1 forward and did more than have out backline knock it about, maybe we have a better chance to win.

[ISiddiqui]

I'm sad that Reyna had to go out that way . Hell, its sad to see him have to leave everything out there on the pitch (as he did against Italy) to compensate for Donovan and Beasley.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Yeah. The goal against Japan, that was a mistake, but you can't blame a goalkeeper allowing 2 goals against this Brazil team, especially not the second one when the defense was all wide open due to the tactic of trying to push for the equalizer. Schwarzer back in against Italy?

(By the way, got to be cool to play both Brazil and Italy in the same World Cup!)

I think (or, at least, hope) for sure he's back in against Italy. There was a lot in the press over here about Spider being in great form leading up to the WC and that he was challenging for the starting spot. Then he performed so-so in a friendly and was beaten out, so Guus was basically giving him a chance to prove himself, and prove himself he did; mediocre.

And yup, it's definately very cool to be able to go up against Brazil AND Italy. Making the round of 16 is huge for us having not even been to a WC in so long, so it's nice to go heel-to-heel with the best - even more so with the way we managed to perform against Brazil. I'm very excited about the Italy game, though losing Emerson will hurt us.