-
"Been away so long I hardly knew the place, gee it's good to be back home" - The Beatles -
Oz and NZ went out with their heads held high, though - they both left South Africa with a lot more credit than Italy or France (or, almost, England - eek)...
Difficult to look beyond Argentina or Brazil for the Cup itself - although there have already been more shocks that you'd normally expect for a whole WC...Comment
-
-
The Roflwtfzomgbbq Quylthulg summons L33t Paladins -more-
In UnAngband, the level dives you.
ASCII Dreams: http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.com
Unangband: http://unangband.blogspot.com
Comment
-
A(3.1.0b) CWS "Fyren_V" NEW L:50 DL:127 A++ R+++ Sp+ w:The Great Axe of Eonwe
A/FA W H- D c-- !f PV+++ s? d P++ M+
C- S+ I- !So B ac++ GHB? SQ? !RQ V F:Comment
-
A reasonable bet since every time a World Cup is held outside Europe a South American team wins.
Another useless random factoid: aside from South Africa (the first host not to advance out of the group stage), every non-European host nation advanced to the knockout stage this year.Comment
-
Just passing by, had to answer this topic
I watch the games, but do not wish my country (Brasil) win, because:
1. Together with Carnival, Soccer here is the other big tool the government has to make population more alienated, ignorant, oblivious, living in a bliss. Brasil is one of the most corrupt-filled countries in the world. In the years Brasil lost the cup, everybody gets sad, but also start seeing the wrong things around, and start working harder and doing something to make things better. Last time, a civil war almost emerged to dethrone a corrupt president and ministers 2 months after we lost the cup.
2. Soccer is a very unbalanced game, to the point of being stupid. Not only the Offside is the stupidest rule ever (before that, games tended to score 5-8 points, actually showing better the best time; that rule was implemented here by the nineties), there are some very nasty "under the table" rules and teachings here (and probably in some european clubs) usually called "mind game" or something, an 1-hour weekly discipline in many big-team soccer players teaching them how to hit to hurt, main and demoralize the opponent players without drawing attention from the judge and arbiters! Last year, a player went out of the game with a broken leg and his chest full of bruises, as appeared on TV... Super two-faced.
Soccer would be a much better game if it became a gladiatorial-style game like Arch Rivals (nes, genesis) or Soccer Brawl (Neo Geo). No more "under the table" gameplay. Even then, I still wouldn't want my country to win.Comment
-
Hey, I'm watching almost every game and I'm supporting my country's squad (Brazil).
Atriel! It's nice to see another brazilian here, but I have to disagree with you in some points
I like to watch the games and everytime I talk about how much I like soccer someone come and say that I'm alienated and start talking about politics. Here in Brazil we got some kind of pseudo-ideology that says that I'm not supposed to like the World Cup because of some previous bad governament that used what we do better to explore its own popularity. This makes me feel really bad because I really love the country where I live and people say that brazilians are patriots only when the topic is soccer.
And offside is not a stupid rule
And it always existed!
Comment
-
The notion of being offsides, isn't stupid, but I don't like soccer's interpretation. Hockey's definition of the offside violation happens *only* at the blue line, and that's something I'd like to see...say, offside doesn't apply inside the 15 meter area, which is the outer bound of the penalty box.
I'd love to see a game without the offside rule altogether, too, just because it would be interesting to see how much it might open things up. However, I can also see where it might be too much.
What I've found most objectionable, tho, has been the *badly* missed calls, and FIFA's adamant, almost strident, refusals to address the issues. Altho they *did* say they'd reconsider goal-line cameras. Maybe. Reminds me of baseball; anyone who watched the Tigers' Galarraga lose a perfect game to a very poor call (and after a *great* catch to get the first out in the 9th) is likely, like me, REALLY sensitized to that kind of thing. And terrible ball/strike calls, including one that cost a game. Baseball fought against this for YEARS...it now has limited replays which are only possible in very, very narrow situations...and we see they don't necessarily work. So a goal-line-only camera (to fix situations like the denied goal in Germany-England) would only fix a few problems. The NFL has a replay system which was initially fairly flawed, but is now...well, not perfect, but better. (If the whistle blows, nothing AFTER that can be reviewed. This has created some ugly situations, but it's also a critical "this play is OVER, so STOP" signal.)
I think soccer could benefit from something like the NFL model of coaches' challenge, *at least* at the World Cup itself. But I doubt it will happen.
And I'm rooting for all 4 South American teams to make the semis...just because.
Comment
-
With modern tech you could have those cameras embedded in goal frame in top corners and waist-line. Just make referee to stop play in any unclear situation and quickly check the camera. Takes about 10-15 secs tops (referee runs to side, checks the camera, calls goal or not). If even camera can't tell then dismiss the goal.
Luckily this sort of things are rare in football. What is much worse is outright bad offside calls. I think ruling is that in unclear situation rule to favor of attacking team, but referees are humans and humans make errors. You can't get perfect human referee in any sports. Also for referee point of view football offside rule is pretty d*mn hard to get perfectly right every time. You would need to look at two quite far away place at once and also wait and see if that player in offside actually plays the ball. It's easy from TV and freeze frame, but running in side of the field it isn't that easy. There might be player blocking the view to exact moment of the kick and when attacker is running to goal and defender is moving at opposite direction it requires a really good eye to catch if the attacker was actually in offside or not at the moment of the kick. All those things considered it is surprising that they have made as little errors as they had.Comment
-
There is no need to manually check anything. There are systems available that would automatically send a signal to the referee when there is a goal in less than a second.
Comment
-
Chip in the ball did come into my mind too, but I thought that it would affect the ball handling. Apparently it doesn't. That would be pretty fail-proof system to detect goals.
Offside is still a problem because it requires judgement does the person in offside play the ball (does he affect the game, block the defender etc.) and that's why it isn't solvable with IT and sensors. Not yet anyway.Comment
Tweet
I'm shocked it wasn't 4-1 with all those chances...
Comment