PTS Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 The '06 World Cup was horrible in this regard and even became borderline unwatchable for me, and I would consider myself a fan. The diving was absolutely pathetic and did a major disservice to the game. I have been watching soccer for many years and overall, that was as bad as I recall ever seeing. And I realize it happens in other sports to some degree (see Derek Roy or Manu Ginobili attempting to draw pentalties/fouls) but the difference in the last World Cup was that there were 65 different camera angles on every game, and the players would roll around on the ground in agony and get stretchered off the field even as four replays show he didn't even get touched. Man up, go hard, and don't expect the ref to bail you out when you lose your dribble. I'm a huge soccer fan and diving drives me away from the game at times. I was at the WC in Germany and saw the diving firsthand. The ONLY reason Italy was able to make the finals let alone win was because of their horrendous diving tactics. I just don't understand why FIFA doesn't crack down on this. http://youtube.com/watch?v=5dQBqKR4Jh4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sen. John Blutarsky Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 1-0 England at half time. Terry scored on a set piece from Beckham. So he hit the net today? Good for him...only about a week late for a game that mattered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 I'm a huge soccer fan and diving drives me away from the game at times. I was at the WC in Germany and saw the diving firsthand. The ONLY reason Italy was able to make the finals let alone win was because of their horrendous diving tactics. I just don't understand why FIFA doesn't crack down on this. http://youtube.com/watch?v=5dQBqKR4Jh4 GARBAGE. The Italian wet dream is winning 1-0 on a bullschit PK...They'd draw 'em all up like that if they could. And the guy actually fought through a real foul outside of the box, and then goes down under a gust of wind 5 yards later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 So he hit the net today? Good for him...only about a week late for a game that mattered. ouch lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 US Soccer = Bills red zone offense Stale, unimaginative, and unproductive, and usually ends with a ball being kicked high over a goalpost. It's been that way for years for both squads. Ugh. At least the Bills are doing something bout it! lol I agree, though. One of my usual criticisms is that we just don't take enough shots on goal, and when we do, we rarely put it ON goal. This game, they seem content with just dribbling and seeing how long they can last before one of the big bad guys in the white jerseys comes and steals the ball away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted May 29, 2008 Author Share Posted May 29, 2008 Yeesh! That was a really weak showing. Total lack of skill. Poor first touches at every opportunity. Outclassed at every position. England looked like top quality in comparison. If the U.S. keeps it up like this, they will get completely taken apart next week in Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTS Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 With Donovan out, I'm not sure why Adu wasn't playing from the start. It was a totally different game when the kid came onto the pitch. He's clearly one of the only players we have with the skill level to maintain ball possession against the best of the world. We had more shots in the first few minutes of him entering the game than the entire time he was on the bench. While I don't think Freddie has panned out like he should have to this point, I definitely blame USSF for that. He should be playing in these big games and not riding the bench. He's far and away the best talent US has ever seen. They need him playing these games now so he can dominate when it really counts in 2010 and beyond. That being said, US Soccer has a fantastic group of youngsters (16 to 20 years old). They'll be primed in 4-8 years but what they are really missing is the cornerstone players in the prime (25-30). Outside of Donovan and Howard in net, they don't have these kind of players to compete with the top flight teams and they're players 21-24 aren't to exciteable either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 With Donovan out, I'm not sure why Adu playing from the start. Couldn't agree more. I'm tired of this FreddyPhobia they seem to have...PLAY THE KID! It's not like anyone else on this team is doing a frickin thing anyway. There was such a stark contrast between the two clubs today that I could barely stomach it. There were times, such as with the Gerrard goal, where they were basically just toying with us. We had absolutely no business even being on the same field as them today. Sometimes I feel like some of us have more enthusiasm for the game on a message board than these bastards do in real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 Yeesh! That was a really weak showing. Total lack of skill. Poor first touches at every opportunity. Outclassed at every position. England looked like top quality in comparison. If the U.S. keeps it up like this, they will get completely taken apart next week in Spain. Did you see how often they were clumping up on the offensive end?? What the hell was going on with that? Is that some new "glob" strategy they're experimenting with? How do they expect to generate scoring opportunities when they are all in the same ten yards of each other? That was just plain awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts