World Cup qualifier. Huge rivalry at Azteca in Mexico City which seats about 110,000. High altitude and smog make it extra difficult for visiting teams. Their fans are known to throw bags of urine, feces, vomit and just about anything they get their hands at our players and fans. Mexico hasn't won a World Cup qualifier yet which put a lot of pressure their players. We've won there only once (a recent friendly) but matches have been close. Mexico has all of their regular starters. We have about 9 starters and backups out so I'm not expecting a win. We'll see if Kaiser Klinsmann has any tricks up his sleeve.
USA vs. Mexico at 9:30 on ESPN
- Thread starter harrybollocks
- Start date
Estados Unidos Mexicanos staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacked Estados Unidos 1777777777777ed
USA 0 Mexico 1
USA 0 Mexico 1
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I don't have high hopes either, but JK seems to surprise when we play good teams. I am curious to see how the new group in the back will handle Hernandez and Dos Santos.
The primary reason I've never become a big soccer fan...a 0-0 tie. No competitive sport should ever end in a 0-0 tie, especially a WC Qualifier!
Three reasons soccer is about my 5th favorite sport is 1) the gigantic ***** acting that happens every single 17ing time two players touch. 1 of them is guaranteed to roll on the ground and act as if their shin just got destroyed by a roadside bomb. 2) the yellow card/red card and the ability of the ref to decide a game on his "judgement". 3) the constant offsides call. Why would a defender let someone get behind them anyways? That's the definition of defense. Offsides in soccer is just 17ing stupid imo. If you want to stretch your team and try to score so be it but you're taking a risk if the defense gets the ball then you are caught having less people back. I think eliminating this rule would increase scoring massively. Can someone explain why they have this rule? Is it too difficult to play defense if the offensive player can slip behind you at any point for the pass?
Allowing offsides in soccer would be the equivalent of allowing "automatic stayout" in the NFL on passing plays (everybody remember that from backyard football?). That has nothing to do with defense.
If you have a game/sport where there is a goal line and there aren't "set plays" like in American football, you have to have rules where the team moving the object to the goal can't just sit by the goal and wait for a long pass. They don't have that in basketball and that is why there's no defense in a lot of games.
If you have a game/sport where there is a goal line and there aren't "set plays" like in American football, you have to have rules where the team moving the object to the goal can't just sit by the goal and wait for a long pass. They don't have that in basketball and that is why there's no defense in a lot of games.
1. Every single time? Watch more closely. Soccer is a very physical sport. Don't think so? Go play a pick up game this weekend in your local hispanic community.
2. Uh......basketball and their fouls? Holding in football? That ever changing outside corner of the plate in baseball?
3. I am going to sound like an *** but if you don't understand why there is a need for offsides in soccer, you don't know much of anything about the sport.
With all that said, I really REALLY wish soccer would do one thing to help increase scoring, make the goal 10x10 or at least 8ft tall and 10 yards wide. The only part of the game that would effect would be PKs and scoring obviously. Instead of PKs being made at 90%. It would be 100%. But that is easily adjusted too. Back up the PK to the 18'.
2. Uh......basketball and their fouls? Holding in football? That ever changing outside corner of the plate in baseball?
3. I am going to sound like an *** but if you don't understand why there is a need for offsides in soccer, you don't know much of anything about the sport.
With all that said, I really REALLY wish soccer would do one thing to help increase scoring, make the goal 10x10 or at least 8ft tall and 10 yards wide. The only part of the game that would effect would be PKs and scoring obviously. Instead of PKs being made at 90%. It would be 100%. But that is easily adjusted too. Back up the PK to the 18'.
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1. I can't argue with that.
2. How is that different than any other sport? Refs in all sports have to make judgment calls all the time. I will agree that it's different in that getting a yellow card completely changes how you play. For instance, we had half of our back line with a yellow card very early last night. It changes how you play.
3. The offsides rule is actually necessary. Otherwise, you'd have offensive players hanging around the goal, and therefore defenders would hang back with them. There would be little to no action in the middle of the field. The rule forces the offense to be creative in how they move the ball towards the goal. You couldn't just change the rule and assume the game would look the same. Doing away with the rule would fundamentally change how the game is played...for the worse.
Great result for the USA. I had never even heard of either of the center backs (admittedly I haven't been paying as much attention since the last World Cup), but they both played an outstanding game. I was surprised the Mexican crowd didn't turn on their team any more than they did. Despite the lackluster start to qualifying, we're in pretty good shape. We've already played 2 on the road, and probably the toughest 2 road games at that.
A massive increase in scoring would not improve soccer. You would lose a lot of the tension in the sport, and debase scoring goals. What else in sports is as difficult or compares to the accomplishment of scoring a goal in soccer?
Completely agree. And as I've pointed out before, the ratio of goals per minute of real time in soccer is almost exactly the same as the ratio of touchdowns per minute of real time in an NFL game (3 goals per 120 minute game vs. 5 touchdowns per 195 minute game). Even though the score was 0-0, I was on the edge of my seat the entire last half hour of the game, which actually tool 30 minutes rather than being dragged out over 1-1/2 hours.
You're absolutely right on all accounts. I agree with everything.
But I watch almost every single USMNT game, even the friendlies. It's the one sport that EVERY country plays and every country has a team of citizens that represents them as a whole.
I'm sorry, but FIBA sucks for the same reason Olympic basketball sucks (I admit I watch Olympic basketball though). I can think of about 2 teams EVERY SINGLE TIME that have a chance to win the world championship. The difference between the US and the second team (Spain) is 50 times more than #1 (Spain) and #2 (Germany) in FIFA, and the US is constantly #1 in FIBA. I'm not going to make it seem like Spain isn't #1 a lot but not like the US in basketball.
I can't stand soccer, but I really get into national soccer. It has every single thing to do with USA pride. If for some reason the US started taking the WBC seriously it could possibly surpass it, but that won't happen because professional baseball is a selfish sport.
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exactly. the game plays out in real time (good lord, these ncaa tourney games have been killing me, the last couple of minutes are seriously a 30 minute affair with time outs and commercials and fouls, it totally kills any tension), and while it was 0-0, the last 15 minutes of the match last night had me laying in bed screaming every time mexico sent another ball towards goal. far more intense than any ncaa tourney game thus far simply because the game played out naturally, not with stops and starts. the lack of scoring doesn't mean a game is boring, when a team is hammering the goal and not converting it's just as tense as if they are trading goals left and right. there are some matches where the teams sit in the middle of the field and neither make any attacking runs and it's boring, but if you halfway know the game, those games aren't really all that common.
The US got really lucky last night.
The no-call in the box late in the game was a big bonus for the US.
How many corner kicks did Mexico fail to convert on in the last half of the game?
The no-call in the box late in the game was a big bonus for the US.
How many corner kicks did Mexico fail to convert on in the last half of the game?
I agree with you and Pat. Last night's game was exciting without any goals as were a number of the last World Cup scoreless draws. In general, just watching the build up to shots on goal and stops are exciting even without goals. Also, I agree about actual time vs 30 minutes it takes to play a final minute in basketball. The more i watch the EPL. The more irritated I get with American sports and all the damn commercials, time outs and stoppage of play.
I'll never understand the offsides rule either, but I don't think soccer's lack of popularity in the USA actually has anything to do with the rules. I think it's 3 things
1) Our nation's best athletes don't play soccer (Before fanboys start screaming, I'm not implying that soccer players aren't incredible athletes. They just don't often compare to the guys that play in the NBA, NFL, and even MLB in some cases)
2) Our colleges do next to nothing to support and promote it. Even for non-fans, who wouldn't be interested in a Saturday night soccer match between Ole Miss and MSU under the lights of DWS? I haven't watched a soccer match since the WC, but I would if our schools actually gave a damn about it.
3) Our women don't do this...
In summary, I don't remember what my first two points were but we need more sluts.
1) Our nation's best athletes don't play soccer (Before fanboys start screaming, I'm not implying that soccer players aren't incredible athletes. They just don't often compare to the guys that play in the NBA, NFL, and even MLB in some cases)
2) Our colleges do next to nothing to support and promote it. Even for non-fans, who wouldn't be interested in a Saturday night soccer match between Ole Miss and MSU under the lights of DWS? I haven't watched a soccer match since the WC, but I would if our schools actually gave a damn about it.
3) Our women don't do this...
In summary, I don't remember what my first two points were but we need more sluts.
If soccer would just fix 1 and 2 it would be so much better to watch. My problem with the red card is the team loses a player for the rest of the match. That's like kicking out a football player for pass interference and not allowing a replacement. I can live with the offsides calling it's just that it seems like half of all decent scoring plays get called offside. What's up with the Mexico fans shining green lights on the USA players last night? Nobody said **** and they just allowed it the whole match. Then the Mexico players and coaches try to fight the ref after the game because he didn't call a foul in the box which would of decided the game for Mexico.
We did catch a break on the no-call on the PK. But a lot of the reason Mexico failed to convert on the corners was because we played outstanding defense and got a good game from Guzan (is there rule that US goalkeepers have to shave their head?). As for catching the break on the no-call, it's about damn time the US caught a break on a bad call. We've been screwed 10 times as many times as we've benefitted from those. The worst being the no-call on the hand ball that should have gotten us to OT in the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.
i wouldn't equate a red card to a pass interference. it's more like a head targeting hit in football or an extreme flagrant/technical foul in basketball. you have to be pretty egregious to get a straight red card. and these players know what they need to do if they get an early yellow card to avoid the 2nd one (just like basketball players know how not to get a 2nd tech after the 1st). there's been plenty of teams who have pulled out tiesa nd Ws playing down a man too. it sucks, but because the game is spread out (slightly larger than a football field and same number of players on the field, but because they don't line up each play at the LOS their isn't as much player density) a team can survive down a man. there's no need to change it.
Men's soccer suffers and women's flourish due to title IX....
Most colleges have football and due to title IX they have to offer equal schollys. Thus mens soccer is a rarity and everybody does womens.
Most colleges have football and due to title IX they have to offer equal schollys. Thus mens soccer is a rarity and everybody does womens.
As to 1): Beasley busted a tooth in the Costa Rica game. 2) and 3), you just described football, basketball, baseball, hockey, etc.
Except red cards aren't handed out like pass interference because people know they'll get one if they do something to deserve it and know the effect it will have. Football players would rather purposefully pull a guy down when they are beaten than make him make the play because they know it's just a small penalty. How often do you think we'd see guys get pulled down on purpose for PI if the team was down a player the rest of the half? And two yellows is like two technicals or two flagrants...you have to really deserve the second one to get it. Beasley could have gotten a yellow a couple of times last night after the first if he didn't already have it. You have to deserve that second yellow. And it makes the players think more about what they are doing if they are risking being sent off instead of just hacking guys whenever because they can do it six times before they sit.
^^^^
THIS.
Title IX has killed the development of several sports in the U.S. - baseball, soccer, lacrosse, etc. The only way to make gender equality work in college sports is to exempt football from the numbers.
THIS.
Title IX has killed the development of several sports in the U.S. - baseball, soccer, lacrosse, etc. The only way to make gender equality work in college sports is to exempt football from the numbers.
It's ironic, with soccer, I'd WELCOME something to break it up
Show me an exciting commercial ever now and then to break up the pass pass pass turnover pass pass turnover.
Show me an exciting commercial ever now and then to break up the pass pass pass turnover pass pass turnover.