An absolutely amazing final. Great crowning achievement for Messi.
World Cup thread
- Thread starter Catman100
- Start date
Shootout was an amazing final? The game was great but to rely on PKs is the dumbest **** ever. I’m sure world class athletes can keep running around without dying.
Exactly how long should they run around? Play till you win in soccer a lot different than extra inning baseball. And hell at least you get a winner. Football OT is stupid.
Extra time aka overtime in these matches should be sudden death. It's crazy that someone will score in the 112th minute but you continue to finish out that 15 and then still play out the next 15.
Go to ot and first score wins. Play them out with no goals then do the pk thing. But end it on the first score. Game over.
Go to ot and first score wins. Play them out with no goals then do the pk thing. But end it on the first score. Game over.
Didn’t it used to be like that at one point in time - they called it the “golden goal”?
This may be viewed in the future as the greatest match ever. It had everything, including the best performances by each team’s best player.
It was amazing how many Argentinians traveled to Qatar. The French were well-represented, too, but Argentina is a lot farther from Qatar than is France.
It was amazing how many Argentinians traveled to Qatar. The French were well-represented, too, but Argentina is a lot farther from Qatar than is France.
Told my brother the only thing it didn't have was a Hand of God moment.
World Cup is for when there’s nothing to watch in the summer. Hopefully they never have it in a toasty Arab country again.
Correct, came about in the late 90s but went away before the 2006 World Cup, IIRC. Golden goal (sudden death) was used in the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.
Why don't Scotland and Wales swallow their pride and join England for a UK soccer team? They probably get to the finals at least. I can see those countries playing each other in whatever other competitions, but for the world cup it looks like it should be the UK.
It's not like Texas and California have their own Olympic teams.
I googled this.
Because there is no 'UK Football Association' so the UK can't compete. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own Association and were competing against each other long before FIFA was a thing. Football Associations, not countries, become members of FIFA and it is members of FIFA that compete.
It's not like Texas and California have their own Olympic teams.
I googled this.
Because there is no 'UK Football Association' so the UK can't compete. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own Association and were competing against each other long before FIFA was a thing. Football Associations, not countries, become members of FIFA and it is members of FIFA that compete.
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The English National Team would be no better off with those Federations joining them. England's perennial issue in International competitions isn't lack of talent, it's lack of cohesion and vision. For all of their talent and exorbitant value on the Transfer Market they look as imaginative as Bea Arthur's hair style. That's why Argentina and Brazil are sort of remarkable by comparison...their players are pretty much out of their domestic leagues by the time they leave their teens and dispersed all over Europe, but they still keep intact their unique national playing identity. I guess England did too since their unique national playing identity is coughing up PKs in Knockout stages of EuroCup and the World Cup.
I don't know anything about soccer so there's the problem. But I do believe that having a greater population, would be beneficial down the road. There's some kid named Mac something that could be playing for the UK in 4 or 12 years.
They compete as "Team GB" (Great Britain) in the Olympics and there is much less interest. Why? The national rivalries inherent between these countries elevate the competition. It would be similar with a UK soccer team. News flash - many people in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland harbor some resentment toward England.
This is what makes soccer as an International sport so alien to Americans...it's counterintuitive that population isn't an advantage. Croatia and Uruguay are your best examples and you could say something similar with Belgium; the Dutch have been the best developers of youth talent for a half Century. The Europeans identify and train their talent through their Domestic Leagues (with again, per capita, the Netherlands is about as good as it gets). The US has a closed system and an outdated means of stocking their MLS franchises; a college Draft, a designated player who basically is a worldwide player signed as a free agent, and formerly a reputation of "stashing" a 15 or 16 year old kid hiding him from European clubs through his 18th birthday where he can get a European workers visa unless his parents or grandparents have a European countries' passport. That 15-18 year old period is the most critical developmental period for a professional soccer player worldwide.
The MLS and USFL franchises in the last five years have now been given the ability to make money off those kids when they leave for Europe, famously Seattle tried to recover a developmental bonus for Deandre Yedlin when he went to Tottenham, Weston McKennie left Dallas for Schalke (Germany) and Dallas made nothing. By contrast, everytime Brendan Aaronson goes from Philadelphia Union to Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) and then Leeds United (England), the Union get paid; it is the same thing for Brendan's brother Paxton who was just sold to Frankfort Eintracht (Germany). The end result is selling young talent which is optimal for MLS franchises, and again kind of antithetical to the American sports fan because looking out there and seeing 19 year old Lebron James playing for the Cavs but "sold" to the Lakers or Celtics who are at the top of the food chain is a source of revulsion. In the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and the Spanish Liga it's an expectation that a great young player for tiny Fulham in London or Brighton on the South Coast gets sold to Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United for a mint.
You just ignited an idea. How about a continental World Cup? An all star type of event? Maybe two teams from each continent. The contrasting styles is what makes the WC great put it on center stage I want to see the best from Africa go against the best from SA. Just a straight up double elimination tournament.