OT: Boneyard "Other Football" World Cup Thread | Page 29 | The Boneyard

OT: Boneyard "Other Football" World Cup Thread

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My one criticism of the Brazil - Mexico game is this: If the referee is going to acknowledge that Marcelo dove in the box late in the game, then the yellow card HAS to come out! That's the only way to prevent the nonsense and penalize the actors. And it was clear that he was acting. Man, he made it look like someone had shot him from the stands with a sniper rifle!!!
 
UConnDan97 said:
My one criticism of the Brazil - Mexico game is this: If the referee is going to acknowledge that Marcelo dove in the box late in the game, then the yellow card HAS to come out! That's the only way to prevent the nonsense and penalize the actors. And it was clear that he was acting. Man, he made it look like someone had shot him from the stands with a sniper rifle!!!
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It was awful! He was looking for the ref as he started his fall! Even the commentators called him out for it!
 
Dooley said:
He's made some clutch saves. The one on the goal line on the 1st half header was probably his best.
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Of course I'm biased in this case, but that one was the only stop that wasn't pure luck. Ochoa is the luckiest goalie in the tournament so far. Every other shot was directly at him- he barely had to move. He almost got hit in the face so many times I thought he was gonna lose an eye.
 
RioDog said:
Of course I'm biased in this case, but that one was the only stop that wasn't pure luck. Ochoa is the luckiest goalie in the tournament so far. Every other shot was directly at him- he barely had to move. He almost got hit in the face so many times I thought he was gonna lose an eye.
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Agree to a point. It's all about positioning and making yourself big...just like a hockey goalie. The header off the corner late in the 2nd half was right at him. But some of the saves he made on 1 on 1s (particularly in the 1st half) were about him coming out to cut down angles and throw his limbs out to get bigger.
 
UConnDan97 said:
My one criticism of the Brazil - Mexico game is this: If the referee is going to acknowledge that Marcelo dove in the box late in the game, then the yellow card HAS to come out! That's the only way to prevent the nonsense and penalize the actors. And it was clear that he was acting. Man, he made it look like someone had shot him from the stands with a sniper rifle!!!
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Yeah, that was yellow card worthy. I've got to tell ya, it would take one gutsy ref to give a Brazilian a yellow for diving in that sea of yellow.
 
Dooley said:
Agree to a point. It's all about positioning and making yourself big...just like a hockey goalie. The header off the corner late in the 2nd half was right at him. But some of the saves he made on 1 on 1s (particularly in the 1st half) were about him coming out to cut down angles and throw his limbs out to get bigger.
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Hey, he made the stops, which is all that matters in the end, and the stop on the Neymar's header was spectacular. If any of the other three were 12" left or right Brazil probably ends the contest with a 2 goal advantage.
 
RioDog said:
Hey, he made the stops, which is all that matters in the end, and the stop on the Neymar's header was spectacular. If any of the other three were 12" left or right Brazil probably ends the contest with a 2 goal advantage.
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Agreed. The same could be said the other way too on some of Mexico's chances that were on a few inches above the bar. Either way, it was one of the better 0-0 games that I've seen.
 
Dooley said:
Agreed. The same could be said the other way too on some of Mexico's chances that were on a few inches above the bar. Either way, it was one of the better 0-0 games that I've seen.
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It was. Hard to believe watching the match that Mexico had to go to a playoff to qualify. Mexico-Croatia gonna be fun to watch,
 
RioDog said:
Of course I'm biased in this case, but that one was the only stop that wasn't pure luck. Ochoa is the luckiest goalie in the tournament so far. Every other shot was directly at him- he barely had to move. He almost got hit in the face so many times I thought he was gonna lose an eye.
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A soccer goal is a big piece of open real estate, 8 feet by 24 feet. To get lucky as a goal keeper in soccer requires having the brains and experience to know where to be at all times. Luck for a keeper is when the ball hits the inside of the cross bar and bounces away from the net. It is not luck when an opposing players kicks the ball right where the keeper is, it is good keeping.
 
All eyes should be on Spain - Chile today. Huge match against a very good Chilean team. Meanwhile the Netherlands can book their ticket with a match against the worst team in the tournament.
 
I still think the proverbial cream will rise to the top as the tournament goes on and we get out of group stage to the elimination rounds, but with some early surprises the round of 16 could feature one specific epic matchup (Spain v Brazil). Here's the "regional standings" with everybody playing one game to date (not counting Mex/Brazil)

CONCACAF (N & C America/Caribean) 3W, 1L (thanks a lot Honduras)
CONMEBOL (S. America) 4W, 2L,
UEFA (Europe) 6W, 6L (3 of the W's and L's were Europe v Europe)
CAF (Africa) 1W, 3L, 1D
AFC (Asia/ME) 0W, 2L, 1D

Mexico gets CONCACAF off to a better than expected start to the set of 2nd games drawing with Brazil. THE match of the day is Spain v Chile. Absolutely huge as a loss here all but assures the losing team doesn't advance past group stage.
 
RioDog said:
It was. Hard to believe watching the match that Mexico had to go to a playoff to qualify. Mexico-Croatia gonna be fun to watch,
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Agreed. Had someone ask me if Mexico was any good. I told them Mexico finished behind USA, Costa Rica and Honduras. And only got into a playoff to get into the WC thanks to the USA. And now they are tearing it up. Good for CONCACAF, but I'd just as soon see them lose. (they are our arch rivals and all).
 
RioDog said:
He almost got hit in the face so many times I thought he was gonna lose an eye.
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The one time the Russian keeper faced a similar shot he let it through.
 
It was an all world GK performance by any measure. This is not the same Mexican team from qualifying where they went through 4 coaches. This, last, current one is a MX domestic league coach who has a bunch of his teams players on the squad. He also dumped a bunch of malcontents from Europe and is using his most famous player as a sub.

It appears to be working for him. They aren't safe yet as B-H still has to play them and Cameroon. They likely need to at least draw B-H to advance, unless Cameroon surprises B-H today.
 
Waquoit said:
The one time the Russian keeper faced a similar shot he let it through.
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Putin is pissed.

th
th
 
meyers7 said:
Actually, that is absolutely wrong. Lots of football matches are won on moments of individual brilliance (talent). See Maradona vs England '86, and Bergkamp vs Argentina '98 for examples.
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I agree. I was wrong.

(see I can admit it)

In American football, there is absolutely no way that a single player can win the game with individual performance. THe only player that can come close, ironically, is the kicker.
 
meyers7 said:
Agreed. Had someone ask me if Mexico was any good. I told them Mexico finished behind USA, Costa Rica and Honduras. And only got into a playoff to get into the WC thanks to the USA. And now they are tearing it up. Good for CONCACAF, but I'd just as soon see them lose. (they are our arch rivals and all).
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Just like the American this year, I rooted for Memphis because their wins would make UConn look better. Mexico advancing in the Cup can only help CONCACAF and the US. Of course, when the US needs to choke on Panama City or when Mexico visits Columbus in December, its war. Long live Dos a Cero!
 
WingU-Conn said:
Yes, everyone has to play defense, but we're playing one of those guys Sunday. Carl's point is that you cannot win if you don't play as a team. It's easier, obviously, but Soccer is distinctly different than American football where you literally cannot score (on offense) without your teammates.

Fortunately for us, Portugal plays like they don't want Ronaldo to touch the ball. Now if only we could stop passing the ball to the other team.
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Ronaldo is the world player of the year right? Don't know who votes on that, but it seems a popularity contest I think, because in watching the Germany - Portugal game, it seems he's a pretty one dimensional player - clearly very good at attacking and goal scoring. I don't know if it's possible or not, but my feeling would be to develop some kind of tactics where you attack Ronaldo and make him defend when on the offensive, and when defending, pin the guy to the sidelines and keep the ball away.
 
Ronaldo is a great finisher, big time goal scorer, but from my limited knowledge (and I am definitely not an expert, so go easy on me soccer guru's) he is not the greatest at creating his own shot if it requires more than a few touches and more than one defender (now someone will prove me wrong with youtube clips of Ronaldo driblling in and around entier defenses) He is also very good taking shots off of set pieces after a foul. Messi on the other hand can creates for himself, is great off the dribble and can take on multiple defenders all on his own. He also sets up teammates by drawing multipe (2-4) defenders to him (of course he rarely passes). It's as if there's a string attaching the ball to his foot.
 
Mr. Conehead said:
Just like the American this year, I rooted for Memphis because their wins would make UConn look better. Mexico advancing in the Cup can only help CONCACAF and the US. Of course, when the US needs to choke on Panama City or when Mexico visits Columbus in December, its war. Long live Dos a Cero!
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There's an additional reason why I want to see Mexico go through: because we know we can beat them! Imagine being in the semifinals and it's a team that you know that you can beat? Nothing is better than that...
 
Carl Spackler said:
Ronaldo is the world player of the year right? Don't know who votes on that, but it seems a popularity contest I think, because in watching the Germany - Portugal game, it seems he's a pretty one dimensional player - clearly very good at attacking and goal scoring.
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If you saw the way he carried Portugal into the WC in that Sweden game you wouldn't be poking him. Calling him "very good" is damning with faint praise.
 
Waquoit said:
If you saw the way he carried Portugal into the WC in that Sweden game you wouldn't be poking him. Calling him "very good" is damning with faint praise.
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I did not see that performance, but even so, it doesn't change my opinion that a team playing solid team defense and with a good plan to force the ball away from the guy can be pretty effective - because I did watch the Germany - Portugal game.

(edit: and I wonder if the guy can defend, it did not seem that he was interested at all in getting back in defending in the game I watched. reminded me of lots of dangerous scorers in basketball. I honestly don't know if he plays a position on the field where that matters much in soccer, but if it were possible to develop such a plan, I would make it a focus to go at him when on the offensive and make him defend, or go by him. I admit freely, that my sample size of watching the player is very small - could be entirely wrong about his ability to defend - and as noted, I have no idea if it's even a legitimate thing to do in soccer game plans to go after him like I've written.)
 
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