FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 THREAD

Originally posted by 4ML:
You never see soccer players run to the sidelines every few minutes to take a seat because they're tired lol

Players dive to get an advantage over their opponent...every sport tries to gain advantage by fooling the ref.

Look...hockey is physically tough - but soccer pushes the body to it's limit. You don't get to play in controlled environment...you don't get to stop and take a break (only 15 minutes half time break)...there are no timeouts...you can't sub in and sub out all game.

..and there are plenty of brutal tackles in soccer too and you only get to protect your shins.

Soccer pushes their players to the limits .. What? Maybe in the conditions they played in in Brazil with the heat .. but that isn't normal. Don't make it out like these guys are in full sprint for 90 minutes. They aren't. There is a lot of jogging around. Hockey is 100% more physical and demanding than soccer. You see it on free kicks. The guys turn away and protect themselves. While in hockey the guy will take the puck off the face, get stitched up and come right back in.

I am not taking anything away from soccer. Like any sport it takes tremendous talent.

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by vrabbit:
oh please tell me you barely make decisions in your life, that's not a "solution"

hey guys, here's an idea for overtime in NFL playoffs: allow false starts!

They should bring the bases closer after the 9th inning...and umpire's strike zone should shrink by an inch every inning.

yup and let's bring the hoop down to 6 inches in basketball OT.

I can tell you guys are real soccer fans, flopping over a suggestion and crying bloody murder

Oh and empty net during OTs in Hockey.

What? Empty net OT winner? I've taken 30+ non hockey fans to live games over the years, including a group of guys that played soccer on college, everyone loved hockey. It's not popular because it's expensive to play, opposite of soccer and it's allure that anyone can play

Comparing soccer to a real mans sport like hockey, lol.

I played soccer, you ever learn to skate? Nope . Talking about stuff you know nothing about

looool...wow dude you're very sensitive. Maybe insecure about your sport's popularity!? It was a joke. Talk about crying bloody murder. Calm down dude.

and lol @ real man's sport. I don't think any of the major team sports push bodies to the limit like soccer. I'm not trying to put down hockey or any sport. Hockey is extremely physical too...but soccer is brutal. So soccer players flop to get calls...In every sport...athletes try to fool refs. It doesn't make someone a less of a man...lol

...and how would you know if I ever learned to skate? haha...what is wrong with you? I actually did learn to skate when I was around 5-6 lol

no way soccer is more physically demanding than football.

That's fine if you believe that and you may be right. I believe in football - offense and defense play half of the game...so that provides a lot of breaks.

Again...physically demanding can be different for different ppl. As far as endurance is considered - I think soccer trumps all.

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by vrabbit:
oh please tell me you barely make decisions in your life, that's not a "solution"

hey guys, here's an idea for overtime in NFL playoffs: allow false starts!

They should bring the bases closer after the 9th inning...and umpire's strike zone should shrink by an inch every inning.

yup and let's bring the hoop down to 6 inches in basketball OT.

I can tell you guys are real soccer fans, flopping over a suggestion and crying bloody murder

Oh and empty net during OTs in Hockey.

What? Empty net OT winner? I've taken 30 non hockey fans to live games over the years, including a group of guys that played soccer on college, everyone loved hockey. It's not popular because it's expensive to play, opposite of soccer and it's allure that anyone can play

Comparing soccer to a real mans sport like hockey, lol.

I played soccer, you ever learn to skate? Nope . Talking about stuff you know nothing about

looool...wow dude you're very sensitive. Maybe insecure about your sport's popularity!? It was a joke. Talk about crying bloody murder. Calm down dude.

and lol @ real man's sport. I don't think any of the major team sports push bodies to the limit like soccer. I'm not trying to put down hockey or any sport. Hockey is extremely physical too...but soccer is brutal. So soccer players flop to get calls...In every sport...athletes try to fool refs. It doesn't make someone a less of a man...lol

...and how would you know if I ever learned to skate? haha...what is wrong with you? I actually did learn to skate when I was around 5-6 lol

no way soccer is more physically demanding than football.

That's fine if you believe that and you may be right. I believe in football - offense and defense play half of the game...so that provides a lot of breaks.

Again...physically demanding can be different for different ppl. As far as endurance is considered - I think soccer trumps all.

Soccer is probably the most demanding team sport endurance wise, yeah. But heck, once you get used to it's like a sunday afternoon jog down the street. I played a lot of organized soccer growing up as a midfielder and it was a piece of cake. There's a lot of stop and go for soccer players too. But vs. individual sports it's not as demanding as let's say cycling, skiing, or even mma.

Football, with certain positions, can resemble mma I believe -- like defensive linemen who have to deal with a 95 yard, 15 play no huddle drive.

Back to more important topic:

Originally posted by VDSF:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Yeup...she is fukin' amazing...I'm in love with her. and this Colombian chick

I'm in love with her!

As best as I can make a Starting XI, though I'm sure no two people will agree on all the names.

Navas (GK), Diaz (RB), Silva (CB), Yepez (CB), Rojo (LB), Mascherano (MF), Kroos (MF), Rodriguez (MF), Messi (FW), Mueller (FW), and Robben (FW).

oh lol, you guy were responding to my post?

I won't respond further on that, no need to hijack this

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:
oh lol, you guy were responding to my post?

I won't respond further on that, no need to hijack this

I respect that

This really isn't the thread for that discussion.

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by Janitor:

Originally posted by vrabbit:

lol at people overlooking Argentina because of Germany's beatdown of Brazil yesterday. Argentina today played a much better version of what Algeria played against Germany in the round of 16, when Germany had to go to OT to win it. By better I mean they played a complete game first defending then not just counter attacking, but controlling the ball as well. Argentina won despite a subpar performance from Messi.

Germany ain't blowing out Argentina and they're also not a slam dunk favorite.

I don't think anyone is overlooking Argentina, but I do think you are a massive homer lol.

He picked Dutch to win today. He has been as objective as anyone in this thread.

You're right. I honestly have no idea why I said that.

Originally posted by Janitor:

Originally posted by 4ML:

Originally posted by Janitor:

Originally posted by vrabbit:
lol at people overlooking Argentina because of Germany's beatdown of Brazil yesterday. Argentina today played a much better version of what Algeria played against Germany in the round of 16, when Germany had to go to OT to win it. By better I mean they played a complete game first defending then not just counter attacking, but controlling the ball as well. Argentina won despite a subpar performance from Messi.

Germany ain't blowing out Argentina and they're also not a slam dunk favorite.

I don't think anyone is overlooking Argentina, but I do think you are a massive homer lol.

He picked Dutch to win today. He has been as objective as anyone in this thread.

You're right. I honestly have no idea why I said that.

it's all good, you're a Germany fan so I can see where that came from

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by fortyninerglory:
Here's the solution: allow off-sides in extra time and make it sudden death.

Just like American Football!

I like that idea! Soccer purists will never go for it though lol.

Yeah I don't get that. Penalty kicks in soccer to me is the silliest way to decide a game out of any major sport. They should experiment with other rules like taking out off-sides, sudden death, decreasing the # of players on the field, mandatory substitutions, etc.

What if they divided the field into zones like the NHL does? There is no offsides once you are past an "offensive zone" or something like that.

Of course it will never happen, but it would be interesting.

I believe the old NASL had something in place very similar but FIFA forced them to remove it from their game. There has to be an out of the box idea to solve the problem. But as 4ML alluded to, is it really a problem? I've been involved in penalty shootouts and they're quite fun to play in and definitely watch. But the goalie is really at a disadvantage. It really feels like the game sometimes comes down to flipping a coin. Anyway, the offsides pitch *no pun intended* was mainly about modifying the rule in general and not just a solution to PK's.

Originally posted by fortyninerglory:

I believe the old NASL had something in place very similar but FIFA forced them to remove it from their game. There has to be an out of the box idea to solve the problem. But as 4ML alluded to, is it really a problem? I've been involved in penalty shootouts and they're quite fun to play in and definitely watch. But the goalie is really at a disadvantage. It really feels like the game sometimes comes down to flipping a coin. Anyway, the offsides pitch *no pun intended* was mainly about modifying the rule in general and not just a solution to PK's.

What I don't like about it is goalies are so screwed, they have to rely on guesswork it seems