2014 World Cup

[lukethedrifter]

No, you can get funky knucklers.

Of course. My query was a sort of rhetorical reply to Denny Vaninger's comment that a ball without spin flies truer. Maybe I misunderstood his comment.

[thrill]

I don't know how much the ball affected the lack of scoring in 2010 and the record scoring this year, but anecdotally, that Jabulani ball sure seemed to be bat [expletive] insane 4 years ago.

[JackofDiamonds]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/crime ... oved-back/

PK Article at grantland.

The fact that Márquez’s incidental foul is punished the exact same way as exponentially more egregious acts, like Luis Suárez’s intentional (game-saving) handball in 2010 is ludicrous. One is a misdemeanor, one is a felony, but in a world where no such distinctions exist, the sentences are identical, and the governing body errs on the side of punitive adjudication each and every time. In FIFA County, you go to the gallows for stealing a horse. You also go there for littering.

[lukethedrifter]

Penalty kicks are the most draconian and most influential penalties in any sport. This is compounded by a needlessly inflexible penal code, applied within an arbitrary box, that disables referees from exercising any sort of reasonable judgment. The problem isn’t that Márquez may or may not have fouled Robben in the penalty area, nor is it that Robben may or may not have dove. The problem is the game’s current system of on-field justice.

[thrill]

I never thought I'd see the day where Americans were debating ways to make soccer even more low scoring.

[JackofDiamonds]

I never thought I'd see the day where Americans were debating ways to make soccer even more low scoring.

I never thought I'd see the day where an American defended a system that incentivized flopping/diving.

[Fat Strat]

With Altidore likely starting tomorrow, I guess tomorrow's lineup will look something like this:

Dempsey ----- Altidore
-----------Bradley---------------
--- Jones --------Bedoya/Zusi ---
----------Beckerman-----------
4 man back line

Zusi has looked ok. Bedoya has been invisible. You have to wonder if Klinnsman might try Diskerud in opposite Jones. Might be time for some fresh legs in the midfield.

[thrill]

I never thought I'd see the day where Americans were debating ways to make soccer even more low scoring.

I never thought I'd see the day where an American defended a system that incentivized flopping/diving.

It's not either/or. If the refs did their jobs and punished dives, they wouldn't dive as much. Refs are all just so afraid to get that wrong that they swallow the whistle - both in dives and legit fouls in the box - depending on the situation.

Not to mention that as many penalties aren't called on real fouls are called on dives.

[Freed Roger]

good grief this Germany Algeria game..hard to believe neither team has scored.

[Schlich]

Is Algeria playing for a shootout?