The Soccer Thread

[USSoccer]

Anyone have anything to say about the US? Specifically Cunningham? I didn't watch, but the highlight of his goal was an impressive finish and a good kind of selfishness from a striker.

 

Awful game. Cunningham scored after the Danes had an absolutely horrid mistake.

 

Other than that, it was a sloppy, lousy performance by a bunch of second stringers. Hejduk and EJ probably formally are done now. Hejduk was terrible.

 

A useless run out without half out first XI. We learned that we suck without LD and Deuce, Jozy is in poor form as well.

 

And for the record, Ireland were robbed by an inferior team and a complete buffoon of an officiating performance. If the ref misses it, the AR on that side should absolutely see that. Ireland deserved better. My cousins and aunt in Cork are wicked pissed right now, and they should be.

[bukie]

Uruguay gets the last spot after a 1-1 home draw with Costa Rica.

 

That leaves 5 CAF, 4 AFC, 3 CONMEBOL, 3 CONCACAF and 1 OFC to make 2 pods.

[sethuel1]

Uruguay gets the last spot after a 1-1 home draw with Costa Rica.

 

That leaves 5 CAF, 4 AFC, 3 CONMEBOL, 3 CONCACAF and 1 OFC to make 2 pods.

C'mon AFC and NZ

[USSoccer]

Uruguay gets the last spot after a 1-1 home draw with Costa Rica.

 

That leaves 5 CAF, 4 AFC, 3 CONMEBOL, 3 CONCACAF and 1 OFC to make 2 pods.

C'mon AFC and NZ

 

When is the draw again? Dec 5th? 4th?

[USSoccer]

Also, I remember the friendly we played in Germany in like March of 2006. We played, iirc, without Landon, Reyna, Dempsey, McBride, and Beasley, and got worked like 4-1.

 

After that game I remember Seth and I going through the list of crap that saw the field that night, and concluding that our depth blew. (starting XI:Kasey Keller, Greg Berhalter, Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad, Cory Gibbs, Pablo Mastroeni, Bobby Convey, Kerry Zavagnin, Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff)

 

Our depth still blows, nearly 4 years later. Our first XI is good. Can beat anyone on the day. Our 2nd XI is terrible. This has got to get fixed.

 

We had a GAA in 2009 of 1.5. We conceded way, way too many. We scored more, especially from the run of play, that we usually do, but our defense sucks right now. This has to get fixed.

 

We need a third forward option, or, to put it more accurately, we need someone to pair with Jozy so Clint stays in the midfield and Holden can remain a sub. Holden as a starter is one cycle too soon.

 

Lots to do in 5 months.

[USSoccer]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20407/24exhy8.gif

 

ANGRY

 

EDIT: having watched most of this match now, I can safely say that being drawn into France's group would be my wet dream. This side suck. They played piss poor over two legs and went through on a deflected goal and an awful handball (there were 4 non calls in that sequence, including 3 handballs, once of which should have been a yellow).

 

I don't give a rats ass if they didn't have Ribery. That side has as much creativity as a bucket of piss. We could handle them.

Edited November 19, 2009 by USSoccer

[bukie]

If I were Jonathan Bornstein, I probably wouldn't be booking any Costa Rican vacations anytime soon.

[bukie]

Uruguay gets the last spot after a 1-1 home draw with Costa Rica.

 

That leaves 5 CAF, 4 AFC, 3 CONMEBOL, 3 CONCACAF and 1 OFC to make 2 pods.

C'mon AFC and NZ

 

When is the draw again? Dec 5th? 4th?

Draw is the 4th, but I think they'll announce the pod setup before then. At least, that's what I remember from 2006. Maybe they changed the rules again.

[sethuel1]

Also, I remember the friendly we played in Germany in like March of 2006. We played, iirc, without Landon, Reyna, Dempsey, McBride, and Beasley, and got worked like 4-1.

 

After that game I remember Seth and I going through the list of crap that saw the field that night, and concluding that our depth blew. (starting XI:Kasey Keller, Greg Berhalter, Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad, Cory Gibbs, Pablo Mastroeni, Bobby Convey, Kerry Zavagnin, Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson, Josh Wolff)

 

Our depth still blows, nearly 4 years later. Our first XI is good. Can beat anyone on the day. Our 2nd XI is terrible. This has got to get fixed.

 

We had a GAA in 2009 of 1.5. We conceded way, way too many. We scored more, especially from the run of play, that we usually do, but our defense sucks right now. This has to get fixed.

 

We need a third forward option, or, to put it more accurately, we need someone to pair with Jozy so Clint stays in the midfield and Holden can remain a sub. Holden as a starter is one cycle too soon.

 

Lots to do in 5 months.

All I can really remember about our discussion after that game was that we agreed Kerry Zavagnin should be put down. But yeah, our depth blew then and it blows now too.

[wolf stansson]

It's so typical that we have like 10 dudes who are soccer swiss army knives. Useful, practical players who give a lot of effort but nothing that could be used as an outstanding weapon in a fight. I know we've slowly (very slowly) improved over the years, but if you look at the U-20's and U-17's, I don't see anything that points to anything other than more very slow improvement. Each generation of player is only slightly better than the last. And Landon. Don't start me on Landon. Our flawed hero who has so many deficiencies as a go to guy, but at the same time is still the only player we have who has a world class understanding of the game. His instincts are [expletive] fantastic. How sad it is to be reliant on one guy and to have it be him. He should be pissed. If he was born 10-15 years later, who knows what he could have been. If he came up with a national setup that didn't demand that he be everything at every level. If he could have just settled on a position, learned it inside and out and been a supporting player, he could have been a truly world class supporting player.

[CubbieBum]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20407/24exhy8.gif

 

ANGRY

 

EDIT: having watched most of this match now, I can safely say that being drawn into France's group would be my wet dream. This side suck. They played piss poor over two legs and went through on a deflected goal and an awful handball (there were 4 non calls in that sequence, including 3 handballs, once of which should have been a yellow).

 

I don't give a rats ass if they didn't have Ribery. That side has as much creativity as a bucket of piss. We could handle them.

 

I used to think FIFA was great. I get more and more convinced every year that they rig some games (not an abundance of games but enough to be noticed).

[TruffleShuffle]

lol

[wvcbxl]

That side has as much creativity as a bucket of piss. We could handle them.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see a typical French metamorphosis and see that exact same side (with Ribery added) play with a lot of flair in SA to advance past the group stages.

 

And, fwiw, contrary to Maradonna, Henry admitted it was handball immediately after the game (he even claimed to have said it to the ref after the goal)

[wvcbxl]

Now the Irish FA and their Justice minister will ask FIFA for a replay.

 

They have zero chance, imho.

[USSoccer]

A playoff between Uzbekhistan and Bahrain was replayed due to a penalty being incorrectly awarded, so there's precedent.

 

However, no one in FIFA gives a ish about Asia or Oceania, and this is UEFA.

 

As much as I'd love to see a replay, there's no way it happens.

[shnsajax]

A playoff between Uzbekhistan and Bahrain was replayed due to a penalty being incorrectly awarded, so there's precedent.

 

However, no one in FIFA gives a ish about Asia or Oceania, and this is UEFA.

 

As much as I'd love to see a replay, there's no way it happens.

 

If the roles were reversed and it was Ireland who went through knocking out France do you think FIFA would be more likely to have a replay?

[USSoccer]

A playoff between Uzbekhistan and Bahrain was replayed due to a penalty being incorrectly awarded, so there's precedent.

 

However, no one in FIFA gives a ish about Asia or Oceania, and this is UEFA.

 

As much as I'd love to see a replay, there's no way it happens.

 

If the roles were reversed and it was Ireland who went through knocking out France do you think FIFA would be more likely to have a replay?

 

Considering FIFA already changed the rules for France when it was apparent they'd be in a playoff, I have no doubt they'd interpret Rule V much, much differently.

[Guest]

So if (and I know it's a huge if) a replay of the match does happen, where do they start it? Do they replay the whole second leg or do they credit Ireland with the 1-0 win and just play extra time, treating extra time and the second leg as two different things?

[CubbieBum]

So if (and I know it's a huge if) a replay of the match does happen, where do they start it? Do they replay the whole second leg or do they credit Ireland with the 1-0 win and just play extra time, treating extra time and the second leg as two different things?

 

Or start from the time Ireland scored.

[Guest]

So if (and I know it's a huge if) a replay of the match does happen, where do they start it? Do they replay the whole second leg or do they credit Ireland with the 1-0 win and just play extra time, treating extra time and the second leg as two different things?

 

Or start from the time Ireland scored.

 

There's no way they would start it in the middle of the match like that and if they did, it would be from the time of the Henry handball with Ireland getting a free kick at that point.

[wolf stansson]

Platini is absolutely not going to let a replay happen.

[USSoccer]

Platini is absolutely not going to let a replay happen.

 

There's no doubt, although the fact that they didn't say "no" right away is odd. Rule V is clear: referee's decisions on the field are not subject to any sort of anything after the fact.

[Garwilly]

Platini is absolutely not going to let a replay happen.

 

There's no doubt, although the fact that they didn't say "no" right away is odd. Rule V is clear: referee's decisions on the field are not subject to any sort of anything after the fact.

 

 

Do you know the background/details of the 2005 match that was replayed?

[USSoccer]

Platini is absolutely not going to let a replay happen.

 

There's no doubt, although the fact that they didn't say "no" right away is odd. Rule V is clear: referee's decisions on the field are not subject to any sort of anything after the fact.

 

 

Do you know the background/details of the 2005 match that was replayed?

 

A PK was awarded improperly; the situations were different in that the ref in the 2005 match just plain didn't know the proper rule and his screwup of interpretation. This one comes down to the ref missing (4) calls on one play.

 

EDIT:

 

However, in the aforementioned instance, the referee was guilty of wrongly applying the rules rather than missing an offence. An indirect free-kick was awarded against Uzbekistan when one of their players encroached on the Bahrain penalty area as the Uzbeks successfully converted a penalty. The correct interpretation would have been to order the penalty to be retaken.

 

That ref was also one of the most incompetent in history; that game was riddled with poor decisions, and Bahrain had some heft within FIFA.

 

The FIA's appeal seemingly relies less on the rule and more on the "Fair Play" aspect; it also helps, imo, that Henry admitted he told the ref and the ref disregarded it.

 

The only way a replay happens is if public pressure just absolutely overwhelms Blatter and FIFA. Even the French media and other French outlets and organizations are blasting the refs and the outcome, so that helps, but as Wolf mentioned, Platini probably doesn't give an ish.

[bukie]

Platini is absolutely not going to let a replay happen.

 

There's no doubt, although the fact that they didn't say "no" right away is odd. Rule V is clear: referee's decisions on the field are not subject to any sort of anything after the fact.

 

 

Do you know the background/details of the 2005 match that was replayed?

That one was actually one of the biggest backfires of all time. Uzbekistan and Bahrain were in qualifying playoffs for an AFC spot in the 2006 World Cup (well, a playoff to a playoff with T&T). Uzbekistan, leading 1-0 at home in the first leg, was awarded a PK. They scored, but the referee disallowed it because another Uzbek player was in the box. Rather than re-attempt the PK, as was rule, the referee awarded Bahrain a free kick. Uzbekistan protested the 1-0 final result, saying it should be a forfeit and a 3-0 result. FIFA compromised with a game replay. That game? Ended 1-1, and Bahrain advanced on 2-1 aggregate.

 

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/iht/2005/09/07/sports/IHT-07soccer.html

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/news/newsid=27212.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(AFC)#Play-off