stitchface

Really, the Reynas look the worst in this non-story.

I'm guessing the probability of dying in a car accident on the way to the game far exceeds the likelihood of dying during the game.

absolutely. in fact, youth sports coaches are required to do sudden cardiac arrest training. with regard to Damar, a soccer player had a similar episode about a year and a half ago during a game. he is actually back to playing so hopefully similar outcome here.

I would imagine he was thinking about the most money . . . I wonder if he even knows where in the US KC is?

the original undisputed GOAT. And the only of the top 3 I saw play live (albeit before I was able to process what I was seeing and long after his prime).

The thing that kind of sucks for internationals is that they get stuck. The teams will always take everyone they can but they may have no chance to ever see the field (I don't know anything about these two to be clear)

So, who's buying Arsenal? They have a lot of good players - not sure they have the depth, but they are fun to watch!

club soccer resumes and less than 10 minutes later it's KDB to Haaland . . .

It was pretty bad. I remember Landon and Darke for a good 10 minutes had no idea whether Mexico or Poland would be through if the score remained the same. I think they kept saying Mexico was through on GD but in reality Poland was through on fair play. Once they realized fair play would come into play it took them another 5 minutes or so to know who had more yellows (hint: the answer is always Mexico). Then there was the whole segment when the WC started that was a promotional video for Qatar. In general the coverage was bad. I understand they have to balance between catering to hardcore soccer fans and soccer newbs but they didn't blur those lines well enough for my liking. Landon is awful. Headed for Alexei territory.

is it a good time to talk how terrible Fox was? Start to finish awful. Did they have a single good announcer or host? This is triggered by the Mbappe coverage - why are there so many articles about how he is a future star? For horsefeathers's sake, he won the 2018 world cup and is already a mega-star - just because you weren't paying attention doesn't change reality.

I think a 48-team world cup is going to kind of suck. I mean, does the world cup need 3 non-Mexico, US, and Canada teams? Not to mention all the others from other continents. Two weeks of blah before it gets interesting and much reduced odds of the upsets we saw this year. Pretty much all tension from qualifying also gone (maybe a good thing for us!)

I don't like the penalties but I don't see better options. They are worse at youth level where someone has to be the player that misses - brutal for children. I played keeper in high school and missed my one PK (off the right post) in a tourney game we ultimately lost after 13 tries. Wanted to die then and still want to die today. It's only been 22 years or so. I coach my daughter's team and we went to penalties in a cup final last spring. Our best player missed when we would have won if she scored. She is already super emotional so I was just thinking we better end up winning. Happily, we did. Turns out she thought it was over before her kick and lost focus but I know she wouldn't have recovered if we had lost.

not for me. you would give one team an unfair advantage for the 90 minutes of play. basically, you're starting the game with a 1/2 goal lead. yeah i guess that's true. for the record im fine with PKs, i don't have the same issue with them that people who hate them do. I don't like the penalties but I don't see better options. They are worse at youth level where someone has to be the player that misses - brutal for children.

this would hugely impact how the teams play though - not sure that would be good. Note the hated "away goals" rule that was just abandoned. isnt that the point? not for me. you would give one team an unfair advantage for the 90 minutes of play. basically, you're starting the game with a 1/2 goal lead.

Yeah, I was curious if this would work. The 3v3 OT in hockey is a fun way to open up the ice and allow more scoring opportunities. Is the soccer field just SO big that reducing the players becomes ridiculous? I play indoor soccer, which is 6 v 6 and has more hockey elements(free substitution, ball bounces off walls, etc). It also is played on roughly a hockey rink sized field, and feels pretty appropriately spaced in most cases. Now here's that size compared to a full soccer field to give you an idea of how much space would exist. great graphic. would be interesting to see who coaches sacrificed.

this would hugely impact how the teams play though - not sure that would be good. Note the hated "away goals" rule that was just abandoned.

Considering hockey has unlimited subs (lines/shifts) and soccer only allows 5? A lot more taxing. Not a useful comp. I think it's just really different physiologically. Soccer is like a 10k run with sprinting some percentage of the time.

also, what could have been more exciting than a golden goal walkoff win? I know, I know, a golden goal walkoff win with a VAR review . . .

I don't see how that is better than penalties. I think golden goal - at least is rewards a team that tries to score. if they aren't going to try, they aren't going to try.

there were seven 0-0s in the World Cup - I think 6 in the group stage. I wonder if changing the rule from tiebreaker from goal differential to goals scored would be motivating?

Golden goal makes for terrible soccer in most cases because teams play so conservatively for the fear of that one slip up. In theory that should be better with the current extra time rules, but often it's similar and teams are just waiting for PKs, which aren't great but save us from endless bad and static play. Player health/conditioning becomes a concern at a certain point too. My favorite variant on this is playing golden goal, but every few minutes(let's say 5) both teams take a player off the field. So by the end of the normal 30 minutes of extra time you're playing 6 v 6 which makes basically every possession a transition moment because of how much space is everywhere at all times. It also encourages teams to go for goal when they're closer to full strength before the chaos of being short handed sets in. Yeah, I was curious if this would work. The 3v3 OT in hockey is a fun way to open up the ice and allow more scoring opportunities. Is the soccer field just SO big that reducing the players becomes ridiculous? I think the players have all been on limit for 20-30 minutes already. That's a lot of ground to cover for exhausted players. I'm not sure of the psychology of it - Argentina was clearly going for it yesterday although they were always going to be favored on the penalty kicks so not sure teams really would be more conservative (knowing they also win if they score). Generally, I think the 30 minutes is too long - mostly because everyone is already exhausted.

I'm not sure it was really the best game ever but the stakes were high. I remember the 86 final was actually similar and then there was the Barcelona-PSG Champions League game a couple years ago . . . I actually got into watching by starting with the champions league highlight show.

I think everyone hates the shootout but they can't keep playing forever. My personal view is make it "golden goal" - ie whoever scores first wins (so Argentina wins when Messi score yesterday).

brother NOW is the time to get into it! Club soccer is outrageously fun. The pregame shows are great and are so low key compared to american pregames that last 4 hours and have 25 hosts. If you pick a premier league side to support the games are all over by the early afternoon at the latest and they all just take two hours. You'll never go back. Plus the World Cup is coming to the US in 26, so you get 3 1/2 years to get locked in before you can watch prime Mbappe set every record possible. Very true, I think the EPL is probably the best to follow for those who are looking into soccer for the 1st time. I started watching around the 94 WC and also got season tix to the Chicago Fire in their inaugural season as well as friendlies in Chicago. I started following Everton when Joe Max Moore joined the Blues. If you're not bothered by a Yankees/Dodgers WS every year, I would suggest the Scottish Premiership because the greatest rivalry in any sport is Rangers/Celtics, IMO. My recommendation would be the Bundesliga. It's much more balanced (aside from Bayern Munich) and the teams attack like crazy. Plus, it's on ESPN and much better coverage than NBC's coverage of premier league (games are instantly on demand so you can start them whenever you want). Games are on early in the US so you can watch over coffee and not spend the whole day.

I don't think this is true, and a large portion of the US is heavily invested in the World Cup while the US is in it, and that portion only grows the deeper the team gets. It just hasn't been there for about 20 years since the US hasn't gotten past the round of 16. Hell, for the round of 16 game this cycle, we were at a bowling alley, and every TV had the Netherlands-US game on, and there were over 100 people there watching it. It will also be in the summer when there are fewer competing sports.