World Cup

[ClementeFanOh]

Steve- while the original thread was designed to celebrate the world's
biggest sports tournament, I'll dive in and contest your remarks which
downplay the sport...

First, the sheer amount of kids playing in the US is noteworthy- it ain't going
away. Next, the WC's purpose isn't to grow the sport, it's to crown a world
champion. The sport is growing just fine on it's own, whether casual US
fans want it or not...

Regarding "boredom", I can't identify with that comment at all. Soccer is a
sport of surpassing beauty and skill, and is rarely "boring". The NFL, on the
other hand, is BO-RING. Tons of pregame blather, commercials, time outs,
overly long halftimes, and utterly colorless play that goes on for 3 1/2
hours ( I love the endless debate among announcers as they try to
parse whether some luckless WR "made a football move" as he crossed the
goal line- riveting stuff!) Golf? BORING. I'm sure you've heard people claim
they don't understand soccer, which is hilarious as it's painfully simple. If
we understand baseball and it's gazillion rules, we can understand soccer
and it's 17 Laws...

Regarding flopping, couldn't agree more. Keep in mind there are players
who don't do it, and a gender (female) that generally is too proud to do it.
Just like I root for Tom Brady to get drilled inot next year because of his
relentless chiseling and whining, I root against the play actors who flop.
It's okay to do that

So, back to the point of the thread. Can't wait to see how the round of 16
plays out, the US could have done a lot worse than Netherlands!

Trent King

[Peter_Spaeth]

It seems by and large Americans prefer sports where there are discrete plays, or in the case of basketball nominally continuous play but with innumerable breaks in the action where everything resets. Soccer and hockey to an extent are much more continuous, and also don't have a lot of statistics to keep track of during the game, so it's a very different mentality.

[ClementeFanOh]

Peter- keen observation, I find similarities between soccer and hockey. I
understand soccer 1000 times more but think hockey players are skilled
athletes (and yes, I know that's an understatement).

Back to thread purpose- will be fascinating to keep an eye on Pulisic's health.
Will Argentina remember they are the #3 team in the world? Trent King

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Peter- keen observation, I find similarities between soccer and hockey. I
understand soccer 1000 times more but think hockey players are skilled
athletes (and yes, I know that's an understatement).

Back to thread purpose- will be fascinating to keep an eye on Pulisic's health.
Will Argentina remember they are the #3 team in the world? Trent King

I think it's definitely an understatement to call hockey players just "skilled".
MOST skilled is arguably more apt.

ESPN did a thorough study on which sports are the most difficult and skilled, with Hockey ranked #1 for team sports, second only to boxing overall.

Devised by a panel of experts that included "sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail", the study was based on 10 categories, or skills, including Endurance, Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Hand-Eye Coordination and others.

Boxing scored 72.37, with hockey close behind at 71.75. Football was second for team sports and third overall, scoring 68.37.

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

[ClementeFanOh]

Back to the topic- Spain OUT! Wow. Morocco was stout. And France /England looming. Great stuff. Trent King

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

I think it's definitely an understatement to call hockey players just "skilled".
MOST skilled is arguably more apt.

ESPN did a thorough study on which sports are the most difficult and skilled, with Hockey ranked #1 for team sports, second only to boxing overall.

Devised by a panel of experts that included "sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail", the study was based on 10 categories, or skills, including Endurance, Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Hand-Eye Coordination and others.

Boxing scored 72.37, with hockey close behind at 71.75. Football was second for team sports and third overall, scoring 68.37.

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

There must be some relationship between the skill level required in hockey and the fact that so many hockey players are playing into their 40s when obviously their physical gifts have diminshed.

Back to soccer, I hate games decided on penalties. Unimaginably bad performance by Spain in that respect today.

[packs]

That ranking is fundamentally flawed to me. It might be difficult to be an elite basketball player but it's not difficult to play basketball. How does it end up so highly ranked?

[ClementeFanOh]

Who will win (versus who you WANT to win):

1) Will win- Brazil, Netherlands, France, Portugal

2) Want to win- Croatia, Argentina, England, Morocco

Basically, if I'm rooting for them, they'll probably lose

Trent King

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It seems by and large Americans prefer sports where there are discrete plays, or in the case of basketball nominally continuous play but with innumerable breaks in the action where everything resets. Soccer and hockey to an extent are much more continuous, and also don't have a lot of statistics to keep track of during the game, so it's a very different mentality.

Interesting insight. Never thought of that. And more bettting opportunities when there is a plethora of individual stats, etc.

[ALR-bishop]

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awrj...V0_0RpL7zhP0Q-

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awrj...UZ1E18Up300YU-

[ClementeFanOh]

Mexico is out- YES!!!

Trent King

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Mexico is out- YES!!!

Trent King

Actually I will miss the team. They lost yes but they have an exciting brand of play

[58pinson]

Was also hoping for Mexico to go forward. Manager will surely be sacked. While on the subject of the Mexico - Saudi Arabia match - has anyone ever seen a more unorthodox keeper than the Saudi goalie? After watching that game I find it unbelievable that the Saudi side defeated Argentina.

Belgium was just dealt out and I think Martinez will be under a lot of scrutiny about some of his player decisions. This is a very talented side (as are Croatia), deeper than almost any other squad, and it seemed pretty obvious that a lot of the substitutes brought more to the pitch than the players that started ahead of them. Lukaku may not be allowed back into the country!

On to the afternoon matches!