So many World Championships at the moment. Field hockey in The Hague and soccer in Brasil. Not really USA sports, although they reached the semifinals in hockey (great job!) and looking forward to see how they're doing with soccer. But, it looks like we have to beat our Australians friends three times in a row. Today: Hockey (women): we did it! Tomorrow: Hockey (men): let's hope for the best. Wednesday: Soccer. We beat Spain with 5-1, so ...
For our American friends, catenaccio is a defense-based game invented by the Italians. Extremely boring to watch ;-).
For this American, all soccer games fall under the "extremely boring to watch" category.
...unlike say... baseball, Nascar racing, or a riveting game of golf... right? :O)
Ray
I'm a baseball fan, but rarely ever actually watch it. When I do, I usually doze off. NASCAR doesn't do anything for me, and golf is more nap time programming.
So, yeah, just like baseball, NASCAR and golf. You can add tennis to the list, too. Oddly enough, though, I'll sit down and watch a marathon when it's on. : - )
I'm a baseball fan, but rarely ever actually watch it. When I do, I usually doze off. NASCAR doesn't do anything for me, and golf is more nap time programming.
So, yeah, just like baseball, NASCAR and golf. You can add tennis to the list, too. Oddly enough, though, I'll sit down and watch a marathon when it's on. : - )
In that case I'd recommend Tour de France for you :).
Alex, I agree that the new Italian game is far better than before. Very light and adaptable. Let's see if they still have it.
Okay, back to basics. Ever four years or so, I do watch this game...because everyone else does.
But I watch it bemused, 'cause I cannot figure out the rules.
Yes, I understand two teams whack at the ball with everything but their hands to get it
inside the opposing team's goal posts.
So, is there some place that will tell me what the degree of difficulty is?
Yeah, I know, sad. But I'm not blonde, and I really want to know.
:)
I have absolutely no idea what 'Soccer' is. The wWORLD CUP is all about FOOTBALL! :)
In case you didn't know, when you say "football" when speaking English we don't know if you mean association football, American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league football and rugby union football.
The more elegant term soccer is based on the term for a light leather shoe and was used in a plan for an Elizabethan Castle plan (1590). So the world can correct us Americans all you like, "association football" is not as nice a term as soccer.
Whenever I've seen it, it always looked more like "Australian No-Rules Football" ... The the referee's signal for a successful touch (or whatever they call a score) is alone worth the price of admission ... ;-)
So, is there some place that will tell me what the degree of difficulty is?
It's about like ice hockey -- four goals is above average, 2-1 or 1-0 is not an unusual outome. The hardest thing to understand (and what keeps the scoring down) is the "offsides" rule, which basically says you can't have an attacker sneak way behind the defenders and receive a long pass for a one-on-one with the goalie.
If the ball goes out of bounds over the end line last touched by an offensive player the defenders get a free kick from in front of the goal (the small rectangle), if last touched be a defender the attacking teamm gets a free kick fro the nearest corner.
If the ball goes out over the sideline, the ball is thrown in using two hands over the head.
If there is a foul or hand-ball committed the offended team gets a free kick from the spot of the foul, unless it occurs inside the penalty area (the big rectangle) they get an unobstructed free kick from 11 meters (12 yards) in front of the goal with only the goalie to defend it ("penalty kick").
In the pro game, there are two 45-minute halves, with the clock running continuously, but if a substantial amount of time is spent dealing with (possibly) injured players the referee may add an arbitrary amount of additional "injury time" to the end of the game, though the players don't know how much (if any) time has been added.
Players who commit flagrant fouls may be cautioned ("yellow card") by the referee, two such violations (or a really flagrant foul) earns the player a "red card" and ejection from the game -- the team is NOT allowed to replace the ejected player and must play shorthanded for the rest of the game.
The field is about 140 x 80 yards, and pro players typically run between 6-8 miles during the course of a game.
Well look at that.. Costa Rica turned Uruguay over in fine style, now sit back and watch what England do to the Italians...
;)
OK it's a fair cop..
Some positives for sure England actually attacked well. now we have an interesting scenario.
I'm under no illusions about England but would be nice to get out of the group.
Italy played well, solid, not boring at all. Good game.
I have absolutely no idea what 'Soccer' is. The wWORLD CUP is all about FOOTBALL! :)
In case you didn't know, when you say "football" when speaking English we don't know if you mean association football, American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league football and rugby union football.
The more elegant term soccer is based on the term for a light leather shoe and was used in a plan for an Elizabethan Castle plan (1590). So the world can correct us Americans all you like, "association football" is not as nice a term as soccer.
Like I said 'FOOTBALL'
I can only go on my past teachings, plain and simple, our wonderful game is simply called 'Football' not with rugby in front of it, or American nor Gaelic, plain simple 'Football'.
Hope you understand, I am not taking the piss out of anyone, call it what you like.
Well look at that.. Costa Rica turned Uruguay over in fine style, now sit back and watch what England do to the Italians...
;)
OK it's a fair cop..
Some positives for sure England actually attacked well. now we have an interesting scenario.
I'm under no illusions about England but would be nice to get out of the group.
Italy played well, solid, not boring at all. Good game.
Good match for sure and England impressed me - good luck for the rest of the championship :)
Your reply helped a lot, GeneralE. Thanks for taking the time to send it along.
You're welcome ... it was interesting to write it out and see how simple the rules are compared to almost any other big-time sport.
Originally posted by MAK:
Like I said 'FOOTBALL'
I can only go on my past teachings, plain and simple, our wonderful game is simply called 'Football' not with rugby in front of it, or American nor Gaelic, plain simple 'Football'.
Hope you understand, I am not taking the piss out of anyone, call it what you like.
Call it what you like, the original official name of the game is Association Football, as a parsing of the governing body's acronym (FIFA) would reveal.
Originally posted by Dictionary.com:
soc·cernoun
a form of football played between two teams of 11 players, in which the ball may be advanced by kicking or by bouncing it off any part of the body but the arms and hands, except in the case of the goalkeepers, who may use their hands to catch, carry, throw, or stop the ball.
Origin: 1890–95; (As)soc(iation football)
I always find it strange that so many American's are flummoxed by FIFA rules when they can explain baseball's new rules for a catcher blocking the plate with ease. MLB's rulebook runs 125 pages of PDF.
NFL's "official playing rules and casebook" are contained in a very densely written book running several hundred pages, and the shadings of how much contact is allowed on a coverage run by defensive backs is not even really written down
There are 17 rules in soccer, and only 9 apply to play on the field. (The other 8 spell out the size of of the field, the type of ball Ect.)FIFA's rules come in a small magazine format and runs about 23 pages. It is a very simple game, played by the same rules by kindergardners and professionals around the world. Yet those simple rules allow a flexibility of style that can express the national personality from the rationalist stifling triangle defense of the Germans to the exuberant mid-field play of the Brazilian's beautiful game.
