And Ced, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a fan of a team. I think maybe fandom is overriding truth a bit as well. It's OK, but don't try to tell us you're being perfectly objective while we aren't.
And Ced, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a fan of a team. I think maybe fandom is overriding truth a bit as well. It's OK, but don't try to tell us you're being perfectly objective while we aren't.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
I didn't throw that out there. You did and early in this thread.
Someone disagrees with you they are biased lol.
I know all about that.
This is the time. The real Reds organization is back.
I want to thank the participants in this thread for all the great discussions and shared opinions about the tournament. I enjoyed reading views from soccer fans from the US, UK, Germany, Italy and Australia (and any other countries I inadvertentlly missed) and it helped provide me with a broader view of the tournament than I would have had otherwise. It will be a part of my memory of the 2006 world cup and it would be great if we could reprise a similiar thread in four years.
Actually, yeah. I think Roberto Gotta is putting some heavy gilding on that lily.Originally Posted by Cedric
I'll give Italy some credit. When it chose to attack during the tournament, it pushed more players forward than in previous years, but outside of 12 minutes today and the overtime against Germany, they showed darn little of it in the last two games. They were fun against Ukraine, but Ukraine was just about the most porous, overmatched final eight team you're likely to see.
What game were you watching? Italy spent the last 90 minutes of the game almost never crossing the midfield line. How can a team that mounts no attack be getting defenders into the attack? Sagnol and Ribery were working the right and Abidal and Malouda were working the left all game long, pulling frequent switches.
The coaches may have both deployed a 4-5-1 on paper, but the French clearly sent more players forward. They were winning the overwhelming bulk of the balls in the midfield and their transition from defense to offense was light years ahead of the Italians. Meanwhile, the Italians played what amounted to a six- or seven-man backline for the bulk of the game. Like I said, they do it to perfection. Teams can break themselves running at the stone wall the Italians construct. It won them a World Cup, but don't tell me they don't construct that wall or that they're playing attacking football. I'm fully cognizant of what the Italians do well and they certainly deserve their due for it, but outside of winning it's a style that just about no one wants to emulate.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
What a great post. I feel the exact same way.
I hope this thread can be put in the archives? That would be sweet.
Italy and France will have a rematch in September (Euro 2008 qualifier).
Well said. I would like to suggest an ongoing thread devoted to the coming European season. Perhaps we can start it right here in this thread? Or should we start a new one?
Just as a side question, FIFA's long been trying to figure out how to boost scoring and I'm wondering if it isn't time to revamp offsides, making it more of a hockey-type rule than basing it solely on the position of the defenders. Perhaps something could be worked by extending the 18-yard line across the field.
And thanks to WilyMo for starting this thread and to everybody who joined in. Sometimes I skipped right past the baseball side of the board just to see what was going on in this discussion.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Offsides is almost an impossible rule to properly enforce. A lineman has to judge the exact position of moving players when the ball up the field is kicked. They've tweaked that rule after the last two WC's; first they changed it from the offensive player having to be behind the defense to even with the defense, then they made the passive offside rule. I'm not sure if they'll change it again.
Viewership keeps going up. Despite the frustrations of diving players and low scoring games, I'm not sure that a revamp is in order.
Ahh...the NY Daily News. They just ooze class.
AWARDS FROM THE 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY™
FIFA Fair Play award - BRAZIL & SPAIN
They might have seen their hopes of lifting the Trophy dashed at a premature stage, but Brazil and Spain did not return home empty-handed, with each of their players picking up medals for their record of sportsmanship and good conduct during Germany 2006. This particular award is decided using a points system established by the FIFA Committee for Ethics and Fair Play, and the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) named Carlos Alberto Parreira and Luis Aragones's sides as joint-winners after they picked up a shared total of 886 from the 1,000 available.
adidas Golden Ball - Zinedine ZIDANE (FRA)
Arguably the greatest trophy available to an individual footballer went to one of the game’s most spectacular players of the past decade. Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo, Silver and Bronze Ball winners respectively, certainly ran him close, but despite that Final red card, Zidane undoubtedly provided some of Germany 2006’s most memorable moments, and the accredited media at the FIFA World Cup Final recognised this in their voting.
adidas Golden Shoe – Miroslav KLOSE (GER)
His winning tally might have been the lowest since Chile 1962, but Klose undoubtedly deserved this award having finished two clear of Hernan Crespo, Ronaldo and Thierry Henry with a tally of five goals that saw him move into third place in the list of top German goalscorers at FIFA World Cup finals.
Gillette Best Young Player – Lukas PODOLSKI (GER)
Emerging at the head of a 40-strong field of candidates, Lukas Podolski was named the inaugural Gillette Best Young Player by FIFA’s TSG after scoring three goals and contributing boundless energy to Germany’s enthralling FIFA World Cup campaign. “This is a big motivation for myself to keep on improving in my career and to play a even better World Cup in four years' time,” said the 21-year-old after collecting his award.
Lev Yashin Award – Gianluigi BUFFON (ITA)
No surprises here. Gianluigi Buffon produced as close to a perfect tournament as can be humanly possible, conceding just twice during Italy’s triumphant campaign, once from a Christian Zaccardo own goal and then from Zidane’s audacious penalty in the Final. The FIFA TSG members were responsible for this decision, and so faultless was Buffon throughout the tournament that it cannot have taken them long to arrive at it.
The Most Entertaining Team presented by Yahoo! - PORTUGAL
The winners of this particular award were decided upon by FIFAworldcup.com's users, who declared that Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal had set their pulses racing more than any other team.
Not to extend the discussion between MWM and Cedric but here's a link to an article regarding the final vis a vis the lead up games.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world-cup...383678139.html
I also add my thanks to WilyMoRocks and only four more years. Hopefully we will be celebrating a REDS WS before then.
It would certainly open more space in the midfield, as backs would have to at least respect the ability of strikers to get behind the defense. Plus, I think it'd broaden the audiance here in America tremendously. Its against our very nature as a society to penalize people for beating the opposition going deep.
However, if you're going to be radical and change rules for scoring, I say pull a man off the pitch and go to 10 on 10. Give teams an extra substitution per match to compensate. Fewer people will definately mean more wide-open spaces and more runs at the goal.
Cincinnati Reds: Farm System Champions 2022
I disagree with changing a part of the game as fundamental as offside. Call me old fashioned, but I actually like the rule.
Darn, CE stole my idea of making it a 10 man game. I've also been thinking about what could be done with offsides, which is the most obvious answer to increasing scoring. But every idea I came up with would require even more subjectivity from the line judges. And that's the last thing we want. But I actually like M2's idea. How about making a line at about 25 yards where there would be no offsides if the BALL was inside this line when passed? Or just extending the 18 yard line would work.
Another thing would be to have some kind of requirement that only a certain number of players could be on a certain side of the field. That would stop teams from putting their entire team back in their box once they have a goal.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
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