World Cup 2010

[fanforever]

Germany always had great soccer teams. Franz Beckenbauer is one of my favorites soccer players of all time.

[Tambourine Man]

Australia has looked horrible. Are they this bad of a team or is Germany just a beast?

I barely know these teams but Germany looks like they could play with and beat anyone in the world. Australia's severely outclassed here.

[Fat Strat]

I thought the US should have been Australia 3 or 4 to 0 last week. Germany is better than us. They just finish so well and have such great awareness of where they are going to be on the pitch. Amazing stuff.

[Fat Strat]

They're starting to blame the ball again. Even alluding to the idea that it was the ball that caused the misplay by Green in the US/Eng game.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world- ... 1310W.html

I've watched and played a lot of soccer and I don't care if they were playing with a golf ball, a tennis ball, a billiards ball... Dempsey's shot should have been saved.

And in watching the highlights of the game they reference, I'm not seeing it there either. At no point did the keeper get in front of that ball or get in line with it's path. Maybe he was anticipating it spinning back into him, but a bouncer hit like that one with that force isn't going to spin back to the keeper's arms.

[MrSaigon]

I actually saw a ball at the department store today, and it seems kind of weird. Like, not entirely round. But don't they hate the ball every four years? and why don't the just standardize it?

Who could we get from the British for Howard?

[jim]

They're starting to blame the ball again. Even alluding to the idea that it was the ball that caused the misplay by Green in the US/Eng game.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world- ... 1310W.html

I think it was the Home Depot garden gloves he was wearing. What the hell is with that by the way? Was he planting tomatoes while the ball was at the other end?

[Fat Strat]

They're padded and "sticky". Soccer balls are generally pretty slick. They're a smooth feel, unlike a basketball or football. It's very difficult to catch anything shot hard with just your bare hands. The rubber pads on the gloves give you a much better grip and give a keeper a chance on even the hardest hit balls.

And they're useful for trimming rose bushes, garden work, and lawn mowing.


Edit: Here's a close up.

[jim]

Why all the padding? I understand the grippy part.

[robbotis]

How much "luck" (I hate that word, but I think you know what I mean) is there in soccer. When a 31 plays a 14 in baseball, nobody would be surprised in the least if the 31 ranked team beat the 14th. In soccer I assume it's less likely for "luck" to come into play?

Far less luck, I would think. After all, it wasn't "luck" that scored the US's goal. It was a serious error. You can get a lucky bounce in or touch on a corner every now and then, or a defender could slip and allow an inferior forward to score. A ball can hit a cross bar (see Altidore) or a goalie can guess right on a shot. Luck plays a part, no doubt, but you can usually only keep a good club down for so long.

It would be a real surprise, imo, if either Algeria or Slovenia beat us. A tie is possible with either team, just as it was with England. I think it was obvious that England was the better club today. Well, theoretically, it should be just as obvious or more obvious that America is better than Slovenia and Algeria.

I mean how often do the equivalent of the Pirates beat the equivalent of the Yankees? The Pirates would probably do it 1/3+ of the time. That often in soccer?

The top teams rarley lose in Soccer. I believe Spain, the #1 rated team, hasn't lost but once(to the US), in their last 49 games.

[thrill]

Why all the padding? I understand the grippy part.

Because you're catching something that's coming at you around an average of 60 mph.