OFFICIAL WORLD CUP 2006

[red]

Can someone please tell me the difference between a foul, yellow card and red card? What is the penalty for committing a foul? What's the difference between a foul and a yellow card?

acording to the fifa refs in this cup, there is no difference between those three things

this is very general, and made up in my head (i haven't played the game in a long time)

but a foul is just a normal foul that happens, or is unintentional

a yellow card comes if there is an intentional foul, or maybe multiple nonintentional fouls

a red card is for a flagrant foul (intent to hurt) or for getting 2 yellow cards

someone else should be able to come along and clear this up

[MJZiggy]

Then does a regular foul incur a change of possession? Or is it something else? I saw fouls called, but couldn't figure out what the consequence of committing a foul was, except that if you got two yellow cards, you didn't play in the next game--in which case, I'm surprised the US didn't have more of them toward the game when desperation for the win should have overridden care of the consequences for the next game which they seemed less and less likely to be playing.

[red]

Then does a regular foul incur a change of possession? Or is it something else? I saw fouls called, but couldn't figure out what the consequence of committing a foul was, except that if you got two yellow cards, you didn't play in the next game--in which case, I'm surprised the US didn't have more of them toward the game when desperation for the win should have overridden care of the consequences for the next game which they seemed less and less likely to be playing.

yeah, on a normal foul the other team gets the ball. thats what happens when you see one of the guys grab the ball quick and kick it to a teamate. sometimes they touch it with their hand before they send it to a teamate.

it happens really quick, but the other team does get the ball at the spot of the foul

[red]

damnit

double post

[FavreChild]

Yeah, the rest of the world is probably happy.

And let's face it...we would've gotten killed by Brazil, anyway. Now we don't have to hear any bitching about how the great and powerful U.S. managed to "sneak" out of pool play.

Who will everyone be rooting for here on out? Or will you no longer watch?

[MJZiggy]

Who all advanced? I like England and they said today that the USA team would be cheering for Italy. I'm not sure who else is left.

[FavreChild]

A lot of the usual suspects, like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, England, Sweden, Portugal, Spain. I don't think there have been too many surprises other than Ghana!

I like Italy, also, but apart from that it's always fun to root for an underdog like Ghana. The rest of the countries have had their share of success...

[No Mo Moss]

The ref definately screwed us today, but I will blame Arena as well.

First he leaves a sub on the bench during a 9 on 10 match against Italy. This is inexcusable. Johnson could have been a real force against a tired Italy team. We could have won that game.

Second, he comes out in the 5-4-1 formation yet again, even though it hasn't worked. He knows he needs a win and yet starts with only one forward. Mc Bride and Johnson should have started this game. Convey should have started instead of Beasley. Arena did a lot for US soccer, but its time to move on.

Still though, this is nothing like 1998, where we lost to bad teams and were a bad team ourselves. We didn't play all that well against great teams and were beat. Ghana is a very good team.

I'd say as a whole American soccer will continue to improve. The core of our team is playing in Europe and will continue to get better. I would say Adu, Dempsey, Johnson all make their way to Europe soon. As

[red]

i'll pry root for brazil because they should win and that will make me feel good

lol

nah, i like brazil just because they are so much fun to watch, i also like italy, and the dutch. and the argentine fans are always great

it'll be fun to watch any of them, at this point they are all very good team and exciting to watch. and it is fun to root for the underdog. how nuts would it be if ghana could win it all? that might be the biggest thing to ever happen to that country

part of me is kind of happy we lost, the cup doesn't mean much to this country, but it means the world to a smaller country like ghana. so its nice to see them move on

[red]

The ref definately screwed us today, but I will blame Arena as well.

First he leaves a sub on the bench during a 9 on 10 match against Italy. This is inexcusable. Johnson could have been a real force against a tired Italy team. We could have won that game.

Second, he comes out in the 5-4-1 formation yet again, even though it hasn't worked. He knows he needs a win and yet starts with only one forward. Mc Bride and Johnson should have started this game. Convey should have started instead of Beasley. Arena did a lot for US soccer, but its time to move on.

Still though, this is nothing like 1998, where we lost to bad teams and were a bad team ourselves. We didn't play all that well against great teams and were beat. Ghana is a very good team.

I'd say as a whole American soccer will continue to improve. The core of our team is playing in Europe and will continue to get better. I would say Adu, Dempsey, Johnson all make their way to Europe soon. As

i completely argree with arena, time to move on. he played like sherman did (he played not to lose), but the problem is we HAD to score, and we HAD to win.

its time to get rid of the fruitey goofball

i don't think this helps american soccer one bit. we played good and tuff for 1 game out of 3 with the best, and looked like we didn't belong on the field in the other two. hopefully american kids are watching the other teams playing and being inspired by that, because i don't think the uS team laid any dreams in minds with this cup.

soccer in the US should improve just because all the cup games are on tv and people can see how much the rest of the world loves the game. and because the MLS is shelling out big bucks to build awesome soccer only stadiums for their teams to bring the fans to the games.

but IMO, the us team didn't do anything to help soccer in this country by the way they played, and might have done more to hurt it

[No Mo Moss]

I was reading that the power companies had to beg the government to shut down the gold mine production for the day so they could generate enough electricity for all of the TVs. If you're going to lose, Ghana is about the best case scenario for taking your place. Go Black Stars.

[No Mo Moss]

I don't think they hurt it at all. The performance against Italy was one of the guttiest displays I'ver ever seen. We also had more "bad calls" then I can ever remember and still almost made it through. This loss is not a step backward. A lot more people were exposed to the sport because of its HDTV coverage and it will continue to grow. 1998 was a step back, this was not. Had we been in say Mexicos group we would be through. The future of the US team is bright. Johnson, Dempsey, Adu, Onyweu, Bocanegra, Howard, Convey, Cherundolo. They have a very nice core to build off of. Most of those players play in Europe and they will get a lot better by doing that.

[SkinBasket]

The officiating has been inconsistant and dreadful throughout the world cup. Not that it mattered to the end result much, but giving Ghana a PK for what was not even close to being a foul was inexcusable - just like any number of calls that have changed matches this year. If I had to guess, I would say it looks like FIFA told them to be tough on fouls, and that meant something different to each ref, just like the officials in the NFL when they decided to "crack down" on illegal contact.

If anything, they should err on the side of less calls in the world cup. Let the damned players decide the match, not blown non-goal calls and gimme game-winning PKs.

[Fosco33]

The officiating has been inconsistant and dreadful throughout the world cup. Not that it mattered to the end result much, but giving Ghana a PK for what was not even close to being a foul was inexcusable - just like any number of calls that have changed matches this year. If I had to guess, I would say it looks like FIFA told them to be tough on fouls, and that meant something different to each ref, just like the officials in the NFL when they decided to "crack down" on illegal contact.

If anything, they should err on the side of less calls in the world cup. Let the damned players decide the match, not blown non-goal calls and gimme game-winning PKs.

I'll guarantee some of these refs will not be there in '10 and that FIFA will take a hard look at their messaging. I agree completely with you SB.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The ref definately screwed us today, but I will blame Arena as well.

First he leaves a sub on the bench during a 9 on 10 match against Italy. This is inexcusable. Johnson could have been a real force against a tired Italy team. We could have won that game.

Second, he comes out in the 5-4-1 formation yet again, even though it hasn't worked. He knows he needs a win and yet starts with only one forward. Mc Bride and Johnson should have started this game. Convey should have started instead of Beasley. Arena did a lot for US soccer, but its time to move on.

Still though, this is nothing like 1998, where we lost to bad teams and were a bad team ourselves. We didn't play all that well against great teams and were beat. Ghana is a very good team.

I'd say as a whole American soccer will continue to improve. The core of our team is playing in Europe and will continue to get better. I would say Adu, Dempsey, Johnson all make their way to Europe soon. As

I agree with your take on the 5-4-1 formation. I don't necessarily agree that bringing Johnson in against Italy would have been a good move. I agree with Arena that experience was needed int hat situation.