Posted on 02/04/2013 10:56:36 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
Soccer’s American detractors have accused the sport of being too slow, too low-scoring and too full of diving players. They can now add corruption to the list.
Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, released today the upsetting findings of a match-fixing investigation that began last summer. The probe found 680 suspicious soccer matches, including qualifiers for the World Cup and European Championship, as well as two Champions League games. The report indicates that 380 of the suspected matches were played in Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I can. Baseball, gridiron.....
Soccer is played at speed. Players misplace passes, and they miss goal chances. Just as gridiron players throw interceptions or drop passes in the endzone.
A soccer coach trains his players in ballskills and tactics during the week and discussed tactics, on gameday, the players by definition make or break the game by their own onfield decisions. A coach will change formations, tell players to change things onfield (drop back, get closer to an opponent, get wider etc etc), make substitutions, BUT they dont have the ability per play to stop and change things as an NFL/MLB coach does, because soccer is a continuous game.
If you think soccer is a game just of dumb luck, you are the ignorant one, not me.
‘Sorry, but I can’t imagine a dumber and more boring sport than soccer . . .’
Gridiron: a sport where some of the players are so fat that any other sport would laugh at them being ‘professional athletes’. Where players can play for an entire career and never touch the ball. Where 60m of game takes 3-4 hrs. With built in stops for TV. ‘Toughguys’ padded up to the max. Who need oxygen every time they hit the sideline.
Baseball: need I say more?. Makes cricket look exciting. Based on a game played by little English girls in the 17th/18th centuries. And its players are either steroid freaks or podgy. A sport whose greatest player was a fat man. Another a racist. Another a gambling cheat. A sport ‘so American’ it was actually invented by the English and whose greatest hit in 1951 was by a Scotsman.
(Although generally I've found a good way to shut them up is to ask them for a list of any/all sports they've actually had the stones to compete in, especially at a high level....nothing but crickets after that most of the time.)
Sorry, but I can't imagine a dumber and more boring and ignorant statement than the above. Luv that homoerotic Armpitball, don't we?
Yeah, I can’t much disagree . . . baseball, a game that can go on for 15 innings with a 1-0 score can be very nerveracking . . . and football, with big fat slobs on the line making millions . . . but you gotta admit . . . without the NFL, most of the players, like Lewis, would be in prison. So, American sports are keeping our prison population down.
It’s chauvinism and false patriotism. Note how the completely commercialized championship games of both baseball and American “football” are called “World Championships”, with teams of a single country playing, and in one sport played in a single country on the planet, and the other in a handful of cultural colonies of the US. Chauvinism, false patriotism and envy.
IMHO, the only real manly sports are rugby and Australian Rules Football . . . smash mouth at its best . . . hardly any padding, shorts, T-shirts . . . bone snapping at its best . . . but hardly shown here in the U.S.A.
Really miss Australian Rules Football.
Here’s the twist:
I LIKE GRIDIRON!. I am an NFL fan of 31 years and I love the CFL, Arena etc. I was just winding you up a bit. Saying as you were bashing soccer. I thought I’d bash gridiron a bit.
I DO hate baseball though. I am OK with basketball and I like ice hockey.
Yep!
Because it's about more than sports, especially in Europe.
There, you have rivalries between cities, towns and countries that have gone on for hundreds of years before we became independent.
The great rivalries of the world have social and political undertones as well. Rangers/Celtic (Glasgow) has its roots in The Troubles. Manchester United/Liverpool goes back to the War of the Roses. Real Madrid/Barcelona is Franco versus Basque separatism played on a field. That means something to people over there.
It's got nothing to do with how many goals are scored, though some people do like games where scoring actually means something because it's very difficult to do. It has everything to do with history, tradition, politics and in some cases, religion.
I may be anti-Globalist, but I like soccer.
My nephew plays soccer for his private, Christian, home-school themed high school. Yes, quite a few Social Conservative Americans follow and participate in soccer.
Now....not sure if it’s because my great-granpa was born in Barrhead (just south of Glasgow)....but our family likes soccer.
FWIW, I'm actually a fan of baseball and gridiron - and really just about any competition that requires great skill/athleticism. (Ravens season ticket owner - price no doubt about to go up!)
The nice thing about the CFL and Arena is that they're not millionaires acting like thugs . . . they're closer to the fans social status than the NFL thugs.
well, you should just leave it at “I don’t get it”. Your characterizations are off, every sport can be perceived this way. Baseball? ...I can’t stand it, yet the fans just tell me all of it’s nuances make it great, funny too....many are the same people that don’t like soccer.
I think the problem is that you don’t appreciate many aspects, probably because you never played (seriously at least). The game is very difficult, try making an accurate pass over 50 yards to somebody in-stride. There are many things the fans are appreciating during the game, not just goals. ...also, in what major sport do players not celebrate “like they won the superbowl”? Football players act like they did something special each time they just do their job!!! ...if you check out soccer highlight shows (English Premier League for example), you’ll see plenty of incredibly skillful goals, certainly not “half-assed”.
Let’s break down the scoring in American Football to only 1 point per touchdown. Let’s look at the scores for the World Champion Ravens this last season:
vs. CIN 5 - 1 Win
vs. PHL 2 - 3 Loss
vs. NE 4 - 3 Win
vs. CLE 3 - 1 Win
vs. KC 0 - 0 Tie
vs. DAL 4 - 3 Win
vs. HOU 1 - 5 Loss
vs. CLE 3 - 0 Win
vs. OAK 7 - 2 Win
vs. PIT 1 - 1 Tie
vs. SD 1 - 1 Tie
vs. PIT 2 - 2 Tie
vs. WAS 4 - 3 Win
vs. DEN 2 - 4 Loss
vs. NYG 3 - 2 Win
vs. CIN 2 - 2 Tie
That would have resulted in the Ravens having an 8-3-5 record. Not a lot of high scoring games there either.
Maybe if soccer had different points for each type of goal? Like 5 points for an open field goal, 4 points for a goal off a corner kick and 2 points for a penalty kick? Would that help? Then you could see things like “Manchester beats Arsenal 10 to 0” instead of 2 to 0. Would the extra points really help?
Or have you not actually taken time to watch the game? Remember, only 3 substitutions for the whole game. Of the 11 players who take the field, at least 8 have to be running for the entire 45 minutes half. No timeouts, no clock stoppage, and if a player commits 2 fouls in a game that the ref considers significant enough, he gets ejected and cannot play in the next game as well. A single very serious offense can result in the same penalty.
Honestly, though, the rest of the world should be glad most Americans think like you do about soccer. If we ever became serious about it, we would dominate.
Actually, I went to an Arsenal Game home game in London in September. Fascinating. No beer allowed in the stands. Actually, no vendors anywhere in the stadium aisles. Couldn't quite figure out what they were singing and chanting, but the Chelsea fans were blocked off in a pie wedge surrounded by cops (bobbies), one at the end of each row. It was fascinating though to listen to the fans. Almost everyone stayed in their seats the whole game rather than roaming around like they do here in the states.
But Arsenal lost 2-1. So, whenever they're on TV I try to "dvr" them. It's boring as hell, but I can always say I was there.
There's not a rugby team in the world that could put on pads and compete in the NFL.
Two totally different games with the NFL being the most violent and exciting to watch.......
And there’s not an NFL team that could take theirs off and compete in the top rugby leagues (Aviva English Premiership, Celtic League, Super 15). Rugby union or rugby league.
Totally different?. Gridiron does have its roots in rugby at least.
Most violent?. I assume you dont actually watch any rugby. If you did, you’d know they are both brutal sports and rugby (either code) gives up nothing in violence to the NFL/CFL. In fact, outside North America, its seen as the more brutal and violent of the two.
Rugby (union) is a great game to watch. League not so much imo.
Why is it then that America has a soccor team that plays internationally, but no other country has a Football, Baseball or Basketball team to play against ours? In other words, how can it be offensive to call it the World Series when no other countries are willing or able to field a team?
Tomorrow (Wednesday)!!!
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL FRIENDLIES
11:20 – Japan vs. Latvia
12:30 – Myanmar vs. Philippines
15:00 – Azerbaijan vs. Liechtenstein
15:00 – Korea Republic vs. Croatia
16:00 – Moldova vs. Kazakhstan
17:00 – Hungary vs. Belarus
18:00 – Norway vs. Ukraine
18:00 – Slovenia vs. Bosnia Herzegovina
18:00 – Cyprus vs. Serbia
19:00 – Albania vs. Georgia
19:00 – Spain vs. Uruguay
19:00 – Israel vs. Finland
19:15 – Turkey vs. Czech Republic
19:30 – Malta vs. Northern Ireland
19:30 – FYR Macedonia vs. Denmark
20:00 – Romania vs. Australia
20:00 – Nepal vs. Pakistan
20:00 – India vs. Palestine
20:00 – Kenya vs. Libia
20:00 – Tanzania vs. Cameroon
20:30 – England vs. Brazil
20:30 – Iceland vs. Russia
20:30 – Netherlands vs. Italy
20:30 – Sweden vs. Argentina
20:30 – Greece vs. Switzerland
20:45 – Belgium vs. Slovakia
20:45 – Wales vs. Austria
20:45 – Scotland vs. Estonia
20:45 – Ireland vs. Poland
21:00 – France vs. Germany
21:30 – Paraguay vs. El Salvador
21:45 – Portugal vs. Ecuador
22:00 – Chile vs. Egypt
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