US Mens Soccer Beats #1 Germany

MJMGator

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Durty South Swamp;n233420 said:
Agreed, I dont like it anymore than you do. What I will say is you rarely see the US doing it. It's those candy-assed euro teams like spain and france that are the main perpetraitors. One thing about the US's style of play that I have always enjoyed is that they in fact bring a very blue collar, physical attitude to the game. It's why we always have more fouls and cards than the other team by game's end but it also makes us a bit intimidating. Some of the african teams are similar - guana is one - in their physical play. I'll fully disclose I love the sport b/c I played it and understand it in a way that a casual spectator does not. I'll also agree that flopping is awful, in any sport. But the US national team isnt guilty of much of it.

The Euros are definetly the worst. That's why nothing has been done about it, because they wield so much power in the sport. I wish they would take a hardline approach and start issuing red cards for it and suspensions for multiple violations. Then it would stop almost immediately.
 

MidwestChomp

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MJMGator;n233422 said:
The Euros are definetly the worst. That's why nothing has been done about it, because they wield so much power in the sport. I wish they would take a hardline approach and start issuing red cards for it and suspensions for multiple violations. Then it would stop almost immediately.

Several years ago FIFA said they would have refs call penalties or give out yellows for flopping. I have seen a yellow card given out for this a handful of times. What happens most often is the flop is done in the box to draw a penalty kick, and the ref let's the play continue. Perhaps with Blatter out this will change. The Italians are horrible floppers as well.
 

TLB

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MJMGator;n233408 said:
I won't deny any of that, but the flopping issue is still a giant turn-off. How the powers that be continue to allow it to go on is beyond me. You don't see it in the women's game...at least not even close to the men's.


As Durty points out, there are teams (countries, more accurately, as it is prevalent in their national leagues as well, not just on the WC team) that are notorious for this behaviour. Likewise, there are some such as the US who don't employ this tactic much. Granted, as with 'injuries' in NCAA Football that were tactically done to slow down a fast offense, there are often reasons for this behaviour. First and foremost is to plant seeds in the ref's head to look for cheap shots so people don't get injured, and second is to build a ledger in the ref's head of percieved 'missed calls' and perhaps the need to even it out by calling others later (whether they are truly worth calling or not). Those are cheap reasons, I loathe them - play the damn game and let the best players and team win. But the NCAA football tactic is directly dervied from this, as it has long been a delaying tactic in all levels of play in soccer to burn the clock. There are other ways to achieve the clock effect - substitutions, placing the ball during a stoppage of play (free kick, walk around before throwing in, etc), just as there are likely similar other tactics used in other sports (baseball is notorious for being a lot of standing around and delaying to play mind games, time outs in football and basketball to ice players, fouling late in basketball to stop the clock, etc). This aspect, to me, is gamesmanship - all sports have it in different manners of application, but all sports have it.

That said, what to do about it? I recall even a few years ago at the last Men's WC that FIFA had had enough and instructed referees to start issuing yellow cards to players who intentionally dive on a non-foul play. Basically, the decision was the world had had enough, let's start penalizing this fake crybabies. Now, that's obviously subject to the referee's interpretation and application of the rule, and they will verbally warn a player before reaching for the cards. But the point is, YES, it is stupid and unwanted and it's not just blindly accepted going forward. I can't speak to this game, as I still haven't seen it, but overall there should be a turning of the tide away from allowing such behaviour. At a minimum, the ref and other players will play on - no acknowledgement or attention given to the flopper. This also will guide a change in behaviour.

You don't see it so much in the women's game, but you also see (or at least could see) a lot of hair pulling and punching in the women's game. These are some tough characters, and while it isn't always caught or called, it is rough. I will go back to the last statement about floppers with regard to the women's game - I did watch part of Brazil's opening game in the Women's WC, and Brazil (men and women) are one of the top teams known for flopping. A Brizilian player did flop around midfield early in the game, then proceeded to roll around for a few minutes. What happened? Not only did the other team refuse to kick it out of bounds (good sportsmanship typically applied in an injury situation), her own team kept on playing without her. An individual chose to try for attention and BOTH teams refused to acknowledge there was an issue beyond a tantrum. Eventually the ref ran over and asked if she needed medical attention, and while I had it muted, it appeared he gave her the 'get up and play' signal faster than she could reply to the question. She was exposed for being childish, and the rest of the game moved on without her. I'm hoping we'll see more of that in the men's game as a way of teaching future generations that tantrums don't get you anywhere.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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So with the wins over the Dutch and Germans, were we actually playing their #1 squads, or were they the backups? Just curious.
 

TLB

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Read an article on the win against Germany. What I got from it was they weren't concerned with the loss - they weren't playing what they considered a threat (in the US team), but it admitted the Americans were in better shape and it showed late in the game. I believe it also mentioned that some of the expected starters were not on the field as the game was scheduled on a date not recognized by FIFA as a date for international play requiring national players to be let free from their clubs = best players weren't available for Germany.
 

MidwestChomp

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Germany was not playing Klose or Muller their top goal scorers from the last few world cups. But, they still have plenty of fire power and they were playing in Germany. The US team was playing a lot of young guys with not a lot of experience on the world stage. The last goal by Wood was clutch and an absolute bullet.
 

MidwestChomp

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TLB;n233430 said:
A Brizilian player did flop around midfield early in the game, then proceeded to roll around for a few minutes. What happened? Not only did the other team refuse to kick it out of bounds (good sportsmanship typically applied in an injury situation), her own team kept on playing without her. An individual chose to try for attention and BOTH teams refused to acknowledge there was an issue beyond a tantrum. Eventually the ref ran over and asked if she needed medical attention, and while I had it muted, it appeared he gave her the 'get up and play' signal faster than she could reply to the question. She was exposed for being childish, and the rest of the game moved on without her. I'm hoping we'll see more of that in the men's game as a way of teaching future generations that tantrums don't get you anywhere.

Public shaming. Might be the best way to clean this up. I like it.
 

NCOGator

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MidwestChomp;n233464 said:
Public shaming. Might be the best way to clean this up. I like it.

If that was the case then Leborn wouldn't do it, but he does.
 

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