(no subject)

[blinker]

Sweden 0, Trinidad and Tobago 0. About 7 minutes to go in the game. Who knew that a scoreless soccer game could be so riveting?

Sweden was expected to run away with this one. They're dominating, but they haven't been able to score. For reasons that are beyond my limited knowledge of soccer regulations, Trinidad and Tobago has played most of the second half with only 10 men on the field (instead of the usual 11).

If all the games are this fun to watch, I have a seriously unproductive month ahead of me.

Comments

[jss]

Is this a bad time to feed the "ignorant American" stereotype and wonder why Sweden is playing two teams — both Trinidad AND Toibago?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm oversimplifing, I'm sure, as I don't watch soccer much either.

Soccer has Fouls, Yellow Cards, and Red Cards.

Fouls are usually hits that can be genuine accidents but someone is knocked down good. The Fouled team gets a free kick on the goal (basically, they get one, unmolested kick while the opposing team tries to stop it without moving much - I'm uncertain of the rules here)

Yellow Cards are warnings given to players by the Referee, usually for a late hit, a hard hit, or 'unsportsmanlike conduct'. If you get two yellow cards in a game (and, in this first round of FIFA play, if you get two yellow cards in the first three 'knockout' round games), it's treated like a Red Card.

Red Cards are very, very bad. Usually, this is actually starting a fight, sodomizing the ref, or other nasty, nasty things. You really have to work to get a Red Card straight away. This means you get booted out of the present game, and you can't play in the next game either.

Now, one of the T&T players got two yellow cards, and was ejected. When this happens, the team is not allowed to use a replacement player for the ejected person - They have to finish the game one body short. The next game, they will play with a full team, but can't use the player who was sent to the showers.

To use an American Football example: The game today was like the New England Patriots being held scoreless by the USC collegeate football squad.

As for all games being riveting - England/Paraguay was a snoozer. :) Your life should be safe. :)

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation! I caught the end of England/Paraguay and the commentators seemed to agree that it wasn't super-exciting.

[redandfiery.livejournal.com]

Apparently, it was sufficiently exciting for the English fans that the last bus home last night was unsettling, in a raucous, slightly aggressive, inebriation + testosterone, oh-christ-is-this-going-to-kick-off-before-my-stop kind of way. I spent most of the journey trying to reassure a couple of worried young Dutch women, over here for work experience, that it isn't *always* like this.

I don't like soccer at the best of times, but I really fucking *hate* the World Cup. It combines with our subcultures of football hooliganism and binge drinking in ways that make for a very nervous few weeks.

(The only saving grace is that, if I can get a day off work when England are playing, I can go to IKEA and have the shop to myself instead of having to fight my way through. Which is good, because I desperately need a new sofa and chairs.)

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Anonymous gave a good explanation as to why T&T played a man down. Yes, most of the games are this riveting. It's the greatest sporting event in the world! I'm watching a thrilling game between Holland and Serbia-Montenegro right now on BBC1. The Poland-Ecuador game was good. I missed the Argentina-Ivory Coast game, sadly, 'cause I was on a date at the Barbican, but I hear it was also one hell of a game. Yes, I can look forward to a very unproductive month in which I watch more t.v. than I have in the past 6 months!

Soccer phenom

[beowulfaz.livejournal.com]

Since it's summer break from the teaching gig, I have been able to watch a lot of really good soccer. I've been trying to persuade more of my friends to give it a chance, but since the US didn't make it out of group play, everyone seems to have given up. It's been three days since the last match, and I'm starting to go through withdrawl.