The football (soccer) thread

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, Germany won against Costa Rica, but it wasn't enough to qualify, because although both got 4 points, Spain had a better goal difference; I'm sorry Germany didn't pass, but at least this unpredictability of results is what makes football such a wonderful sport to watch.

Ah, yes, that makes sense now.

*Bummed about the US being out, but the Dutch did play very well; they kept blocking the middle "lane" of the field and it seemed that the Americans didn't want to go down the outsides.  And were excellent at individually targeting and sticking next to our players.  At least some of their players too are really tall/big!  A 6'8" goalkeeper?!  In any event, our young team will learn and grow from this experience I trust. 

I had hope when we scored our first and only goal that we could at least tie things before time ran out (think that it's then penalty kicks after that?  Or is there another 30 minutes added on first?  I forget how it works).  There was something like 10-15 minutes left on the clock; however, when the Nederlands scored their third goal, that little bird called Hope flew away from me. 

Back from some quick errands to catch Australia vs. Argentina.

PD

[Herman]

Bummed about the US being out, but the Dutch did play very well; they kept blocking the middle "lane" of the field and it seemed that the Americans didn't want to go down the outsides.  And were excellent at individually targeting and sticking next to our players.

The Dutch team didn't sound too happy with their work yet, they need to get better, was the general tone, after the match.

[Jo498]

@Pohjolas Daughter
45+45 min (with break of 15) regular time, if a tie after this, 15+15 min extension. If still or again tied, penalties, first 5 each team (alternating), then directly alternating penalties so any one miss vs. score will decide.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

@Pohjolas Daughter
45+45 min (with break of 15) regular time, if a tie after this, 15+15 min extension. If still or again tied, penalties, first 5 each team (alternating), then directly alternating penalties so any one miss vs. score will decide.

Hi, thanks for the info.  As I was typing it, I was thinking "...there's something about 15 minutes"

What do you mean about "with break of 15" though Is that half-time?  I do remember seeing penalty kicks where, if I'm recalling correctly, that they went between one team and the other and weighing up who missed penalty kicks vs. the other team.  So, if I'm understanding correctly, that it goes down to one team's penalty shot vs. the other teams....one shot at a time if things are still undecided?

I forget the term now, but from what I understand, there is also time added on (after the 90 minutes) for stoppage time?

And, wow, Argentina is on through!

PD

[Lisztianwagner]

Hi, thanks for the info.  As I was typing it, I was thinking "...there's something about 15 minutes"

What do you mean about "with break of 15" though Is that half-time?  I do remember seeing penalty kicks where, if I'm recalling correctly, that they went between one team and the other and weighing up who missed penalty kicks vs. the other team.  So, if I'm understanding correctly, that it goes down to one team's penalty shot vs. the other teams....one shot at a time if things are still undecided?

I forget the term now, but from what I understand, there is also time added on (after the 90 minutes) for stoppage time?
PD

Indeed, as @Jo498 said, there's an interval of 15 minutes between the first and the second half time, a football match doesn't take 90 min in a row; if the teams are still tidying after the regular time and the minutes of stoppage time, an extra time begins (two half times of 15 min); if there's a tie at the end of that, then penalty kicks.

[Madiel]

USA played pretty well, but Netherlands had worked out the right tactics against them - the Americans don't particularly like having control of the ball so much. And Netherlands were ruthlessly efficient with chances.

EDIT: USA in 4 years time at home could be pretty good, given how young the majority of the team are.

Australia played pretty well, but Messi happened and breached what had until then been a very good defence. And Matty Ryan... sigh. This is not the first time our goalkeeper has done something dreadful. He's a very, very good goalkeeper but also things like that happen exactly when you don't want them to.

[Jo498]

The "overtime" after each half is really something not quite consistent. Unlike in basketball time is not stopped for the little breaks in game. In former times, the referee usually  let only around 2 min. overtime play and one never knew how long! This was a bit annoying, so they improved it towards having announced after 45 min how many minutes longer (it's still not exact, the referee's whistle decides, not the clock).

And I think they also now have a policy to make up for a bit more, there was 10 min. overtime in one match recently and I had rarely seen this before, only if there were obvious long breaks with a severe injury oe uncommonly many in-game penalties or something like that. Usually, it was accepted as part of the game that playing time can be a bit different and only unusual or longer delays should be partially made up by the overtime. (And they introduced more delay by the video check of some situations!) I doubt we want to do this but stopping the clock like in other sports would make this a different game. And so (to a lesser extent) would frequent 55-60 min halfs.

[Madiel]

The policy has explicitly changed for this tournament, yes. So that all of the time taken for substitutions, for example, is included.

As it should be. Teams that are leading should not be able to do something like a substitution in order to wind down the lock.

The fact that the spectators don't see the clock stopping and starting doesn't bother me in the slightest, as this is how Australian Rules has always worked if you're at the game. On television, they show you the clock stopping and starting, but not at the ground.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Indeed, as @Jo498 said, there's an interval of 15 minutes between the first and the second half time, a football match doesn't take 90 min in a row; if the teams are still tidying after the regular time and the minutes of stoppage time, an extra time begins (two half times of 15 min); if there's a tie at the end of that, then penalty kicks.

Thank you all for the clarifications!

By the way, who all is playing today?

PD

[Madiel]

By the way, who all is playing today?

France v Poland
England v Senegal

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks.  I'll look up the times (after coffee has kicked in a bit more).

Actually, speaking of caffeine, how are you keeping up with watching so much football?  Naps? Auto-pilot? 

PD

[Madiel]

Actually, speaking of caffeine, how are you keeping up with watching so much football?  Naps? Auto-pilot? 

Well, as discussed... not working. So I could watch matches during the day off recordings.

But also a fair amount of auto-pilot. 4 matches a day took a large part of the day. Avoiding news, and particularly this thread, until I was done. How long after the last match varied hugely. Sometimes I was only about 7 hours behind real time at the end, sometimes more like 10 hours behind. But basically not having anything else to do gave me the flexibility.

It was the insomnia over several nights that made it really difficult, though. That was probably due to the weather changing here. I'm not used to summer in this house yet, I need to figure it out! Not super hot yet, but it's enough to mean it's not so cool at night.

But it's going to be far easier now, with only 2 matches a day. I'll even be back at work from tomorrow (your time). Getting up at 5am to watch the matches beforehand... They're actually on at 2am and 6am, but again, recordings, watching on delay.

I should be in bed by now, but I have an opera to finish...

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Well, as discussed... not working. So I could watch matches during the day off recordings.

But also a fair amount of auto-pilot. 4 matches a day took a large part of the day. Avoiding news, and particularly this thread, until I was done. How long after the last match varied hugely. Sometimes I was only about 7 hours behind real time at the end, sometimes more like 10 hours behind. But basically not having anything else to do gave me the flexibility.

It was the insomnia over several nights that made it really difficult, though. That was probably due to the weather changing here. I'm not used to summer in this house yet, I need to figure it out! Not super hot yet, but it's enough to mean it's not so cool at night.

But it's going to be far easier now, with only 2 matches a day. I'll even be back at work from tomorrow (your time). Getting up at 5am to watch the matches beforehand... They're actually on at 2am and 6am, but again, recordings, watching on delay.

I should be in bed by now, but I have an opera to finish...

Ouch, the time difference is even more than I had thought!  Get some rest.  And perhaps time to get your air conditioner running?

PD

[Madiel]

And perhaps time to get your air conditioner running?

It hasn't been hot enough to need the aircon during the day. Well, today was borderline (EDIT: the maximum in your language was 83) and tomorrow will be the same. But again, not really hot. But for sleeping you need a little cooler. What I need is probably some window opening, is all. Even during the day. But which window(s)...

Part of my issue is I'm excessively sensitive to sound and I'm still not used to sleeping at the front of the house. Even in a quiet neighbourhood. My old house was laid out differently.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It hasn't been hot enough to need the aircon during the day. Well, today was borderline (EDIT: the maximum in your language was 83) and tomorrow will be the same. But again, not really hot. But for sleeping you need a little cooler. What I need is probably some window opening, is all. Even during the day. But which window(s)...

Part of my issue is I'm excessively sensitive to sound and I'm still not used to sleeping at the front of the house. Even in a quiet neighbourhood. My old house was laid out differently.

What about using a fan?  I have one which I like a lot.  It's by a company named Rowenta and is a floor standing one.  Helpful when it's not super hot and is also very quiet (a friend of mine also noticed that).  It has 3 speeds and also a kind of a surge function for each of the speeds.  You can also either fix it so that it's in one position or let it do a slow sweep from side to side.  Or a window fan might work for you.  Let the outside air in but I suspect that it would also help to drown out outside noise.  Or a window a/c that has both a fan and a cooling options?

PD

[Irons]

An interesting aside, for me anyway. Listening to a a podcast with an interview with Anton Ferdinand (brother of Rio) who as an ex-player knows the ropes. He made the point that England have an advantage at this World Cup purely down to timing of the competition. Premier League football is unique in that the  busiest congestion of games falls over Christmas. The Bundesliga for example is suspended. Players in the Premier League build up to maximum fitness for this period. After a long season the usual time frame for a WC they are knackered.    

[Pohjolas Daughter]

An interesting aside, for me anyway. Listening to a a podcast with an interview with Anton Ferdinand (brother of Rio) who as an ex-player knows the ropes. He made the point that England have an advantage at this World Cup purely down to timing of the competition. Premier League football is unique in that the  busiest congestion of games falls over Christmas. The Bundesliga for example is suspended. Players in the Premier League build up to maximum fitness for this period. After a long season the usual time frame for a WC they are knackered.   

Interesting!  By comparison, I've watched/followed a fair bit of tennis and most of the players are pretty tired by the end of the year--the exceptions being ones who are elite enough that they can opt out of certain events and those who have been injured and are now able to play again.  The hard part with that though is fitness and particularly match play.  It's very different practicing with partners on ones team or with other players and playing an actual match.

Pleased to see England score.  I'm just back from doing some errands and am catching the match on t.v.  It's now currently about 43 minutes into the game.  Can't understand the commentators alas as it's in Spanish.  Glad that I can watch it though.  And another goal by England!

Would be interested in commentary from those who know the sport better than myself and can also listen to the commentary as to how you think Senegal is playing and various strategies between the two teams.

PD

[Papy Oli]

Job done & Job done today.

Bring on England   

[vandermolen]

Senegal played very well for about 35 minutes and had some good chances but after that England dominated the match. France (the World Champions) will be a rather different proposition.

[Madiel]

All of the round of 16 matches have been following a similar pattern so far, with the lower-ranked team doing some good things for a while and then it breaks down.

Still, there's another 4 matches to go...