**Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Thread**

[mrandyk]

If only our guys were better at flopping, we might have ran out the clock and won.

[Moiraine]

 

Haven't been this excited for a sporting event since Nebrasketball in the NCAA tourney.

 

Excited? You're kidding me right? Equal to ice curling.

 

Why do people insist on complaining about a sport being boring? Or questioning someone else's enjoyment of it? If you don't like it, don't watch/post about it.

[Moiraine]

We can't win the goal differential tie-breaker against Ghana. We can only hope that if we lose it's by one goal and if they win it's by one goal. Then we would be tied in differential and we would win the next tie-breaker which is basically head-to-head result (if I'm reading all that correctly).

There's one in between that. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 2-1, they'll advance. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 1-0, we advance.

 

a) greatest number of points obtained in all the group matches;

b) goal difference in the group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in the group matches.

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

 

I'm honestly kind of okay with what happened... 'cause the Germany game is the first one where I haven't been at work, so I actually get to watch it and it will actually matter.

[Hooked on Huskers]

I've never been into soccer but I am doing my best to give this a try.

 

I tried but failed every time. 10 seconds semi-exciting action per goal divided by 90 minutes was not enough for me. Scoring explosion .... 2 - 2 !

[hskrfan4life]

I'll be watching Thursday. Really hoping U.S.A. can get over the hump and get farther. I was really excited pregame and during the game. Really hoping it all goes well.

[Mavric]

 

We can't win the goal differential tie-breaker against Ghana. We can only hope that if we lose it's by one goal and if they win it's by one goal. Then we would be tied in differential and we would win the next tie-breaker which is basically head-to-head result (if I'm reading all that correctly).

There's one in between that. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 2-1, they'll advance. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 1-0, we advance.

 

a) greatest number of points obtained in all the group matches;

b) goal difference in the group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in the group matches.

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

 

I'm honestly kind of okay with what happened... 'cause the Germany game is the first one where I haven't been at work, so I actually get to watch it and it will actually matter.

 

 

You're right. Missed that one. We currently have one more goal than they do. They have to outscore us by two (or outscore Portugal by 2).

[It'sNotAFakeID]

A Portugal win on Thursday will be a far better than a Ghana win, should the US lose to the Germans. As a perfect example of how far the USMNT has come...people were saying we were unlucky to lose to Portugal not the other way around. We're going to give Germany a game. Might not win, but a draw is all we need.

[hskrfan4life]

A Portugal win on Thursday will be a far better than a Ghana win, should the US lose to the Germans. As a perfect example of how far the USMNT has come...people were saying we were unlucky to lose to Portugal not the other way around. We're going to give Germany a game. Might not win, but a draw is all we need.

Exactly, I think Klinsmann has this team going the right way.

[Moiraine]

 

 

We can't win the goal differential tie-breaker against Ghana. We can only hope that if we lose it's by one goal and if they win it's by one goal. Then we would be tied in differential and we would win the next tie-breaker which is basically head-to-head result (if I'm reading all that correctly).

There's one in between that. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 2-1, they'll advance. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 1-0, we advance.

 

a) greatest number of points obtained in all the group matches;

b) goal difference in the group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in the group matches.

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

 

I'm honestly kind of okay with what happened... 'cause the Germany game is the first one where I haven't been at work, so I actually get to watch it and it will actually matter.

 

 

You're right. Missed that one. We currently have one more goal than they do. They have to outscore us by two (or outscore Portugal by 2).

 

No, they could score 2 goals and win the game, not win it 2-0, and still advance. Our GD is +1 and Ghana's is -1. So if we lose 1-0 and they win 2-1, the GD is the same and they'll have scored more goals than us (5 for them and 4 for us). But if we lose 2-1 and they win 2-1, we win by the next tiebreaker.

 

Hoping Germany and the USA just talk this through and decide to tie the game and both advance . Has to be hard to tell your players not to score a goal in a world cup game, though.

[Mavric]

 

Deadspin

[QMany]

I thought this is why we hired that kraut Klinsman in the first place, to secure a gentleman's agreement with Germany to have the most boring 0-0 game ever.

[Mavric]

 

 

 

We can't win the goal differential tie-breaker against Ghana. We can only hope that if we lose it's by one goal and if they win it's by one goal. Then we would be tied in differential and we would win the next tie-breaker which is basically head-to-head result (if I'm reading all that correctly).

There's one in between that. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 2-1, they'll advance. If we lose 1-0 and Ghana wins 1-0, we advance.

 

a) greatest number of points obtained in all the group matches;

b) goal difference in the group matches;

c) greatest number of goals scored in the group matches.

d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

 

I'm honestly kind of okay with what happened... 'cause the Germany game is the first one where I haven't been at work, so I actually get to watch it and it will actually matter.

 

 

You're right. Missed that one. We currently have one more goal than they do. They have to outscore us by two (or outscore Portugal by 2).

 

No, they could score 2 goals and win the game, not win it 2-0, and still advance. Our GD is +1 and Ghana's is -1. So if we lose 1-0 and they win 2-1, the GD is the same and they'll have scored more goals than us (5 for them and 4 for us). But if we lose 2-1 and they win 2-1, we win by the next tiebreaker.

 

Yeah, that's what I said. If they score two and we score 0, they outscore us by two. If they win 2-1 and we lose 2-1 they don't outscore either Portugal or us by two so we'd win the tie-breaker.

[BigRedBuster]

OK....how the manage the clock in soccer is frustrating as hell. How in the heck as a fan do you know when the game is going to end?

[Moiraine]

The following is my response to beanman's status update.

 

[zoogs]

OK....how the manage the clock in soccer is frustrating as hell. How in the heck as a fan do you know when the game is going to end?

Actually, it's not too bad. They announce how many minutes of added time are at the end of each half, and roughly speaking that's when it'll end, although not "in the middle of things." If for example there are 3 minutes and we're at the 92:35 mark and one team is setting up an attack, that'll probably be allowed to finish. But when they take a shot and miss and it's time for a goal kick at 93:20, it's pretty likely that the game will end after the ensuing goal kick.

 

There was one game with 5 minutes added on but the ref allowed play well past 6 minutes, probably because the team with the lead had a player carted off the field in the meantime, taking exceptionally long.

 

It's not too precise but you can imagine the degree of time wasting if players knew exactly how long they had to squander.

 

I do wish soccer would instant replay on some scores, though. The good goal called offside or the offside goal called good, that's really impactful and the kind of thing some guy upstairs can easily call (in clear-cut cases, at least), at least for this level of play.