or set the ball on fire...
Posted on 07/09/2014 6:35:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Regulation and extra time brought 120 minutes of scoreless exasperation in a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday that was by turns tense, cautious, clumsy, gripping and stubbornly unyielding.
There was little space to move, few chances to score. Sometimes the match was as dreary as the misty evening chill. If it possessed any beauty, it was not in gracefulness but in stark, struggling exertion.
And finally, when grind and strain and labor could not bring a resolution, whimsy and caprice did. Argentina defeated the Netherlands by 4-2 on penalty kicks and advanced to Sunday’s final against Germany.
Sergio Romero, Argentina’s goalkeeper, was poised in the shootout, unsettling the Dutch on the very first kick. He dived to his left, parried a shot by defender Ron Vlaar and kissed his gloves. Later, Romero repelled a shot by Wesley Sneijder and pounded his chest.
For Argentina, Lionel Messi, Ezequiel Garay and Sergio Aguero confidently punched their shots into the net. The decisive attempt, by Maxi Rodriguez, was deflected, but it hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the net.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That game today was horrible. It was everything that is wrong with soccer. Almost no shots on goal.
or set the ball on fire...
HAHA!
I feel the SAME way. There is something exciting about them ... but to play that long and it’s decided on 10 or less kicks. I say play sudden death.
Oh that’s brilliant!
sure enough way to see which team wants to win more than the other... 8^)
Here’s a novel shoot-out method to decide a game: Using only the Goalkeepers, let each of them alternate kicking the ball at the unguarded opponent’s goal from their own Penalty area – they can do a free kick from the turf or punt the ball, whatever they want. The only other provision is that their kick must first re-touch the ground in the opponent’s Penalty area (no “slow-roll” across the field). Take as many attempts as needed to determine the winner.
Here's medieval soccer ...still played out in England....
that'd work...
The essence of the “beautiful game” is two strong teams trying to wear each other down and score goals.
Argentina and the Netherlands were poised, aggressive, graceful and dynamic. The 120 minutes of pure football in this semi-final was the most memorable World Cup game I’ve seen.
They gave the fans a real treat with superb play from both of them. Its been a great tournament the past month.
Now we all look forward to the final on Sunday. I predict Germany gets that fourth title!
it must suck profoundly to be coach felipe..
its foot hockey in essence. at my lab in the breakroom theres ESPN and about a dozen people “getting sodas” so
its addictive among a lot of the tech workers.
sports are a funny thing, either people are wired to like a given sport, or they’re not.
Yeah, it was like watching a two hour minute porn movie where no one scores.
But I am looking forward to seeing the Deutschland blitzkrieg again. Those boys aren’t shy about putting the ball in the net.
The US held the Huns to, what, one goal? And with no wiffle bats or weeping at the end.
Our advantage is we play a respectable game - we lost by a hairbreadth to Belgium.
We’ve got a lot of good talent and we don’t rest on our past glories because we never had them. We’re quick to learn and develop our own content and style of play.
I’m not embarrassed to say we’re better than Brazil. And we’ll be back in Russia in 2018.
There was too much “clear the ball out”
I like that. Sudden death in ice hockey is as heart stopping as anything in sports if you have a rooting interest of course.
VS.
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