Posted on 06/19/2006 2:54:14 AM PDT by soccer_maniac
Switzerland and Togo meet in a Group G match at 8:55 a.m. ET (ESPN2) in Dortmund. Saudi Arabia and Ukraine match up in the day's second game, a Group H affair that starts at 11:55 a.m. (ESPN2) in Hamburg. In the final match of the day, Spain encounters Tunisia at 2:55 p.m. (ESPN2) in Stuttgart.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlsnet.com ...
I could be rusty on this, but a shot on goal is not a pass, and is not subject to the offside rule. I noted an exception to this in the American game, where a player moved out of the way of the shot.
I may be wrong, but I believe that a shot that hits the goal post or crossbar is not a shot on goal, so the offside ruling is still in effect.
They ruled that McBride was obstructing the view of the Italian keeper even though the ball wasn't played to him.
Heck they would have to disallow most hockey goals if they implemented that rule in the NHL.
To be precise: McBride was in the goalkeeper's line of sight, which qualifies as "gaining an advantage".
As to England wanting to avoid Germany: In the end it doesn't matter, because if you want to win the cup, you have to be able to beat ANY other team.
Personally I think that a match England vs. Germany could go either way: True, Germany played some not-so-convincing matches during the preparation for the world cup. However: nothing that England showed so far makes me believe that they are a better team than Germany.
In the end, a soccer World Cup is about more than who has the highest-paid players, but it's about the best team, about heart and balls. You have to keep in mind: These are the creme-de-la-creme of international soccer. Out of these 32 teams at least 15-20 teams could win the world cup, IF THEY REALLY WANT TO. And that means: Yes, the US could beat Brazil if the soccer Gods are on their side.
Soccer is not about being the best. Soccer is about facing destiny, about taking fate into your own hands, it's about eternal glory and making history. That is the reason why Germany and England still discuss games from fourty years ago. And that's why the soccer world cup is earth's biggest sporting event, eclipsing even the Olympic Games.
It will happen. First game after the round of 3.
Oh, would that be my greatest prediction of all time. Hey, it could happen.
Great post!
Cheers.
Tomorrow will be a fun day as groups A and B play their 3 games
Entry #91: June 19, 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET)
Wow. The ratings are in for USA-Italy and they are pretty great. On ABC the match earned a 5.2 overnight Nielsen rating, the highest overnight rating for a World Cup game on ABC since the 1998 final between Brazil and France (which earned a 7.0). Univision did a 13.5 NHTI (Nielsen Hispanic Television Index) household rating for the match, translating to 1,511,000 Hispanic TV homes. Overall, there were 2,661,000 Hispanic viewers, making it the fourth most-watched game of this tournament. Since they announced the exact tournament schedule earlier this year, we've been thinking that USA-Italy, on a Saturday, at 3 p.m. ET, on ABC, would be huge. We were right. Fantastic stuff.
http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_280957.html
See what Bruce Arena and the players think about the matchup in Monday's Studio 90
http://www.ussoccer.com/index.jsp.html
I am very excited about the games this afternoon ;-)
I am just having my early morning coffee and freerepublic fix, getting ready for a morning jog.
England is my team in this tournament, and I am curious to see how England will play without Crouch in the team. Hopefully, with Rooney as a linking player, the midfield will be more drawn into the attacking game, and Owen can also come into his own.
I have to admit that the last two groupings haven't interested me all that much, but the next couple of days should be great.
Cheers.
Bet the NHL ratings will pale in comparison.
Unfortunately, the soccer Gods are recreational Samba dancers.
After seeing the above, I had to check out the jam-cams. By golly, 4:30 in the morning and it's light over there already. I keep forgetting how far north you are.
I haven't found Crouch's play all that impressive, actually. Partly it's because he hasn't been getting much in the way of service that takes advantage of this height. At any rate, I think they'll be fine with Owen and Rooney. We'll know at noon tomorrow over here.
Nedved fears World Cup Czech-out
Pavel Nedved believes the Czech Republic need a miracle to qualify for the second round of the World Cup.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=371798&cc=5901
A confident Donovan benefits USA
http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20060619&content_id=62910&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp
BOOM! Cole kicks it straight through and into the net, 1-0 England.
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