Public Address | Cafe | Field Theory: World Cup of Evil

Brent Jackson

Thu, 31 Jul 2014 16:34:18 +1200

Do away with the goalkeeper position and reduce the height of the goals to 1m ?

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:53:24 +1200

I've never thought the problem with football was the size of the nets. More that games have so few shots on goal – sometimes low single figures. If they could find a way to change the games so that there were more shots, and therefore more on net, you would…

Geoff Lealand

Tue, 15 Jul 2014 23:05:39 +1200

Oops ... That is what I intended to write. Larger goals.

linger

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:52:57 +1200

Richard:cruel but […] fair Not really fair to the teams as a whole, though, to reduce the competition to a striker vs. a goalkeeper.

Geoff: soccer goals should be smaller, to account for the bigger bulk of today’s playersShouldn’t goals should be larger for larger goalies? (Cf. Terry Pratchett’s take…

Richard Stemson

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 15:23:18 +1200

Why would you want to get rid of penalty shootouts? If you can't separate the teams on the field then you separate them on nerve. It is not about luck. Either you cope with the pressure of the shootout or you don't. It may be cruel but is fair.

simon g

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 12:31:01 +1200

In other news, "Greymouth warns the Kaiser ... " ;)

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 11 Jul 2014 09:09:15 +1200

I agree with you on this, Paul. It is kind of demeaning to conclude a game after kicking a ball around for 90 minutes, then another 30 minutes, for no conclusive score--then decide it all on whether two men prevent the ball entering the net. I read once that soccer…

Paul Brislen

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 14:01:56 +1200

I have all but given up watching football because of the diving. It's just so bad.

I'd like to see the refs go to a video replay for such things and start handing out yellow cards. I like rugby's approach to arguing with the ref also – back you go…

Rob Stowell

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 10:49:23 +1200

I only saw the last 15 minutes. I
I only saw snatches of the first 20 – but after that, it felt like it'd be hard to watch any more. Brazilian fans in tears after 20 minutes.

George Darroch

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 10:40:40 +1200

Their obsession for the “right” results would also ignore the opportunity for upsets- of which there have been many.

One of the reasons football is so interesting is because it is the major sport in which the statistically weaker side is most likely to win. (Because of its low-scoring nature.)

Chris Waugh

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 10:18:27 +1200

So, ummm.... what just happened? I suppose Brasil gets the dubious consolation of not losing as badly as North Korea against Portugal in 2010. I bet Scolari is packing his bags and scanning the airline timetables for the next flight to Argentina where he'll claim asylum. Dilma Roussef must be…

oga

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:50:40 +1200

But isn't all the diving an attempt to get penalties? As soon as they realize that they have been pushed from behind, they must dive and land badly in order to win the penalty for their team, especially if they're within a fair shot of the opponent's goal. The only…

Matthew Littlewood

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 19:25:26 +1200

this article from FiveThirtyEight

Some of the 538 stuff (such as the article linked above) on the FIFA WC is interesting and illuminating, but a lot of it is either maddening or unintentionally hilarious. All the number-crunching in the world can't hide the fact that the writers often don't get…

George Darroch

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:51:15 +1200

I prefer cycling. At least they cheat in private.

As a cycling fan I'd like the UCI to ban cheats for life, without exception. FIFA should ban diving with one game and then season suspensions for a first and then second offense.

The best thing to come out of the…

Public Address

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:51:15 +1200

Discussion from blog post.