World Cup Footie Seedings

[Frank Gallagher]

Originally posted by Buck Satan:
  Are people actually still caring about this?

Nope!

Originally posted by Buck Satan:
  Are people actually still caring about this?

No one but 0930 hipsters gives a hoot anymore.

[sonickteam2]

you know, if soccer wasnt such a damn pussy sport we wouldnt have to be still talking about this.
 
 
 you know how long we'd be talking about this if a hockey player headbutted another player? not 30 seconds after it happened.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by corporal clegg:
 you know how long we'd be talking about this if a hockey player headbutted another player? not 30 seconds after it happened.

If this were mark messier (hey, they're both bald) and he got a 10 minute major for instigating in OT of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, then his team lost and he retired the next day ... Yes, we'd still be talking about this

[Guiny]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
 

If this were mark messier (hey, they're both bald) and he got a 10 minute major for instigating in OT of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, then his team lost and he retired the next day ... Yes, we'd still be talking about this [/b]

Sonick would, I'm not sure if anyone else would.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
   

Originally posted by corporal clegg:
 you know how long we'd be talking about this if a hockey player headbutted another player? not 30 seconds after it happened.

If this were mark messier (hey, they're both bald) and he got a 10 minute major for instigating in OT of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, then his team lost and he retired the next day ... Yes, we'd still be talking about this [/b]

no way a penalty would have been called in a game 7.    

[sonickteam2]

thats my point.  not that its unimportant, but headbutting another player like that in hockey wouldnt warrant such a penalty.  
 
 so no, we wouldnt be talking about it.
 
 Messier would have to cut off a hand to get a 10min misconduct in OT of Game 7!

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
   

Originally posted by corporal clegg:
 you know how long we'd be talking about this if a hockey player headbutted another player? not 30 seconds after it happened.

If this were mark messier (hey, they're both bald) and he got a 10 minute major for instigating in OT of game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, then his team lost and he retired the next day ... Yes, we'd still be talking about this [/b]

Don't try to debate Hoya.  He has all of the pertinent facts at hand.  And, just like Star Jones...he IS a lawyer.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by corporal clegg:
  thats my point.  not that its unimportant, but headbutting another player like that in hockey wouldnt warrant such a penalty.  
 
 so no, we wouldnt be talking about it.
 
 Messier would have to cut off a hand to get a 10min misconduct in OT of Game 7!

agreed 100%, it would be next to impossible to pick up a game misconduct in OT of game 7

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by corporal clegg:
  you know, if soccer wasnt such a damn pussy sport we wouldnt have to be still talking about this.

i forgot about one thing:  these last two days may have been the worst sports days in the year (at least in the US), absolutely nothing of consequence has happened (played-out baseball all-star game is about it) ... did anyone watch sportscenter today?  they showed the AAA all-star game highlights!
 
 with a vacuum like this, things just keep getting re-chewed over and over and over

[Mobius]

The focus on Zidane has completely taken the focus off the French coach who substituted out Henry and Ribery . . . who I would think would be pretty good at PKs (but don't know for sure) . . .and substituted in Trezeguet late.  The game was inevetibly going to PKs . . . why take out scorers who have each played fantastically??  If Trezeguet wasn't good enough to start, why put him in to take a game deciding PK??  Of course all this(including the Zidane red card) is probably moot b/c Barthez wouldn't have stopped a PK if the shootout went on all night.

[vansmack]

Arena out as U.S. national coach at end of year
 Wayne Drehs
 ESPN.com
 
 U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced Friday that U.S. Men's National Team coach Bruce Arena, the longest-tenured national team coach at the World Cup, will not return to the U.S. team after his contract expires at the end of the year.
 
 Arena met with Gulati and U.S. Soccer Secretary General Dan Flynn for five hours Thursday at LaGuardia Airport, and a decision was finalized Friday morning.
 
 Gulati said a worldwide search to find a replacement will begin immediately. Speculation will center on Jürgen Klinsmann, who coached the German national team to a third-place finish in this month's World Cup. Klinsmann, who lives in California with his family, stepped down from the German post earlier this week, saying he felt, "burnt out."
 
 Arena, hired in October 1998, will leave the national team as the winningest coach in its history. He coached the 2002 U.S. men's team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, the best World Cup showing in U.S. Soccer history. But Arena's squad disappointed at this year's World Cup, failing to advance out of group play as it lost to the Czech Republic and Ghana and tied eventual World Cup champion Italy.
 
 "It comes down primarily to eight years being a long period," Gulati said. "I'm not going to say we felt the need to change directions. The direction Bruce has set is very, very positive.
 
 We didn't get the results we wanted in the World Cup, but Bruce didn't become a bad coach in three games with a few bad bounces of the ball."
 
 "It's tough to see a good coach leave, especially wth what he's done for the sport of soccer in this country," Clint Dempsey, the only U.S. player to score during the 2006 World Cup, told ESPN.com. "The way I see it, if it's not broke, don't fix it. But I guess the federation was disappointed in our performance in the last World Cup and decided to go in another direction."
 
 Dempsey felt it was unfair for critics to solely blame Arena for the Americans' World Cup disappointment, which included a 3-0 tournament-opening loss to the Czech Republic. After tying eventual Cup champion Italy 1-1, the Americans could have advanced to Group Play with a victory over Ghana, but lost that match 2-1 after a controversial penalty call late in the first half.
 
 "You can't put that entirely on a coach," Dempsey said. "It's on the players as well. We didn't do what we needed to do. He put us in the position to be successful and we came up short. Both parties should be blamed, but that's not the way it works. And it's tough that he gets the blame."
 
 Arena compiled a 71-30-29 record during his eight years, including records for consecutive games unbeaten (16 in 2003-04) and most wins in a calendar year (13 in 2005), as well as for best winning percentage in a calendar year (.750 in 2005). In addition to his team's performances in the World Cup, he coached the U.S. team to two CONCACAF Gold Cup championships (in 2002 and 2005) and a third-place finish at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.
 
 His 71 victories and .658 winning percentage are U.S. soccer records.
 
 "I would like to thank the players, coaches and staff who have been with the program over the last eight years," Arena said in a statement. "Their tireless effort has helped transform the national team program into something we can all be proud of, and I am extremely grateful for their commitment. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and I would like to thank U.S. Soccer for the opportunity and their support throughout my tenure. I am proud of how far the organization has come over the last eight years, and I am extremely optimistic about the future of the sport in our country."
 
 On Friday, Gulati said he hadn't talked to Klinsmann in six months, but acknowledged the former German star could be a potential candidate.
 
 "He's a very inquisitive guy," Gulati said. "He comes to coaches conventions, he'll ask Anson Dorrance how he motivated his North Carolina teams. All those sorts of things. He's intelligent, multi-lingual. He has a lot of positive qualities."
 
 Arena, on the other hand, said he plans to take some time off before weighing future coaching opportunities both here and abroad.
 
 
 Sing it with me...
 
 Jur-gen Klins-man
 Clap, clap...clap,clap,clap
 
 Repeat

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by Mobius:
  The focus on Zidane has completely taken the focus off the French coach who substituted out Henry and Ribery . . . who I would think would be pretty good at PKs (but don't know for sure) . . .and substituted in Trezeguet late.  The game was inevetibly going to PKs . . . why take out scorers who have each played fantastically??  If Trezeguet wasn't good enough to start, why put him in to take a game deciding PK??  Of course all this(including the Zidane red card) is probably moot b/c Barthez wouldn't have stopped a PK if the shootout went on all night.

i figured they would put in Trezeguet at the end, so that didnt surprise me, but it DID surprise me that Henry and Ribery were taken out.  especially Ribery who seemed to be having the tournament of his life.
 
  and you are correct Barthez wasnt going to stop shit.  but that Trezeguet miss really fucked the French, i mean, you would have hoped the Italians would've missed sooner or later.
 
   Italy's goalie didnt stop any PK's either though, did he?  just the Trezeguet miss?

[bigyellow100]

uh, the only person to blame for france's loss was barthez.  period.  the materazzi goal shouldve never been one.  granted it was a good corner kick and header, but there was no reason why barthez shouldnt have gone out of the box to contend it instead of waiting for the ball to come to him...which it did, and he botched the save.

[vansmack]

Let the signing period begin....
 
 Juve, Lazio and Fiorentina relegated
 
 Juventus, Lazio, and Fiorentina have been relegated from Serie A as a result of the match-fixing scandal.
 
 AC Milan have avoided relegation, but will start next season with a 15-point deficit, and have had 44 points taken from their tally for the 2005-06 season.
 
 Juventus have been stripped of their Serie A titles for each of the last two seasons. They will start next campaign with a 30-point deficit.  
 
 Fiorentina will start in Serie B with a 12-point deficit and Lazio a seven-point deficit.
 
 The rulings mean that none of the four clubs will be allowed to play in Europe next season.
 
 In addition to the punishments handed to the clubs, a number of the individual directors were suspended.
 
 Former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi has been suspended from all football for five years.
 
 Adriano Galliani, who was AC Milan vice-president, has been suspended for one year.
 
 The four clubs will have up to three days to appeal to the Federal Court but a final verdict has to be announced before July 25, when the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) must give UEFA, Europe's football governing body, the list of teams that will compete in the continental club competitions in the 2006/07 campaign.
 
 The scandal was uncovered as a result of a criminal investigation that was launched before the start of the 2004/05 campaign by the Naples prosecutors' office.
 
 Telephone conversations between Moggi and a referees supremo in charge of the appointments of officials during the 2004/05 season were tapped.
 
 Prosecutors based their probe on hundreds of bugged telephone calls between referee selectors, game officials and Moggi.
 
 At the close of trading on Milan's stock exchange on Friday, Lazio shares had dropped 9.68% to 0.28 euros while Juventus went down to 1.45 euros - a fall of 1.15%.  
 
 An estimated 500 Lazio fans protested outside Rome's Parco dei Principi hotel as Federal Appeal Commission president Cesare Ruperto read out the verdicts inside.
 
 More than 300 Fiorentina fans met up outside the Artemio Franchi stadium as a sign of protest but it was a different story in Turin with few Juventus supporters turning up at the club's headquarters in Via Galileo Ferraris.