Official Major League Soccer/US Men's National Team Thread

#1,877
#1,877
TheDeeble said:
I figured it's because of the rampant flopping. What other sport shows a guy fake getting tripped, writhing in pain rolling on the field, carried off on a stretcher, and then sprinting back on shortly after like nothing has happened.
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FLVOL_79 said:
That's it. While some nations consider it a tactic or "part of the drama", its still dumb.
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No. that's become kind of a stereotype. Referees in good leagues are very well trained to detect that, and they are less reluctant to card a guy for that than, say, 20 years ago.* And since everything and anything on the field is cought on camera and repeated endlessly on TV - those things make the image of player for the audience. And they don't like diving. Not at all.

* I agree, we've seen some bad refereeing in this World Cup so far. That's not what I'm talking about.
 
#1,878
#1,878
TheDeeble said:
I figured it's because of the rampant flopping. What other sport shows a guy fake getting tripped, writhing in pain rolling on the field, carried off on a stretcher, and then sprinting back on shortly after like nothing has happened. How many times do you see two guys fighting for control, one gets tapped by the others foot, and he rolls on the ground grabbing his shin like he just took a blow from an axe.

Flopping doesn't have a good reputation in any US sport. The little that happens in the NBA gets grief from fans.
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Dude. You cannot be serious with this. The NBA is full of guys who flop all the time. The biggest stars in the NBA are rampant floppers. And the fans don't say anything if it helps their team. There is a fine system instituted JUST for flopping. Guys flop in the NFL and college to kill time every single game. Baseball players will flop when they get brushed back and the freakin benches clear. Or they think they get tagged too hard and they fall down and the benches clear. Nobody says baseball players are a bunch of ******* (which they are).

I agree that it's a little embellished in pro soccer and I wish there was tighter control over it. But that's the way it is. Get over it and enjoy the other 80 minutes of the game when people aren't flopping.
 
#1,879
#1,879
I'm with Milo on the flopping. Sure it probably turns off some people, but the NBA is full of floppers. People that hate Lebron will explain they hate him cause he flops. Every player flops. They hate Lebron, so they make bigger deal out of his flopping.

They hate soccer, so they make a bigger deal out of the flopping.
 
#1,880
#1,880
10427231_808796002471887_7357464836745275273_n.jpg
 
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#1,882
#1,882
So I'm thinking maybe Ghana is very very good at controlling the midfield. Hence they dominated our midfield and gave Germany all they could handle.

Midfield won't be the problem tomorrow, back line has to bring the A game.
 
#1,883
#1,883
n_huffhines said:
I'm happy to welcome people to the bandwagon.

I've never understood the disdain people have for soccer. I get that people think it's boring, and that's fine, but why people have this strong opinion that it's for pu**ies. Maybe it's not as physical as football, basketball, or hockey, but it's not like they say that golf is for pu**ies. Or baseball.

Any theories on that? Is it because they are threatened by a sport that America doesn't dominate?
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I actually always have had a theory about this. I think soccer is not as widely accepted in the US because it is vastly different from the sports that are.

What are the 3 big sports in the US? Football, Baseball, Basketball. All 3 of these sports have one thing that seperates them from soccer: clear cut possession. Offense/ defense, defense/offense. To an American soccer appears sloppy, it feels like no one really has possession. In a typical soccer game you have the ball on offense, then you don't, then you get it back, then you see an open man and send him the perfect pass and it bounces off his foot too hard and you don't have the ball any more, then you're on defense and the other team gives you the ball back, etc etc.

We like our sports much more structured in the United States. As Americans I think we don't prefer to leave a lot up to chance and in soccer you often need a lot of bounces and miscues to go your way to win. Again it's just a bit sloppier and less structured, moreso when you factor in "advantage" (a foul is a foul in major sports here in the US, and the game stops because of it), loose rules with out of bounds play, and it seems like you just take the free kick from somewhere in the general area of where you were fouled. Step an inch of your foot on the out of bounds line in the major US sports and you are punished.

Beautiful sport. I love soccer. But this is why I think some Americans struggle with it. It may be a crackpot theory, but soccer is very unstructured in several ways compared to our Big 3.
 
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#1,884
#1,884
I've played and watched soccer for close to 40 years and never thought much of the flop and thanks to slomo replay we see how rampant it still is. Flopping is not taught in US youth soccer so it's definitely cultural.

As to the NBA, I don't watch it and don't care what they do or don't do.
 
#1,886
#1,886
After seeing a packed Buffalo Wild Wings going wild over last week's match, I imagine tonight is going to be chaos. Last WC, I watched the England match in a crowded bar and not one other person was paying attention.
 
#1,887
#1,887
flvol_79 said:
soccer players tend to be much smaller than players in other sports which leads to the "being a pu%%y" stereotype. Another problem people have is a lack of understanding of the rules and the low scoring. I don't understand cricket and would last maybe 5 minutes watching it before begging to be put out of my misery.

If anyone has played competitive soccer they know it is very rough. Elbows to the head jumping for the ball, wicked slide tackles at full speed, cleats to god knows where on your unprotected body, ball to the balls/and or face. And this is done with no real protection (minus shinguards).

We have already seen at least 1 concussion, one nose almost kicked off, and i am sure there will be more to come.

In the end though i think if america started to find consistent success at high levels the audience would increase. Where i work there are noobs to soccer who are watching it, asking questions about rules, etc.

And if anyone hasnt ever noticed, the sec doesn't have a single men's soccer team.. <--that is bad.
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usc
 
#1,890
#1,890
VolunteerHillbilly said:
I've played and watched soccer for close to 40 years and never thought much of the flop and thanks to slomo replay we see how rampant it still is. Flopping is not taught in US youth soccer so it's definitely cultural.

As to the NBA, I don't watch it and don't care what they do or don't do.
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I agree, although I want to say that I spent what little there was of my college career with bloody shins, so sometimes it's not so much of a flop. They were one large contusion and hurt like hell. In WC play, though, we see people go untouched and the defender see yellow. Bit of an on-field travesty.
 
#1,891
#1,891
MphsBlues said:
I agree, although I want to say that I spent what little there was of my college career with bloody shins, so sometimes it's not so much of a flop. They were one large contusion and hurt like hell. In WC play, though, we see people go untouched and the defender see yellow. Bit of an on-field travesty.
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I've never officiated soccer but i did officiate lacrosse in younger days and I can tell you that i would not throw a flag unless I clearly saw a foul occcur. Even if I suspected it and the guy on the ground was a highly skilled player from a top squad I wouldn't give anyone a penalty that I did not see.
 
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#1,893
#1,893
VolunteerHillbilly said:
I've never officiated soccer but i did officiate lacrosse in younger days and I can tell you that i would not throw a flag unless I clearly saw a foul occcur. Even if I suspected it and the guy on the ground was a highly skilled player from a top squad I wouldn't give anyone a penalty that I did not see.
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That's the way to do it. Wish the WC refs would do the same, because there are some clear flops out there.
 
#1,898
#1,898
I have no complaints about it. Other than Beasley. I can't believe he's the best we have at that position. I feel like Beltran is better than him and I don't like Beltran.
 
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