After all of the hullabaloo, who here still thinks soccer/futbol is an absolute bore?

Not exactly a water cannon moment, was it.

Final State of Origin between NSW and Queensland will be on next Wednesday. Men weighing 200lb+ and wearing almost no safety gear will slam into each other with no thought for their own well being. They'll consider it an insult to be carried off the field. It will be great to watch after the antics of soccer.

Football (soccer) is not bored, unless the two teams are both very good or very bad so no scores are made.

The game requires an excellent physical condition because the players must run 45 minutes, a break of 15 minutes, and an additional 45 minutes running with the ball. Perhaps the not so well physical condition of the US players caused their losing of the last game they played, when one can noticed that even when they were playing good, they were tired.

My guess is that regardless of how well your diet becomes when you are a professional football (soccer) player, if you were drinking sodas when you were a child then your bones grew weaker and your blood production will be affected in the future. Sodas is the enemy number one for athletes in any field.

Most of the games in this world cup have been full of entertainment.

The only game that ended with a great disappointment was Costa Rica versus Netherlands.

The game was to be defined by "penalties". Five opportunities to score by each team. While the Netherlands players stood up on their feet, the Costa Rica players stayed on their knees against the ground.

I called it "ridiculous".

If they were expecting to have "God" on their side to help them to score the penalties, well, it appears that God decided to support the ones who stayed up on their feet. Netherlands won the game when the goal keeper impeded two Costa Rica scores.

One of the teams must win or lose the game, but don't do it kneeling on the field but standing up with your feet on the ground. Period.

Let me guess...you're Costa Rican.

Sounds like a great blood sport. Finesse is overrated.

You think how the other players watched their teammates take their PKs had an effect on how they took their PKs?

I see the same thing in Hockey. Every goalie has their strengths and weaknesses.
What's remarkable is that the Dutch coach substituted with the back up goalie in the 80th minute.
Now that's some astute coaching.

Often not far wrong. Games been cleaned up in recent years. In previous times was almost a blood bath.

These tackles are just from club games.

The substitution came with just a couple minutes left in extra time. The coach obviously felt the replacement goalie, being taller, would fare better against the PKs -- despite his rather lackluster PK record in the EPL. Also, I understand the new goalie had been studying the Costa Rican PKs from earlier in the Cup, and was prepared in case the game went to PKs.

A friend of mine played soccer with me in college, and afterwards he started playing rugby instead. I thought that made a lot of sense, because he really didn't have the skill to play soccer. Rugby really doesn't require much in the way of skill, and was particularly suited for his style of play.

The replay of this play got some airtime here in the States awhile back. Not sure where the game was being played, but I suspect somewhere down under. The commentators in this clip appear to be discussing this play during a break in taping, and are all very impressed/horrified/amazed at the impact. And they obviously don't know anything about rugby, as they debate whether the ball carrier knew the hit was coming -- he obviously knew, why else get rid of the ball?

My clip was from Rugby League. Completely different game.

Okay, you're going to have to explain that. Is that like saying EPL is completely different than La Liga? How can you tell the difference?

Rugby League only has 13 players instead of 15. There are no lineouts. No rucks or rolling mauls - a tackle is followed by a play the ball. Limited tackles (6) before being required to hand the ball over (or kick). About half as many rules, and 3 times as much action.

No rucks or rolling mauls! Pffft! That's not real rugby, is it?

No. It's Rugby League. Rugby has become over regulated, slow and boring. In Australia, it's the 3rd ranked winter sport behind Aussie Rules and Rugby League.

True, tries make up the majority of a game's total points in rugby league. In union mostly the points are penalty goals.

Soccer is apparently so boring that those contributing to a thread about soccer find that they can only talk about rugby.

Just snarfed up my coffee.

Apropos of some semi-interesting soccer stats. Penalty kicks saves by goalies are only 11% effective. (this stat might be from reg games and not WC competition...not sure.)