<p>How was it decided that England and the US would play first? They are my two favorite teams. What happens if the USA team loses? Are we out for good or do we get another chance?</p>
<p>I like futbol but I think that they need to go to a relaxed offside rule (much like hockey did). It keeps the flow of play, improves scoring opportunities, reduces bad calls by the refs and reduces the off-side trap nonsense. </p>
<p>I also vividly remember last year’s turn-up tournament in South Africa with the crowd mindlessly blowing their vuvzuela’s (plastic horns) constantly and throughout the games - regardless of what teams were playing. It was awful. If it’s the same way, the ESPN better kill the volume on the crowd or I’m going to mute the TV.</p>
<p>Argentina-Nigeria definitely the marquee game this weekend. Got my Carlito jersey on? Let the glorious month begin.</p>
<p>I love the vuvzuelas!</p>
<p>razorsharp: USA-England is not the first game (it’s on Saturday). Mexico-South Africa is (tomorrow).</p>
<p>If we (USA) lose, we still have two more games to play. The WC is organized into group play; each group has 4 teams and the two with the most points advance into the knockout rounds.</p>
<p>(As a major US fan, I am very proud of my objective and non-judgmental response to someone who is a fan(?) of both teams.)</p>
<p>USA, USA, USA!!!</p>
<p>1776…1812…1950…2010</p>
<p>oh when the yanks
oh when the yanks
oh when the yanks go marching in…</p>
<p>but really, a tie would be excellent… a loss by 1 goal will be respectable for the USA.</p>
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<p>hockey did not change the offside rule (they changed the 2 line pass rule). You cannot go into the offensive zone before the puck. Pretend the 2nd to last soccer defender is the hockey blue line.</p>
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<p>razor… the teams were drawn into 8 groups in December. The 32 teams were divided into 4 pots. The pots were as follows:</p>
<p>Pot 1: South Africa (host) + top 7 ranked teams
Pot 2: Asian and North/Central American teams
Pot 3: African and South American teams
Pot 4: Europe</p>
<p>So, they have the 8 groups lined up, and they pick out the teams from Pot 1 one at a time. First one chosen goes in group A (actually, the host country was given A1), second one in group B, etc. These teams are placed in the first slot of the group (each group has 4 slots). So England was the third team picked from Pot 1, so they got the C1 spot. USA was the 3rd team picked from Pot 2, so USA got the C2 slot.</p>
<p>You should also note that no 2 teams from the same region (except Europe) were placed in the same group. This means that when they were doing the drawing, if (for example) Brazil is the G1 team, then from Pot #3, Brazil cannot draw a South American team. They must draw an African team (since Pot 3 is Africa and South America).</p>
<p>The matches for C1 follow the Pots posted above. So, C1 plays C2 in the first game, C3 in the second game, and C4 in the last game. This leaves the USA with C1 in the first game, C4 (Slovenia) in the second game, and C3 (Algeria) in the last game.</p>
<p>Each team plays each other team in its group. Then the 2 teams with the most points win. If teams are tied with points, there are tie breakers:</p>
<ul>
<li>goal difference in all group matches;</li>
<li>greatest number of goals scored in all group matches;</li>
<li>greatest number of points in matches between tied teams;</li>
<li>goal difference in matches between tied teams;</li>
<li>greatest number of goals scored in matches between tied teams;</li>
<li>drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.</li>
</ul>
<p>After the first round, there are 16 teams left. The brackets are already set all the way to the championship:</p>
<p>A1/B2
C1/D2</p>
<p>E1/F2
G1/H2</p>
<p>B1/A2
D1/C2</p>
<p>F1/E2
H1/G2</p>
<p>example: A1 plays B2, winner of that game plays winner of C1/D2. Winner of that meets the winner of the E1/F2 - G1/H2 part of the bracket. etc</p>
<p>The other teams in with USA (Group C) are England, Slovenia, and Algeria. We got a good group and should be favored to advance to the second round. In the 2nd round, as you can see from what I posted above, Group C is paired with Group D. Group D is Germany, Ghana, Australia, and Serbia.</p>
<p>It really is too bad that many teams won’t be playing at full strength due to injuries. England is one of the teams suffering from injuries.</p>
<p>Ugh, hate the vuvzuelas. I didn’t know that’s what they were called.</p>
<p>Thus far, Mexico is dominating.</p>
<p>Ooooh, bad call. Poor Vela.</p>
<p>Yes, bad call. Should be up 1-0. I have to leave for a meeting before the game ends. I better be back before the other one starts!</p>
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<p>No, I said a relaxed offside rule. Now, players without the puck lead the player into the attacking zone ALL THE TIME and by a little bit. Keeps the play going and who gives a darn whether a skater led another by a minor bit? </p>
<p>Meanwhile, I just got an e-mail with video of an AWFUL offside call against the Mexicans in the very first WC match against South Africa. A South African player was standing RIGHT next to the bloody goal/goal line and they called a Mexican player for off-side. If they can’t get that right, what chance to they have of getting close calls correct? Just awful.</p>
<p>Nice SA goal. Should be 1-1.</p>
<p>I was listening on ESPN radio. There was a constant low tone in the background. Is that a sound the fans are creating, or is it a transmission issue?</p>
<p>It’s those damn vuvzuelas!</p>
<p>BTW, my nephew tells me that the offside was the right call. I’m researching.</p>
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<p>Thank you. That will be my vocabulary word of the day.</p>
<p>Great to start the tournament. If you have issues getting the stream off ESPN, use ATDHE.net Is super easy to use. Tomorrow going to a party with some Italians. Should be fun.</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks for that tip. The sound wasn’t working for most of the game so I had no idea the second half had started (working in another window) and missed the SA score.</p>
<p>Mexico got cheated, horrible call by the ref. on the other hand, I wouldnt want to be attacked by Zulus after reffing a loss to the home team lol</p>
<p>Thanks ghostfire13 and soccerguy315. I was concerned that the tournament might be like the NCAA basketball tournament where if you lose you are out. I am going to try to watch some of the matches and get into the fever since the rest of the world is so much in to soccer.</p>