World Cup

[Peter_Spaeth]

It seems by and large Americans prefer sports where there are discrete plays, or in the case of basketball nominally continuous play but with innumerable breaks in the action where everything resets. Soccer and hockey to an extent are much more continuous, and also don't have a lot of statistics to keep track of during the game, so it's a very different mentality.

[ClementeFanOh]

Peter- keen observation, I find similarities between soccer and hockey. I
understand soccer 1000 times more but think hockey players are skilled
athletes (and yes, I know that's an understatement).

Back to thread purpose- will be fascinating to keep an eye on Pulisic's health.
Will Argentina remember they are the #3 team in the world? Trent King

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Peter- keen observation, I find similarities between soccer and hockey. I
understand soccer 1000 times more but think hockey players are skilled
athletes (and yes, I know that's an understatement).

Back to thread purpose- will be fascinating to keep an eye on Pulisic's health.
Will Argentina remember they are the #3 team in the world? Trent King

I think it's definitely an understatement to call hockey players just "skilled".
MOST skilled is arguably more apt.

ESPN did a thorough study on which sports are the most difficult and skilled, with Hockey ranked #1 for team sports, second only to boxing overall.

Devised by a panel of experts that included "sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail", the study was based on 10 categories, or skills, including Endurance, Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Hand-Eye Coordination and others.

Boxing scored 72.37, with hockey close behind at 71.75. Football was second for team sports and third overall, scoring 68.37.

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

[ClementeFanOh]

Back to the topic- Spain OUT! Wow. Morocco was stout. And France /England looming. Great stuff. Trent King

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

I think it's definitely an understatement to call hockey players just "skilled".
MOST skilled is arguably more apt.

ESPN did a thorough study on which sports are the most difficult and skilled, with Hockey ranked #1 for team sports, second only to boxing overall.

Devised by a panel of experts that included "sports scientists from the United States Olympic Committee, of academicians who study the science of muscles and movement, a star two-sport athlete, and of journalists who spend their professional lives watching athletes succeed and fail", the study was based on 10 categories, or skills, including Endurance, Strength, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Hand-Eye Coordination and others.

Boxing scored 72.37, with hockey close behind at 71.75. Football was second for team sports and third overall, scoring 68.37.

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/sportSkills

There must be some relationship between the skill level required in hockey and the fact that so many hockey players are playing into their 40s when obviously their physical gifts have diminshed.

Back to soccer, I hate games decided on penalties. Unimaginably bad performance by Spain in that respect today.

[packs]

That ranking is fundamentally flawed to me. It might be difficult to be an elite basketball player but it's not difficult to play basketball. How does it end up so highly ranked?

[ClementeFanOh]

Who will win (versus who you WANT to win):

1) Will win- Brazil, Netherlands, France, Portugal

2) Want to win- Croatia, Argentina, England, Morocco

Basically, if I'm rooting for them, they'll probably lose

Trent King

[Carter08]

Netherlands all the way

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It seems by and large Americans prefer sports where there are discrete plays, or in the case of basketball nominally continuous play but with innumerable breaks in the action where everything resets. Soccer and hockey to an extent are much more continuous, and also don't have a lot of statistics to keep track of during the game, so it's a very different mentality.

Interesting insight. Never thought of that. And more bettting opportunities when there is a plethora of individual stats, etc.

[ALR-bishop]

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awrj...V0_0RpL7zhP0Q-

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awrj...UZ1E18Up300YU-

[ClementeFanOh]

Mexico is out- YES!!!

Trent King

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Mexico is out- YES!!!

Trent King

Actually I will miss the team. They lost yes but they have an exciting brand of play

[58pinson]

Was also hoping for Mexico to go forward. Manager will surely be sacked. While on the subject of the Mexico - Saudi Arabia match - has anyone ever seen a more unorthodox keeper than the Saudi goalie? After watching that game I find it unbelievable that the Saudi side defeated Argentina.

Belgium was just dealt out and I think Martinez will be under a lot of scrutiny about some of his player decisions. This is a very talented side (as are Croatia), deeper than almost any other squad, and it seemed pretty obvious that a lot of the substitutes brought more to the pitch than the players that started ahead of them. Lukaku may not be allowed back into the country!

On to the afternoon matches!

[mrreality68]

Germany is out that is also a Shock.

The infield games and results are getting interesting