Ok, I have been watching recently, mainly because America is doing great, and there is not much else on around those times. So I have only watched about 8 games(in my life all in the last week or so). Slowly I am getting the rules. But I just gotta say that there is a lot of BS in that game. Now socer is rougher then I previously thought, but all you ever hear when someone goes down is the anouncer sayer oh hes acting a little there. They say this A LOT. For anyone who say the USA MEX game the other day, notice how the mexican player with long dyed blondish hair(hernandez(sp) I think) tripped on a usa player after he had passed him? To me it seemed like a delay reaction, or was it really a trip(from his own two feet). I just cant belive how dirty that game seems.

Oh ya, I was seeing some players right next to the out of bounds line, then kicking it out and themselves getting a throw in. Was I just seeing things or is that a rule of some type.

Welcome to some of the more subtle aspects of the easiest and toughest game in the world.

Soccer is in theory a simple game. Eleven players on a side, each trying to put the ball in the other's net - only one player can use his hands on the field of play, and only inside the 18 yard box. Few rules, easy to play with very little equipment - yet one of the hardest games to master.

Individual effort must be combined with team play in combination for 90 minutes of constant action, with a limited number of officials watching the action and keeping the players from fouling away from the ball - or away from the action as it were.

"Diving," "acting," or trying to draw a penalty, is a common problem that reached epidemic levels about ten years ago. In recent years it has been raised to a cautioning offense in an attempt to limit it's use as an offensive weapon. Players are trying to trick the referee into giving their team a free kick - directly at the goal - because they were tripped or otherwise aggressively or dangerously fouled. If they can fool the referee inside the penalty box, it's a penalty kick - one guy and the goalkeeper. It's a high risk since to lose this game results in a yellow card, but some players still try it and get away with it.

Some teams do more of this than others, and some players are notorious for embellishing the game with their acting skills. Hernandez is one of those well known members of the "Field Actors Guild." :)

As for kicking the ball out of bounds and then getting it back, that will only happen if you kick the ball out of bouds "off" another player. In other words you kick the ball into the legs of your opponent and it goes out of bounds. You get the throw in.

Remember that the entire ball must go over the entire width of the line before it is actually out. Unline US football, the line is part of the field in soccer, not part of the out-of-bounds.

As for the dirty nature of the Mexico/USA game, unfortunately this is common when those two teams meat. They hate each other on the field, and there is an incredible level of nastiness that surfaces as a result.

Enjoy the game. It truely is one of the greatest in the world.

-t

Watching this World Cup the diving does seem to have lessened from where it was four years ago. Being in the US I don't get many other opportunities to watch soccer at the international level so pretty much can only judge by what happens in the WC.

It's not as if, though, American sports viewers haven't seen this before. It became a big problem in NHL hockey a few years ago, and the league made a statement on it and directed the officials to begin penalizing it more aggressively -- much as FIFA has.

My own observation is that it isn't nearly as common in other levels of soccer that we see more commonly in the US: MLS, for example, and NCAA.

i love the world cup

I'm surpriced USA beat Mexico :stickout

England are also doing pretty well and I wouldn't mind seeing England up against USA :nuts:

S. Korea and Italy was a good game today. I have been waiting to see a game go into penalty kicks, and was 5 min away from this happening today. That yellow card that then turned into a red card from what I assume would be from aruging was disapointing, it was a bad call, but he should of backed down(mabey they would of won :() )

I love the part where a guy got hit in the stomach with a ball, and he wasent ready(waiting for the ball to shoot a corner), and when he falls he grabs his face for what I assume would be used to make the refs think it was a face shot.

Originally posted by davidb
That yellow card that then turned into a red card from what I assume would be from aruging was disapointing, it was a bad call, but he should of backed downThat yellow card was simply the second yellow card of the match for the same player - so it turned into a red card.

The call was terrible. The ref was 35 yards away and could not possibly have seen the trip - and so he called a dive. It was not a dive - and no yellow card, and so no red card.

The refs in this tournament have been terrible. The game has moved too far, too fast for these guys to keep up.

-t