Welp. Come on Mo you're good fam. Who needs a shoulder when you're playing soccer!
Hope that doesn't knock Salah out of the World Cup
Ronaldo definitely offside, so good call.
I wish that they would at least modify the offside rule, though. Those plays where shots pepper the keeper and then an attacking player is suddenly re-offsided seems contrary to the spirit of the rule. IMO if a play has legally played the ball to the keeper the players should remain legal even if the defenders move up until the ball is cleared from immediate danger.
How are you defining "embracing the sport" here? At this point there are probably more Americans that follow soccer than hockey.
Among the young generation, it's more than a niche sport - it's gaining ground on baseball for them. (The average MLB fan is like 55.)
The biggest trump card for soccer is that games are played without commercial breaks and end within two hours, whereas the traditional North American sports have become 3 hours of commercials with the occasional sports break.
Watching American sports is like watching paint dry these days with the commercials and referee replay stuff. This is the biggest positive about soccer in that you can just watch and go on with your day afterwards.
It's not a fucking 5 hour ad-reel featuring some sports in between especially during playoff time.
I don't know if that's the trump card. You still need a good product to watch, or people won't watch it. But it's certainly a good feature that makes the game more accessible to fans who otherwise already have at least a token interest in it.
Actually, the offsides rule does give the offense a chance to get behind the defense with a well-placed pass or run. Indeed, in no major American sport will you find an offense attacking a defense in which it is regularly able to get behind all defenders--defenders always start closer to the goal than the offense does.
The offside rule has issues, but it isn't that fundamentally different from the hockey rule, and it's not the reason that American isn't a huge soccer country (though the sport is gaining plenty of momentum here and has established a fine niche). It's mostly just a question of what people grow up with and are attached to, and in America that tends to be sports like football, basketball, and baseball.
The offside rule only constrains the offense, not the defense.
You are saying, I think, that this rule that constrains the offense causes the defense to play worse than they would without the rule? The purpose of the rule is to make the defense play a less-than-ideal strategy, thereby opening up the game for the offense?
Also, it is interesting to look at field hockey as an example here--they got rid of their offside rule (which was the same as soccer's offside rule) about a decade ago, and the change has apparently been met with universal acclaim from the sort of people who enjoy field hockey.
That's not exactly the argument I'm making. It's hard to project how things would look without the offside rule, but the idea that "getting behind the defense" is eliminated by the rule seems not to ring true to me. If the lack of a rule forced more conservative defensive play, we would see less "getting behind the defense" instead of more.
Whether that makes the sport better or not is a different issue.
That's why Americans LOVE our version of football, because a classic American strategy is for wide receivers to run past the defenders before the ball is snapped!!!
Wait...
No, ok, it's because hockey players can rush the blue zone and park in front of the goalie before the puck crosses the blue line!!!!
Wait, no, ok...
It's, like, the batter can charge for first base BEFORE the pitch is thrown, throwing the entire defense into chaos... or the base runner can bolt for the next base before the fly ball is caught...
Ummmmmm.
Looks like we have plenty of the same rules, buddy. Indeed, some of them are even called "offsides" (ok plural version but whatever).
but that has nothing to do with being Benzema offside on the next play which is what the AR called. Looked like Benzema was ahead of Ronaldo's header and then the keeper blocked it (no possession) and then and..
holy shit did that just happen?
but that has nothing to do with being Benzema offside on the next play which is what the AR called. Looked like Benzema was ahead of Ronaldo's header and then the keeper blocked it (no possession) and then and..
holy shit did that just happen?
Wtf are you going on about?
You realize that soccer players play year round right? Thus are more prone to injuries and said injuries have significant impact on their international duties.
Mo Salah getting injured could be a fucking disaster for Egypt in the World Cup.
There's no way to emperically measure health by percentage. What is 60% vs 70%? Who is to say there is a difference in percentage that different sports will play at?
And, at any rate, players in American sports miss games all the time, even big ones. If I had to guess, Salah has broken his clavicle, an injury that caused Aaron Rodgers to miss most of this past season. Chris Paul is missing tonight's game with a "hamstring strain" even though he can walk and it's the biggest game of the season to this point.
And it's pretty funny comparing soccer, where players run a number of miles in each game at varying levels of intensity, to baseball, where players alternate between standing in one place in the field and sitting on a bench except for the five times a game where they stand at home plate to swing at some pitches.
Mo Salah is not faking. He doesn't want to leave this game--he's been building the whole season for it. This is the opposite of the stereotype, in fact; real guys getting hit hard and hurting.
There are times where soccer players feign injuries and it looks bad. This is not one of those times.
How often have you had to run full speed with a dislocated shoulder? Do you use your arms? Do you see how much they use their arms for balance, air control on jumps, etc? How often they bang into other players?
Even if he did have full range of motion (I doubt that) it's not like the guy is a statue from the waist up. You're just looking for a reason to hate on soccer. Not your favorite sport? Fine. There are sports I'm not as big a fan of. But banging on a legit injury as an example of a guy faking or being soft is weak.
Look back at when Kelly Olenyk did that to Kevin Love. He didn't stay on the court did he?
I don't think European soccer players give a shit about whether America is watching or not.
And both those injuries weren't fake.
WOW ISCO.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA ARE YOU SERIOUS LIVERPOOL!?!!?!?
If that's how Liverpool loses, just WOW.
Dumbest! Goal! Ever!
You should probably stop commenting about stuff you know nothing about. (As Bale bicycle kicks in a crazy goal)
WTF!!
A stage like this and that’s the goal we get....cmon!
Wow what a fucking goal. Good shit Mane!!!
Pool just redeemed themselves.
Still remarkable to me that Bale has basically given away the prime of his career to be a bench guy at Real.
And yet he just scored an epic goal in the Champions League Final!
what a goal by Bale
Jesus Christ. Gareth Bale what a fucking shot. This 2nd half has been nuts.
I want to point out that my previous post was made before Bale did...
That.
Wow.
Mane getting dangerous.
These UCL finals are sometimes anticlimactic, dull, dreary affairs.
This is not one of those.
Real with a huge break. That should have been a penalty.
Then Ronaldo nearly nets one the other way. This is great, and now with that vital added dose of huge controversy.
A Real defender clearly intercepted a cross with his elbow inside the area just before that Ronaldo shot. Should've been a handball, a penalty, and likely a level score.
Was it an unnatural arm position?
Could he avoid being hit , enough time to react?
These are some of the questions refs ask when making a call/ no call. I’d say no to all of them and proper call by the CR who was in proper position to make the call.