Vorwaerts Deutschland! (in Off-topic)

Well I guess I'm quite the minority here but well:

Go Germany go!

After the group stage I wanted Holland to win.
After the quarterfinals I want Russia to win.
After today's match, I fear that it's going to be Germany again...

It was an exciting game, lots of goals. Much better after watching Italy play lol. Italy sure know how to kill a game lol. Poor Turkey, they played really well yet lost 3-2 lol. Ah well. Hopefully a Germany - Spain final!!

It is the Olympics already. What event we typing about?

Turkey deserved to go through to the final - Germany, if they play like that, will hopefully lose to Russia (when they beat Spain) :)

Dude, Turkey should've won. Turkey deserved to win. Turkey's two goals were epic. Freaking epic. And then last minute, Germans just walks in and scores a lucky goal. Beyond lame! Gahhhhhhh....

That's how Germany does it. They score lucky goals to gain undeserved victories.

germany pffff, those guys played horrible and if russia wins
against spain they should be very careful. And always that damned
Schweinsteiger, or however you spell it.

Schweinsteiger is the only quality German player in the team, if they had 10 of him in the outfield then I'd be expecting them to win, unfortunately for other teams he does enough for the rest of the team to get away with it.
I'm rooting for Russia now myself.

we talking about soccer ranger and im sorry to say clanny (poison) that Spain may win, i haven't saw a single game but i saw the results and the best parts at news and Spain has a big change to in win but go neightbours so go Germany

PoisoN, I'm with ya!!

Go Germany Go....
Oder auch: Beat Spain!!!

And: There are NO undeserved victories!!!

Ah, The Eurocup?

I think Spain looks great vs Russia.

I will put up 1M CB2 that they will win vs Germany.

Ranger, I think I can take that bet.

You think? or will you take it?

I'll take it.

First time I'm happy about a lost bet. Sending money to you Ranger.

1-0 for Spain! Sweet!

Yay Spain! Freakin' Sweet!

Aww, the mood is a little bit depressing now in Germany :(

Anyway congrats to Spain and all the other great countries who took part in these games.

Woohoo! Go Spain!

saw the replay of the goal that won it... Must say, as much as I hate soccer, that was a nice play... If only decent plays happened more often than 2-3 times a game, I might could watch it.

While I'm on the subject though, can anyone explain the offsides rule to me? One of your dudes manages to catch the opposing team off guard and slip behind all opposing players, and you manage to get the ball to him through a wall of defenders. So you get penalized?

I mean, in football, a receiver manages to outrun his coverage, it's a no-brainer for the QB to throw that way (in which case your just as certain to score as your receiver is to catch the ball).

In hockey, you can pass the puck to anybody anywhere. Passing beyond defenders gives an advantage, as now the only thing between you and a score is the goalie...

In soccer, you pass it behind all defenders to a guy that is much faster than anyone else on the field, and he's still got the goalie, and the ball itself between him and the goal... (carrying a football doesn't slow down a receiver, and handling a puck only does so if you're about half-past retarted... but I'm pretty sure there isn't a person alive today that can run just as fast as always while trying to control a ball with their feet...


I swear man, aside from the fact that you can't use your whole body, you're also not allowed to use the whole field? If the final scores for soccer matches (they're called matches, right?) were any lower, they'd be on the same page with golf...

"Now back to TH with today's sports news"

"Thank you j'bob. not much news in golf, as Tiger wins again with a final score of -12. In soccer, the Tigers eke out a close victory against the Woods with a final score of -10 to -11. Now to Hakai with the weather."

Oh, and even though I don't know soccer, I saw this coming a mile away. I used a small sample group (of one... myself...), and found German's can't play soccer well (I'm predominately German... Irish and Scottish too... Shame I put so much drinking potential to waste, eh? :P)...

I do not know anyone from Spain, that I know of... But I've known a lot of spanish people, and they all play soccer pretty decently...

So the end result of my highly unscientific research study was that Germany was gonna get creamed... Oh well. Let's see Spain come away with any prizes in Octoberfest!

I'd root for Germany... :)

Hatchet, if the offside rule did not exist, at least one forward from each team would just stay just outside of the box. A keeper or really any player from his team could easily kick it to him and he would most likely score. To prevent that, a defender would have to stay on that forward anyway. The offside rule creates another aspect of strategy on the forward/defending line.

"In hockey, you can pass the puck to anybody anywhere." Not true. You cannot pass the opposing team's blue line until the puck has crossed it. Therefore, the puck-bearer must be the first person to cross the blue line (except in cases of just chucking it down the rink and having someone jump to get it).

In soccer, the same thing is true. The person carrying the ball has to get it past the defender. Once the ball is past all defenders, any forwards who are over there can pass it around between them all they want. You just can't skip the part about getting around a defender. You have to have good ball control and to be able to fake out the adversary. Obviously someone who doesn't have to worry about ball control can just book it down the field and receive a pass, but that isn't how the game is played.

The blue forward on the left of the diagram is in an offside position as he is both in front of the second to last defender (marked by the dotted line) and the ball. Note that this does not necessarily mean he is committing an offside offence - the offence will only occur if he receives a pass from his teammate.

There ya go - easy :)

The FIFA website has nice animated demonstrations of the various applications of the offside rule.... easy to understand yet detailed.