The Swamp

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:47 am Group D last match day is gonna be nuts.

brian wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:11 pm Nice screamer from the Swiss. Telling you all the Swiss are hella underrated (even at 6th in the "world rankings").

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:31 pm So, 5 groups have played 2 games... Let's waste the end of the work day looking at how things are shaking out.

Group A
Russia and Uruguay are through, Egypt and the Saudis are done.

Group B
Spain and Portugal tied on 4 with +1 GD, Iran with 3pts, 0 GD.
Spain play Morocco (eliminated), Portugal play Iran.
All sorts of shit could happen here, but you give an edge to Spain and you would think Portugal would play for a draw. Could be risky, because we saw Iran can go forward and they have to play for the win because a draw does them no good (GD is not in their favor.)

Group C
France on 6, Denmark on 4, Australia on 1, (Peru done).
France and Denmark play each other and it would be shocking if this was anything other than a rather tepid affair. Australia will need to beat Peru by 2 goals just to tie on GD and hope Denmark lose. I would also say this is a trap game for AUS because Peru is actually very good and playing for nothing but pride at this point.

Group D
Croatia with 6, Nigeria 3, Iceland and Argentina with 1s.
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Croatia to play a desperate Iceland team that needs to win, Argentina in the same boat facing Nigeria. This shit WILL be bonkers. My money is on Croatia (obvi) and Nigeria. I don't think ARG can handle Nigeria's speed... like, at all.

Group E
Brazil and the Swiss with 4, Serbia with 3, CRC out with 0.
Another one with lots of potential mayhem. Brazil playing a Serb side that pretty much needs a W, because they are on the wrong side of GD with the Swiss. Swiss playing a CRC team that, if they play to their level, should actually be out to just score and have a little fun... Trap game just like Peru-Australia. Assume Brazil rests a bunch of guys... Thinking Serbia backdoors their way into the second round here.

brian wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:56 pm I'm struggling to see how Costa Rica beats the Swiss.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:17 pm So, the bottom line with goal keeping in any sport is that you want to be in a position where you are only as far off your goal line so that you can reasonably expect to cover your near post and far post. It's called cutting down the angle. Think about an arc that starts about a yard outside of each post and then extends about 5-6 yards away from the center line of the goal. Wherever the shot is coming from, you are sliding along this imaginary arc. Yu want to be squared up with the shooter taking away BOTH posts. The sharper the angle and the closer the shooter, the more you can take away the near post, because as shot from a sharp angle at the farpost is much easier to save... no real angle.

Positioning gets much more complicated when the player with the ball can shoot from distance, but could also cross the ball. In that instance, yes, a goalie should be inviting a distance shot at the nearpost by cheating more towards the middle of the goal. A) That's a very low percentage shot, even from the best players. B) You want to be in a position to come off your line in a forward trajectory, not backpedaling... Backpedaling is the worst for a soccer goalie. Gives us the hives. And I will amend that to say at the highest levels, they have to be very careful cheating too much when they have the ball on their feet 30 yards out. One more dribble and a good shot and the goalie is fucked. But if they see you constantly guarding the near post from 35 yards out? They're going to backdoor you all day.

Finally, where I will say that a lot of goalies DO cheat one way or another, mainly to invite a shot to a certain said and to play mindgames is on PKs. You give the guy a look at a more open side and hope he goes for it, then you start sliding to cover that while he's in his run-up. There's a LOT more cat and mouse that goes on, but I don't feel like typing it all out.

testuser2 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:23 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:17 pm So, the bottom line with goal keeping in any sport is that you want to be in a position where you are only as far off your goal line so that you can reasonably expect to cover your near post and far post. It's called cutting down the angle. Think about an arc that starts about a yard outside of each post and then extends about 5-6 yards away from the center line of the goal. Wherever the shot is coming from, you are sliding along this imaginary arc. Yu want to be squared up with the shooter taking away BOTH posts. The sharper the angle and the closer the shooter, the more you can take away the near post, because as shot from a sharp angle at the farpost is much easier to save... no real angle.

Positioning gets much more complicated when the player with the ball can shoot from distance, but could also cross the ball. In that instance, yes, a goalie should be inviting a distance shot at the nearpost by cheating more towards the middle of the goal. A) That's a very low percentage shot, even from the best players. B) You want to be in a position to come off your line in a forward trajectory, not backpedaling... Backpedaling is the worst for a soccer goalie. Gives us the hives. And I will amend that to say at the highest levels, they have to be very careful cheating too much when they have the ball on their feet 30 yards out. One more dribble and a good shot and the goalie is fucked. But if they see you constantly guarding the near post from 35 yards out? They're going to backdoor you all day.

Finally, where I will say that a lot of goalies DO cheat one way or another, mainly to invite a shot to a certain said and to play mindgames is on PKs. You give the guy a look at a more open side and hope he goes for it, then you start sliding to cover that while he's in his run-up. There's a LOT more cat and mouse that goes on, but I don't feel like typing it all out.

I've been avoiding this thread because I've been recording/watching games at night. So when is Nonlinear GK camp? I packed the kids stuff and he's ready to go.

brian wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:49 pm Haha, fuck the Serbs.

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:49 pm Anyway, he said high level keeping is all positioning because everyone can stop shots.

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:11 pm

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:49 pm Anyway, he said high level keeping is all positioning because everyone can stop shots.

Sure, but some can stop shots better than others.

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:13 pm

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:11 pm

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:49 pm Anyway, he said high level keeping is all positioning because everyone can stop shots.

Sure, but some can stop shots better than others.

It he maintained that was more because of their positioning than hand work was the point I think.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:41 pm Swiss now my favourite team at the tournament...

Goal Celebrations a "Fuck You" to Serbia

Petkovic was unimpressed with his players’ celebrations.

“You should never mix politics and football, it’s good to be a fan and important to show respect,” he told reporters after the game.

“It’s clear that emotions surface. I think on and off the pitch we need to steer away from politics in football and we should focus on this as a sport that brings people together.”

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:13 pm

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:11 pm

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:49 pm Anyway, he said high level keeping is all positioning because everyone can stop shots.

Sure, but some can stop shots better than others.

It he maintained that was more because of their positioning than hand work was the point I think.

Joe K wrote: ↑Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:43 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:41 pm Swiss now my favourite team at the tournament...

Goal Celebrations a "Fuck You" to Serbia

This quote from the Swiss coach pissed me off when I read it, but at the same time he is a Bosnian Croat from Sarajevo, so I probably should give him some slack on his comments here:

Petkovic was unimpressed with his players’ celebrations.

“You should never mix politics and football, it’s good to be a fan and important to show respect,” he told reporters after the game.

“It’s clear that emotions surface. I think on and off the pitch we need to steer away from politics in football and we should focus on this as a sport that brings people together.”