World Cup Question

[m00n]

Or maybe this is just a soccer rule... I dunno, I'm not into soccer at all. None the less I find myself watching it because my son wanted to watch it.

The Trinidad / Sweden game just got done being played. The final score was 0-0 a tie. Now Trinidad was celebrating and Sweden was hanging their heads. Why was that?

[sunburnwilly]

I suppose it depends on what's going on in their respective brackets .

[flannj]

Because Trinidad is a huge underdog, they were expecting to get blown out, therefore receiving no points. Sweden was favored and expected a win. A win would have given them 3 points with the scoring system being used for World Cup, a tie only gets them 1 point.

So the scoring for this bracket goes:

England - 3 points (they beat Paraguay)

Sweden - 1 point (today's tie)

Trinidad - 1 point (today's tie)

Paraguay - 0 points (loss to England)

You can see todays tie helps Paraguay the most because if Sweden had won today as expected, Paraguay would have been down 3 points to two teams in their bracket. Only the top 2 teams can advance from each bracket.

As a side note during the game this morning I spoke with a friend of mine in the Cayman Islands. He is native Caymanian and he has several family members from Trinidad. He was sitting in a bar in Georgetown with all his buddies watching the game and having a blast. The whole Caribbean (particularly the smaller islands) are in an absolute frenzy watching Trinidad, because this tiny island represents all of them.

I realize not everyone in the U.S. understands or enjoys soccer. But I would suggest giving this tournament a chance. It's pretty exciting and displays some incredible athleticism. The global excitement adds an extra element to the whole experience.

- Jim

[Daddy Dee]

flannj,

thanks for the tutorial. I had no clue.

[efzauner]

And the Trinidad Sweeden game was one of the best so far. So what not scoring. but what action!

[seti]

I'm not a big sports fan but the world cup is always a blast. I hate american football its all stop go stop go ugg drives me nuts almost as boring to me as base ball. The sports that are faced paced I can actually watch like basketball and soccer. Too bad trinidad didn't score but a great feat non the less.

[mungkiman]

Wasn't Trinidad also playing 1 man down for much of the game? Hell of a

game for them. The England game was fairly boring by comparison.

[m00n]

I'm not a big sports fan but the world cup is always a blast. I hate american football its all stop go stop go ugg drives me nuts almost as boring to me as base ball. The sports that are faced paced I can actually watch like basketball and soccer. Too bad trinidad didn't score but a great feat non the less.

Football is very strategic, tons of plays and formations. It may apear lame on the outisde, but once you get into its a lot of fun to watch and easy to get addicted to the game.

While Soccer does keep moving, I really was unable to pick apart play schemes. To me, it seemed like nothing more than people running around the field kicking a round ball. I'm sure it's more than that, but at first glance, it was about all I got from it. It was entertaining though.

[Dflip]

The best analogy for the Trinidad tie would be the US "Dream Team" in basketball tieing Puerto Rico. The "dream team" had Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing and Magic Johnson on the same team.

Mind you, years ago in the Olympics Puerto Rico did upset the US, 1976 in Montreal if I am correct with Butch Lee from Al Maguire's Marquette team as the point guard. Stranger things have happened. Trinidad were pegged for three straight loses, so they do have reason to celebrate.

The game was not a good result for Sweden and they will now have to defeat Paraguay, otherwise they are going home early.

The US got thumped by the Czechs today, 3-0, so they are definitely in trouble.