| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8593 Registered: 05-2005 |
Happy Independence Day to Austin, Randy, Rob and any other Americans reading this. And well done England on making it to the World Cup quarter final. I said at the start I thought England would do well. I should have put some money on them when the odds were good. Oh well. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1903 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks, Padraig! I'm at work today, which is fine 'cause I ain't much in the mood for flag waiving. I am happy for England - they can use something to celebrate, as well. I will say that, especially when it comes to the World Cup, I remain really conflicted about the penalty shootout. I know this has been discussed to the moon and back, but it seems a cruel and almost arbitrary way to decide a match. Especially one like, say, Spain/Russia, where the time of possession wasn't even close (critiques of Spain's overall game plan aside). Maybe that's part of fun for people who are used to it, but it leaves me feeling like the winners didn't really win and the losers didn't really lose. It's vaguely unsatisfying. Do other people feel that way or are they used to it? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8595 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, it is a very unsatisfyng way to decide a game, but those matches are recorded as draws, not as wins for the penalty victors. A bit like being found guilty, but insane (this analogy is making sense to me at 2am, it may not in the cold light of dawn). True football fans do not like when it goes to penalties (I once mentally scoffed at an old flame for saying she loved shootouts), but it really only hurts when it's your side who can't shoot straight. I was at the World Cup 2006 qualifier play off when Australia beat Uruguay on penalties (which I reported on here https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/whole-n ew-ball-game-as-australia-make-their-mar k-1.518946), and I watched Ireland beat Romania on penalties in Italia 90 from the Cambridge, MA hotel I was working in at the time. Both were very exciting, though I wouldn't have thought so if Ireland or Australia had lost. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1904 Registered: 08-2006 |
Well, that makes total sense about one's feelings regarding penalty kicks being dependent on the outcome of the match. I'm sure few Russian fans are disappointed with their result! Still, when you don't have a horse in the race it looks like little more than coin flip (one that leaves lasting emotional scars on the goalkeeper, of course), which makes you wonder if the World Cup is awarded above all for being lucky. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8598 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, the emotional scars are mainly on the kickers who miss. No one blames a goalkeeper for not saving a penalty, everyone blames the kicker for missing. That said, one of Wim Wenders's early films is called The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goalke eper%27s_Fear_of_the_Penalty ps I was a goalie. | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 80 Registered: 03-2015 |
Padraig, strange question, but my wife and I used work in 90's (Borders) with a woman from the Chicago area who was dating a Irish Times journalist she met in the Boston area with good musical taste. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8599 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jesus, Fred, that sounds just like me! But, alas, there are no Chicago lasses in my past. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 543 Registered: 08-2005 |
Pádraig, you missed the bit about 'good' musical taste. Boom, boom!! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8604 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh, I saw it alright, Simon, but chose to let it pass. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 544 Registered: 08-2005 |
I'm never one to miss the chance of a cheap gag. July 4th is my parents' wedding anniversary - 59 years and just about hanging in there - and tomorrow (July 7) is my dad's 84th birthday, and I'm hoping England can do him proud. Having seen Belgium beat favourites Brazil this evening I am counting no chickens... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3921 Registered: 03-2005 |
So I thought I'd see a lot of new entries on this thread. Did everyone pass out from the shock? Simon, frying some chicken? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1906 Registered: 08-2006 |
England's in a good spot, but I expect its supporters suffer the same malaise you see with fans of certain proud but long-suffering American sports franchises who suddenly find themselves in the catbird seat. Every missed shot is remembered - every bad call, every reversal of fortune, they all become these painfully present. I'm sure England fans can imagine a scenario in which the team suffers a collective groin pull five minutes before facing Croatia, forfeiting the match and entering the annals of World Cup lore (and medical history books) forever. These are the fever dreams of the long-denied fanatic. | ||
| Burgers Member Username: Burgers Post Number: 94 Registered: 05-2005 |
Re: that Wim Wenders’ film The boche do call a penalty kick an elfmeter. But it’s not elf French metres, it’s 12 British yards. It’ll be a sad day if the beautiful game ever goes metric. And speaking of such things, it’s a crying shame that so many people in Britain now use the Australian mispronunciation of kilometre. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1233 Registered: 08-2004 |
Oh Burgers, I think your name may have originated in Germany. Well England made it through hard work and great goalkeeping. I'm starting to believe the Russians have set up this WC for an England win. To make up for infiltraing the EU referendum and all the nerve agent bollocks which is a direct attack on Stonehenge and our Druid heritage heartland. Maybe we'll need a seperate thread for conspiracy theories? |