Hmm, maybe.. So you think a certain sport can influence your body type? Even professionally? I mean Lebron would still have a crucial work out routine, wouldn't he still get just as big?
I know it can. Growing up with Gayle Hatch training athletes for different sports were light years apart in terms of regiment and diet. Just like regiments change for different positions in any sport. If your not as big and muscles are more stretched usually reduces cramping as well.
Lebron may not be a good example for soccer. His body was made for basketball. Guys like Russell Westbrook, CP3, Patrick Peterson, and DeSean Jackson may be a little better. It's more about having so many thousands (millions?) of athletic kids in our country that don't give soccer any consideration as a legitimate sport. Just as I'm somewhat getting into the World Cup, I noticed that the semi-final games are during working hours so I won't be able to watch. The Netherlands game was a good one to half-watch while working out at the gym on Saturday. I didn't feel that I had to watch every second of the game but it was interesting enough to view between sets. The European announcers that I've heard on TV & radio are interesting with their big words and sometimes odd use of adjectives (i.e. referring to a goal as 'delicious').
They said on TV that Belgium took 38 shots against the USA with 26 shots "On Goal." Aren't all shots at the goal? What happened to the other 12 shots?
A shot "on goal" is a shot that would have had a chance of scoring had it not been blocked by the keeper or a sweeper or a defender. A shot could be a shot that sailed way over the goal.
Apologies in advance for these basic questions: Are the rules for World Cup games the exact same as other professional leagues? Do players get paid by their countries for the World Cup or get bonuses if the team does well? Or is every country different? How often does a player miss a game for actions in the previous game? I don't think that I agree with this rule although realize the NBA has a similar rule for total number of playoff techs (although rarely leads to a game missed). Does it just seem as though the team leading (often by only one goal) goes into prevent defense way too early (such as during 1st half or very early 2nd) or are they actually becoming less aggressive as soon as they have a lead? Does the defense ever intentionally move their defenders away from the goal to force an offside call? If so, is this practice viewed as a good or bad part of the game?
Some of questions I have answers for. In group play, you play until the end of regulation, if you are tied it's a tie and you are awarded 1 point for a tie, 3 for a win, 0 for a loss. Plus the more goals you score add to your goal differential. Knockout round you play regulation OT and penalty kick shoot out if it's still tied after OT, best of 5 kicks then if it's tied after that, it goes 1 kick for 1 kick until 1 team misses and the other makes. Card system, 2 yellows in a game equals a red, red equals ejection. In a tourney, 2 yellows in the course of the tournament means you sit the next game. All cards are wiped at the beginning of the semis. Can you imagine an offensive lineman in football being ejected and the offense now has to play with 10 players? That's soccer, you don't get to replace an in game ejection. Yes teams normally will go into a defensive mode when they are up, prime example, Belgium vs the United States. Some will continue to attack until they feel comfortable with either the lead or the clock. Yes there are offside traps that are run by defenses but it's playing w fire and depending on the linesman to see it and call it, which they don't sometime.
Players get paid. The country gets a payout from FIFA based on their length of stay in the tournament. The payout is usually divided out. Cameroon refused to board the plane to Brazil without getting paid first. (They did not trust their federation due to past issues). In regards to the offside trap, Costa Rica played it to perfection against the Dutch. Holland were caught offside more in that match than at any other time in the past 50 years (mostly RVP). This slowed down a mega offensive attack that Holland was trying to mount and got the match to penalty kicks. The Dutch are 1 -5 in international match shootouts lately and Costa Rica have just come off a shootout win against Greece. All the confidence was on the Rican's side but they did not anticipate the brilliance and forethought of Louis Van Gaal. Van Gaal knew the Rican's were going to try to get this to PKs and he knew his squad have lost confidence of late and he had trump card...
