Since we’re talking about referees this morning… At the recent NCYSA Annual General Meeting, two international FIFA referees (Kim Oberle and Sandra Serafini) presented a new program they are championing in North Carolina called the NCSRA Referee Mentor Program. The program is designed to take referees who want to go beyond entry level and help [...]
Entries Tagged ‘fifa’
When The Laws of the Game Just Aren’t Enough
Does it make you cringe when a longtime soccer coach yells at a referee over a call that the coach is a) absolutely wrong about and b) should know better? It’s often said one of the best things for an aspiring youth soccer coach to do is get their Grade 8 Referee Certification. Not only [...]
Why Does Talent Need To Be Home Grown?
Why does Sepp Blatter think national team talent has to be ‘homegrown’? Jamie Trecker has an excellent commentary on the FIFA president’s latest comments and why restrictions on foreign players will hurt more than they help. He summarizes Blatter’s position like this:
Blatter argues that for national teams to succeed, clubs must be forced to save [...]
No Wii That Happens
Over at The DCenters, D has a post up about how the success of the Wii gaming console and it’s ‘WiiMote’ could hurt the popularity of soccer in the US:
Video games are important to the context of modern soccer, and to sports in America. Many a US based fan played the FIFA or Winning Eleven [...]
But The Rules Say…
When our league was forming, I spent a lot of time visiting the websites of various established soccer leagues, trying to get a handle on what type of modified rules they played by. This was in the midst of the movement to small sided soccer, but regardless of the field size a league used, almost [...]
Time For Skilled Play Or A Shift Towards the NHL?
Found via The Far Post Report, Paul Gardner at the New York Sun has a column up talking about how FIFA is allowing violence on the field to the detriment of skilled play. While I think his fixation on Zidane is a bit much (since he actually DID get ejected), I think there is something [...]
Offside and Advantage
Jeremy over at SoccerWorld has a post up about the ‘new’ offside interpretation in use for the past year or so and how it allowed a goal to count when a player, uninvolved with play, was very offside:
There was much discussion this weekend of Newcastle’s controversial first goal against West Ham. For those of you [...]
USMNT Historical FIFA Rankings – The Cliff
Josh over at Throughball has a great table of the USMNT FIFA rankings for the past 14 years which shows that, at least based on their rankings, the USMNT gradually improved year over year up until the 2006 World Cup. Then they promptly fell off a cliff. I decided a visual aid was called for [...]
QOTW: Are You Seeing The ‘New’ Offside Rule Called?
Just over a year ago, FIFA added clarifications to the offside rule trying to clarify when a player was gaining advantage, interfering with an opponent, and interfering with play:
The definitions of elements of involvement in active play are as follows:
Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
Interfering with [...]
Penalty Kick Shootouts to be Kicked?
FIFA’s president now feels that World Cup finals should not be decided on penalty kicks. Am I the only person who thinks a PSO is just fine? Sepp Blatter feels it is a tragedy:
‘When it comes to the World Cup final it is passion, and when it [...]
How Can Something So Wrong Feel So Right?
I really don’t think FIFA should start handing out suspensions for verbal taunting or provocation. The precedent is spooky. But the little devil on my shoulder let out a big Gilliard like BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH when I read that Materazzi had gotten suspended for 2 matches thanks to his antics in the final. I know, I know, [...]
What Is Blatter Blathering On About?
I’m just a lowly youth league president. My biggest problem are hooligan parents (joke – mostly). But even I know that you don’t talk about the performance of teams in a tournament, at least until it’s over. But maybe that’s just me. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is at it again, complaining about England’s offensive strategy [...]
Does Soccer Need Major Surgery or A Couple Stitches?
The Football kNuts put up a fairly detailed post filled with ideas on how to fix the fundamentally broken game of soccer. Many people have complained about the state of soccer in the 2006 World Cup and many have been upset over the number of bookings (though others will say they are justified). Being an [...]
FIFA Feels Card Happy Refs Are Justified
FIFA is cracking down on reckless play with a flood of yellow and red cards. Is it necessary?
