Futbol/Soccer Fans: What do you hate most...

[Dannyalcatraz]

What is it that bugs you most about the state of the game?

For me, its the flops. I can live with the bad goals- disallowed or given- but the dives just demean the sport as a whole.

Personally, I'd like diving or suspected diving to become a TEAM foul. IOW, if the ref suspects you dove, you (the player) get a yellow...but so does your TEAM. Thus, the next dive that your side- ANYONE on your side- gets caught out in means your team plays a man down.

 

[Mark]

I'll agree regarding the flops. I can live with a lot of inconsistencies in a game, and they wind up evening out often, but the faking by some players to draw a foul ought to be more actively discouraged, IMO.

 

[Dioltach]

Not a football -- sorry, soccer -- fan anymore, primarily because of all the play-acting. Martin Johnson, former England rugby captain, once said, "Football is a game where you spend the whole time pretending you're hurt, rugby is a game where you spend the whole pretending you're not."

The problem is that as long as there are huge tactical advantages to faking a foul, the players will continue to do it.

 

[El Mahdi]

I agree with the flopping. But I also dislike the playing the clock to protect a lead. Whether legal, and unenforcable if changed, I think it's cowardly. Win or lose playing the game, not playing the clock.

 

[Joker]

I agree with the flopping. But I also dislike the playing the clock to protect a lead. Whether legal, and unenforcable if changed, I think it's cowardly. Win or lose playing the game, not playing the clock.

This happens in other games aswel such as rugby. It's less obvious and the ref will penalize you if he thinks you're holding up the game but it's still there. I don't like it though. Didn't like it when the French did it in the last Six Nations and I didn't like it when the Ghanese did it (Pretending you're injured and then walking slowly across the field to be substituted).

Diving, like playing the clock is just disrespectful. But since they aren't penalized and can get the other team in trouble for it they'll continue to do it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't know if you guys could hear it where you were, but I absolutely loved it when that last Ghanean player flopped (and there was nobody within yards of him) and you could clearly hear a chant of "Bull___t! Bull___t! Bull___t!" over the drone of the vuvuzelas!

Awesome!

 

[Orius]

I'd say the fact that it exists at all, but then I'm not exactly a soccer fan either so that don't count.

I'd say the flopping is absurd though, and I agree with you that it's probably one of the things that turn Americans off to the game. For one, it helps reinforce soccer's reputation for being a wussy sport, a reputation not helped by domestic silliness like youth soccer leagues giving out participation trophies so the losers don't get their feelings hurt. Given that Americans like full contact sports like football and hockey, seeing a soccer player flop because someone bumped into him is going to make him seem like a wimp to us.

Secondly, it looks really unsportsmanlike, faking a serious injury to get a free kick or whatever it is they're doing. I'm sure there are plenty of Americans who would even view it like cheating.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm going to do a video comparison. Without going into sports like (American) football, (Aussie) football, rugby, or hockey, which sport video below depicts true sportsmanship, grit and determination?

Lets compare:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43hp8YrfDec&feature=related"]Video #1[/ame]

with

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFn47a_Ny0Y"]Video #2[/ame]

(In case you're wondering, I'm voting against the epileptic narcoleptics and for the 16 year old girl.)

(Yes, I'm an American...who loves soccer.)

 

[drothgery]

This happens in other games as well such as rugby.

It's pretty much inevitable in any game that runs for a set amount of time, I'd think. If the game is close late, the winning team will usually try and run out the clock. In American football you stop passing on offense (because an incomplete pass stops the clock) and play 'prevent defense' (where you try and prevent big plays and keep the other team in bounds, but don't worry much about slow marches down the field). In basketball you use every last second of the shot clock and try to avoid fouls on defense.

 

[El Mahdi]

I don't mind that. I don't even mind it when a team adopts a keep-away strategy to play out the clock. At least there still playing. At least there's the chance they can make a mistake, or a bad pass, or the other team can take it away. But faking hurt, then taking your sweet time to walk across the field for a substitution, or wasting time setting up a corner kick on purpose - to me that's just plain and simple cowardice with no honor.