World Cup 2006

[Devari]

No clue on any advantage for the players - knowledge of that particular pitch? Being home? Training facilities?

For professional leagues, the obvious advantage is financial - you don't make money off ticket sales when you are playing away! And, of course, a sports team needs money to keep running.

[Devari]

Amongst South Korea, France, Switzerland, and Togo, who do you think will advance?

I think South Korea is a sure bet, personally. Togo doesn't have a realistic shot, really. It comes down to France and Switzerland - but, frankly, I could see the second spot in that group being decided purely on goal differential. Both the French and Swiss should win against Togo, and if they both lose to South Korea, then they are completely matched in points.

[Nuclear Raunch]

If there's no goal differential how is the 2nd spot decided? Sudden Death playoff, regular playoff, coin flip, something else?

[Devari]

No bloody clue, sirrah.

[The Beatles]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup

It's a set of 7 criteria.

[Gen. Volkov]

So you still live in Washington State? I didn't know that.

And yeah, to permnantly to lose a player in football would cripple the team. Especially in an important position. Course that's why the rule doesn't exist, because you just can't play the game without a quarterback.

[The Beatles]

Do they even have fouls in American football?

[Gen. Volkov]

Of course they do. Every sport has rules. The fouls invoke yardage penalties. For example. If the defense starts moving before the ball is snapped, that's called "being offsides" and invokes a 10 yard penalty. If the offense does it, it's called a "false start" and the penalty is 15 yards. If you hit the quarterback after he has passed the ball, it's called "roughing the passer", and invokes a 15 yard penalty. There are various otehr fouls. If one player commits enough personal fouls, or does other things that the refs don't like, he can be ejected from the game, but he is replaced with someone who plays the same position as him.

[The Beatles]

Yeah, that's a bit of a difference. Here, we don't let anyone substitute in, for then the whole team could just roughhouse the others and pay no price for it.

[edit] Quick question: do players congratulate each other after a match? Has a ref ever sent someone off for being unsportsmanlike?

[Gen. Volkov]

There are penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, and in extreme cases, players have been ejected. Sometimes teams bench or fire players if they act bad enough, often enough. Well the thing is, the guy who subs for the ejected player usually isn't as good, and there are only usually about 4 people max, available to sub. Football teams have a max number of players. Around 70 I think.

[The Beatles]

Righto, that aspect is similar then. Football teams/sides also have a fixed number of players with which to play the entire tournament or championship.

[Devari]

3 subs allowed per game in football, right Beatles?

[Gen. Volkov]

Our teams are always limited. You can have a certain number of players. You can get new ones, but you have to trade away old ones to maintain the number. Most teams run a bit under the max so they can make better trades and pick up free agents. There's also a salary cap so the rich teams can't just buy up all the good players and dominate. But I guess the only real difference is when you can use the subs. Ours are in game, yours are between games.

[Devari]

No, you can have (if memory serves), up to three subs per game. You can totally restructure the team between games if you want, although that is rather unlikely!

Anyway, I hear England used a 3-5-2 arrangement for part of the game, Beatles?

[Nuclear Raunch]

Quick comment here, offsides and false start penalties are each 5 yards. A football team can have 53 players on the team, but only 45 are allowed to play in any one game. Before each game the teams have to choose their "active roster." (the 45 allowed to play)