For the final they should go to sudden death after the 30 minutes extra time. Have a regular "half-time" in advance of it. Allow each time one additional sub per 15 minutes of sudden death.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I thought there was a little bit of rest between regulation and the start of extra time -- but holy shit, between the 1st half and 2nd half of extra time, there may have been 2 minutes of rest. Networks playing the game all over the world should sell more commercial time and let the players take a few more minutes to relax and catch their breath.

Golden Goal was tried already and players were too defensive-minded. They didn't want to concede anything and had no interest in attacking. PKs aren't perfect to end a game but all these players have already run for miles and miles. You have to stop at some point.

At least they didn't go full pansy like baseball and place a "phantom forward" 10 yards away from the goal.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I don't mind penalty kicks to decide games, maybe its something I have grown up with over the past 40 years, it always seemed a natural way to end a game. Usually at the end of 120 minutes players are dragging, not much offense is being offered by either side. But this tournament was a bit different, there was more offense at the end of the overtime than we have seen in the past. Not just the final but the Argentina/Netherlands game and the Brazil/Croatia game seemed to be more open in overtime than in previous tournaments. I think part of it was the extra substitutions available.

I don't think penalties are necessarily a coin toss. There are goalies who are much better at penalties than others, they may be better at reading the penalty taker or they may be more agile and bigger. And your penalty takers need nerves of steel. Sometimes your best scorers are not good penalty takers or they might not want to take them. And there is the strategy, why Neymar, Brazils best player, did not take a penalty is quite dumbfounding. Leaving him to shoot 5th is idiotic considering he might not get a chance, and thats what happened.

For years it seemed like the Germans never lost in penalties, while the English always did. Was it coincidence? I don't know.

This was my thought too. Honestly, Doing it in Nov/Dec is a smart move. For a couple reasons, 1. higher quality as you said. 2. For the leagues that hate it, it does suck to take a break midseason but then the players who played in the world cup (the best players) would get a better offseason without having the WC in the middle of the summer break.

I know it will not happen again for a long time, but the idea of in 2026 a game in Philly where it is snowing during the match would be awesome.

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never really been a fan of penalties to end a match that needs a winner. fifa would say that both sides know the rules and up to you to practice them. in the old days, 3 subs/2 subs nowhere near enough to play on after 120 minutes. i like the additional subs and maybe even one more would allow for a sudden death type overtime after 120 mins. fatigue causes mistakes and mistakes lead to goals and i'm thinking that even a side than bunkers will make a mistake after 120 mins.

yes, it was a very positive by-product of avoiding the heat and humidity during a qatari summer. that positive by-product was that the best players were fresh for this tournament. fifa is now juggling how to handle the extra sides qualifying for the next world cup. we'll see how they handle that.

Spoiler alert: poorly

The Reyna family delivering on a blackmail threat and outing the US coach for a past DV incident because he was mean to their kid.

Soccer makes the NBA look drama free.

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I've been shitting on the USSF forever, but it's quite possible the Reynas are the idiots here. I mean they all are, but specific to this thing. They need someone outside of US soccer to be the head coach.

It's more than possible that the Reynas are the idiots here.

What they did was incredibly shitty and bordered on blackmail.

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And this was 31 years ago and with his current wife? Why did anyone even think people would care? Or is there video? Anything more than an angry soccer mom?

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Apparently she was a roommate to Mrs. Reyna when this all went down and saw the marks amongst other things. Reyna's are complete Douches by the way.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur

I hope she realizes that her apparently lazy son will never play at a high level again.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Gio Reyna will be fine. He's actually pretty good. Doubt his German team will care and the US team seems to like him depending on a new coach. The USSF is such an incestuous little club. The two wives had been friends for decades. Gregg and Claudio teammates for just as long. Ernie Stewart, the sporting director of USSF, was teammates with both of them on the National Team. Same with the US Men's team general manager (Arlington Height's very own) Brian Mcbride. Last year Gregg's kid Sebastian was loaned to Austin FC where Cladio Reyna is the sporting director. People are saying because Austin FC didn't make the loan permanent Claudio fucked Sebastian over and Gregg's treatment of Gio stems from that. The US needs a coach from outside the organization who isn't wrapped up in all this garbage. Also Reyna's wife: would

That honestly sounds a lot like higher level travel baseball.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Runs counter to what you've said before about travel baseball.

I don’t think that I really referenced that ugly side, but I may be mistaken. It’s been awhile and my son stopped caring years ago.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

wow..to me, this is all very simple.

usa hosts and automatically qualifies for next world cup. want to get rid of berhalter because real housewife of new jersey is angry her son didn't start at the world cup? ok. the federation will quickly discover which top euro/s.american manager would want to manage here - only to find out a prima donna's mommy controls who the manager is, based on playing time. none. not one manager. stick with berhalter.

ok, stick with berhalter. call reyna's agent and let reyna know that bygones are bygones and tell your parents to STFU. one peep and you'll never get called to the NT again.

you can't let reyna's mom dictate his playing time because who will be the next player & family attempting to destroy the manager if player gets miffed at playing time or manager's attitude? you can't have this.

in other news, gianluca vialli passed away. under 60, for sure. i remember him being a substitute spark for italy at the 86 world cup. built like a dump-truck and played with a shaved head. RIP.