FIFA's response to blown calls and reffin mistakes...BAN the big screen replays in the arena

[ChewaBrave]

The "talking heads" keep telling us how much soccer is growing in the US, but it is not so clear it is.
Yes, the US-Ghana match was watched by more viewers in the US than any previous men's soccer match (14.9 million viewers)- a number that pales compared to most important sporting events televised in the US.

And, ironically, it is a much smaller number than the 18 million viewers that watched the US women win the Women's World Cup over China in 1999.
And it it not much different from 2 soccer matches from the 1994 World Cup- 14.5m viewers in the USA for the 1994 Italy v Brazil World Cup final, and then the 13.7m viewers for USA v Brazil in the round of 16 in 1994. Those 2 games drew slightly fewer total viewers that the 2010 US-Ghana match, but a larger share of the TV audience at that time!

When you consider those matches were 16 years ago, and drew comparable ratings, maybe soccer interest isn't really growing after all?

http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/blog/2010/06/record-breaking.html

Note this article prior to the US-Ghana match where it says the experts were expecting a US viewership of over 18 million, but it was only 14.9 million.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2010/06/26/america-gets-ready-for-greatest-ratings-day-in-soccers-tv-history/

The viewership now after the US is eliminated, is expected to drop off to the 3-4 million range.

It was watched by just under 20 million people. A little more than half what an NFL playoff game gets. That seems pretty reasonable to me. I agree, it isn't football, it isn't baseball, etc. It should also be noted that the World Cup in 1994 was in the US, so there was a tad bit more saturation in regards to coverage and marketing. Gotta remember a huge portion of the soccer viewing population of the US doesn't necessarily watch for the US-Ghana game, or US games at all. We are a country of immigrants, many of which come from proud futbol cultures. Alas 20 million viewers for a sporting event is viable, and thats all you really need - who cares if it is growing one way or another.

[SFP]

USA soccer market over the past 2 decades has grown plain and simple and all indications point to greater growth. The USA market is really a untapped market for FIFA and they would love to bring that global passion $$$ into the USA. It's not the rules that will need to be changed but the apparent lack of fairness and accountability. We like to believe that there is transparency in all that we are into. In reality that is a good thing even though seldom practiced.

[ChewaBrave]

2 answers...
-they want it to matter very much and "they" and spending zillions to try to make it matter, but in the end they will sway very few in the US into doing as they want, becoming big time soccer fans
-it does matter to many who have played or coached soccer (as I have done for 12 years) as I wanted to see great soccer and fair play...sadly I feel cheated.....

I played soccer a very long time at the ODP level, and it is fairly common knowledge that possession is one of the keys to the game. That being the case.... how can you bash the 'keep away' style of play?

[Da Coach]

It was watched by just under 20 million people..

I assume the 20 million figure you used is a rough rounding off of adding the 4.51 million who watched in the US on Univision, the Spanish speaking network to the 14.86 million who watched on ABC. That equals 19.37 million total TV audience in the USA.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/new-record-for-spanish-language-tv-in-u-s/

That was still fewer than experts had expected, and still a lower audience share than the 1999 women's World Cup final, as I noted above, as well as several other previous matches. And the advertisers don't care much about those Spanish-speaking viewers.

This quote is directly from the above article-
News sources are reporting that U.S.-Ghana is the fourth-most-watched soccer game ever in the United States — after the 1999 Women’s World Cup final, the 1994 men’s final between Brazil and Italy and the 1994 U.S.-Brazil second-round game — but those older figures do not take into account Spanish-language audiences.

Nobody denies that soccer is the world's most popular sport, and that they may not need Americans. Europeans and South Americans must love to watch all the fake injury writhing, blown calls, and scoreless ties. But the FIFA people and other powers behind soccer want it to become more popular and successful in the US.
It never will be. It is just a fact that American sports enthusiasts will not accept a major sport where the game can end in a tie, and there may frequently be no scoring. And they aren't like their European counterparts who accept the injury faking that occurs in every game, and the always hilarious "stretcher" scenes, and the fact that so many games swing on mistakes by officials.

[ChewaBrave]

"Nobody denies that soccer is the world's most popular sport. Europeans and South Americans must love to watch all the fake injury writhing, blown calls, and scoreless ties. But the FIFA people and other powers behind soccer want it to become more popular and successful in the US.
It never will be. It is just a fact that American sports enthusiasts will not accept a major sport where the game can end in a tie, and there may frequently be no scoring. And they aren't like their European counterparts who accept the injury faking that occurs in every game, and the fact that so many games swing on mistakes by officials."

Man that was full of spite. Way to degrade soccer just to fake injuries and refereeing. I suppose Africans also love the sport for its garbage. Make no mention of any of the finesse and beautiful aspects of it. I just don't know why people appear to be angry at FIFA for 'tampering' with a game they care little for, and don't like to watch? If you don't care for soccer, why does it bother you one way or another if it is growing in the US? I don't like baseball, and because of this, don't bother to read about it, watch it, buy things, etc. Thats my point here, people appear to be angry about something they don't care about. More importantly, those of us that do seem to like the game, don't seem to mind the relatively small base futbol has in America, but are more interested in fixing some of the errors.

[Da Coach]

It's not my feelings, it's the feelings of the majority of Americans.
Why can't some soccer purists accept that, instead of diminishing everyone who doesn't love watching a scorelesss draw or a match with several fake injuries?

For the record, I do care about soccer. I have played it, and coached it. I have taken a lot of time off work these past couple weeks to stay home and watch these World Cup matches. And I have attended World Cup games in the past, even when they didn't involve the US team. I am probably the kind of soccer enthusiast that FIFA and the TV networks want to appeal to. But I can see the problems that keep Americans from taking a liking to soccer. Too bad FIFA and the others with the powers don't.

[tornado]

.... how can you bash the 'keep away' style of play?

what I am saying is that teams who know they don't have to win...and that they can and will advance even with a tie, will forego any offensive action and lay back and play keep away..

I am not the only one who felt cheated watching teams who pretty much decide before the game was played that they're just gonna go out there and play to a 0-0 tie...

In fact the single biggest change in this World Cup was moving the start times of the knockout round games so they are played at the exact same time -- just to reduce the chance of collusion by teams who then might know even a scoreless tie advances them.

[ChewaBrave]

It's not my feelings, it's the feelings of the majority of Americans.
Why can't you accept that, instead of insulting everyone who doesn't love watching a scorelesss draw or a match with several fake injuries?

For the record, I do care about soccer. I have played it, and coached it. I have taken a lot of time off work these past couple weeks to stay home and watch these World Cup matches. And I have attended World Cup games in the past, even when they didn't involve the US team. I am probably the kind of soccer enthusiast that FIFA and the TV networks want to appeal to. But I can see the problems that keep Americans from taking a liking to soccer. Too bad FIFA and the others with the powers don't.

I'm not sure where I insulted people that don't love soccer. I've said all along, those that like soccer, watch it, those that don't - don.t And furthermore, I believe i agreed that the contingent of americans that like soccer is relatively small. I'm just simply saying that people have talked about keep away soccer, low pace (sometimes) low scoring, ending in draws - this is soccer. If you can't watch a game with those characteristics, then don't watch soccer. Thats just the situation. As well it appeared to me that some of the posts to this thread have basically attempted to belittle soccer fans. Essentially we aren't real sports fans because we'll accept ties, or that we 'like to watch' fake injuries etc etc. Furthermore, that for some reason because some of us are bi-or trilingual we don't appear to matter as a soccer viewing base, because of all reasons, advertisers don't play to us? I get it, you don't like FIFA, some people may think the entire thing is rigged, or referees that make bad calls against the US are terrorists - but save for the bad reffing this WC I love the game, and don't appreciate the belittling.

[ChewaBrave]

what I am saying is that teams who know they don't have to win...and that they can and will advance even with a tie, will forego any offensive action and lay back and play keep away..

I am not the only one who felt cheated watching teams who pretty much decide before the game was played that they're just gonna go out there and play to a 0-0 tie...

In fact the single biggest change in this World Cup was moving the start times of the knockout round games so they are played at the exact same time -- just to reduce the chance of collusion by teams who then might know even a scoreless tie advances them.

lol. That isn't really at all what it appeared as thou you intended with keep away soccer. I appreciate the clarification . The only game i can think of off the top of my head where this seemed to affect anything was Portugal, and Brazil. I will agree I would have liked to see more aggressive play during that game.

[SFP]

Slowing down a game to advance happens in a lot of games. Football they run the ball and play a nickel package. Basketball before the shot clock was even more ridiculous. At one point you have to win to advance in the WC and what we have seen regardless of the refs or playing for a draw is that the best teams did advance and that is what the first part of WC is suppose to produce.