[Soccer] European championship 2012

Not quite the Roger McGough of Spain or El Salvador or the USA.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/inkWIIPV0JY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Missed the game on Sunday, but it looked like I didn't miss much.

 

I enjoyed watching the Euro Championship.

I like to call soccer "Football", because that is it's real name. Football is my favorite sport and I remember watching my first World Cup in 1998 (thought I have vague memories of it since I was eight at the time).

Football isn't quite what it used to be with all the flopping, but it's still awesome to see teams like Spain dominate the stage.


The better team won on Sunday, and I think they may win it all again 2 years from now in the World Cup.

 

The USA has slid to 36th, yikes.

 

The FIFA ranking is the biggest piece of garbage, don't even look at it.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Has anyone noticed that Cesc Fabregas appears to wear comedy false teeth in interviews... <a href="http://t.co/l7gURmNt" title="http://www.itv.com/sport/football/euro/article/2012-07-01/exclusive-cesc-fabregas-interview-spain-are-not-boring-we-play-with-style/">itv.com/sport/football…</a></p>&mdash; ITV Football (@itvfootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/itvfootball/status/219756834230251520" data-datetime="2012-07-02T11:38:06+00:00">July 2, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

The FIFA rankings are not a joke if you consider what they are measuring. This is not a "Power Rankings" or anything. It's basically a strict performance based evaluation of team's results. While you heavily focus on EC and WC, the Fifa rankings use those but then also use friendlies, WC and EC qualyfing and other tournaments to come up with this ranking.

 

I think Uruguay deserves to be #3 - they're reigning World Cup semifinalists, the Copa America champions and, outside of Diego Forlan, have a very young and experienced team.

 

That's mainly because the Netherlands always dominates qualyfing and plays well in friendlies (not leading up to this EC). Therefore, they were to more in form team leading up to those rankings. Big tournaments are all that matter in soccer but the rankings shouldn't only reflect those. Again, they're not power rankings. Otherwise Ghana and Paraguay would be ranked the same as Argentina and Brazil if you only used WC (and EC).

 

2014 WC will feature goal line technology

Goal or no goal? Referees will soon no longer have to decide themselves whether the ball has crossed the line or not without technical assistance. Following nine months of testing in England, Germany, Hungary and Italy, at a special meeting in Zurich on 5 July, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) decided to introduce goal-line technology into football. Of the eight companies that took part in the first round of tests, only two systems – Hawk-Eye and GoalRef – successfully completed the process and can now apply to become FIFA goal-line technology licensees.

GoalRef system – magnetic field technology
The GoalRef system creates the radio equivalent of a light curtain. Low magnetic fields are produced around the goal, and as soon as the ball, which is fitted with a compact electronic device, fully crosses the line, a minor change in the magnetic field is detected, thus allowing the exact position of the ball to be established. If a goal has been scored, an alert is transmitted to the match officials via a radio signal within one second, with a message displayed on their watches and via vibration.

Hawk-Eye system – goal-line camera technology
The Hawk-Eye system uses six to eight high-speed cameras set up at different angles at each end to calculate the exact position of the ball. The data from the cameras is then transferred to video software. From this data, the system generates a graphic image (3D) of the ball's trajectory. The match officials are informed of whether or not it was a goal within one second.

The FIFA licensing process
With immediate effect, the manufacturers of goal-line technology can apply to FIFA for a licence to install their system. Before obtaining a licence, the technology must undergo a series of extensive laboratory and field tests as well as testing in simulated match situations.

Once the tests have been passed and the application requirements have been met, the system is accepted into the licensing programme. After signing the contracts with FIFA, the manufacturer receives official authorisation to install the goal-line technology worldwide.

Once the system has been installed in a stadium, it undergoes a final inspection to check its functionality. The results of the final installation test must be accepted by the licensee's customer, i.e. the competition organiser, club or stadium operator, before the system can be put into operation.

As soon as FIFA has received and checked all of the signed documents, the installation is awarded the FIFA QUALITY PRO mark. The goal-line technology can then be used in official matches. More information on the GLT Quality Programme, including videos, Q&As and more information on the test manual and licensing procedure, can be found at: www.FIFA.com/QUALITY.

 

Wait, I just read (be it very late) that Torres won the 2012 Euro Golden Boot?? wtf??

Is this fantasy?

 

same one assist with Gomez but played less minutes....

 

^^
The best thing is that Torres is now one of the most successful players of this era, having won the WC, 2x EC and CL.