[thechat] Coming Up To Speed on Futbol

[shug.miller]

> I watched the whole game and absolutely loved it and
> want more. My daughter had been watching with me till
> she was called to the back of the house by my wife.
> While she was there Ireland scored and I screamed.
> Then I could hear my daughter hollering "GO Ireland!"
> (We're what you'd call Irish-American.)
>
> Okay, final score was 3-2. O'Brien* scored first for
> USA. Then Donovan* and then McBride*. That's 3, right?
> So wassup with "Jeff Agoos scored an own goal for the
> US"? What's an "own goal"? Bigger question, any
> suggestions for a crash course on the game and the
> World Cup in general? How'd the teams get there? How
> many from each group advance to round 2? I did a
> search at google for "World Cup 2002" and, well,
>

I don't know about URL's for the beginner, but you might want to check out
the messageboards at http://www.soccernet.com/ for hopefully helpful stuff.

An own goal is when a player accidentally knocks the ball into his own sides
goal.

The teams play qualifiers in groups of 4 in their own continental zones. 6
games in a mini tournament (play in your own country and your competitors).
The top team in each group goes through with those in second place being
drawn to "play-off" with the second placed team from another group. It gets
fairly complex with teams from one continental group playing another in
other play-offs (Ireland beat Iran to get to the tournament).

The top two teams from each of the World Cup groups progress to the next
round. A win gets 3 points and a draw gets one. The generally accepted
figure for progression is 5 points, so the US should only have to either win
one or draw two to get through. It is possible to get through on 4 points,
unlikely though.

btw, I only caught the US/Portugal game on the radio at work today but it
sounded great, watched the highlights too. You might like to know that the
Portugese side contains one of the former "best player in the world" players
and were hotly tipped to do really well in the competition. If the US can
bang in goals like that against a quality club side they should do well.
Must be the influence of all the Scottish players who go there to coach and
play at the end of their careers ;)