I'm talking free kicks near the goal where they have to line everyone up. Not "free" kicks where there is a foul and they just immediately grab the ball and go.
***Official 2026 World Cup Thread***
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I don't watch much soccer outside the world cup but I love the clock setup. Such better pace than any other sport I watch. It makes the games much more interesting
The yellow/red card rules don't make sense to me. I'll see guys full on check someone knocking them over and nothing is called, or at worse, a common foul and the other team gets the ball. But accidentally kick someone in the shin because you're an eighth of a second late challenging for the ball and it's a yellow card, if not a red.
Ask the Canadian with a broken leg why that is a cautionable offense.
Hard contact isn’t necessarily a foul, dangerous or unsporting contact is.
Ok. Players get injured sometimes when they're shoved to the ground too. Players get injured for all kinds of reasons that don't results in suspensions.
And concussion are dangerous, too. I don't get why nobody talks about that in soccer.
They have been calling Arrowhead, Kansas City Stadium, Arrowhead isn't a sponsor.
Arrowhead is a trademarked name owned by the Chiefs, it's not like "Jack Trice Stadium". Interestingly the "Arrowhead" name is the only part of the stadium the Chiefs own. They don't own either the stadium or the land it sits on.
Play is immediately stopped with head injuries and often times a player has to be evaluated for a concussion while the team continues play.
If you come in for a slide tackle with your studs up and connect with their leg, it's relatively standard to receive a red card. You can tell how few Americans watch soccer and are essentially using their knowledge of targeting to guide their perception of fouls. It's not really about intent. It's danger and recklessness. There is some bad luck involved.
There's a lot more to it. Every player that goes in for a hard tackle is aware of their tackling technique and what the consequences are if they arrive late, from the wrong angle, or with studs up. All challenges are not equal.
Regarding the first part of your post, good refs will establish how much contact they allow and stay mostly consistent with it. The issue becomes when contact is allowed once and then never again.
In general, the same contact is not treated the same if it's not affecting the flow of the game. That's why you'll see a lot of tugging on jerseys get ignored or a defender shielding a ball over the endline that gets laid out with no whistle.
So, sometimes fouls aren't fouls, and that's perfectly fine. LOL
Seems like in the minority, but this reversal on the suspension has cooled my enthusiasm a bit. If we're not the U.S., there's no chance that it's reversed or suspended or whatever. I didn't think the play warranted a red, but that's part of sports. Having our government step in is lame as hell. The fact that the country seems to be celebrating this feels too much like obnoxious American behavior.
Refs in many sports use judgment to keep the game flowing.
