So I was watching the the US team play Nigeria, and was actually thinking to myself that this is one of the few women's sports I could moderately enjoy watching (beach volleyball perhaps being the other), when I observed something that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Toward the end of the game with the US up 1-0 one of our star players just started trying to shield the ball from the opposing players in the corner of the field, without any intent of making any other play. I understand that she was trying to burn off the clock, but her repeated strategy to just try and hold the ball in the corner seemed really lame to me. My question is if this ever happens in a mens game at any level? I've played a fair amount of soccer, but haven't watched much, but I can't imagine this happening in a mens game. Needless to say, this didn't help my esteem of womens sports at all. Discussion please...

I saw the same thing and thought it was kind of poor form. I also agree with you that out of all the women's sports, soccer and volleyball are the only ones watchable.

cosjo wrote:

I saw the same thing and thought it was kind of poor form. I also agree with you that out of all the women's sports, soccer and volleyball are the only ones watchable.

How about mud wrestling?

Didn't you ever watch men's basketball before the advent of the shot clock?

no doesn't happen in men's soccer. You would just get fouled really hard and no guarantee the ref would call it. The ref's let the pros get away with a lot of crap even though there is a lot of flopping.

mambo_yoyo wrote:

So I was watching the the US team play Nigeria, and was actually thinking to myself that this is one of the few women's sports I could moderately enjoy watching (beach volleyball perhaps being the other), when I observed something that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Toward the end of the game with the US up 1-0 one of our star players just started trying to shield the ball from the opposing players in the corner of the field, without any intent of making any other play. I understand that she was trying to burn off the clock, but her repeated strategy to just try and hold the ball in the corner seemed really lame to me. My question is if this ever happens in a mens game at any level? I've played a fair amount of soccer, but haven't watched much, but I can't imagine this happening in a mens game. Needless to say, this didn't help my esteem of womens sports at all. Discussion please...

There was a time when it was legal for a player to pass it with his foot back to the goalie. The goalie would just pick it up and throw it back to a teammate. Teams would waste time intentionally by repetitively doing this. So they changed the rules so that the goalie is not allowed to pick up a ball that is intentionally passed (using the foot) from a teammate. But I have never seen a player just stand in the corner with the ball to waste time. Now, was she sheilding the ball from an attacking player's advance or just standing away from the other team holding the ball at her feet?