Inside Sport

Fifa praise All Whites duo


https://forum.insidesport.com.au/Topic834808.aspx

By Joffa - 6 Sep 2010 9:43 AM

Quote:
Fifa praise All Whites duo

By TONY SMITH - The Press Last updated 05:00 06/09/2010

COMPETITIVE DEFENDER: All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen was singled out for praise in a Fifa report.

All Whites goalkeeper Mark Paston and skipper Ryan Nelsen have been hailed for their World Cup performances in an official Fifa report.

A 289-page study by a 16-person technical study group was published last week by Fifa.

It said that the All Whites – ranked 22nd in the 32-team tournament despite being the only unbeaten team in South Africa – featured "disciplined, well-organised defence". Their strengths included their "deep, defensive block, aerial dominance in defence, counterattacks and excellent team spirit".

Fifa president Sepp Blatter noted in his report that "New Zealand, who did not lose any of their games, Slovakia and the USA provided some early headlines" in group play.

Only two All Whites were singled out by the technical study group for individual mention. Paston was "excellent in the air" and impressed with his "good reflexes and quick distribution", according to the report.

Nelsen was a "competitive central defender, good in the air" and stood out as a defensive organiser.

The report noted New Zealand were at their first World Cup finals since 1982 but said the All Whites, "despite being placed in a tough group alongside Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia, gave a more than respectable account of themselves".

"With three draws, the Kiwis failed to qualify for the next round but were still a good advertisement for their confederation [Oceania], for which qualifying for the finals and performing well at them is of great importance.

"Ricki Herbert's team particularly impressed through their good organisation, competitiveness and compact defence."

One item in the report might raise a few eyebrows. The Fifa report said all 15 penalties awarded at the World Cup were "100 percent correct" decisions, including, by implication, the dive by Daniele De Rossi for Italy's equaliser in a 1-1 draw with the All Whites in Nelspruit.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/football/4098255/Fifa-praise-All-Whites-duo
By Diegos Son - 10 Sep 2010 6:38 PM

Now read this.

http://sportsbookmaker.org/news/fifa-considers-getting-rid-of-drawn-games-in-next-world-cup/1051/

FIFA considers getting rid of drawn games in next World Cup
Posted on August 15th, 2010
by Stefan in Sports Betting News

A lot of football fans around the world thought that the introduction of three points for a win years ago would cut down on the number of draws, but that hasn’t exactly been the case. For instance, at the recent World Cup in South Africa 14 out of the 48 group games ended up in draws, which is about 30 per cent. In some cases, a draw was convenient for both teams, such as the game between Brazil and Portugal as it meant both teams advanced to the next round.

Playing for a draw won’t get you anywhere fast as New Zealand soon found out. They were the only unbeaten team in this summer’s World Cup as they drew all three games, but didn’t advance. Well, according to FIFA president, the usually inept Sepp Blatter, there has been talk of changing the format for the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Blatter finally made some sense to soccer betting supporters when he said that too many teams play not to lose, instead of playing to win, and that negative way of thinking isn’t helping the sport at all, especially with fans who are sitting on the fence when it comes to football.

Blatter stated that teams playing for a draw usually produce boring games and FIFA is considering bringing back the golden goal extra time format or having penalty shootouts to decide tie games in the next World Cup 2014. The golden goal is basically a sudden-death format where the first goal in extra time wins the game.

At the moment, penalty kicks are used to decide World Cup games once the knockout stage begins, but they’re only used if the game is still level after a full 30 minutes of extra time are played. The golden goal rule was used for a brief time years ago, but FIFA scrapped it the 1990s.

However, Blatter now says the golden goal could be reintroduced at the World Cup during group matches, but he didn’t say if it would also be used in the knockout stages. However, it would be a bit ridiculous to have different overtime rules for the group and knockout games. But, this is FIFA we’re talking about, so nothing should come as a shock.