Soccer 101
Author: FR Penn

The biggest sporting event in the world is about to begin and
most in the USA are uninformed about soccer. This article will
provide a brief introduction to soccer, rules of the game,
structure of the World Cup, odds-on-favorites and authentic
underdogs that will participate in the FIFA World Cup.

Welcome to Soccer 101. As the FIFA World Cup, the most popular
and fervently followed sporting event in the world approaches,
many are anticipating that the world's largest tournament will
be successful in increasing the sport's fan base. In the past,
most people in the USA have had little to no knowledge or
interest in this huge event. In recent years, there has been a
shift in "American" thinking, and soccer is starting to become
more popular. The event that clearly defines this sport, the
World Cup, is to be held in Germany starting June 9th and will
reach its climax on July the 9th with the crowning of a World
Championship team.

The word "soccer" is actually only used in the United States
and Great Britain, where it has its origins. The rest of the
world simply calls it "football". The term 'soccer' is actually
an abbreviation derived from "Association Football", an
organization formed in London in 1863. Originally called the
Football Association, it was formed to standardize the rules
for the game. One of the early compelling rule changes
established by this association was that the ball could not be
carried, or touched by the hand, except by the goalie. At the
time, many enthusiasts and players were leaning toward morphing
the sport into something similar to rugby or American football.
This caused a rift in the two schools of thought and the rugby
oriented clubs departed from the association soon after. The
organization then coined the name Association Football to make
a distinction between the two sports. In 1889, the abbreviated
form "socca" started to be used. Eventually, in 1895, the
spelling was changed to "soccer." The origin of soccer,
according to historians, is not nearly as clearly defined as
the origin of the name.

The earliest known game similar to soccer was played in China
during the Ts'in Dynasty (255 BC-206 BC). A game played with an
animal skin ball and thirty-foot high posts connecting a net to
form a goal, "tsu chu", as it was known, was used to train
soldiers. It is also documented that it was played as a form of
celebration for events surrounding royalty. In ancient Near-East
countries such as Egypt, a version of the game was played as a
form of fertility rites. The American Indians and the Eskimos
also had versions of a game similar to soccer. One legend
documents a contest between two villages in Alaska with goals
set up ten miles apart in a game called aqsaqtuk.

A Native American legend depicts the game played on the beach
with goals a mile apart and players wearing disguises. Trying
to distinguish between teammates and opponents was a part of
the strategy in this game called pasuckuakohowog. Legends
surrounding the game that describe using a conquered enemy's
skull as the soccer ball are found as early as the fifth
century in England.

Now that you know a little bit of history of soccer, here is a
quick look at the basic rules:

No Hands allowed - Only the goalie can use his hands in defense
of the goal. This doesn't apply to throw-ins. FIFA defines the
hand as "Any part of the body from the tips of the fingers to
the shoulder". The goalie also cannot use his hands if the ball
is passed directly from his teammate.

Fouls - A player cannot hold, kick, trip, charge, jump at,
strike, push, or spit at or on an opponent. Fouls are called at
the umpires' discretion, making distinctions between incidental
and deliberate contact. These are frequently called when the
shoulders, arms or hands are used in an offensive way toward an
opponent.

Direct and Indirect Free Kicks – A direct kick is one by which
you can score by kicking the ball directly into the goal. An
indirect kick is one by which you cannot score with directly.
It may, however, be assisted toward the goal by another player.
A direct kick comes from a contact foul or "hand" infraction.
All other fouls result in an indirect kick.

Throw-ins – When the ball goes out of bounds on the sidelines a
throw-in is taken by the closest offensive player. In this
instance, use of the hands is allowed. Both feet must be on the
ground and the ball is thrown in with both hands over the head.

Goal Kicks / Corner Kicks - Corner kicks or goal kicks are
taken when the ball leaves the field across the end-line. If
the offensive team was the last to touch the ball, it is a
turnover and a goal kick is taken. If the defensive team was
the last to touch the ball, a corner kick is taken.

Yellow and Red Cards – A yellow card is given as a warning, a
red card is an ejection of a player. Two yellow cards equal one
red card. If a player is given two successive yellow cards or a
red card, they must leave the game and the team plays a man
short.

Two-touch Rule – No player can touch the ball twice
successively when putting the ball into play. This rule applies
to throw-ins as well. A player cannot throw in and then kick the
ball.

Penalty Kick – As a direct-kick foul, a penalty kick results
from a contact infraction or hand foul by the defending team
within the penalty box area. The kick is taken from the penalty
box arc, which is 12 yards in front of the goal. All offensive
players must be outside of the penalty box when the kick is
struck. The goalie must have both feet planted at the goal line
until the ball is struck.

Offside – If a player is closer to the opponents goal than to
the ball or ahead of the ball with no defender between him and
the goal, offside is called only if that player is involved in
some type of offense activity as determined by the referee.
This doesn't apply to a goal kick, corner kick, or throw-in. It
also doesn't apply to a player on his "own half" of the field.
You can't be offside if you are standing on your half of the
field. Also, the offside rule applies only when the ball is
kicked, not when the player receives the ball.

To understand this better go to the FIFA Laws of the Game. Keep
in mind that the FIFA International soccer competition rules are
immensely complex. Even when viewed in brief, the "Laws of the
Game" are not simple. They can be confusing and difficult to
understand. The official FIFA rules are found in a 70-page book
containing 17 sections and thousands of rules. Go to
http://www.fifa.com/ for the complete laws for International
tournament play.

The FIFA World Cup has held 17 tournaments. Oddly enough, there
have been only seven different nations that have won the
championship. Spanning the entire history of the tournament,
here are the winners: Brazil 5, Italy 3, Germany 3, Argentina
2, Uruguay 2, England 1 and France 1. Amazingly, six of these
wins at the World Cup were by the host country. This would
indicate that the host nation has a distinct advantage. There
have been some notable upsets along the way however. The
underdog USA team of 1950 defeated a highly touted English
team. North Korea beat Italy in 1966 and Cameroon won over
Argentina, a super power in the sport, in 1990. If you are
looking to lay down a bet on the World Cup, historical and
tournament structural facts are important to consider.

The structure of the tournament can be one of the things to
look closely at when trying to decide who is the favorite. For
2006, Brazil and Japan, who are equally matched, are in the
same pool. That makes it tough to predict who will survive that
grouping. Head-to-head match-ups are not the only thing to
consider. Fatigue comes into play when evenly talented
opponents meet in an early round. So you have to consider that
even if Brazil is victorious early on, will they still have the
stamina to go the distance? There is also some luck involved in
the structure of the final groupings. The top 8 teams are
separated as #1 seeds for groups A through H. Germany and
Brazil get their free pass as top seeds because they are
respectively the host nation and the previous champion. The
remaining clubs are simply drawn at random from a bowl.

The pools for the World Cup have been chosen and their seeding
in descending order looks like this:

Group A; Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador
Group B; England, Paraguay, Trinidad-Tobago, Sweden
Group C; Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia-Montenegro, Netherlands

Group D; Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal
Group E; Italy, Ghana, United States, Czech Republic
Group F; Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan
Group G; France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo
Group H; Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

Group A: Germany is a very tough opponent, and they are on
their home field, which makes them scary. However, Poland has a
legitimate shot at making the finals. Group B: It is important
to note that Sweden has not lost to England in 37 years. Group
E: The Italians are a good team but overall this group is too
evenly matched to call. The United States has as much a chance
as anyone in this division. Group C: The two toughest
powerhouse teams in one single group are Argentina and the
Netherlands. One of these two will no doubt emerge victorious.

The Underdogs: Trinidad-Tobago will pay big (~1000/1 to win),
but can they make it past the first round? Portugal (~22/1),
Sweden and Mexico (~40/1) and the Ukraine (~50/1) will also
provide a big payoff if they win.


About The Author: By FR Penn sponsored by http://Canbet.com.
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