Any good places in Vegas to watch? (atmosphere with U.S. fans)

Crown & Anchor will be packed but is awesome. Venetian (Lagasse Stadium) will be packed but semi sterile.

<3 timmeh - responding to the Slovenian win guarantee he said something like "a lot of boxers talk before the fight, then they're looking up at the lights wondering how they got there."

USA up to +120 -0.5.

I'll be at Venetian. I have extra scarves. lol. Just look up, I'm probably the tallest guy in the room.

Why is everyone calling this a must-win game for the U.S.? Assuming England wins its remaining two games and the U.S. beats Algeria, a draw vs. Slovenia would get the U.S. through. Seems like it's a must-not-lose game to me.

It's not a must win game or whatever, but we definitely have to get a result, and a win is so much better than a tie.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_b...-is-cheap.html

I think most people here have been saying the same thing as you. A loss is pretty much GG but a draw is pretty good, though it makes the last game literally a must-win unless England-Algeria ends in a draw.

Anywhere I can buy one of those horns I see and hear while watching the World Cup?

This wouldn't be happening with a draw.

If England beat Algeria and it's a draw against Slovenia then going into the last matchday it'll be:
England - 4 points, ? GD (at least +1)
Slovenia - 4 points, +1 GD
USA - 2 points, 0 GD

so a win over Algeria by 2 or more goals would guarantee jumping over Slovenia if they draw with England or the loser if one or the other win.

For completeness, here are the other scenarios:

England - Algeria is a draw:
Slovenia - 4 points, +1GD
USA - 2 points, 0 GD
England - 2 points, 0 GD (these positions depend on which is the higher-scoring draw)
Algeria - 1 point, -1 GD

In this case, a win over Algeria by any amount would guarantee jumping over Slovenia if they lose and staying ahead of England if Slovenia get any result.

England lose to Algeria:
Slovenia - 4 points, +1 GD
Algeria - 3 points, ? GD (at least 0)
USA - 2 points, 0 GD
England - 1 point, ? GD (at most -1)

A win over Algeria jumps ahead of them and keeps the US ahead of England, making second guaranteed.

What happens if US only beats Alg 1-0, after a draw with Slov?

Slov/Eng 0-0 Tie, US Advances
Slov/Eng 2-2+ Tie, Slov advances
Slov/Eng 1-1 Tie, ???

The regulations say drawing of lots, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got the two teams together to take penalties.

Yikes, gets to the coinflip awfully quickly.

I'd hope they'd do PKs or something, yeah.

Tim Howard:

"I don't like being goalie. Even now, I don't. I don't enjoy games. I never enjoy playing in games. I enjoy the buildup sometimes, and I certainly enjoy afterward. But it's way too intense. I'd like to play out in the midfield -- holding midfield -- breaking up play and passing it to the more talented guys."

Wait, can they actually make such a decision during a game in spite of the rules?

Wouldn't be during a game, but after.

The scenario I can imagine would be the USSF and Slovenian football association both request to settle it over penalties. The regulations say stuff about special circumstances, but this wouldn't actually qualify since it's already covered. Still, I think they could maybe work something out.

Nothing would surprise me, it's FIFA after all.

You guys are nuts. If the rules say to draw lots, then they're going to draw lots. If they were going to do penalty kicks then it would be in the rules.

By the way, at the very least they should change it so that teams playing each other the third matchday either go to extra time or penalties straight away if they are perfectly tied only with each other.

I agree this is likely the case, but as I said it's FIFA.

Random brag: I actually experienced this situation as a kid and kicked the winning goal in the shootout. It was in the first round of the state tournament; 3-team round-robin. We tied our first game, and then the two teams beat the third team by identical scores. The other team had to come back to have the shootout and we won 3-2. Fun stuff.

Also, I was a referee in high school but haven't followed the game much since and have no idea about the rules. But I would be shocked if they didn't go exactly by the book. The tend to figure this stuff out ahead of time. It's not that outlandish that two teams have identical scores in their other games after a draw.

BTW, since I know everyone will want to know, I went upper left corner. It felt like it took about 15 seconds for the ball to get to the net.

They've never actually drawn lots in the WC have they?

Apparently in 1990 Ireland and the Netherlands tied in group and lots were drawn to determine second and third place, but both teams advances to the knockout stage so it only mattered for seeding purposes, in which case the drawing of lots seems fine.

According to http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/tiebreakeffect.html, the drawing of lots will be needed once every 7.81 World Cups (this is sickeningly high and something needs to be done about this).

Incredibly stupid, imo, for the drawing of lots to come up so soon. I'd rather have least yellow/red cards determine advancement than drawing of lots, and I see no reason why the teams can't get together the next day to kick penalties. Hell, maybe they should just have every team do a shootout versus the other teams before the first and second games. Absolutely meaningless excitement for the fans but at least some basis for settling a tie.

Another article on some potentially disastrous ties for FIFA, just amazing they don't have this stuff written out:http://webhome.csc.uvic.ca/~haron/FI...ldcup2010.html