TD 195: The Beautiful Game

[WJMorris3]

4. Major League Soccer has started its 19th season. It's come a long way since the ten teams that contested the first MLS season in 1996; part of this is due to the existence of "Designated Players" - players whose salaries only partially count against the salary cap. The first of these players was David Beckham (and the DP rule was originally nicknamed the David Beckham rule). The most recent to sign was David Villa, who recently transferred to play for New York City FC in 2015 for an undisclosed salary.

Q: As of this writing, name any player signed to a current Designated Player contract for an active MLS team. (35 answers)

No team is allowed more than three and given he's the most well-known American soccer player, I'm guessing Landon Donovan is the sheep.

THIERRY HENRY (NY) - 7 points
Leander, geolawyerman, tjconn728, zakharov, CoachP, dnbguy, xxaaaxx

LANDON DONOVAN (LA) - 6 points
CrunchyTaco, MarkBarrett, Paulsaysthought, dott888, ihavejeoprosy, goforthetie

JERMAINE DEFOE (TOR) - 4 points
mennoknight, Turd Ferguson, CheezeWhiz, chalupabatman786

CLINT DEMPSEY (SEA) - 3 points
DadofTwins, jjwaymee, dklee12

EDDIE JOHNSON (DC) - 1 point
amorris525

Which leaves the following not named:

Juan Luis Anangonó (CHI), Oswaldo Minda (CHV), Erick Torres (CHV), Mauro Rosales (CHV), Gabriel Torres (COL), Federico Higuaín (CLB), Mauro Diaz (DAL), Andrés Ramiro Escobar (DAL), David Texeira (DAL), Oscar Boniek García (HOU), Alexander López (HOU), Robbie Keane (LA), Omar Gonzalez (LA), Marco Di Vaio (MTL), Hernán Bernardello (MTL), Jerry Bengston (NE), Tim Cahill (NY), Christian Maidana (PHI), Maurice Edu (PHI), Diego Valeri (POR), Álvaro Saborío (RSL), Javier Morales (RSL), Chris Wondolowski (SJ), Obafemi Martins (SEA), Osvaldo Alonso (SEA), Claudio Bieler (SKC), Gilberto (TOR), Michael Bradley (TOR), Matías Laba (VAN), Pedro Morales (VAN)

And with Henry worth 7, negs are 12, and they go to:

DAVID BECKHAM
Paucle, jepkid97

"SMITH"
gamawire

(NO ANSWER)
econgator

DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
mitchparov

ZINEDINE ZIDANE
JoshuaRQI

FREDDY ADU
Bamaman

Shame those 12s have to stick! So the table is:

[xxaaaxx]

One of the few answers I was absolutely sure of, so of course it sheeps. So hardly anyone here knows much about soccer, but you all watch NY Red Bull games?

"SMITH"
gamawire

Yeah I tried that earlier, he isn't a goalie either. Who is this mystery man?

Other than Henry, Dempsey, and Donovan, that list is a whole lot of "who?", "what?", and "huh?". Sadly most of the ones I recognize are the wrong answers.

[goforthetie]

3. The World Cup is usually held amongst the best teams in the world. But with only 32 spots available for the over 200 countries in the world, there are great squads that just did not make the cut.

Q: Name any country whose team was ranked in the top 50 according to FIFA's Men's World Ranking in June 2014 but failed to advance to the World Cup. (22 answers)

50-22 = 28. What four teams outside the top 50 are in the World Cup finals?

Trying to ascertain the answer to this question led me to discover that Norway seems to be an incorrect answer for #3 (ranked just outside at #55). I should be marked wrong.

The answer to Bob's question is Cameroon, South Korea, Australia, and... I don't think there's a fourth.

[amorris525]

Iran

Edit: Nvm, somehow they are 43

[WJMorris3]

Now before we get to question five, a scoring change to announce. We had accepted Norway as a team in the top 50; I double-checked the last rankings and found I had misread them, and that they are 55th. Thus, I must rule goforthetie incorrect and his score for that question goes from a 1 to a 10. This will be reflected on the big board after this question.

5. For the 2014 World Cup, the Brazilian government elected to hold games in twelve different cities. Unlike the 1950 World Cup where the sites chosen were concentrated in the southeast and south, this time the cities are all over Brazil; in fact, each city chosen is the capital of its state.

Q: Name any of the cities hosting World Cup matches in the 2014 tournament. (12 answers)

Best guess I have is that Rio might be the sheep. Let's see:

SAO PAOLO - 8 points
Paucle, econgator, jjwaymee, Paulsaysthought, jepkid97, dott888, Bamaman, xxaaaxx

MANAUS - 5 points
DadofTwins, Turd Ferguson, zakharov, dnbguy, amorris525

BRASILIA - 2 points
gamawire, mitchparov

RIO DE JANIERO - 2 points
mennoknight, JoshuaRQI

RECIFE - 2 points
geolawyerman, MarkBarrett

BELO HORIZONTE - 2 points
CrunchyTaco, CheezeWhiz

CUIABA - 2 points
dklee12, goforthetie

FORTALEZA - 1 point
Leander

PORTO ALEGRE - 1 point
chalupabatman786

NATAL - 1 point
CoachP

CURITIBA - 1 point
ihavejeoprosy

Ladies and gentlemen, only Salvador was not named! Of course, we do have one neg for 13...

TENERIFE
tjconn728

Leaving the big board looking like this:

[tjconn728]

Ugh, knew this one was coming. I of course meant Recife, but instead named the capital of the Canary Islands. I realized my mistake while looking at World Cup stats and schedules, but felt like that was too much like doing research to change my answer.

[WJMorris3]

6. It's been said that the most nervewracking spectacles in soccer is deciding a match with a penalty shootout. For the losers, it's forever the question of what might have been. For the winners, it's a sigh of relief and (usually) preparation for the next opponent.

Q: Name any country that's won at least one penalty shootout in the World Cup since they were officially introduced in the 1978 tournament. (15 answers)

My money says the sheep will be either nation that won the World Cup that way - Italy or Brazil.

ITALY - 8 points
geolawyerman, Turd Ferguson, zakharov, CheezeWhiz, MarkBarrett, CoachP, ihavejeoprosy, JoshuaRQI

BRAZIL - 4 points
gamawire, Paucle, CrunchyTaco, mitchparov

(WEST) GERMANY - 4 points
mennoknight, Leander, econgator, jjwaymee

URUGUAY - 3 points
tjconn728, Bamaman, xxaaaxx

PORTUGAL - 2 points
DadofTwins, goforthetie

SPAIN - 2 points
Paulsaysthought, jepkid97

PARAGUAY - 1 point
chalupabatman786

UKRAINE - 1 point
dklee12

ARGENTINA - 1 point
dnbguy

FRANCE - 1 point
dott888

What didn't we get?

Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Sweden, Korea Republic

And unfortunately, one neg for 13.

NETHERLANDS
amorris525

So what's the big board look like?

[Bamaman]

I recall from last time there was a big controversy when a Uruguay defender had an intentional hand ball to stop a winning goal. The other team had a penalty shot, which they missed and the game wound up in a shoot out.

If not for that, it is wild guess time.

[gamawire]

Two right in a row??? Unbelievable!

[chalupabatman786]

Is it just me, or does Croatia's Ivan Rakitic look a lot like Keith Whitener?

[Turd Ferguson]

JERMAINE DEFOE (TOR) - 4 points
mennoknight, Turd Ferguson, CheezeWhiz, chalupabatman786

[...]
Which leaves the following not named:

[...] Michael Bradley (TOR),

Apparently it's spelled "Jermain".

I figured I'd name one of the two guys TFC signed in the off-season, guessed that Michael Bradley might have been named more, with him being American and actually at the World Cup. Wrong again...

[ihavejeoprosy]

The pace of this reveal is as exciting as a 0-0 draw.

[goforthetie]

The pace of this reveal is as exciting as a 0-0 draw.

Someone didn't watch Brazil-Mexico.

[MarkBarrett]

The pace of this reveal is as exciting as a 0-0 draw.

Someone didn't watch Brazil-Mexico.

While Japan vs. Greece was an insult to watching paint dry.

[Bamaman]

The pace of this reveal is as exciting as a 0-0 draw.

Someone didn't watch Brazil-Mexico.

While Japan vs. Greece was an insult to watching paint dry.

But you still couldn't turn it off to track down what the losers got in the 9/11 episode. Ivory face will be hurt.

[ihavejeoprosy]

The pace of this reveal is as exciting as a 0-0 draw.

Someone didn't watch Brazil-Mexico.

My score in this game should provide a clue that soccer doesnt translate into excitement for me. Ive tried getting into it this world cup but interest will taper off after the final.

[WJMorris3]

I'm going to apologize for my slowness lately; I got whisked off to a bachelor's party and am currently 500 miles from home. But I'm going to try and finish up shortly!

[jjwaymee]

We haven't had good luck with these event-specific sports TD's being revealed in a timely fashion, have we?

[gamawire]

We haven't had good luck with these event-specific sports TD's being revealed in a timely fashion, have we?

He's busy watching the World Cup, I guess.

[zakharov]

More likely to happen: US wins the World Cup or this TD finishes?