Welcome to the Friday Five Hop! You can link up below with your Friday Five post- no theme here, any list of 5 works for the Friday Five!
Today's guest Friday Five post comes from Lorena who is an author and a contributing writer at the blog That's Normal.
Five firsts that are happening this year in the World Cup!
1. First time they are using goal line technology.
1. First time they are using goal line technology.
FIFA has finally joined the 21st century! After the horrific call
in 2010's World Cup when England's Frank Lampard's obvious goal was
disallowed, it's no wonder why. Tennis likely still has the best use of
line technology in all sports, but the use for this World Cup has been
promising so far. There was even a goal in slight question in one of the
first group games (France-Honduras) that was determined a definite goal
due to the goal line technology. Success!
2. First time they use aerosol vanishing spray to mark 9.15 meters
For
decades no one has been quite certain if players aren't cheating the
9.15 meter mark during a free kick. Well, that is, no one except the
Americas. Yes, that's right, the latest and greatest method of making
sure players don't cheat did not come from Europe, but rather an
Argentine inventor. I even had an English friend over last year during
an MLS game and he said, "It will be ages before anyone else adopts
this, even though it's a good idea, it's American." Actually, the
method was approved for worldwide use by IFAB in 2012 and has been used
in all of the Americas well before then. The spray saves time and
increases fair play.
3. First time USA beats Ghana
After three meet ups in the past World Cups, the USA finally defeats the Black Stars in their first game of the group stage. This gives them a much needed Win in their difficult group.
4. First time a game is played in the Amazon
So
this is more a sign of FIFA's terrible nature than anything else, the
stadium in Manaus costing millions and never able to use again since no one
lives there (not enough for a team at least), I mean it's like putting a
stadium in the middle of the Adirondacks. But still, it's in the
Amazon! Kind of cool if you ignore all the horrible parts of it. Which
is ... Yeah, it's hard to ignore.
5. First time the World Cup has been so MLS Heavy
Maybe
it's just who we are, but when you're a US soccer fan (yeah, I said
soccer, people, deal with it), you want to see the sport progress and
grow. It's exciting to see not just the USA team boasting some MLS guys,
but also other countries. Australia's great striker Tim Cahill plays
for the New York Red Bulls, Brazil's main goalkeeper Cesar plays for
Toronto FC, 6th fastest scorer in World Cup history Clint Dempsy plays
for the Sounders, six players for Honduras and five for Costa Rica play
in the MLS... In fact 31 players from the MLS are in this World Cup! And
16 are not on the USA team! It's very exciting to see the progress of
the league ... Just think, us NE bloggers are getting another team soon
with the NY Cosmos!
And now it's your turn! Do you have a Friday Five post to link up? Share below and be sure to hop around to a few others and leave a comment on their post!
Don't forget it's also the first time Colombia made it to the Cup too! Even though I was cheering on the opposing team I was really excited for them regardless!
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