What is FIFA, and why should I care?The "Fédération Internationale de Football Association", simply called FIFA, is the world's governing body for soccer. It is currently made
up of two hundred and nine member nations. FIFA maintains the rules of the game and organize the major international tournaments
across the globe. For all intents and purposes, they are the law regarding soccer worldwide. The beginnings of FIFA are traced to the
early 1900s when it became apparent an overarching body was needed to manage play between international opponents. The charter
memeber nations formed the association. They were France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
England was the next to join soon after followed by South Africa in 1909, Argentine and Chile in 1912 and the US and Canada in 1913.
As a subset, the participating member nations are broken up into six Confederations. They are; the Asian Football Confederation (AFC),
Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
(CONCACAF), Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL), Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and Union des
Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA).
The United States belongs to the CONCACAF group. How teams do in CONCACAF play is extremely important and directly determines
how or if we qualify for larger competitions.
The elected board officials for FIFA are generally thought to be corrupt, regularly making backroom decisions and deals based on who
lined their pockets with cash. Despite the high worker death rates on construction sites and the ridiculous heat there will be during the
games, they are still planning on keeping the World Cup in Qatar for 2022 since they can't and don't want to give their bribes back. They
are headed by Sepp Blatter, who clearly takes massive amounts of dirty money and is also a well known ball of garbage.
There are forty one member nations in the CONCACAF group. Each member nation has a National Team that is made up of citizens from
that Nation. For the US Men's and Women's National teams, CONCACAF qualifying play is the start of the long path to the World Cup and
the Olympics. Beyond that, there's also a CONCACAF specific National Team tournament called the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
US Men's and Women's National teams have become a real force in CONCACAF play of late. The US Men's Team placed #1 in World
Cup Qualifying in our group for this year's World Cup and are ranked #13 in the world. The US Women's Team has been nothing short
of dominant over CONCACAF and World Cup play, and are currently ranked #1 in the world. They have won 6 of the last 8 CONCACAF
Gold Cup tournaments, won 2 of the last 6 World Cup tournaments, and won 4 of the last 5 Olympic Gold Medal games. The year they
didn't win Gold in the Olympics, they still made it to the Gold Medal game and took second.
Besides National Teams, Club teams (MLS/NASL/etc) also have dealings with CONCACAF. A Club team is a team created of contract
players from any nationality. While trying to win their respective leagues for trophies and recognition, Club teams can qualify for
other, larger stage tournaments by placing in certain positions in their league (MLS) or winning a domestic tournament (US Open Cup).
These other tournaments feature other CONCACAF Club teams that play in other member nation leagues. In soccer, tournaments and
leagues lead to other tournaments and still other tournaments. As an example, let's look at Sporting Kansas City of MLS.
In 2012, during the MLS season, SKC won the US Open Cup, a US domestic knockout tournament. Winning that tournament, or having a
certain MLS league standing at the end of the season, earned them a place in a competition called the CONCACAF Champion's League or
CCL. The teams in CCL play in 2013 and 2014. The winner of the CCL, moves onto the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, which determines the
top club in the world. The road is tough and it's a long shot, but playing well in a tournament in 2012 entered them into another tournament.
Winning that tournament could lead to another tournament, and it all began two years ago, and it all went through CONCACAF.
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the
United States. With headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, the FIFA member governs U.S. amateur and professional soccer, including the men's,
women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal and Paralympic national teams. U.S. Soccer sanctions referees and soccer tournaments for most
soccer leagues in the United States. The U.S. Soccer Federation also administers and operates the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which was
first held in 1914.
U.S. Soccer was originally known as the United States Football Association. It formed on April 5, 1913 and on August 15 of that year was
accepted as one of the earliest member organizations of FIFA and the first from North and Central America. The affiliation was temporary and
at the following year's FIFA Congress in 1914, the USFA, as it was abbreviated at the time, was accepted as a full FIFA member. The
governing body of the sport in the United States added the word soccer to its name in 1945, when it became the United States Soccer
Football Association. It dropped the word football from its name in 1974 to become known as the United States Soccer Federation.
Supporters GroupsSupporters groups or supporters clubs are independent fan clubs in association football, particularly in English speaking counties.
Supporters groups in Europe are generally known as Ultras which derives from the Latin word deriving from ultra, meaning beyond in
English, with the implication that their enthusiasm is 'beyond' the normal. In English speaking nations, these groups are generally
known as "supporters groups".
Supporters groups and their members are the emotional backbone of the club. They provide Tifo and chants to support their clubs while
simultaneously trying to taunt and intimidate the opposing side. In some cases, members "live and die" with their team's performance on
the field and will feel the game very deeply like Portland Timbers fan, Sadsack McMantears.
Mr. McMantears saw his team eliminated at home during the 2nd leg of the Western Conference Championships against Real Salt Lake
and he shed many, many tears. After the game he was admitted to a local hospital and given an IV drip to replace the massive amount
of fluids he lost due to his
Pseudobulbar episode.
First off, for the record, the term is Offside, with no s at the end. They call it Offsides in the NFL, but in the soccer world its Offside.
This rule is usually the biggest sticking point to people who are new to watching soccer...the understanding of the offside rule. If
you are a new fan, learn this before you learn anything else because you'll be less frustrated watching matches:
"A player is in an offside position if three conditions are met:
First, the player must be in the opposing team's half of the field.
Second, the player must be in front of the ball.
And Third, there must be fewer than two opposing players between him and the opposing goal line, with the goalkeeper counting as an
opposing player for these purposes. It is not necessary that the goalkeeper be one of the last two opponents.
Any attacker that is level with or behind the ball is not in an offside position and may never be sanctioned for an offside offence.
The 2005 edition of the Laws of the Game included a new International Football Association Board decision that stated being "nearer to
an opponent's goal line" meant that "any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and
the second-last opponent (the last opponent typically being the goalkeeper)." This is taken to mean that any part of the attacking
player named in this decision has to be past the part of the second-last defender closest to his goal line and past the part of the
ball closest to the defenders' goal line.
Got it? If you're still having trouble, let John Cleese explain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmC9JOcaofI
6 yard box - The smaller rectangular box in front of goal.
18 yard box - The large rectangular box in front of goal.
Card, Carded - Punitive action taken by a referee in a game against a player.
Cracker - Long range power shot.
Dos a cero - In recent and important head to head matches in Columbus Ohio, the USMNT has defeated Mexico 2-0. "Dos a cero" is "2 to
0" in Spanish and is used as a taunt against the Mexico team and fans. This scoreline prevailed in 2001, 2005, 2009 and now 2013 World Cup
Qualifying games in Ohio.
GOAT - Greatest Of All Time!
Goats - Another term for Chivas Guadalajara and Chivas USA. Chivas literally means goat in Spanish.
Nutmeg or 'meg' - To pass a ball between an opponents legs.
Scudetto - This means "little shield" in Italian. It is a jersey badge worn by the defending MLS champions the season after victory.
Tifo - Also an Italian term meaning "the phenomenon of supporting a sport team". It has come to mean the painted banners displayed
before and during a game, made by the Supporters Groups for thier team.
Touch line - Out of bounds. The limit of the field.
Ultras - A different word for a Supporter.
