Rambling thoughts on the WC from a USA fan.
I'm enjoying the WC so far. England-Iran and France-Australia were fun to watch. And Argentina-Saudi Arabia was a good watch and hugely unexpected.
Rules/Officiating:
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I like the offside technology; I don't like, however, that the offside decision isn't communicated to officials much more quickly. If there's an offside, it should be called immediately after the current sequence of play ends. In some cases, this isn't happening.
I don't like the numerous substitutions allowed. Leave it at 3 with free substitutions in case of concussion.
I'm not sure how I feel about the added time rules. It seems that added time is excessive. However, I suppose that the time added now accurately reflects on-field conditions; further, it serves as a brake against intentional time wasting.
I like that officials are enforcing holding rules in the box for free kicks/corners. It's been pretty consistent except that the obvious holding against McGuire/Stones in the Iran game wasn't called (supposedly this was brought up in an officials meeting as a mistake in rules enforcement and since then all holds in the box are being called).
US Announcers:
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The USA game announcing from Fox is OK to good, mostly - a big surprise. In past world cups where US didn't simply relay English feeds, announcing has been godawful. This time though - it's been at least tolerable.
John Strong and Stu Holden seem to be the lead team - it's OK. I think that Strong has a tendency to over-dramatize developing plays near the goal, tending to shout and over-emote unnecessarily.
JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones are the second team. I dislike JP - as he just can't shut up. Constant banter - and JP is basically Captain Obvious personified for much of his commentary.
Derek Rae and Aly Wagner are the best broadcast team by far and are very enjoyable.
Ian Darke and Landon Donovan are OK - they don't distract from the game at all.
Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton are enjoyable. They've developed a weird chemistry which I quite like. And their commentary doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the game.
