Some of you may have noticed that the World Cup begins tomorrow and ends exactly 1 month later (and I will be there for the final, just not in the stadium).

So if any of those here who are not regular football fans here is a quick guide so you won't sounds like a total idiot should you end up watching a game or two. (Just a note: this is from an American paper)
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Be a soccer know-it-all

You, too, can have a ball and get
your kicks from the World Cup

By ROBERT DOMINGUEZ

To a lot of Americans, any sport in which a player isn't allowed to touch the ball with his or her hands seems rather, well, alien.

But what do we know? Sure, baseball is America's pastime, football is a religion in some states, and basketball fuels the sneaker industry. But while the sport we call "soccer" (more on that later) may not be as popular as those others in the U.S., it happens to be the No. 1 team game in the world.

On Friday, the unparalleled passion the rest of the planet has for the game will be on full, feverish display when the World Cup 2006 kicks off.

Held every four years, the Cup features 32 teams from different countries battling for the right to be called the best of the best.

Germany is hosting the month-long tournament this year, but New York will be buzzing with its own displays of nationalistic pride - immigrants will be glued to TV sets in homes and bars across the city rooting for teams from their countries of origin.

For the uninitiated who plan on catching some Cup action alongside these true soccer fans, turn the page for our guide to help you bluff your way through the tourney.

WHAT'S IN A NAME
As with the Fahrenheit system and deposing Third World dictators on a whim, Americans have always insisted on doing things their way. No surprise, then, that we insist on calling it "soccer," while almost everyone else calls it "football." Americans who refer to it as "football" do so at the risk of sounding pretentious.

POSITIONS
Like American football, each soccer team fields 11 players. The basic setup is two forwards, four midfielders, four defenders and one goalkeeper — the only player allowed to touch the ball with his hands. Depending on position, players are supposed to attack the opponent's territory or defend their own; sometimes, they do both. While it doesn't say so in the rule book, players are also supposed to celebrate each goal like they just won the lottery.

WHAT'S IN THE GAME
At first glance, soccer looks like a bunch of skinny guys in shorts kicking a ball up and down a field and scoring about as often as the school nerd at the senior prom. But look closely: Soccer is a game of skill, finesse and strategy, with players constantly dribbling (moving the ball past an opponent with their feet) and passing to get a clear shot at the net. Think basketball, except the nets are way bigger and the players much smaller.

SCORING
The object is to get the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net, with each goal counting as one point. Defense, however, is an essential part of the game, meaning a final score of 1-0 or 2-1 is typical. Unless you want to demonstrate your lack of soccer-savviness, don't act bored by the lack of points. Like an old-fashioned pitchers' duel in baseball, a low-scoring, well-defended game is soccer at its purest.

TIME
As opposed to American football, which consists of three seconds of bone-crunching action followed by three minutes of beer commercials, soccer is pretty much nonstop. Games are played in two halves of 45 minutes each, with a 15-minute break in between. There are timeouts only for injuries, player substitutions and fouls, so try to save your bathroom break for after the game.

PENALTIES
Hockey sends its naughty players to the penalty box for several minutes — sort of like a child's timeout, except it's for toothless goons. Soccer referees have a unique way of dealing with such fouls as tripping, tackling or holding an opponent: They flash colored cards. Yellow means be mellow — you've been warned. Red, however, means you're dead — instant ejection. In baseball, it's called "an early shower." In soccer parlance, you've been "given your marching orders."

FANS
Wherever you end up watching a game, the following advice could save your life: Never get a soccer fan mad. They're passionate about the game — and they've been known to riot in the stands and storm the field when their team loses. They sometimes kill players, too — a member of the Colombian team was shot dead a week after the 1984 Cup by an angry fan. The reason? Colombia lost a game after the player accidently kicked the ball into his own net.

ONE LAST THING
While in public, never, ever celebrate the scoring of a goal by screaming "goooooooaaaaaaaallllll!" until you pass out from lack of oxygen. Spanish-language sportscaster Andrés Cantor may have made it his signature call, but it was only cool the first thousand times he did it.

   

Are the TV stations going to keep the game on whilst showing the commercials?

   

I'm not sure but probably not. I know Sportsnet shows EPL games uniterrupted, same with TSN and Champions League games. But considering the commercialism of the WC, what may happen is durrng a stoppage in play, they'll do a cut-away, but you can still see the game in a small box for however long the ad is.