THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: June 22, 2014

A guy from Italy sent a right-footed screamer of a shot over the wall of England players the other day.

Instead of curving right to left, as many righty shots do, this one dipped and tailed hard to the right, fooling the goalkeeper. The ball bounded off the crossbar, but the shot was still impressive enough to elicit a text message from Ken Thompson, North Idaho College men's soccer coach, to one of his players, sophomore midfielder Alec Johnson from Coeur d'Alene.

Johnson, Thompson said the other day, has "an extraordinarily powerful shot."

"I texted him, and I said 'You've got to master that shot by Aug. 11,'" Thompson said with a laugh.

SO YES, there are some things that the best soccer players in the world are doing that local high school and college players and teams can try here at home.

Thompson said some teams - Brazil in particular - bring their outside backs forward in more of an attack-minded philosophy. The Germans, he said, seem to be the best at retreating into their "shape" once they lose control of the ball.

He also noted some other technical things that went way over my head, but they sounded good on the way.

Not that I don't know the game - I've seen enough soccer over the years to at least know what's going on. But it's funny how the World Cup brings out the every-four-years clash between the passionate soccer fans and the ones who wonder what all the fuss is about.

Both sides are acceptable, but no need to chastise the other.

Never mind that the U.S. vs. Argentina at any other time other than the World Cup would hardly be a blip on the national radar, which is somewhat unfortunate.

I enjoy watching the best soccer players in the world play, almost regardless of which teams are playing.

Even if some of the neat traditions - like each player walking out onto the field with a little kid by his side, and each team posing for a team photo just prior to kickoff - look a little odd at first.

Hard to imagine LeBron and the boys lining up according to height - "You guards in the front row, take a knee" - just before taking on Tim and the fellas in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

ANYWAY, A few other things struck me after watching bits and pieces of the first week-plus of the World Cup:

* What's with all the announcers with the accents? Whether they are or not, they at least sound more knowledgeable during the telecasts.

It reminds me of the first "Police Academy" movie, where the American used an accent and made his name sound foreign to impress the ladies, but later confided to the other guys in the academy that he was merely "George Martin, reg'lur guy."

In any event, the announcers with the accents are entertaining, so it might take some getting used to when Fox unleashes Gus Johnson on us for the next World Cup, in 2018 in Russia.

He tends to get a little excited when something ALMOST happens - letting out a scream that sounds something unintelligible, like "AHHHHHHHHHHHAYEEEEEAHHHHOOOHHH" - so he might fit right in as a soccer play-by-play guy when a beautiful-looking cross leads to a header just over the top of the goal.

Of course, the rest of us make that same noise when we discover there's a bee in the room.

* What's with the referee and the spray can? The other day I saw the ref whip out his can and spray a line that the defenders had to stand behind when the other team was attempting a free kick. They're supposed to give them 10 yards of space to get off those free kicks, but it's common for the defenders to creep up a step or two after the referee has positioned them.

But with the spray can, there's no inching up - you stay behind that line, or else.

What's in the can, anyway?

"I heard it was shaving cream," Thompson said. "I'd never seen that either; I think that's new for everyone."

Apparently it's not shaving cream, but a "special foam." Though, if they wanted to use shaving cream, they could have borrowed plenty of cans from NHL players who didn't need them during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

In any event, could this "special foam" become an idea for the high school and college level? The Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, of which NIC is now a member in soccer, softball and golf, recently had its soccer meeting, but "we'll put that on the agenda for next year," Thompson said with a laugh.

* Then there's something that's become commonplace during soccer games at the highest level - players falling to the ground, as if they'd been shot, at the slightest bit of contact.

"Pay attention to the score when that's going on," said Thompson, who played in the 1990s at Coeur d'Alene High, Seattle Pacific and Gonzaga University. "There is one team that is by far the worst offenders - trying to ham it up, trying to get more time off the clock, trying to get the next call from the referee."

Thompson said some of that flopping could be tied to lack of conditioning - there was a lot of cramping and injured hamstrings in the first week.

"If you see an American do it (flop), he's actually hurt," Thompson said.

So why don't our players fall to the ground screaming, like their leg is about to fall off?

"I think we know our fans don't like it; our guys want to play in a way our whole country is really proud of," he said.

Perhaps soccer will one day crack down on flopping like the NBA has. Thompson said he remembers Vlade Divac, a Serbian center and a notorious flopper in the NBA more than a decade ago, more than he remembers any of the soccer players of that era.

He said American soccer players are coached to get up quickly when they're knocked down, though "it sounds like (U.S. coach Jurgen) Klinsmann (a German) is encouraging them to be a little more theatric."

So could flopping filter down to the college level, where Thompson coaches?

"Guys don't lay around too long on the ground at our level," he said. "I think the refs are less inclined to give out a penalty or a yellow card, so there's less to gain from it."

Hmmm ... that wouldn't be a bad thing to see in the World Cup.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected].