World Cup

[jjcourtright]

Anybody else excited about the World Cup? I "watched" the Germany-Costa Rica match on ESPN and I'm thinking about swinging by the pub on the way home to watch a little bit of the Poland-Ecuador match.

Maybe I'm too idealistic, but in the same way that the World Cup has put the civil war in Ivory Coast on pause, it seems like the World Cup matches would be a great ice breaker between us and Iran. Talk some nukes while watching soccer.

[FanGirl]

Anybody else excited about the World Cup?

No, I'm an American.

[DangerSeeker]

I'd watch it if they watched more NFL Europe. Also, I don't what channel Univision is on my cable system. Did I go there? SI!!!

[karmattack]

I didn't even know the US was in the World Cup until I saw the US coach on Mike & Mike this morning. I like to watch futbol when it's on, but I haven't gone out of my way to watch it. This makes me want to. It sounds like our first two matches are going to be brutal.

[phit_demon]

Anybody else excited about the World Cup?
Hell yes I am!!
Germany vs. Costa Rica was a magnificent game, the perfect way to start off the best sporting event in the world.
Poland vs. Ecuador wasn't bad either.
2 down, 51 to go...YIPEE!!!

[ozchick]

World Cup fever is starting to hit Australia (no mean feat during AFL season) simply because it's been 30 years since Aust made it to the world cup! Of course we're in the draw with Brazil so there's no big hopes there.... Shit how do I know this stuff???

[freetoaster]

Always excited about the World Cup!

[Robbo_the_Hood]

If I wanted to watch grown men fall around every thirty seconds pretneding they've shattered their leg, I'll stick with professional wrestling, thank you very much.

Do they give out acting awards after the last game?

[By-tor]

If I wanted to watch grown men fall around every thirty seconds pretneding they've shattered their leg, I'll stick with professional wrestling, thank you very much.
http://rock13.com/austin/img/austin04.jpg
WHAT?!!!!

[RobinHoodDaffy]

When we had the World cup here in Portland, I thought that was freakin' cool. However, out of sight out of mind. Good luck to the American ladies though!

[freetoaster]

It's kind of nice that Soccer hasn't caught on with the main-stream here in the U.S. It's a little nerdy for our tastes but still a far superior sport to say Basketball or American football.

[JK]

I used to play soccer and it bored the crap out of me.

[By-tor]

It's kind of nice that Soccer hasn't caught on with the main-stream here in the U.S. It's a little nerdy for our tastes but still a far superior sport to say...American football.
Sphincter says:
http://www.crazy4cinema.com/Review/FilmsW/stills/waynes04.jpg
WHAT?!!!!
http://www.weboshawa.com/wrestling/stonecold_steve_austin/steveaustin.jpg
YOU MIGHT BE IN DENTON, BUT YOU AIN'T A REAL TEXAN, BOY.
AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE, CAUSE STONE COLD SAID SO!!!!!

[freetoaster]

How was I supposed to know that big ass-hole was from Austin.

[Threadkiller]

That Trinidad/Sweden match was the best scoreless game I've ever watched. Which isn't really saying much I guess. Still, pretty cool.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

It's a little nerdy for our tastes but still a far superior sport to American football.
The least virtuous act a Grid Iron Football player can do is show any sign of pain. As well as not wanting to give the opposition any advantage, the last thing he wants to do is embarass himself on TV.

In Soccer, falling down and crying is considered strategy. This is why Americans stop playing soccer after the age of four; because at five you learn it's not acceptable for men to cry.

[Mighty Wingman]

I think Robbos' World Cup is half empty.

[freetoaster]

There's always a price to pay for comparing football and soccer.

I like the King of the Hill episode where Bobby wants to play soccer and Hank is tring to help coach the football team on an adjacent field.

[By-tor]

I coached my son and his buddies to the Snickers City of Waco Championship about 10 yrs ago. I love the game, but hate some of the strategies(mainly "the defensive trap, talked to phit awile back about it). But the game pales compared to football(not futbol). Well, hell, they are two completly different games. The only thing that gets the two camps going at each other is that both are called "football". And then there's the ocean between them...

[freetoaster]

My Father's Father and his eight brother's all played football. I don't mean the game any disrespect. I started on Denton's first year of any city soccer league at four or five. I had a young couple from Columbia for first year coaches. I've been in love with the game since.

[phit_demon]

I try not to make blanket statements 'round here too much, but Football/What you yanks call soccer is the greatest sport ever, and anyone who disagrees with me is a fool.
Plain and simple.:D

[phit_demon]

The least virtuous act a Grid Iron Football player can do is show any sign of pain. As well as not wanting to give the opposition any advantage, the last thing he wants to do is embarass himself on TV.

In Soccer, falling down and crying is considered strategy. This is why Americans stop playing soccer after the age of four; because at five you learn it's not acceptable for men to cry.

At least soccer* players stay on the pitch for the whole game, instead of CHANGING THEIR ENTIRE TEAM every time they switch from defence to offence. Also, soccer* games don't go on for 4 freakin' hours.

Sorry, I'm just drunk and you rubbed me the wrong way. That and you're blatently wrong.:D




*I use the word soccer for ease of translation. It's Football. What you play is American Football, or Gridiron Football. I think that's only fair as in real football they actually, ye know, use their foot!

[JK]

I saw that Islamic Courts ruled that soccer was unholy and a deadly sin. (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/06/11/060611162437.7450zyd1.html) Armed squads went out to find (and apparently kill) anyone watching the games.

"This is war against all people who show films that promote pornography, drug dealing and all forms of evil. We shall not even allow the showing of the World Cup because they corrupt the morals of our children whom we endeavour to teach the Islamic way of life."
I can't stand soccer as much as the next guy, but for Pete's sake, it's just a bunch of guys running up and down a field of grass, kicking a little round ball...

I guess they feel the time spent watching soccer could be better spent doing something else...

http://www.cnp-x.com/support/newsletters/security/graphics2/ka-boom.gif

[jjcourtright]

If I wanted to watch grown men fall around every thirty seconds pretneding they've shattered their leg, I'll stick with professional wrestling, thank you very much.

Do they give out acting awards after the last game? I've been pleasantly surprised how little flopping I've seen. Or maybe I've just watched too many Spurs games since the last World Cup. Similarly, I've seen very little writhing in pain, and it has all seemed justified. So far, the World Cup is exceeding my expectations!

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Also, soccer* games don't go on for 4 freakin' hours.For the sake of semantics, and the whole "separated by an ocean" thing, this is because gridiron football is based on coaching strategy while soccer has more to do with the individual players.

On a related note, I went to the Honduran restaurant next to my store to watch the US play, and they're always watching soccer in that place. I was the only gringo there, and obviously the only one chearing for the US (in a 3-0 losing effort). Every time the Czechs scored, everyone in the restaurant turned around and looked at me, with their big assed, shit-eating grins. Since I was outnumbered, I wondered to myself, "I understand wanting to chear against the US, but you live here. I understand a little bit more if it were against a latin team; any latin team. But a team a hemisphere away, with more white people on it than the US team? If you aren't already US citizens you are trying to be. What the fuck?!"

I figured out how the US lost. They didn't fall down at random. Every time a Czech player needed a rest and there was a blue jersey around him, he'd just fall and cry and roll around for a little while. Everyone on the team does this, and they get to rest. Since the Americans have this thing called pride, they don't fall down at random so they don't get to rest nearly as much as the other teams. They don't employ the fall down and cry strategy. Any time the US threatened, a Czech falls down holding his shin and cries until the ref gives them the ball.

I still maintain that real athletes don't cry, especially in the middle of the game.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

I've been pleasantly surprised how little flopping I've seen. Or maybe I've just watched too many Spurs games since the last World Cup. Similarly, I've seen very little writhing in pain, and it has all seemed justified. So far, the World Cup is exceeding my expectations!You didn't watch the Poland vs. Ecuador game. Falling down must be an Eastern European strategy, because I'll admit the only two teams I've really seen diving have been the Czechs and the Poles.

[ILovePapaSmurf]

You know, usually I enjoy seeing guys fight over balls, but I'm not too excited about it this year.

*sigh* I guess the games are on way too early for me.

[ozchick]

Also, soccer* games don't go on for 4 freakin' hours.


Maybe the don't go on for 4 hours but after watching some of the Aust v Japan game last night (which incidently we kicked arse in) I was sure wishing for a shot clock!!! Seriously, for about 15mins it was just kicking back and forwards to each other with no attempt on goal! And the commentators said "Australia are really using the ball well" ... I was thinking they're doing bloody nothing with it - get a freaking move on already!

[bwdial]

At least soccer* players stay on the pitch for the whole game, instead of CHANGING THEIR ENTIRE TEAM every time they switch from defence to offence. Also, soccer* games don't go on for 4 freakin' hours.

Sorry, I'm just drunk and you rubbed me the wrong way. That and you're blatently wrong.:D


Why are soccer fans such snobs?
It's funny, but every single argument always seems to start by someone saying they don't like soccer, which is followed by the inevitable "soccer is superior to your silly sports" and "you don't understand it" and "it's more physically grueling". Sorry, but basketball takes far more physical skill, timing and speed. And I don't even like basketball.
Hockey takes more of the aforementioned attributes than basketball, with a heaping helping of toughness and boxing skills to boot. Soccer players get clipped on the ankle and writhe around like an epileptic until the stretcher arrives. A few years ago, Chris Pronger got hit square in the chest with a puck so hard that his heart stopped. Yes, for a few moments, he was technically dead...and two nights later, he was back on the ice.
Anyway, I don't really see why soccer is considered to be such a great sport. It's the only sport where you aren't allowed to use your hands. It's our ability to reason, coupled with the opposable thumb that sets us apart from the animals. If anything, soccer is devolution.

Besides, we all know that golf is the greatest sport known to man.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

I don't really see why soccer is considered to be such a great sport. It's the only sport where you aren't allowed to use your hands. It's our ability to reason, coupled with the opposable thumb that sets us apart from the animals. If anything, soccer is devolution.That goes a long way to explain why Europeans and people in other third world countries are so rabid about soccer.

[JK]

When I was stationed in Italy, more than a few people would constantly tell me and my buddies how American football was barbaric and uncultured compared to soccer. I told them if they thought it was such low-brow sport, they should have no problem dominating in it. Eventually we wound up in a flag football game. Needless to say, the low-brow, uncultured barbarians won. The vastly superior soccer players couldn't grasp the strategy involved in moving the ball down the field.

[phit_demon]

On a related note, I went to the Honduran restaurant next to my store to watch the US play, and they're always watching soccer in that place. I was the only gringo there, and obviously the only one chearing for the US (in a 3-0 losing effort). Every time the Czechs scored, everyone in the restaurant turned around and looked at me, with their big assed, shit-eating grins.
Well, I was actually cheering for the US, and I was pretty gutted when they lost. The Czechs were pretty impressive though...

Since the Americans have this thing called pride, they don't fall down at random so they don't get to rest nearly as much as the other teams.
That's crap dude, I will admit that diving is a problem inherent within the game, but you're exaggerating it way out of proportion, and to throw the pride card in seems a little ridiculous when you're NFL teams switch cities on a whim. Hardly the actions of one who is proud of their team's history and tradition.

[Dave]

Here's my problem with football. Not enough shots on goal. I'm not talking about where a guy kicks the ball and it goes wide or whatever, i'm talking about the times where the goalie has to actually do work. In hockey there are all kinds of shots on goal, in soccer, not so much. They spend most of their time "between the 20s" for lack of a better term, kicking the ball to one another. it's plain boring, i mean how do you end a game in the "World Cup" in a 0 - 0 tie? What?

[phit_demon]

Sorry, but basketball takes far more physical skill, timing and speed.
I truely love basketball. It's fast, skillful, exciting, and it's the only sport I played in school.

However, it is harder to control and manipulate a ball with your feet than it is with your hands, and therefore I have to disagree you.

And yeah.....I realise the previous sentence belongs in the "things that sound dirty" thread.:o

[phit_demon]

I have seen the future of football, and it is the Argentine national team.
The greatest game I've ever seen just took place in front of my disbelieving eyes:

Argentina: 6, Serbia & Montegnegro: 0

It also contained the greatest goal ever scored. Anyone who saw it will know what I mean.

Diego Maradonna would be proud, in fact I know he was, he was yelling like a mad man from the stands.
Beautiful!

[ozchick]

Diego Maradonna would be proud, in fact I know he was, he was yelling like a mad man from the stands.

Are you sure he was proud? Maybe he was just high on smack!

[phit_demon]

Are you sure he was proud? Maybe he was just high on smack!
Touché, although he has cleaned up in the last few years. After he nearly died a few years ago he started living healthily, and now he has kicked coke, and has dropped half his body weight. He also has the number one rated show in Argentina nowadays...he's like the Angentine Oprah.

http://www.mittelbayerische.de/SID_ed88434c1e56b75127fb269563f44662/newsbilder/afpbilder/2006/05/30/SGE.BMI47.300506053606.photo00.photo.default-512x504.jpg

[By-tor]

Here's my problem with football. Not enough shots on goal. I'm not talking about where a guy kicks the ball and it goes wide or whatever, i'm talking about the times where the goalie has to actually do work. In hockey there are all kinds of shots on goal, in soccer, not so much. They spend most of their time "between the 20s" for lack of a better term, kicking the ball to one another. it's plain boring, i mean how do you end a game in the "World Cup" in a 0 - 0 tie? What?As I've discussed with phit. Get rid of the offsides penalty, and scoring would skyrocket. Although the game would change dramatically, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

As I've discussed with phit. Get rid of the offsides penalty, and scoring would skyrocket. Although the game would change dramatically, especially on the defensive side of the ball.I like the offsides rule, because it keeps people from cherry picking; then it would be a sport for the girls who would never actually run the mile in gym class...instead of a sport for men that like to fall down and cry.

[phit_demon]

...instead of a sport for men that like to fall down and cry.
One of these days Robbo, one of these days...

http://www.buyersmls.com/honeymooners/gang.jpg

[Robbo_the_Hood]

One of these days Robbo, one of these days...
What, I'll get a yellow card because you fell down in front of a ref?

[PftLBritt]

I know that I'm in the minority and probably a little crazy but I dig women's soccer over men's. Maybe because most soccer chicks are hotties with great looking legs. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the WNBA.

[By-tor]

I like the offsides rule, because it keeps people from cherry picking.Understood completely. But, change the defense to the horrible "prevent', and..yada yada...more fast breaks and more scoring on long runs down field. Never gonna happen though, the game wouldn't be the same, except for the Oscar-worthy flopping. That ain't goin nowhere. Sorry, ;) phit.

[ILovePapaSmurf]

So, I found my World Cup Hottie and his name is Lance Donovan. *sigh* So hot.

[jjcourtright]

Where have you been? He regularly plays in your backyard. He's played for the San Jose Earthquakes and he currently plays for the LA Galaxy.

Edit:...assuming that you meant Landon Donovan.

[Dave]

I know that I'm in the minority and probably a little crazy but I dig women's soccer over men's. Maybe because most soccer chicks are hotties with great looking legs. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the WNBA.


Nope, i agree with those reasons, plus the chance they may rip there shirts off at a moments notice. Also, the womens game has more shots on goal, it seems like. maybe it's because they can't run up and down the field continiously like the men do.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Don't know if anyone watched the US game today, apparently the US was playing too rough, and the Italians cried too much. While the scoreboard read 1-1 at the end of the game, the US was screwed out of their first win over the Italians. This may be my patriotic sports fan side coming out, but officiating should never decide the outcome of a game and the ref was the difference in that match. The worst part is, in order for the US to advance, now we have to cheer for Italy to beat the Czech Republic (who were beaten by Ghana earlier today).

[By-tor]

the US was screwed out of their first win over the Italians. This may be my patriotic sports fan side coming out, but officiating should never decide the outcome of a game and the ref was the difference in that match. Hated the reffing also, Robbo, but the US had their only goal scored by an Italian defender, and Italy scored it's only goal because the Americans were playing the most chickenshit defense in the WORLD!!!

Yes, that's right, the muthafucking "off-sides trap". Instead of playing hardnose man-to-man defense, you play the "pussy", and hope your opponent makes a mistake. Pure shit!! If our defenders would have been playing the ball instead of trying to coax one of the Italians off-side, that ball would haver never gotten to that damn Italian's noggin. But, truthfully, it was one of the better goals I've seen scored. Shame it was against the US, though.

And now.....VIVA LA ITALIANOS!!!