What is your attitude towards the World Cup ?
Do you not give a crap ?
Mild Interest and will watch if nothing else is on or USA is doing well
Stoked
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What is your attitude towards the World Cup ?
Do you not give a crap ?
Mild Interest and will watch if nothing else is on or USA is doing well
Stoked
what is the world cup? :?:
love it
by far the biggest sporting event in the world
Could Care less
I'd choose to watch Ping Pong over Soccer
The first choice is too hostile to describe my lack of interest; it implies an active annoyance rather than my passive disregard for the event.
I voted the middle option under the assumption that my attention could conceivably be drawn toward the World Cup should the stands be set on fire by hooligans or dwarfs were tossed onto the field, causing the match to be shortened.
Whenever the best of the best get together on the worlds great stages it's always a good time. It's like the Olympics - I don't follow swimming or figure skating or bobsledding or track and field other than every 4 years when the worlds greatest athletes get together and compete on the worlds biggest stage. Same with the World Cup. I'll follow it until it's over, and then I probably won't care for soccer anymore until they play it again 4 years from now.
it's definately an acquired tasteQuote:
Originally Posted by Bretsky
give the first game (the one about to start), and the one tomorrow between the US and England a try
its the atmosphere that hooked me. the crowds chanting and singing and going nuts
I'm really looking forward to seeing it. If security-wise everything is OK, it should become a great spectacle.
BTW, my favorite soccer team recently signed an american; Sacha Kljestan. He just missed the USA squad. Anybody knows if he's any good?
I hope there won't be that constant vuvuzela-horn sound. Drives me crazy...Quote:
Originally Posted by red
I thought Real Salt Lake already won. Anyway, who cares.
i hate those too, unfortunately i have a feeling we'll hear a lot of it in this gameQuote:
Originally Posted by wootah
Quote:
Originally Posted by red
can't do it; I'd be slightly more interested in chick soccer so my imagination could run and I could theorize on which ones were having fun with each other.
If they made the title game I think I might be able to watch part of it.
For what it's worth I do really admire these guys as they have great endurance and talent....it just bores me.
I would watch Soccer over Golf, I think....but there are not many more
We are probably the same; I'm not at all annoyed. Just apathetic.Quote:
Originally Posted by swede
It really depends on the style of play...if it's an attacking game it's fantastic to watch but the defensive chess matches can be real snooz-fests.
I want the US to win one of these some day.....the nationalist in me wants that bad.
I'm fascinated by some of the really crazy history in "football" and the local club history and wild traditions are fascinating.
Read How soccer explains the world, Football against the enemy, or all played out and you'll see what I mean.
I usually watch some of it. I agree with Red that the spectacle of the crowds are a big part of it. Nothing else like it is sports.Quote:
Originally Posted by red
My son is playing soccer now. He's 7. I try to play with him for an hour or so after work most days. It's a really fun sport and a great work out.
We always had him in baseball, but I missed the signup deadline this year, so we ended up with soccer. I couldn't be happier though. The games a are a lot of fun to watch. There is so much action. He really likes playing.
I don't follow a team or anything like that, but I think it's a really cool sport. Fun to play, a really great workout and a lot of fun to watch my son play. I'll watch some world cup soccer this year.
Every kid should play soccer...or ultimate Frisbee. Great exercise!Quote:
Originally Posted by JustinHarrell
I wonder if Diego Maradona's ego is going to screw Messi some how....deny him the glory that would surpass his World Cup feats.
Maradonna has already said that he considers Messi a greater football player than himself. I have no doubt that he will do everything within his coaching power to make this team succeed. Football is not just a sport in Argentina. It's everything. I only doubt Maradonna's capacities as a coach.Quote:
Originally Posted by Freak Out
2 games in the bag up until this point. SA-MEX was pretty entertaining. Great great goal by Shabalala.
FRA-URU was boring as hell. France was the superior team but due to their lousy coach they played a tactic that couldn't succeed; they have great wingers but no one from the midfield who arrives in the penalty area to make use of these crosses from the flanks. Combine this with URU who were happy with a 0-0 and you get 90' of boredom.
gave it a half hour; I'm done. Fan stuff is cool, althogh from a TV it sounds like a combo of a ton of swarming bees and Vikings Horns blowing constantly
Just too boring
well, you gave it 31 minutes more than I did. I'm proud of you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bretsky
Woah. That inside USA defence looked aweful!
One down after 4 minutes of play is better than one down with 4 minutes of play left.
The US Ream is showing the Island Gorillas too much respect. Play the damned game; hard and fast! C'mon USA!
G O A L !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A gift from Mother England!!!!
1-1 with 5 to play in the first half!!!!
GO USA!!!!!
I gotta stop talking to myself.....
after a shaky start the US played pretty solid, bet they're calling for heads in england right about now
good result
I enjoyed the game. But its hard to adjust to 75 minutes of setup and 15 minutes of actual attack. In football, you at least are monitoring down and distance. Baseball you are tracking outs and men on base. Every time the US kicked the ball back out of the England half to regroup I got depressed.
Loved Altidore simply going around his defender when he hit the post in the 2nd half. US does not seem to control the ball in the middle, shorter spaces as well as England. And the English guy Johnson constantly went around the US defense. I also thought the idea to simply put the ball on goal a few times (like hockey) was a good idea given the shakiness of England's goalkeeper.
It was fun. But I am not sure if I could sit through a normal games with countries I was not invested in. Maybe the final.
Island gorillas?
The game didn't seem very close at all from 5 minutes on. US got a couple of good chances but only got one good shot on goal the entire game - and it wasn't even the one that went in. Lucky for that gift, as England was clearly the better team.
Kudos to Tim Howard for not letting it get out of hand.
It was fun to watch. I'll be watching the rest of our games and maybe some other games.
I thought England played much dirtier. They were constantly kicking our guys in the thigh, stepping on ankles, tripping, etc. . . .
Their DNA is 96% of Homo Sapien'sQuote:
Originally Posted by pbmax
Vuvuzelas may be banned from tournament.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/wor...y-Jordaan.html
Although I hope you're right, Joe, I'm afraid this won't be the case. The reporters over here switched back to the old microphones which are closer to the mouth to limit the vuvuzela-noise for the viewers at home.
Regarding USA's match: as a neutral spectator I thought the 1st half was entertaining, the second far less. The USA captain (Bocanegra) played very shaky in the first quarter of an hour, had trouble with the quick Lennon and the goal was far more his fault than Onyewu's. Onyewu did what he was supposed to do when you play a 4 man zone defense; step out to the man with the ball. It was Bocanegra failed to close the center behind him. For me, Onyewu was USA's man of the match. Remember; he didn't play for a year due to an injury. I also liked USA's right back; not afraid to take on his man 1 to 1.
In general the tournament has started of slowly; all teams seem to be afraid to lose their 1st match, rather than trying to win. This is somewhat logic. The qualifying and build-up to the tournament has been going on for months now. If you loose your 1st match, there's a very big chance you will be eliminated, so no one wants to risk it. But this will change. If you are new at football/soccer; don't give up yet. The fun is just starting; as of the next set of matches, teams will HAVE to win, a draw is no longer sufficient which will undoubtedly add to the spectacle.
Also some amazing teams have not played yet. If you like attacking soccer, you should definately watch Holland today; they have great attacking players and they play full force for 90 minutes. That and they have the craziest fans in the world.
What I liked until now;
* Best player I've seen: Messi (ARG), no suprise there. Second place goes to French midfielder Diaby; he was fysically dominating Uruguay.
* Best goal: Tshabalala (RSA) during the opening match. Second place yesterdays header of Klöse (GER) against Australia.
Btw, Peter King's column about the world cup is the biggest piece of crap I've ever read. It must be nice to go to South Africa with your wife, watch the world's greatest sporting event, write some utter nonsense and get payed for it.
How is that any different than his football columns? :P
He doesn't have the soccer players' cellphone numbers yet so he cannot use namedropping as much?Quote:
Originally Posted by retailguy
i agree the vuvuzela's should go bye-bye. it only takes less then a hundred asshole blowing those things to drowned out the atmosphere of 40,000 to 90,000 other fans
i don't care if it is african tradition. you wouldn't allow someone to blare an air horn for a whole game.
i feel bad for the fans from around the world that have paid tens of thousands of dollars to go to the games and have to sit with that crap
this is by far soccer's biggest stage, their showcase, and there's no doubt that the horns are turning of a good majority of the people tuning in
He can be such a hack as a writer, which is unfortunate as he used to have such tremendous access to information that you couldn't get anywhere else except for Will McDonough.
I read someone predict this would happen after the first goal:
He is exactly right of course, except this goal did not turn a championship into a defeat.Quote:
It had a goat -- England's goalkeeper Robert Green, who Bucknered
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0qqBfZeFQ
I'm Scottish so soccer is my first sport and naturally I cheer for anyone playing England and got a kick out of Altidore breezing past Jamie Carragher (he's a total prick). If your new to soccer I'd try giving one of the Dutch or Brazilian games a watch as your first game, they play much more attractive footie than the Uber defensive teams like France and Italy
This account from SI differs in assigning responsibility for that goal I believe. Can you identify where you agree and disagree with this?Quote:
Originally Posted by wootah
Quote:
We hear about players "switching off." Clark apparently forgot to switch on at the opening whistle. He lost track of Gerrard on England's first real surge. DeMerit couldn't contain Emile Heskey's target work as the England frontrunner led Gerrard perfectly. The Liverpool star's two touches were precise and the Three Lions roared.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0qqHjOOjv
absolutely, brazil is the team that hooked me once upon a time. it was either the US world cup or the one before. but ever since then i try not to miss one of their gamesQuote:
Originally Posted by crosbiegrad
very fun team to watch