soccer world cup

[joseephuss]

I think USA has a shot at beating England

I don't. The mid-fielders are poor at falling back on defense and I think the English midfielders will take advantage of that.

 

[daschoo]

I think USA has a shot at beating England

i really hope so. if barry isn't fit then you might have a chance as they need him to sit and protect what is in my mind an over-rated defence. if cappello decides to go with james in goal then theres always a chance he'll make a costly error, though i'd expect it to come later in the tournament to be honest. massive game anyway as you'd expect the winners of this game to go on and win the group and avoid the germans in the last 16

 

[joseephuss]

i really hope so. if barry isn't fit then you might have a chance as they need him to sit and protect what is in my mind an over-rated defence. if cappello decides to go with james in goal then theres always a chance he'll make a costly error, though i'd expect it to come later in the tournament to be honest. massive game anyway as you'd expect the winners of this game to go on and win the group and avoid the germans in the last 16

I expect both teams to advance in this group.

Group G may be the best one to watch with Brasil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea. A very good team is going to be left out after the group round.

 

[juck]

Every match is on espn or abc.very cool.

 

[Ren]

I think USA has a shot at beating England

Unless England under preforms (like they always tend to do) you really don't, should get the #2 spot fairly comfortably though

 

[SA_Gunslinger]

Well it has kind of snuck up on people this year. I don't know, maybe its me....but I just haven't noticed much fanfare in the US....this go around. Not that there has been a lot in the past....

you serious, Clark? They had over 50,000 at the match vs Turkey in Philly last week.

 

[SA_Gunslinger]

I don't. The mid-fielders are poor at falling back on defense and I think the English midfielders will take advantage of that.

I would change this to say......our midfielders are terrible at maintaining possession. Kills me every game. Ugh.

 

[joseephuss]

I would change this to say......our midfielders are terrible at maintaining possession. Kills me every game. Ugh.

Don't change it, just add it. They are poor at maintaining possession and also poor at getting back on defense.

 

[tomson75]

you serious, Clark? They had over 50,000 at the match vs Turkey in Philly last week.

Clark?

50,000? I've been to keggers with more people than that.

Are YOU serious?

Or are you really trying to suggest that there has been a lot of fanfare and coverage of world cup qualifying and pre-tournament hype?

 

[joseephuss]

Clark?

50,000? I've been to keggers with more people than that.

Are YOU serious?

Or are you really trying to suggest that there has been a lot of fanfare and coverage of world cup qualifying and pre-tournament hype?

It is relative. Drawing 50k in the U.S. is a large crowd for soccer.

I don't watch a lot of ESPN, but when I do they promote the WC and their coverage every 10 minutes it seems.

I think there has been plenty of hype, but again this is the U.S.. Hype for the WC is not going to be on the same level as the Superbowl. It also depends on what you do and watch. I have seen very little hype for the NBA Finals unless I switch it to ESPN. I know there is more hype going on, but I just don't catch it during the television I watch or the radio I hear.

 

[daschoo]

Clark?

50,000? I've been to keggers with more people than that.

Are YOU serious?

Or are you really trying to suggest that there has been a lot of fanfare and coverage of world cup qualifying and pre-tournament hype?

50,000 is a good crowd - i remember taking my uncle who lives in a small town in australia to celtic park years ago, his town has a population of around 15,000 and celtic park was full to the 60,000 capacity. he couldn't get over the number of people in the one place at all - particularly for a friendly.

hope this helps you get in the mood
[youtube]Qj4RxCWYpW0[/youtube]

 

[tomson75]

50,000 is a good crowd - i remember taking my uncle who lives in a small town in australia to celtic park years ago, his town has a population of around 15,000 and celtic park was full to the 60,000 capacity. he couldn't get over the number of people in the one place at all - particularly for a friendly.

hope this helps you get in the mood
[youtube]Qj4RxCWYpW0[/youtube]

I'm not really saying that 50,000 isn't a "good crowd", but rather trying to illustrate that it doesn't reflect a great deal of interest in the United States. You can get 50,000 people to show up for a quilt museum opening.

What I was getting at, and perhaps I did a poor job of illustrating, was that I haven't noticed much hype through media outlets, television advertisements, newspapers, etc. Unless you're glued to the FSN over here, you don't hear much about it. We're on the eve of the biggest sporting event in the world, and the only two stories to surpass Ben Worthlessberger's practice comments yesterday in relevance have been in reference to our best player being cut from the Italian squad and our second best player having an ankle sprain.

My reference is from '94...when I was very much involved in the sport (hence holding the cup).....it seems as if the games are of little relevance to the US unless they're being played on US pitch.

I doubt I'm the only one that feels this way.

 

[SA_Gunslinger]

I'm not really saying that 50,000 isn't a "good crowd", but rather trying to illustrate that it doesn't reflect a great deal of interest in the United States. You can get 50,000 people to show up for a quilt museum opening.

What I was getting at, and perhaps I did a poor job of illustrating, was that I haven't noticed much hype through media outlets, television advertisements, newspapers, etc. Unless you're glued to the FSN over here, you don't hear much about it. We're on the eve of the biggest sporting event in the world, and the only two stories to surpass Ben Worthlessberger's practice comments yesterday in relevance have been in reference to our best player being cut from the Italian squad and our second best player having an ankle sprain.

My reference is from '94...when I was very much involved in the sport (hence holding the cup).....it seems as if the games are of little relevance to the US unless they're being played on US pitch.

I doubt I'm the only one that feels this way.

you aren't making a lot of sense here. 50,000 is not light years away from the 65,000 that used to grace Texas Stadium every sunday, which I think everyone will agree is the most popular sport in the USA. Hell, that's even more than several MLB stadiums' capacity. I don't agree with you at all when you say that any ol' event can get 50,000 people for it. What a crock. And using your argument against you, if soccer is as much of a non factor as you are convinced that it is, you should be absolutely blown away by hearing 50,000 people showed up for it.

The two soccer stories you mention just happen to be the biggest stories of the last couple days with regards to the WC (we can add Drogba to that list now), and you are quite well aware of them, aren't you? Interesting.

And did you know that no country had more ticket requests for this year's WC than the USA? Now granted, we are a huge country, and that doesn't mean that everyone is going to ROOT for the USA, but still, the point is, people here do care and do have interest. And lots of them.

It's the top story on Yahoo.com as we speak.

There are three story high billboards in Times Square featuring American players.

Every single game will be televised on either ESPN or ABC. Every game! How you have missed those commercials is beyond me.

What more do you need, dude? If you haven't noticed, you aren't paying attention.

 

[kmp77]

I play indoor soccer but don't watch a ton of it. But this year, I haven't been more excited for a WC. I'll probably catch as many games as I can, especially the bigger teams. Hopefully the US can make a run, or at least an upset or 2. I don't think we have what it takes to win it all, but would be nice to earn some respect at this WC. We had a chance to beat Spain and Brazil back to back so we do have talent. We just need something to get us over that hump. Hopefully this year we can at least get to the top of the hump.

7 days and counting!

 

[tomson75]

you aren't making a lot of sense here. 50,000 is not light years away from the 65,000 that used to grace Texas Stadium every sunday, which I think everyone will agree is the most popular sport in the USA. Hell, that's even more than several MLB stadiums' capacity. I don't agree with you at all when you say that any ol' event can get 50,000 people for it. What a crock. And using your argument against you, if soccer is as much of a non factor as you are convinced that it is, you should be absolutely blown away by hearing 50,000 people showed up for it.

The two soccer stories you mention just happen to be the biggest stories of the last couple days with regards to the WC (we can add Drogba to that list now), and you are quite well aware of them, aren't you? Interesting.

And did you know that no country had more ticket requests for this year's WC than the USA? Now granted, we are a huge country, and that doesn't mean that everyone is going to ROOT for the USA, but still, the point is, people here do care and do have interest. And lots of them.

It's the top story on Yahoo.com as we speak.

There are three story high billboards in Times Square featuring American players.

Every single game will be televised on either ESPN or ABC. Every game! How you have missed those commercials is beyond me.

What more do you need, dude? If you haven't noticed, you aren't paying attention.

If you haven't noticed (which you haven't), my point just went right over your head.

...but if you insist on thinking that soccer's popularity here is of any major significance....far be it from me to tell you otherwise. It's a matter of opinion, and yours is clearly different than mine (the correct one ).

 

[daschoo]

I play indoor soccer but don't watch a ton of it. But this year, I haven't been more excited for a WC. I'll probably catch as many games as I can, especially the bigger teams. Hopefully the US can make a run, or at least an upset or 2. I don't think we have what it takes to win it all, but would be nice to earn some respect at this WC. We had a chance to beat Spain and Brazil back to back so we do have talent. We just need something to get us over that hump. Hopefully this year we can at least get to the top of the hump.

7 days and counting!

unless you can cause an upset against england (and with the injury to rio ferdinand thats less likely as they'll now play a proper defender like carragher or king) you're getting knocked out by germany in the last 16 i'm afraid.

uruguay are my picks as dark horses in this tournament, got a wee feeling they can win their group and then progress to the semi finals. think it could well end up a spain v brazil final though the germans and italians are usually there or there abouts.

 

[kmp77]

All I know is if the Italians come out playing dive ball, they should be banned from future WCs. Sad watching those cream puffs dive every other drive :/

 

[Fizziksman]

so if USA wins the World Cup, who here cries?

 

[tomson75]

All I know is if the Italians come out playing dive ball, they should be banned from future WCs. Sad watching those cream puffs dive every other drive :/

Who doesn't dive these days? That particular aspect of the sport is a major reason I no longer follow it. Diving has been far too prevalent from the grade school level and up....for years now.

It is sad. My father was a captain of the Naval Academy's National Championship team, and played pro ball until the mid-80's...now he can't even watch the sport.

 

[daschoo]

All I know is if the Italians come out playing dive ball, they should be banned from future WCs. Sad watching those cream puffs dive every other drive :/

you can almost guarentee the italians will be diving constantly. their defenders will kick anything that moves and then protest their innocence while further up the park they will go down as if they have been shot under absolutely no contact. thats just how they play the game.
they're by no means the only ones who dive but they are one of the main exponents of it, portugal will be bad for it as well, i still remember the diving and time wasting from the porto team in the uefa cup final in 2003. was a strange mixture of pride in my team, dissapointment that we lost the final and anger at the antics of the portugese that night.