The Inevitable Football Topic

[Astiryu1]

Maybe hosting events in other sports and such would help the Economy?
They could start their own soccer team but that might make too much sense...
I know in my hometown all we have is service,tourism and a Baseball Park for spring training to boost jobs but that is a whole other topic.
The Baseball teams stay at local hotels and tip well!!! Especially for pizza! :lol:

[Doc]

The US did really deserve the win although they should have had it earlier in the other game where their third goal was not counted.

Yes, New Zealand is doing pretty well for a country of a few million but so are other countries who do not have absorbent populations. Well, if Paraguay has anything to say about it, New Zealand's luck is going to run out since that is their only real reason for beating the odds thus far. Technically that is not a bad thing since luck is a good think to have in ones corner. I am all for that.

I see Paul that you are trying to equate the population numbers with success. Unfortunately this argument if this is your attempt, no longer is valid. Italy has close to 60 million people and a huge number of their teams are not composed of Italians rather players from other countries. Using your theory Italy should be great, and Germany, and France, and the US...........

It really has to do with how seriously a sport is taken in a country and how much money is invested to make it a success not the population size. The Czech Republic is a small country and their team did well until recently.

[Paullus Scipio]

see Paul that you are trying to equate the population numbers with success. Unfortunately this argument if this is your attempt, no longer is valid. Italy has close to 60 million people and a huge number of their teams are not composed of Italians rather players from other countries. Using your theory Italy should be great, and Germany, and France, and the US...........

It really has to do with how seriously a sport is taken in a country and how much money is invested to make it a success not the population size. The Czech Republic is a small country and their team did well until recently.

I was not equating population alone with success....but it is a major factor in almost all sports. Having said that there are other major factors as you say - such as interest levels in that sport, how much money is thrown at it and so on.

Certainly it is no surprise that probably the best level of football is played in the European Leagues, where money attracts the best players from the World.....and the biggest audiences/consumers also tally with the biggest populations/markets ! :wink:

Meanwhile, the 'diving' has reached epic proportions....in one game I even saw two players go for the ball, make contact, and both launched dives hock:
- seemingly each trying to get their 'dive' in first !! :roll: Ridiculous!

Can you tell me why rolling around on the ground, and clutching the face with two hands is seemingly a compulsory part of the 'act', even if the only contact has been below the knee ? :?

[Virilis]

The England team visited an orphanage in Cape Town today. It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope" said Jamal, aged 6". :twisted:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Basically Paul, exposing what it is for what it is in the cold harsh light of reality.......opium for the masses.

[Doc]

Paul,

I know the play you are talking about. I agree that this sort of thing is ridiculous but again, these are players who risk milking the system at all costs. As I have already said to win is most important for them. I am quite sure that if you were in the World Cup under the pressure that many of these players are under to carry their team (Christiano Ronaldo for Portugal) and you had the opportunity to get the wining goal and send your team to the finals or the next round, you would perform with the best of them. I know you may say "not me" but at those levels even "not me" is going to say "why not".

Not to go OT but look at baseball here in the States. These players who are hooked on heavy doses of steroids and performance enhancing drugs. Many of these players have admitted to their use and yet some of them are still in the Baseball Hall of Fame. How ridiculous is that? Someone hit a huge number of homeruns but it may have been done with steroids. Consequences for that player? What are consequences? Never heard of them.

Byron, ALL televised activities is opium for the masses. Even the news. There are people that I know with cable TV sporting over 250 channels but only watch 5 of them that broadcast" BBC, CNN, FOX, C-SPAN, RAI-USA. All these programs broadcast news and politics which can be far worse than sports addicition.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Paul,
Byron, ALL televised activities is opium for the masses. Even the news. There are people that I know with cable TV sporting over 250 channels but only watch 5 of them that broadcast" BBC, CNN, FOX, C-SPAN, RAI-USA. All these programs broadcast news and politics which can be far worse than sports addicition.

Yes I know, but there is also the live event.
I am still wondering about the wisdom of getting satilite. As we are going digital soon, I may have no option.

[Astiryu1]

I don't know how Television works over there but we switched about a year ago and many got digital converters that resemble a cable box. They are not very reliable and often freeze up. Worst part is that it happens most often on PBS the station that lets us see outside of U.S. :evil: 90% of T.V. that I watch is on that channel. :evil: :evil: :evil: You don't get but the regular channels so a sports pub may be in order or a friends house. That's what is common here as it is a reason for social interaction. Super Bowl though I am not a huge fan of American Football(except for playing) can be awesome and I always root for the Underdog. Force of Habit... 8)

[Marcus F.]

[size=150:18mcbq69]Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant![/size]

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hmmm, I wonder who he was supporting... :lol:

[Astiryu1]

I didn't know the Romans had a soccer team!!! The Shaolin team made a movie a few years back... :lol:

[Doc]

Well,

Hats off to Slovakia. They deserved to win. The Slovaks went to play with the attitude of victors while for the Italian team it was just another day at the office.

When you play with the motivation of a corpse the result is what we saw. It is a terrible truth that we as Italians have to accept.

The first game is always the same with Italy, tense and cautious but the second with a lower ranking team should have been better. Hats off to New Zealand in keeping Italy at bay. As I said, New Zealand should have won the game since there was no penalty.

The third game just proves what I have been thinking all along. Most of these Italian players are rich, well fed, prima donnas that just do not give a crap. It is sad since it is an indication of the current status of Italian society. We cannot even put together a decent team and how could we when some of the top teams like Inter have nearly all foreign players.

Dunga from Brasil said it best: That the era of the "big teams" is over. He is right since globalization has allowed players from allover the globe to compete in various leagues throughout Europe and elsewhere. This allows players to gain enough experience and skill to compete globally while playing for their national teams. In the past, this moving around of players was not as rampant thus countries were more isolated and thus certain powerhouses existed.

[Doc]

The US had a good run. They really deserved to win the first round since they played with their hearts.

The with Ghana was an excellent game. The problem with the US team is that they tried to out man the Ghana players. This IMO was a mistake since the Ghanese were faster and physically stronger. The US should have played the ball in spaces to create opportunities instead of trying to out run and physically beat the Ghana defence.

[Justin of the New Yorkii]

Well it had to end sometime, but we are gradually getting better. Problem is, there will be some turnover on the 2014 roster. Howard, Bocanegra and Cherundolo are 31, and DeMerit's 30. Beasley, Donovan and Dempsey are no spring chickens either.

[Astiryu1]

Most of the sports guys I know from the US are very stubborn. I myself am likely to try the same against a stronger opponent.
Giving it all you've got is better than rolling over in defeat. Now they know their weakness it is up to them and their coach to fix it. They can still say they did their best. I agree with the changing of tactics though. In retrospect they probably do too.