The World Cup

[A-wal]

Wow! What a world cup, so many great matches.

 

And the first use of VAR, something that looks like (whether for the betterment or detriment of the game as a whole) is here to stay.

 

And the US (along with Canada (eighth of the matches) and Mexico (another eighth of the matches) are hosting in eight years, with 48 teams, sixteen groups of three with the top two progressing.

 

Some say a money grabbing move, others say bringing the beautiful game to a wider worldwide audience.

 

It's an interesting idea, although widening the recently somewhat closed gap between the the real teams and the rest (like the US and Germany :))

 

From a totally biased pov, COME ON ENGLAND! This is going so well it's hard to believe. Sweden and then the winners of Croatia and Russia in the final.

 

I had money on an England Belgium final so that's looking good.

 

This is the best world cup in my lifetime so I'm curious, how's it being received (if at all) in the US? They're (mostly) hosting the one after next after all.

 

Apparently from what I've heard the US has come to their senses and realised what football is. Unlike the silly games that they play.

 

I'm just glad that justice has been done in this world cup. The way Tunisia (they got away with it but it didn't matter in the end), Panama and Colombia have "played' against England is nothing short of disgraceful.

 

They're obviously so terrified of our players (Harry Cane in particular) that they're willing to give away blatant penalties rather than play the game fairly. That's okay, we'll just play the game in right way knock you bitches out of the tournament.

[Buffy]

Only ex-pats, world travelers (e.g. me), and the Latino community are watching much here, but at least every game is on teevee (although those of us on the West Coast have to get up at 3AM for the early rounds).

 

Futbol is actually very big here across all cultural and ethnic groups except for the rural midwest, but it makes for lousy teevee, so it's not a popular *spectator* sport. The pro teams here can barely survive in urban areas (again, where the Latino community making it happen), but "youth soccer" is huge in the white suburbs: it's virtually a rite of passage for both boys and girls.

 

But by high school, most kids go off to the traditional "American" sports of football, basketball, baseball, etc.

 

I find that my enjoyment of it only occurred once I realized it's like auto racing: unless you really know the details of what is going on, it's *incredibly* boring. As much as I like it, I'm fine just watching the 2 minute highlights of a match because there's only 2 minutes out of 90 where anything actually happens that affects the outcome. The rest is just style.

 

 

Every sport pretends to a literature, but people don't believe it of any other sport but their own, :phones:

Buffy

[A-wal]

I wonder if things will be different by the time the US hosts it again, it's eight years away. This is a funny video that I think sums up the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sQDb_EE0Wo

I think it makes the best tele there is, you don't get any context with the highlights. Obviously it's different when it's your own team, last night was one of the most emotional nights of my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA6dDvinOrU

It's basically like this through the whole of England. Crap game though from a neutral perspective but this world cup has been the best in my life time, three (at least) all time classics Argentina Vs France, Belgium Vs Japan, Spain Vs Portugal and quite a few other really good matches.

I don't think it's fair to compare it other sports, it's on it's own level.

[Buffy]

I don't think it's fair to compare it other sports, it's on it's own level.

That's what the quote in my previous post is aaaaaalllllll about... ;)

 

 

Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical, :phones:

Buffy

[A-wal]

This has to be the only times USians aren't louder than us. :)
 

That's what the quote in my previous post is aaaaaalllllll about... ;)

Yea I know, my comment was meant as a response to that quote. There is one objective difference going on right now, the world cup. There's no other game that can bring the world together like that, because there's no other game the world as a whole cares about 1% as much as football. The only thing that's comparable is the Olympics but that doesn't count because it's a whole load of separate things.

There's a reason why it's the global sport, the same reason it's called the beautiful game. I get your point about needing to understand the game to appreciate it. I can see that it could seem boring if you just don't get it, and of course there are some genuinely boring games. Although that's subjective, Italians love those kinds of games.

The US women's team is quite good. Our team and women's football in general is improving and people have starting caring about it more. If they played at the same level as the men it would be as popular. The gap is closing but it's still a chasm.

Watching the Belgium game was a strange atmosphere. People were wanting to see England play well but we needed to lose, losing 1-0 was a great result. That's why I actually really like the new format, with three teams in a group they play two group games each so the last game will always matter.

[A-wal]

We're going to win against Sweden!

I bloody love penguins, they're so damn coot.

[A-wal]

:wave: :wave: :yahoo: :circle: :drinks: :applause: :cheer:

[Buffy]

For the first half, a bunch of us were sure that Croatia was throwing the match to Russia, and we were all wondering how big Putin's bribe was.

 

Guess they got a guilty conscience or really couldn't abide losing to their former overlords. Yay! :cheer:

 

 

Ding dong the witch is dead, :phones:

Buffy

[A-wal]

[A-wal]

Keanu Reeves auditioning for the role of Jordan Pickford, England goalie in the new film, Russia: When Football Came Home.

Edited July 9, 2018 by A-wal

[A-wal]

This is why, whatever happens against Croatia, England have looked a stronger team in this tournament than they did when they had a lot of better players.

Better people.

[A-wal]

And what rubbish game. Great champions league but a crap final, one for the purists. Liverpool did a number on Spurs after scoring early by killing the game, they did it well though.

 

I was hoping Spurs would win. Nothing against Liverpool, they're a great team with a class manager and I was hoping they'd win the premier league but after the way Spurs got to the final it would have been such a great story if they'd won it.

 

I fear for Tottenham, I think they could be about to fall, not sure how much longer Potechino will be there. They've been punching above their weight for a while, not that they've been overachieving with the players they have, that's a really good team but they've done well to hold on to them all for so long. I hope the big six doesn't lose a member but hopefully Leicester are about to join that group.