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World Cup 2006 — Page 6

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Originally posted by: sean wookie
I wish I would of played soccer as a kid.
I did. I wish I had kept it up instead of becoming a lazy geek.

Are you following the World Cup at all Sean?

War does not make one great.

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I want to I don't really like watching sports. But if the rest of the world is in it why shouldn't I?
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I'm not really a big sport watcher either, but the World Cup is an exception. USA's next game is saturday if you want to watch it, but if you want to see some quality football (or soccer - whatever) I would watch tomorrow's game between Brazil and Croatia. Brazil are a great team to watch.

War does not make one great.

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brazil's football team almost makes me wish i was brazilian. that and the babes.

but i'll stick with my underdogs.

speaking of underdogs, very poor performance for my team. i would blame it on inexperience, but i won't. lets just hope they get their act together for the next game. i want them to show that '02 wasn't a fluke.

Until this game, I never thought MLS was THAT detrimental to the US team. The passing and trapping looked like a typical MLS match, with routine traps going 5 -10 feet ahead of players and even simple passes between fullbacks going badly wide. Bruce Arena gets a pass. The players failed on the most fundamental levels. You can't mount an attack if you can't trap and pass.

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Czech Republic are ranked 2nd in the World, so losing to them isn't all bad, although yeah, you did play extremely poorly.

P.S. Ricardo, check out the Beautiful women thread for some Brazillian football babes. (I edited the post to keep the thread work, wife and kid safe for the footie fans).

War does not make one great.

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thanks, YIYF...

i wonder if there is a brazilian babe football league. BBFL? ric? anyone?

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Originally posted by: oojason
^ I wouldn't refer to it as 'soccer' - use the term 'football', mate. Then, use the term 'gridiron' or 'padded US rugby' for American football



On the World Cup front I have to say the Czech looked mighty impressive today - put a £5er on them at 33/1 to win the thing last week - hopefully there attacking play won't be too disrupted by the injury to Koller - and that the returning Baros will more than make amends for any shortcomings up front.

Thought the US were poor after 30mins - too predictable and although they managed to get in good positions out wide - the delivery was sub-par. If they had an attacking central midfielder then it would give them some much needed variation.

Italy looked good, though were under pressure from Ghana's full backs throughout as they played a narow 3 in midfield with Totti as roaming playmaker. Though Ghana did well, but lacked that killer pass & shot. Kuffour should have been still sent off for that reckless challenge from behind when the Italian forward went through on goal - but turned out was offside...



Aren't the Czechs second on the FIFA ladder at the moment? The ladder itself is pretty topsy turvy, but still, beating Czech Republic would be no mean feat...
MTFBWY. Always.

http://www.myspace.com/red_ajax
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One time during lunch break at school, I started banging on about how soccer was really a Communist conspiracy; it started out jokingly enough, but I ended up carrying it along for a half-hour straight, until it got really in-depth. It was hilarious.

http://i.imgur.com/7N84TM8.jpg

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Originally posted by: Warbler
YIYF, there no explosions in the game of football and no trucks. They are of course cheer leaders. Is that a bad thing ?!? But none of these things exist in baseball.
btw, I never meant to imply that soccer requires just brute strength and no intelligence. Sorry.

Ric, I must strongly disagree with your belief that Americans aren't loyal or passionate to their teams. We are VERY passionate about our teams. I feel every win and loss the Phillies and Eagles have. I was crushed when the Eagles lost the Superbowl in 1981 and 2005, and when they lost the 3 conference championship games before 2005. But the most pain I ever felt while watching a sporting event was when Joe @#$%ing Carter of the Toronto Bluejays hit that homerun in 1993 to win the World Series over the Phillies. Walk into a bar in Boston and question the loyalty and passion of the Redsox fans and see what response you get. You want to see passionate fans? Watch college football. I dare you to listen to 610WIP (a sports talk radio station in Philadelphia) for an hour and then question the loyalty and passion of American fans.

Also please stop comparing football to wrestling. Wresting in totally preplanned. It is not a sport, it's play. Football is definitely not a play. The results not known ahead of time. They are playing a real game out game. Yeah, the plays are reheased, but NOT WITH THE OTHER TEAM!!!!!!!!! Many unexpected things can happen during a play(fumbles, interceptions, penalties, broken plays). Also, do you think memorizing exactly where you have to be and what you have to go on each play is easy for a player? The chess comparison I was refering to was the fact the coach has to decide which play to call. The coach in more important in football than in any other sport. Comparing moving down the field in soccer to football is like comparing apples to oranges. In order to get the ball down the field in soccer, you send some players to other end of the field and just kick the ball to them. The ball and go from one end of the field and back again multiple times in 2 minutes in soccer. That is not true in football. In football, you move the ball about 5 yards a play(if your lucky). In football, moving the ball down the field in two minutes is all about controling the clock and calling the right kind of plays and hurrying to line up in order get the next play off, and getting out of bounds so the clock stops. Playing a QB, Running Back, Reciever, Punter, and kicker require great skill. Playing football requires a great amount of team work as well, especially on the offensive and defensive lines.

I suppose both games are good for different reasons. But soccer just isn't my sport.



Yeah, sorry Ric, there's no way the Americans aren't passionate about their teams in any sport. I was in Seattle for the Superbowl, and there was so much passion there that even I cared about the outcome. I genuinely wanted Seattle to win. And when they didn't, everybody was depressed for the rest of the day (though I must say, it's not hard to depress a Seattle-ite!). But for the most part, they were just proud that their team even made it to the Superbowl.

Having said that, the passion that me and my fellow countrymen felt for our victory against the Japanese last night was on a whole 'nother level.
MTFBWY. Always.

http://www.myspace.com/red_ajax
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wow the US got ass kicked today, they couldnt pass for shit, nor could they penetrate. i dont thing i have ever seen a team pass back to the goalie more times in a game. they just would challenge the czehs.

all credit to the czehs though, they didnt give the US any time to set up, as soon as the ball got moved forward there was a czeh player challenging.
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Not gonna quote because I hate editing quote tags.

Warbler, I did not mean to ridicule or put down north american football, a sport I also enjoy watching (I wasn't able to watch for the past couple of years due to a busy schedule and being on different locations). I was just showing the key points of both and why some are popular in the United States, and some around the rest of the world.

It is intriguing to me on why football has not being popular among north-americans, and I agree with boon23, if it was there would be no competition. The US women soccer team is the best of the world! Then again, it's a culture thing. Football was never really introduced into the USA and was never popular. Among the audiences, it was seen as dull. When I say people dosen't have that emotion to support their teams, and even knowing there is such emotion between sports fans in the US, it is still different compared to how it is on South America and Europe. Maybe because on those places, the teams are not linked to an specific city, and people actually defend their teams as they would they own honor, thus explaining the sad part of all this: holligans.

Still, NO sport is better than the other. North American football is fun and I hope I can get back to watching it again. I loved playing basketball on high school. And ironically enough, I never really liked PLAYING football (soccer). But I was never really athletic, I was that outcast geeky kid who got beat up for being different.

I just wished football (*sigh* soccer) was more popular among other audiences, and not put down and ridiculed like the author of that "The-Rest-Of-The-World Cup" article did.
“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” — Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering
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The Czechs have come down from 33/1 to 20/1 at the bookies - some places have them at 16s - some have 'em at 23s.

33/1 was a great price - even at Euro 2004 they were 50/1 to win the thing before it started, and Baros won me £360 for finishing top scorer with a £5 er on at 60/1 - if I'd put my money on him a day earlier he was 70/1!

Can't get a good bet on England these days - in years gone by there were much more generous odds given by the European bookies on them to do well - but now internet gambling has really taken off the odds rarely vary that much - and the more money staked on the likes of England to win the crappier the odds become...

Still believe that 18/1 for a 'double bet' - Brazil to win the tournament AND Ronaldo to finish top scorer is worth a flutter of anyone's money...



Re the Czechs - Strange in that Koller being injured - the main threat is now probably out of the tournament, and Baros - the other main forward - hasn't played for a while - that the odds have come down so much on them winning the thing. Having said that the quality of footy was there for all to see, though they may now struggle against the quality teams later on.

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Re the FIFA rankings - they are worked out on points system judged by the results of teams playing in friendly and competitive games.

Therefore, a team like the USA may find it easier to accumulate ranking points as they play agaisnt weaker opponents in their World Cup qualifying group, CONCACAF and Gold Cup competitions - and are more likely to win more games than for eg the Czech Republic - who are likely to be playing against better teams such as France, Italy, Holland, England and Spain etc more often.

So the placing of 5th for a team such as the US in the FIFA rankings is pretty much misleading - this is probably why Mexico's rating is quite artificially high too - they always qualify for the World Cup because their regional qualifying group is probably weaker than that of a lot of teams in Europe, Africa or South America...

All of this explaing why the Europeans and South Americans take the FIFA rankings with a pinch of salt and igonre them in the main...

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

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‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - includes info on how to ask for a fan project and how to search for projects and threads on OT•com.

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Take your time to look around this site before posting… Do NOT just lazily make yet another ‘link request’ post - or a new thread asking for projects.

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Wow, Korea-Togo's 2nd half is crazy. A red card for Togo totally turned it all around. Korea is dominating. Its 2-1 right now, with Korea scoring in the 53' and 70'
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Originally posted by: oojason
Still believe that 18/1 for a 'double bet' - Brazil to win the tournament AND Ronaldo to finish top scorer is worth a flutter of anyone's money...
If I was in England right now I would be putting on my coat and heading to the bookies with a tenner in hand.

War does not make one great.

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Originally posted by: ricarleite
When I say people dosen't have that emotion to support their teams, and even knowing there is such emotion between sports fans in the US, it is still different compared to how it is on South America and Europe. Maybe because on those places, the teams are not linked to an specific city, and people actually defend their teams as they would they own honor, thus explaining the sad part of all this: holligans.


think what you want about American fans. I know the truth. If you lived here, you would too.

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I get what Ric is saying. I think he may just be having trouble expressing himself in English. Even with Englsih as my first language, I can't express the difference between European and English sports fans, but there is one.

I fell asleep during the second half of Brazil Vs Croatia, but I saw all of the first (it's hard work being jobless). There was definitely some tasty skills out there, but Brazil didn't seem unstoppable. And what was up with Ronaldo?

War does not make one great.

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Um, isn't England part of Europe? I thought were trying to compare American fans to the rest of the world?
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I made a mistake in my post. I meant to say there's a difference between European and American fans.

But while we're on the subject, there's a difference between European and English fans too. England is part of Europe by name alone. We have a lot more in common with the USA than our neighbours in Europe (I have travelled both places extensively). We are the black sheep of Europe - and not just in sports.

War does not make one great.

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Warbler - there's no denying you obviously love your (American) football and there's no denying that all American's who have the same passion would "defend" their sport to the hilt.

However this is the World Cup thread, if you want to participate - that's fine, but this isn't the place to debate semantics between different sports.

Having lived in both the UK and US, I can say that nothing grips the *whole* nation like the World Cup finals in the UK. The reason being that - many greater social commentators than myself have pointed out that - every state in the US could practically be viewed as a small country; indeed some of your states *are* bigger than many participants in these finals. So football (US), baseball and basketball will all have their tribal followings and come the Superbowl every year people will watch it - even if their State's team isn't particpating and have a shared interest.

However your type of football isn't played the world over. Soccer is. There is no "WorldBowl" in football (US), baseball or basketball (bar Olympics) - there is in Soccer. This 4 year event absolutely unites the world, Togo gets the chance to play France, Portugal plays it's previous colony of Angola - this is a *worldwide* pursuit. Bar the ex-pats of the US, very few people would give two hoots about American football - let alone have the same interest in whatever the score refers to in your sig, sure the Japanese love their baseball - but nothing unites every country in the world like football (soccer). In Africa for example, I can guarantee that they wouldn't even know where to start in understanding the rules of American football, let alone play the game - but take 2 shirts and use them for goal-posts and kick a ball around and he, like the rest of that continent will find joy in the sport that will bring the next World Cup to one of their Countries (South Africa) and more importantly - their economy.

I'm not accusing you or trolling, far from it - join the chat if you want, but don't have the narrow-minded view that everyone in this (worldwide) forum should conform to what the norm is in the US. There's a much wider world out there, and currently that world has an interest in a competition that many in the US don't follow or have an interest in. That doesn't mean it doesn't count to those that are interested...

Rant over !

Plucky Croatia - should have come out from that game with at least a point ! Brazil looked complacent to the cusp of laziness !!
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I actually feel bad for the US team that nobody back home is really supporting them. Back in 1994, when the World Cup came to the USA, the host nation automatically qualified. The '94 USA team was basically a joke - a handful of amatuers straight out of college. They didn't have a chance.

But these amatuers persevered, and by 2002 team USA was going places. They surprised everyone by making the semi-finals, and their success was the catalyst for the creation of a Soccer Major League (MLS) in America. Those college kids went on to play for some of the best teams all over the world,and helped give other young hopefuls a chance to play their sport on a professional level. Now a new generation of professional football players (as well as some veterans of the early days) are competing in World Cup 2006, and are ranked 5th in the world (which is a little misleading, but it helps my point).

Sure, USA sucked against Czech Republic on Monday, but I can't help feel that these guys deserve a little respect, and a little support. That's why I'm cheering for them.

War does not make one great.

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I was just poking a little fun at the rest world. I wasn't trying to imply that they should give up Soccer and play ball Football. My first post to this thread was just a little tounge-in-cheek, and should not be taken too seriously. Although, it would be nice to see team U.S.A. blow away the rest of the world in Football. No one would stand a chance against us in real Football.


YIYF, I do believe they have a World Championship for basketball. Although it is nowhere near as popular as Soccer.
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Absolutely ! It's a tall order, but people seem to be forgetting we're only 1 game down out of a possible 3 - there's a lot more football still to play !

I've watched Brian McBride - for one - many times (everytime my team play's Fulham !) and he's a quality, creative player.

Though I'd hardly say the US 94 team were "a handful of amatuers straight out of college": John Harkes (Derby), Tab Ramos (Real Betis), Roy Wegerle (Coventry City), and it's not like the US hadn't been around before then - 1950 World Cup against England anyone ? 1-0 to the USA I believe, there's a lot of history there
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Well Derby and Coventry City aren't exactly big-time, but yeah, there were exceptions. A large chunk of the team had never played professional football before that tournament though. One of the ESPN commentators (don't remember his name right now) was on the '94 team, and he said as much.

And when people talk about games in the 1950s (ESPN even gives stats from the 30s!) I just laugh. If a team was good (or bad) 50 or 70 years ago, it doesn't really mean squat today. Unless we're talking about brazil, who are consistently brilliant.

War does not make one great.