OT - USMNT: So you're saying we have a chance! | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT - USMNT: So you're saying we have a chance!

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Mr. Conehead said:
I was in Brussels for the 2000 Euro Cup. Was on a train between Bruges and Brussels the same day as the opening game between Belgium and Sweden. My friends and I look at the size of the Swedish fans and then the size of the Belgium fans and promptly sang Swedish drinking sings all the way back to our hotel. Two nights later at our hotel in Paris, we watched riot police water cannon the bar we went to in Brussels the night before. Europe takes its football seriously.
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And that's only about half as seriously as South Americans!
 
Just got back from Brazil, the new stadium in Salvador looks great. Not sure where all the money went in the renovations for Maracana stadium in Rio, but it does not appear it went to renovating the stadium.

Strikes going on all the time, only one of the public transportation strikes had any affect on me. For those going to the WC this could be a huge pain.

It will be interesting to see how everything goes, their infrastructure needs a lot of work.

Great country and people, hope everything goes smoothly.
 
Jerry1714 said:
Just got back from Brazil, the new stadium in Salvador looks great. Not sure where all the money went in the renovations for Maracana stadium in Rio, but it does not appear it went to renovating the stadium.

Strikes going on all the time, only one of the public transportation strikes had any affect on me. For those going to the WC this could be a huge pain.

It will be interesting to see how everything goes, their infrastructure needs a lot of work.

Great country and people, hope everything goes smoothly.
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Graft. The corruption in Brazil, especially involved in this world cup, is out of this world. That's one of the reasons they are seeing all these strikes and rioting.
 
intlzncster said:
Graft. The corruption in Brazil, especially involved in this world cup, is out of this world. That's one of the reasons they are seeing all these strikes and rioting.
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Wait until the next 2 Cups in Russia and Qatar, they will refine the word graft; but, of course, in those two countries, the people are STRONGLY discouraged from protesting.
 
Anybody else going to the Ireland vs Portugal game on the 10th at metlife stadium?

I'm thinking Ireland MIGHT have a chance!
 
Mr. Conehead said:
Wait until the next 2 Cups in Russia and Qatar, they will refine the word graft; but, of course, in those two countries, the people are STRONGLY discouraged from protesting.
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Can't underestimate Brazil's political corruption though. They have pretty much the most impressive collection of natural resources in the world, yet can't seem to pull themselves into the first world economically. This is a country that calls itself a democracy too.

Specific to this WC, here's a couple of articles I read recently:


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...ame-for-some-brazil-world-cup-cost-rises.html
http://www.ibtimes.com/brazilian-wo...rceived-corruption-their-beloved-game-1586666
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...g-facts-about-world-cup-corruption-in-brazil/


Side note: Platini calling for Qatar revote. There's some groundswell behind this too. FIFA mum of course:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/05/michele-platini-fifa-world-cup-vote-qatar
 
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Every four years I get "somewhat" pumped for the World Cup, but my god how do people watch/love this year round? It might be the most boring sport to watch.

Worldwide, I know I'm in the minority, but I guess that's why I love being from the USA, bc if not, I'd prolly go nuts w/o bball, football & baseball

Soccer's for the birds...... But "fun" every four yrs
 
HooperScooper said:
FIFA has to be the most corrupt sports organization in the world. And choosing Qatar might have been the worst of all the FIFA corruptness.
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Yup, pretty much.
 
sammydabiz said:
Every four years I get "somewhat" pumped for the World Cup, but my god how do people watch/love this year round? It might be the most boring sport to watch.

Worldwide, I know I'm in the minority, but I guess that's why I love being from the USA, bc if not, I'd prolly go nuts w/o bball, football & baseball

Soccer's for the birds. But "fun" every four yrs
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Watch the Premier League on Sat/Sun mornings next fall on NBCSports. You'll get into it.
 
sammydabiz said:
Every four years I get "somewhat" pumped for the World Cup, but my god how do people watch/love this year round? It might be the most boring sport to watch.
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I'll tell you how. First, you have to develop a rooting interest, become a fan of a certain team. Preferably, in a top English team. That way you'll be able to follow all the games on TV. I settled on Liverpool because I saw them play at The Rent and had an incredible time. When you have a rooting interest, any sport is watchable (like the Winter Olympics). The more you watch with interest, the more you understand the game. The more you understand the game, the more you appreciate what's going on. The level of skill just starts to pop out at you. The ball doesn't have to go into the net for the game to be exciting. Before you know it, you get hooked. The only downside is you run into soccer snobs that were big fans years ago and they don't hesitate to tell you how great they are and how stupid you are. Just laugh at them like I do.
 
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I became a soccer fan by playing FIFA. That's serious. That's how I learned to understand the game better. it's a lot less boring when you learn to recognize the attacking build up.
 
According to Juergen, we cannot win. Even if multiple upsets would be required, how does a coach/manager allow himself to make such a statement?
 
Waquoit said:
I'll tell you how. First, you have to develop a rooting interest, become a fan of a certain team. Preferably, in a top English team. That way you'll be able to follow all the games on TV. I settled on Liverpool because I saw them play at The Rent and had an incredible time. When you have a rooting interest, any sport is watchable (like the Winter Olympics). The more you watch with interest, the more you understand the game. The more you understand the game, the more you appreciate what's going on. The level of skill just starts to pop out at you. The ball doesn't have to go into the net for the game to be exciting. Before you know it, you get hooked. The only downside is you run into soccer snobs that were big fans years ago and they don't hesitate to tell you how great they are and how stupid you are. Just laugh at them like I do.
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You get this at every level. Patriots fans who start every sentence with "I've been a diehard since the the 70s." Good for you pal.
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
According to Juergen, we cannot win. Even if multiple upsets would be required, how does a coach/manager allow himself to make such a statement?
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While maybe not the best form, but there is no point in being delusional. He's got that classic cold/calculated/analytical German mentality; the gulf between the best teams and the US is ginormous - for instance, not a single US player would start for Brazil, nor likely make their bench. It would take several (many) gifts from whatever god you like for the US to bring home the WC.
 
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intlzncster said:
While maybe not the best form, but there is no point in being delusional. He's got that classic cold/calculated/analytical German mentality; the gulf between the best teams and the US is ginormous - for instance, not a single US player would start for Brazil, nor likely make their bench. It would take several (many) gifts from whatever god you like for the US to bring home the WC.
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Howard would definitely start for Brazil, but if you're talking field players, that's pretty accurate.
 
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Jerry1714 said:
Even for you, a pretty big , this is really douchey
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OK Mr Tough Guy. I can count the number of posters I've been generally antogonistic towards on one hand. Namely:

  • NelsonMuntz - do i need to explain?
  • Whaler11 - because he takes far too much joy in ratting on our fanbase and predicament. That being said, he's come back to pack, recently. Maybe we all dropped to his level. Either way, he barely blips on my radar anymore.
  • You, barely. I've only called out a couple of pretty silly statements you've made in the past, and nothing terribly out of line.
But right, I'm a "pretty big " for not liking soccer, or NelsonMuntz. Guess you hate about 80% of this country, too.
 
Waquoit said:
I'll tell you how. First, you have to develop a rooting interest, become a fan of a certain team. Preferably, in a top English team. That way you'll be able to follow all the games on TV. I settled on Liverpool because I saw them play at The Rent and had an incredible time. When you have a rooting interest, any sport is watchable (like the Winter Olympics). The more you watch with interest, the more you understand the game. The more you understand the game, the more you appreciate what's going on. The level of skill just starts to pop out at you. The ball doesn't have to go into the net for the game to be exciting. Before you know it, you get hooked. The only downside is you run into soccer snobs that were big fans years ago and they don't hesitate to tell you how great they are and how stupid you are. Just laugh at them like I do.
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Good stuff Waq
 
pepband99 said:
OK Mr Tough Guy. I can count the number of posters I've been generally antogonistic towards on one hand. Namely:

  • NelsonMuntz - do i need to explain?
  • Whaler11 - because he takes far too much joy in ratting on our fanbase and predicament. That being said, he's come back to pack, recently. Maybe we all dropped to his level. Either way, he barely blips on my radar anymore.
  • You, barely. I've only called out a couple of pretty silly statements you've made in the past, and nothing terribly out of line.
But right, I'm a "pretty big " for not liking soccer, or NelsonMuntz. Guess you hate about 80% of this country, too.
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Thank you for proving my point.
 
CallMeBruce said:
Howard would definitely start for Brazil, but if you're talking field players, that's pretty accurate.
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Yeah Ok, your right. I definitely wasn't considering goalies when I said that. US goalies are usually pretty good....maybe because they get shot on so much for want of good defensive players! :D That's actually one of my pet theories though.
 
pepband99 said:
OK Mr Tough Guy. I can count the number of posters I've been generally antogonistic towards on one hand. Namely:

  • NelsonMuntz - do i need to explain?
  • Whaler11 - because he takes far too much joy in ratting on our fanbase and predicament. That being said, he's come back to pack, recently. Maybe we all dropped to his level. Either way, he barely blips on my radar anymore.
  • You, barely. I've only called out a couple of pretty silly statements you've made in the past, and nothing terribly out of line.
But right, I'm a "pretty big " for not liking soccer, or NelsonMuntz. Guess you hate about 80% of this country, too.
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I take relief in not making the list of a guy who makes lists of guys who piss him off.
 
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Waquoit said:
I'll tell you how. First, you have to develop a rooting interest, become a fan of a certain team. Preferably, in a top English team. That way you'll be able to follow all the games on TV. I settled on Liverpool because I saw them play at The Rent and had an incredible time. When you have a rooting interest, any sport is watchable (like the Winter Olympics). The more you watch with interest, the more you understand the game. The more you understand the game, the more you appreciate what's going on. The level of skill just starts to pop out at you. The ball doesn't have to go into the net for the game to be exciting. Before you know it, you get hooked. The only downside is you run into soccer snobs that were big fans years ago and they don't hesitate to tell you how great they are and how stupid you are. Just laugh at them like I do.
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Here's the rub from my perspective....

There is a baffling number of games in an endlessly confusing array of conferences, leagues and affiliations.
 
Fishy said:
Here's the rub from my perspective....

There is a baffling number of games in an endlessly confusing array of conferences, leagues and affiliations.
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Not really. Each country has a top club league, such as MLS or the Premiership, and the sub or development leagues. Very similar to baseball in the US. One difference is regulation, i.e. the lowest ranked team from the top level league gets pushed down to the next tier and top teams from the lower league get promoted to the big show each year. Imagine the Boston Red Sox playing in AAA this year with the Durham Bulls in the majors? Another wrinkle is the Champions League, which is basically a 'super playoff' for the European Club teams with the top teams from each league (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France, etc.) playing for the title of European club champion.

Clubs in turn have players from all over the globe, like Tim Howard (US) playing in the Premiership. Each country is then part of a regional confederation, CONACAF for North America. Those then fold into FIFA at the global level.
 
Mr. Conehead said:
Not really. Each country has a top club league, such as MLS or the Premiership, and the sub or development leagues. Very similar to baseball in the US. One difference is regulation, i.e. the lowest ranked team from the top level league gets pushed down to the next tier and top teams from the lower league get promoted to the big show each year. Imagine the Boston Red Sox playing in AAA this year with the Durham Bulls in the majors? Another wrinkle is the Champions League, which is basically a 'super playoff' for the European Club teams with the top teams from each league (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France, etc.) playing for the title of European club champion. Clubs in turn have players from all over the globe, like Tim Howard (US) playing in the Premiership. Each country is then part of a regional confederation, CONACAF for North America. Those then fold into FIFA at the global level.
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There's the FA Cup mixed in there too - which can add to the confusion. All of a sudden the Durham Bulls are actually playing the Red Sox in a real tournament in the middle of the year.
 
Mr. Conehead said:
Not really. Each country has a top club league, such as MLS or the Premiership, and the sub or development leagues. Very similar to baseball in the US. One difference is regulation, i.e. the lowest ranked team from the top level league gets pushed down to the next tier and top teams from the lower league get promoted to the big show each year. Imagine the Boston Red Sox playing in AAA this year with the Durham Bulls in the majors? Another wrinkle is the Champions League, which is basically a 'super playoff' for the European Club teams with the top teams from each league (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France, etc.) playing for the title of European club champion.

Clubs in turn have players from all over the globe, like Tim Howard (US) playing in the Premiership. Each country is then part of a regional confederation, CONACAF for North America. Those then fold into FIFA at the global level.
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Look, I like soccer too, but if it takes that long to describe the league system and make your point, you're actually making Fishy's case.
 
To be fair, Waquoit was originally referring to the English Premiership, where there are no confusing divisions or weird playoff schedule. It's 20 teams, and the top one at the end of the year wins. Period. Simple.

The baffling number of conferences, leagues, and affiliations....well, Fishy was just referring to the NCAAs... ;)
 
elduderino said:
Look, I like soccer too, but if it takes that long to describe the league system and make your point, you're actually making Fishy's case.
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UConnDan97 said:
To be fair, Waquoit was originally referring to the English Premiership, where there are no confusing divisions or weird playoff schedule. It's 20 teams, and the top one at the end of the year wins. Period. Simple.The baffling number of conferences, leagues, and affiliations....well, Fishy was just referring to the NCAAs... ;)
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To add to that (in being fair): we are also talking about the entire world here. Not just a country or two.

This includes international comp on top of pro leagues as well.
 
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