OT: World Cup 2018

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Who are you pulling for?

It's weird not seeing the American squad there, although they did have a good performance against France recently.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the US mens team?

Any predictions for this years edition of the world football classic?

Full schedule here:
2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ - Matches - FIFA.com

 

[Edward Sargent]

Who are you pulling for?

It's weird not seeing the American squad there, although they did have a good performance against France recently.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the US mens team?

Any predictions for this years edition of the world football classic?

Full schedule here:
2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ - Matches - FIFA.com

Are any UCONN players playing? If so I will pull for that team, otherwise I have no interest

 

[businesslawyer]

Are any UCONN players playing? If so I will pull for that team, otherwise I have no interest

Neither Jamaica nor Canada qualified. Either of those would bring us Huskies.

 

[CTBballfan243]

It's soccer........... I would rather watch paint dry.

 

[Tenspro2002]

With the US out, I just want it to be over as quickly as possible so that everyone's back in the same position and looking to 2022.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

It's soccer...... I would rather watch paint dry.

I'm guessing you expected this to be a popular opinion.

 

[UConNick]

I remember a great thread for the 2014 edition. Are we going to do that here or strictly on the soccer board?

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

It hurts seeing a team like Saudi Arabia out there with no clue, and not seeing the USMNT.

 

[husky99]

It's soccer...... I would rather watch paint dry.

U have a right to your opinion... but it's wrong

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

It's soccer...... I would rather watch paint dry.

I never understood the narrative that soccer is boring. Especially pro soccer at the highest level.
There are no commercial breaks, except half time, and it's constant action for 90 min. So you get more action, and the game takes far less time than football and baseball.

Talk about wanting to watch paint dry, how about we talk about baseball. I used to love baseball, now I prefer Basketball first, soccer 2nd, and everything else after that. Baseball is 30 seconds of watching a pitcher walk around the mound adjusting his crotch, then 3 seconds of action. Rinse, repeat. And the product is so diluted with 162 games a year, rendering each individual game seemingly meaningless.

Similar deal with football in that there is minimal time of actual action and a lot of standing around and commercials. But football is still far more entertaining than baseball.

For me, and for many of my younger generation-
Soccer>Baseball, hockey, football. Too many stoppages for our attention spans in baseball and football.

 

[Huskyforlife]

France is my FIFA18 squad, so I'm pulling for them. Not to mention Antoine Griezmann is one of my favorites, and I'm looking forward to watching Mbappe on this big stage. Really sad the USMNT isn't in it, watching them in 2014 was what got me into the sport.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

France is my FIFA18 squad, so I'm pulling for them. Not to mention Antoine Griezmann is one of my favorites, and I'm looking forward to watching Mbappe on this big stage. Really sad the USMNT isn't in it, watching them in 2014 was what got me into the sport.

It is absolutely unreal how loaded France is, talent wise. Their bench and third string teams would be viable World Cup teams. It's insane. But talent doesn't always equate to victories against big teams with discipline like Germany or Spain or Brazil. It'll be interesting to see how they come together chemistry-wise, because in the past they have been underwhelmimg.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

It's soccer...... I would rather watch paint dry.

there are always a few who cannot resist the temptation of coming into an OT thread so that they can tell everyone how much they don’t care about said topic.

interesting to think about the psychological motivation behind a post like this.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Aside from USA I root for England and Germany. The English always disappoint. The Germans rarely do.

As for predictions, it's wide open. French are strong, Germany is strong. Ronaldo has been insanely good for Portugal, they could go far. Brazil and Argentina are dangerous as always. It's a strange field. No Italy. No USA. Quite a few bad teams.
Group A has only one good team. Several groups have 2 good teams. Group H has none, maybe Columbia. Second place between Serbia and the Swiss in Group E is about the only interesting thing in the opening round.

Germany over Argentina is my best guess.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Aside from USA I root for England and Germany. The English always disappoint. The Germans rarely do.

As for predictions, it's wide open. French are strong, Germany is strong. Ronaldo has been insanely good for Portugal, they could go far. Brazil and Argentina are dangerous as always. It's a strange field. No Italy. No USA. Quite a few bad teams.
Group A has only one good team. Several groups have 2 good teams. Group H has none, maybe Columbia. Second place between Serbia and the Swiss in Group E is about the only interesting thing in the opening round.

Germany over Argentina is my best guess.

Would love to see Messi get another shot at Germany. Argentina had their chances in the 2014 final.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Would love to see Messi get another shot at Germany. Argentina had their chances in the 2014 final.

Holy crap, I totally forgot and I just picked a repeat. I doubt that happens. Call it France over Brazil then. Would still like to see a rematch at some point.

 

[Rocktheworld]

DEUTSCHLAND

 

[Robertelamin]

Iceland

 

[Dogdeacon]

I think you gotta pull for Messi as the last chance for a World Cup for a guy in the conversation as best ever. Actually I hate that conversation, so bright side if he does NOT win will be that everyone can still say Pele is the best. Anyway Argentina has an easy group but then likely tough draw needing to go thru Spain & Germany before the finals.

Having come full circle since the 30-for-30 2 Escobars I'm pulling for Columbia as sentimental favorite & recall them having a great young player at last World Cup. I would also like to see England make some noise and then crash hard as the Buffalo Bills of International Soccer.

But I don't know much about any of the teams/players - so need to watch and see who is compelling and just naturally adopt a team.

 

[auror]

DEUTSCHLAND

Die Mannschaft

 

[uconnphil2016]

I pull for any Latin American team besides Brazil. Colombia is cool.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

I think you gotta pull for Messi as the last chance for a World Cup for a guy in the conversation as best ever. Actually I hate that conversation, so bright side if he does NOT win will be that everyone can still say Pele is the best. Anyway Argentina has an easy group but then likely tough draw needing to go thru Spain & Germany before the finals.

Having come full circle since the 30-for-30 2 Escobars I'm pulling for Columbia as sentimental favorite & recall them having a great young player at last World Cup. I would also like to see England make some noise and then crash hard as the Buffalo Bills of International Soccer.

But I don't know much about any of the teams/players - so need to watch and see who is compelling and just naturally adopt a team.

James Rodriguez was the player you mentioned. He was phenomenal last time around.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I pull for any Latin American team besides Brazil. Colombia is cool.

I’ll root for Colombia as well. A good little portion of my heart belongs to Colombia(ns)

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

It hurts seeing a team like Saudi Arabia out there with no clue, and not seeing the USMNT.

And, FIFA's lowest ranked, automatic qualifier as hosts, pharkin russia (#70) beating the 2nd lowest-ranked World Cup qualifier, the House of Saud, 5-0. Typically, FIFA's rankings are fairly rubbish. However, the russkies simply haven't been very good.

In Group A, if Uruguay does not advance facing Egypt (with or without 2017-18's top player in England and leading Premier League scorer, Mohamed Salah), the russkies, and saudis with such a gift slotting ...

 

[UConnSwag11]

I remember a great thread for the 2014 edition. Are we going to do that here or strictly on the soccer board?

I would like it to be here since I don’t frequent the soccer board.

The USA soccer team is in shambles. They play boring soccer. The whole system needs to be redone. From getting rid of the playoffs and having relegation and promotion, getting rid of he turf, allow creativity, etc.


I’m going for Argentina and Iceland. I really want Messi to get his WC trophy. I think France has a ton of talent as does Belgium. I think Brasil, Germany, and Spain are the favorites.