official 2010 world cup thread

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

whatever man. if you're not into it, you don't have to post in this thread. we've had a billion "why americans don't like soccer" threads already.

What? I think you missed his point.

It's just at moments like this its obvious why soccer can be such an amazing, intense and enthralling game. But its easy to let the big moments slip between your fingers when you don't have some magnetic personalities and history that draws you in in the first place.

I didn't read it as a criticism of the sport or of its fans, just that it's both a shame and completely understandable why it isn't as big as football, basketball, etc.

 

[TRINI]

Originally Posted by chronoaug

if the MLS can become a respectable league and get national recognition and international players (not an over the hill beckham who never plays) then maybe.

This isn't going to happen any time soon.

Originally Posted by chronoaug

If the champions league concept was expanded to include MLS and top central/south american team then that would help too. USA is just too much on the outside of the soccer world for fans to really care

Are you saying to expand the current CL to include MLS teams or that CONCACAF should have a CL-equivalent?

If it's the former, then you're crazy.

If it's the later, then it already exists.

 

[embowafa]

Originally Posted by Douglas

That's not fair...his momentum, the position of the ball, etc etc made that a much harder shot than what the picture shows.

 

[matadorpoeta]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

What? I think you missed his point.

It's just at moments like this its obvious why soccer can be such an amazing, intense and enthralling game. But its easy to let the big moments slip between your fingers when you don't have some magnetic personalities and history that draws you in in the first place.

I didn't read it as a criticism of the sport or of its fans, just that it's both a shame and completely understandable why it isn't as big as football, basketball, etc.

i get that now. that's why i said "my bad."

 

[HRoi]

America is a notoriously front-running sports fan base. part of it is because we have so many sports that we are world-class at, that the ones where we're not so good get put on the back burner.

but show us a competitive team at the biggest stage, and the fans start coming in droves.

 

[romafan]

What was wrong w/ Ally McCoist yesterday?

Completely hoarse brogue was unintelligible - late night in the shebeens?

 

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

i get that now. that's why i said "my bad."
Yea, saw that after I posted.

this thread is moving so fast.

 

[benecios]

Originally Posted by Douglas

That's not as bad a miss as you guys are making out. It was coming at him pretty quick on his wrong foot. Now Yakubu last night for Nigeria, that's a miss.

 

[benecios]

Originally Posted by embowafa

That's not fair...his momentum, the position of the ball, etc etc made that a much harder shot than what the picture shows.

We agree, didn't see that coming!!

 

[chronoaug]

Originally Posted by TRINI

This isn't going to happen any time soon.



Are you saying to expand the current CL to include MLS teams or that CONCACAF should have a CL-equivalent?

If it's the former, then you're crazy.

If it's the later, then it already exists.

I wasn't saying anything should happen. I was saying that if there was some larger club competition like champions league to feature teams from the western hemisphere along with the best from europe, US fans would be more likely to care. Hard to care about MLS when it plays essentially in a bubble

 

[bdeuce22]

ideally, who do we want to face in the elimination round??

 

[chronoaug]

Originally Posted by HRoi

America is a notoriously front-running sports fan base. part of it is because we have so many sports that we are world-class at, that the ones where we're not so good get put on the back burner.

but show us a competitive team at the biggest stage, and the fans start coming in droves.

I don't know if US is the only place to like winners and be front runners. I mean, that's the issue we're discussing. Is it simply because the US isn't that good? I'd argue that the US have some fine players (no creative forwards or dominating strikers at the world star level) and a solid national team with a large population and culture that values athletics highly. The ingredients are there but it's like what i explained with european basketball. It's more a niche thing over there like soccer is here. Not to say there aren't fans of those sports though.

 

[embowafa]

Originally Posted by benecios

We agree, didn't see that coming!!

Yay!!! The World Cup truly does bring everyone together!

 

[chronoaug]

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

ideally, who do we want to face in the elimination round??

not germany basically. they're a bit banged up and not playing stellar but still don't want to play a team that experienced and talented

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

ideally, who do we want to face in the elimination round??

from SI

"¢ How big is winning the group? Not only does the U.S. survive to fight another day, but it gets placed into a much easier quadrant of the single-elimination tournament that now takes place. If Germany can win Group D, the U.S. would probably meet Serbia or Ghana, avoiding Germany, with the winner of the U.S.'s second-round game to face the victor of Uruguay-South Korea. Long story short: Which quadrant would you rather be in, the one with Serbia/Ghana-Uruguay-South Korea or the one with Germany-Argentina-Mexico? I think we know the answer to that one.