2010 World Cup Thread

[UMFan83]

The meaning of household names is pretty vague but you don't think over 50% of casual sports fans have heard of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan for starters? Especially with the fact that a majority of casual sports fans watch at least some ESPN and ESPN has been hyping (English) soccer like crazy since getting Premiere League broadcast rights.

[jersey cubs fan]

The meaning of household names is pretty vague but you don't think over 50% of casual sports fans have heard of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan for starters? Especially with the fact that a majority of casual sports fans watch at least some ESPN and ESPN has been hyping (English) soccer like crazy since getting Premiere League broadcast rights.

 

The definition of household name and casual sports fan are vague. But I don't think a bunch of saturday and sunday morning games (which I've really enjoyed zoning out to) have made those teams legit household names. There are NBA teams that aren't household names.

[Banedon]

The meaning of household names is pretty vague but you don't think over 50% of casual sports fans have heard of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan for starters? Especially with the fact that a majority of casual sports fans watch at least some ESPN and ESPN has been hyping (English) soccer like crazy since getting Premiere League broadcast rights.

 

Heard of? Maybe. But if you asked casual sports fans to name as many non-US soccer teams as they can, I bet they wouldn't come up with more than a couple of those.

 

And really, someone being a household name means that they transcend the casual sports fan. Non-sports fans know who Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Shaquille Oneal, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James....etc are.

 

Outside of maybe David Beckham, do you think there's any soccer players or teams that meet that criteria?

[TruffleShuffle]

what happened to talking about the world cup in this thread

[Sammy Sofa]

Pele, obviously, though I assume you're talking about active players.

 

A decent number of sports fans here could probably throw out "Ronaldo," though odds are they'd have no idea which one.

[jersey cubs fan]

what happened to talking about the world cup in this thread

 

There's no game on right now.

[jersey cubs fan]

Pele, obviously, though I assume you're talking about active players.

 

A decent number of sports fans here could probably throw out "Ronaldo," though odds are they'd have no idea which one.

 

Ariaga 2 is a householder name.

[wolf stansson]

HAhahahahahaha Spain.

 

La Marca is going to have a field day with this.

I share a work area with a dude who lived like two blocks from the Bernabeu when he was a kid so we were watching the game on espn3. He checked in on Marca with like 30 minutes to go and it was already going nuts.

[bukie]

Well, the first round robin is done with maybe 3-4 exciting games to watch. Should pick up quite a bit in the second round robin. I think Uruguay wins this group, and it starts with a win today.

[shnsajax]

Maradona still good for something.

 

Diego Maradona made stinging comments about fellow soccer greats Pele and Michel Platini on Wednesday after the pair criticized Maradona's performance as Argentina coach.

 

Maradona said he was not surprised by their comments and that "Pele has to go back to the museum."

 

As for Platini, "I always had a very distant relationship with him -- hello and goodbye. We know how the French are and Platini is French and he thinks of himself as being more than the rest of the world. I've never paid him any attention and I won't do it now."

[TruffleShuffle]

for some reason nobody in our fantasy world cup group picked switzerland to beat spain.

[Exile on Waveland]

Can we PLEASE stop filling this thread with why soccer sucks, why it's not huge in America or anything like this? Post about it in the soccer thread.

 

Seriously. God Americans are insufferable. This thread really doesn't need irrelevant personal opinions as to why soccer isn't popular in America -- especially considering the growth in popularity is palpable (and empirical) for anyone without blinders on.

 

You don't like soccer. Fine, we get it. We just don't care. Now let us enjoy the World Cup.

 

Now that's an insufferable answer.

 

Sure. I'm an American too. I'm almost certainly often insufferable too. However, you won't see me in a golf thread talking about how boring it is, in a tennis thread talking about how it's boring and why it's losing popularity, or in a NASCAR thread talking about how it's for rednecks.

 

Now, I'm not the master of this thread, or a mod at all, but I'm by no means the only poster that has complained about this. I want to read and discuss Slovenia's likely tactics against the US, how Switzerland won/was fortunate -- and even why the tournament has been a bit dull and lacking scoring.

[brinoch]

Slovenia is going to bunker/counter. They did it against Algeria -- who are a much worse team than the US -- and it's how they got here. I know there is speculation on places like BS that say they will come out aggressively, but I think they are smoking crack. They can't run with the US and even if they could, they don't want to.

 

There's a reason the counter has been so dominant this WC -- it's safer to sit back and watch for openings to exploit.

[Banedon]

Sure. I'm an American too. I'm almost certainly often insufferable too. However, you won't see me in a golf thread talking about how boring it is, in a tennis thread talking about how it's boring and why it's losing popularity, or in a NASCAR thread talking about how it's for rednecks.

 

Now, I'm not the master of this thread, or a mod at all, but I'm by no means the only poster that has complained about this. I want to read and discuss Slovenia's likely tactics against the US, how Switzerland won/was fortunate -- and even why the tournament has been a bit dull and lacking scoring.

 

The reason I'm in here, and have been....lets call it "less than supportive of soccer"....is that I really want to like it as much as you guys do. I like sports. Many of them to varying degrees, but I like sports...and it bothers me that this is the most popular sport in the world by a long shot, and I just can't enjoy it like I want to be able to.

 

This is the biggest event for the biggest sport in the world, so by my thought process, there should be no better time for me to try to enjoy it...and the fact that I'm not doing so bothers me...and frankly I thought talking to you guys about this might help me get there. Thus far, it has not.

[jersey cubs fan]

Now, I'm not the master of this thread, or a mod at all, but I'm by no means the only poster that has complained about this. I want to read and discuss Slovenia's likely tactics against the US, how Switzerland won/was fortunate -- and even why the tournament has been a bit dull and lacking scoring.

 

That's great and all, and if anybody was actually discussing that sort of thing, maybe it would drown out other conversations. But bitching about the direction of a thread when the direction is still very much about the topic at hand, is kind of ridiculous. And outside of gametime, there just hasn't been much discussion about the world cup, team tactics and stretegy, and so on.

[wvcbxl]

This is the biggest event for the biggest sport in the world, so by my thought process, there should be no better time for me to try to enjoy it...

 

Champion's League is better, imho

[brinoch]

To be fair, most of the matches haven't been all that entertaining. To put it in hockey terms, it's kind of like watching Nashville play hockey against New Jersey. Or, in football terms, it's a pre-west coast offense match with two running teams who both have excellent defenses playing a field position game.

 

Watch how the teams move the ball through the midfield and into the other team's side of the field. They'll try one side, pull it back, try the other, pull it back, then maybe up the middle. They might turn it over and then the other team tries. The teams are probing for a weakness or looking for a defender to make a mistake. An effective counter is so lethal because it breaks the static nature of defense and forces them to defend on the run. It's a very effective tactic. Here's a textbook example from last year's Confederations Cup by the US.

 

Rather than obsess over scoring chances and goals, look at each game through the lens of time. 90 minutes. It's a long time and there is strategy involved. Like a pitcher will set hitters up for later in a baseball game, so too will good soccer teams. You might play conservative in the first half -- you try to force the other team to break you down while seeing the tendencies of their defense. Then in the second, you adjust your tactics to take advantage of their weakness. Substitutions are about changing the game, usually. A guy like Clark for the US is a defensive central midfielder, whereas Torres is a great holding midfielder with excellent passing. It's also about conditioning and stamina. Around 65-75 minutes, players are getting tired and what wouldn't work early in the game might work at the end.

 

Think pitcher's duel.

[Banedon]

Think pitcher's duel.

 

If 80-90% of baseball games were pitchers duels, would you find baseball compelling?

 

How about if pitchers duels ended tied?

 

Maybe once they get past the round robin portion it'll be better for me.

[brinoch]

This is the biggest event for the biggest sport in the world, so by my thought process, there should be no better time for me to try to enjoy it...

 

Champion's League is better, imho

 

It is, but since it's spread out over a season versus the compressed nature of the World Cup, the WC is much more accessible.

[USSoccer]

The reason I'm in here, and have been....lets call it "less than supportive of soccer"....is that I really want to like it as much as you guys do. I like sports. Many of them to varying degrees, but I like sports...and it bothers me that this is the most popular sport in the world by a long shot, and I just can't enjoy it like I want to be able to.

 

This is the biggest event for the biggest sport in the world, so by my thought process, there should be no better time for me to try to enjoy it...and the fact that I'm not doing so bothers me...and frankly I thought talking to you guys about this might help me get there. Thus far, it has not.

 

I think the problem in this World Cup is as follows:

 

-The atmosphere is setting a negative tone. One of the best parts of any international soccer tournament (Euro, WC, Copa America) is hearing the interplay of different fanbases and the singing, chanting and music that sets the stage. The vuvuzela are murdering the usually fantastic crowd background. You don't hear rumbles of excitement, of discontent. You don't hear the roar of a crowd after a good play or a goal. This matters, even in a subconscious sense. It makes games seem far less exciting than they normally would be.

 

-The first batch of games featured teams that were playing not to lose. You'll probably see things loosen up as teams are going to have to start winning games and attacking more.

 

-The ball and field surfaces in South Africa are causing more technical players to have issues with their passing. How many overhit crosses or improperly weighted balls have you seen?

[Banedon]

I think the problem in this World Cup is as follows:

 

-The atmosphere is setting a negative tone. One of the best parts of any international soccer tournament (Euro, WC, Copa America) is hearing the interplay of different fanbases and the singing, chanting and music that sets the stage. The vuvuzela are murdering the usually fantastic crowd background. You don't hear rumbles of excitement, of discontent. You don't hear the roar of a crowd after a good play or a goal. This matters, even in a subconscious sense. It makes games seem far less exciting than they normally would be.

 

-The first batch of games featured teams that were playing not to lose. You'll probably see things loosen up as teams are going to have to start winning games and attacking more.

 

-The ball and field surfaces in South Africa are causing more technical players to have issues with their passing. How many overhit crosses or improperly weighted balls have you seen?

 

Well I guess I'd better hope that your 2nd point is true, because the Vuvuzela isn't going anywhere, and the fields aren't going to get any better.

[USSoccer]

I think the problem in this World Cup is as follows:

 

-The atmosphere is setting a negative tone. One of the best parts of any international soccer tournament (Euro, WC, Copa America) is hearing the interplay of different fanbases and the singing, chanting and music that sets the stage. The vuvuzela are murdering the usually fantastic crowd background. You don't hear rumbles of excitement, of discontent. You don't hear the roar of a crowd after a good play or a goal. This matters, even in a subconscious sense. It makes games seem far less exciting than they normally would be.

 

-The first batch of games featured teams that were playing not to lose. You'll probably see things loosen up as teams are going to have to start winning games and attacking more.

 

-The ball and field surfaces in South Africa are causing more technical players to have issues with their passing. How many overhit crosses or improperly weighted balls have you seen?

 

Well I guess I'd better hope that your 2nd point is true, because the Vuvuzela isn't going anywhere, and the fields aren't going to get any better.

 

True about the vuvuz, but I'd think that teams will start to adjust to the speed of the pitch beginning this batch of games, and that coupled with the nature of group play means that you'll see more open and attacking soccer pretty soon.

[CubsBears29]

double post - sorry #-o Edited June 16, 2010 by CubsBears29

[CubsBears29]

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my "fervor" for this WC isn't as strong as the '06 one in Germany, and I think I finally understand why that is. I can't stand to sit through 90+ minutes of all this stupid noise!

 

If I never hear a vuvuzela(sp?) again - after this WC is over - I won't be likely to snap and go on a mass-murdering rampage. If only all those hornblowers would do this, :-$, my aural (& overall) enjoyment would increase at least minimally.

[CubInOK]

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my "fervor" for this WC isn't as strong as the '06 one in Germany, and I think I finally understand why that is.

 

If I never hear a vuvuzela(sp?) again - after this WC is over - I won't be likely to snap and go on a mass-murdering rampage. If only all those hornblowers would do this, :-$, my aural (& overall) enjoyment would increase at least minimally.

The games just might get better too.