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World Cup

LesClaypool said:
Roma-Lazio is the most violent, dangerous derby in sports. It's asinine to attend for anyone, IMO.

Perhaps on some level that's "cool." For me, anytime murder is a legit possibility, I'll pass.

If you want to root for Mexico...have at it. It almost sounds like you asked the question just so you could quasi-pontificate though.
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I'll agree that going to Roma-Lazio was stupid. I'd never heard of either team before going. The front desk at our hostel had two tickets that were going unused b/c the guests who ordered them were delayed getting into Rome so we took them, then found out the hard way.

As for MX, I was honestly not aware of the nature of the rivalry. I did know that the USMNT has struggled at Azteca. It's good to know but not changing my mind.
 
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ReliableOstrich said:
Just remembered it is this year and upon a quick Google, it starts in less than 1 month.

I suppose the perfect storm of the USMNT not qualifying + it being in Russia means there won't be a ton of interest (side note: lol @ fox paying up for that TV contract).

In any event, it is one of the greatest sporting events on earth, so who are you guys rooting for? I'm rooting for Costa Rica and Mexico.

Here's who I've got coming out of each group.

Group A - cake walk as Saudi Arabia and Egypt fail to advance
1A Uruguay
2A Russia

Group B - also a near guarantee (Iran and Morocco fail to advance)
1B Portugal
2B Spain

Group C - decent group with Denmark and Australia
1C France
2C Peru

Group D - solid group with Nigeria and Iceland
1D Argentina
2D Croatia

Group E - Switzerland and Serbia fail to advance
1E Costa Rica
2E Brazil

Group F - Sweden and S. Korea fail to advance
1F Germany
2F Mexico

Group G - England and Tunisia, England fails to advance
1G Belgium
2G Panama

Group H - Poland and Japan fail to advance
1H Colombia
2H Senegal

Also, I know very little about soccer.
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Personally I'm rooting for a Brazil / Poland final as the hotness of the Female fans will be amazing as Poland has IMHO the hottest women in Europe and Brazil is 'well Brazil
 
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Atoning_Unifex said:
Personally I'm rooting for a Brazil / Poland final as the hotness of the Female fans will be amazing as Poland has IMHO the hottest women in Europe and Brazil is 'well Brazil
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My friend, do not underestimate Uruguay. Just walking thru the Duty Free in Montevideo will nearly give you whiplash.

Plus they have that player who bites people - not sure what to make of that, but never underestimate a biter.
 
ReliableOstrich said:
My friend, do not underestimate Uruguay. Just walking thru the Duty Free in Montevideo will nearly give you whiplash.

Plus they have that player who bites people - not sure what to make of that, but never underestimate a biter.
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One nation I missed during my travels. Although my nativism makes me partial to Peruvians (and Mexicans because I married one) the women in Venezuela and Brazil were a lot of fun.
 
LesClaypool said:
The Mexican fans have a terrible, terrible reputation.

They throw bags of uring, feces, beers, rocks, anything they can get their hands on, at American fans whenever the US plays Mexico.

They're an abomination to all things sporting.
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Sound like some bad hombres...
 
scottcu said:
how many years was soccer in the USA set back by not qualifying?
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Sometimes in life, you have to take a step back before moving forward. Hopefully, our failure to qualify this time will serve as a kick in the pants to improve the quality of our program.
 
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scottcu said:
how many years was soccer in the USA set back by not qualifying?
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Good question. Probably not drastically because I think a lot of parents put their younger kids in soccer regardless of the World Cup. My hope is that the system gets changed and the good ole boy network gets busted. More recruitment of foreign born nationals (and in some cases nationals with Hispanic parents). But it’s going to be a niche sport for the foreseeable future. Setting winning the WC as an expectation is not realistic
 
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LesClaypool said:
The Mexican fans have a terrible, terrible reputation.

They throw bags of uring, feces, beers, rocks, anything they can get their hands on, at American fans whenever the US plays Mexico.

They're an abomination to all things sporting.
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Sounds like they inherited some Mijami fans.
 
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I dont know if it was set back at all. We still have an easy pathway through Concacaf. It hasnt gotten any harder nor has any other country really seen a boom thanks to us missing out IMO. What hurts us in terms of taking the next step is that the best athletes in the US do not think to play soccer first. They think football, basketball and then baseball and perhaps hockey.

I dont care what happens with the concussion thing but the kids that wont play football because their parents are taking them out of football arent the kids that make it to the NFL anyways. I do think that as kids grow up watching more and more soccer on ESPN and NBC etc they will want to play in those leagues and consider it. The biggest key to me is that the US needs to better identify prospects that they have a realistic goal of playing soccer professionally and getting the MLS to be more successful and being able to pay wages in the ballpark of the other sports. Not Lebron or Brady money, but for the journeyman player.
 
ReliableOstrich said:
In any event, it is one of the greatest sporting events on earth, so who are you guys rooting for? I'm rooting for Costa Rica and Mexico.



Group D - solid group with Nigeria and Iceland
1D Argentina
2D Croatia


Also, I know very little about soccer.
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As an American soccer fan, I hope Mexico loses every group stage match 5-0.

And I'm calling it now: Argentina does not make it out of the group stage. Iceland will be there and the USA (as a whole) will root for them as the tournament progresses (rooting for the underdog and they have a fun style to watch).
 
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fsUTampa said:
As an American soccer fan, I hope Mexico loses every group stage match 5-0.

And I'm calling it now: Argentina does not make it out of the group stage. Iceland will be there and the USA (as a whole) will root for them as the tournament progresses (rooting for the underdog and they have a fun style to watch).
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Iceland sounds good to me. I was sort of bummed about USA not being in it and no real team to pull for at this time
 
Money is a big issue here in the US and the pay for play system. Most places you need to play Academy soccer, which is the equivalent of travel ball for other sports. If you only play Rec soccer you will never make it anywhere.

In a couple weeks my 11 year old will be trying out at multiple clubs with the hopes of making it onto a top tier team. Depending on the club we choose, and the level of the team, we could be out $1500 - $3000 for a single year. Every other year we need to purchase new uniforms which typically run around $300. Once we get to U13 the travel increases and trips are typically overnight trips, which means more $$$. Based on this, there is no way a large portion of the US population will ever play soccer at a high level, which in turn means there is no way the US is going to reach the top of the world when it comes to soccer.

Another example of how much money is spent. We are heading to Destin this weekend for an end of year tournament. Fortunately we are a guest player, playing up an age group, so we don't need to share in the actual tournament cost. Hosever, for the travel we will spend an estimated $700 for the weekend between hotel, gas, food & misc. items for the tournament. The regulars on the team are spending in the area of $250 more for tournament fees and coach expenses.

For soccer to really get big here in the US, we need to figure out a way to reduce those costs and make it more affordable for a larger % of the population to participate.
 
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Going to miss ESPN/ ABC doing the matches... I loved hearing Ian Darke call the last 3 WCs with the US in it.

I’ll miss the opening theme music ESPN does (starts at about 50 seconds)
 
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Don't forget Mexican fans also have their goalkick chant that led to FIFA threatening to take away WCQ points from the federation if they didn't get it under control (which they never did...and FIFA never pulled that trigger). Screw Mexico.
 
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I find that the American announcers, no matter the network are really hard to watch. Perhaps Im spoiled by the English ones from watching the EPL. Just give me the british feed and Im happy. I find that they normally stick to the game and tactics.

Watching an MLS game its as if the American announcers feel you can tell what is going on in the game by watching and their job is to talk about stories, their opinion on something going on in the world of soccer or just about anything that is not the game they are at. And to me the worst is getting former American national players commentating or doing play by play about a WC game where all they want to do is whine about how hard it was for them or the advantages other countries have or how the US does not get respect.
 
fsUTampa said:
Don't forget Mexican fans also have their goalkick chant that led to FIFA threatening to take away WCQ points from the federation if they didn't get it under control (which they never did...and FIFA never pulled that trigger). Screw Mexico.
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That chant is one of the least offensive things done by the Mexico fans.
 
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seminoledq said:
I don't know anything about it. What is the problem with the chant?
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They basically call the goalkeeper an offensive gay slur everytime he kicks the ball.

LAFC broke it out in front of Don Garber at their first match and it did not go over well. Let's just say that got squashed from happening ever again real fast.

There's plenty of reasons to hate Mexico in the World Cup. Having to cover players taking corner kicks with riot shields to protect them from all the batteries, bottles, piss, etc... raining down on them every time. The terrible racist/homophobic chants, the flopping for the entire game as soon as they get a lead. Just about everything terrible about soccer that you can think of is part of Mexico's game plan. God forbid they go up a goal with 30 minutes left, they're just going to lay on the damn pitch for as long as they can get away with it.
 
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DDennis73 said:
I find that the American announcers, no matter the network are really hard to watch. Perhaps Im spoiled by the English ones from watching the EPL. Just give me the british feed and Im happy. I find that they normally stick to the game and tactics.

Watching an MLS game its as if the American announcers feel you can tell what is going on in the game by watching and their job is to talk about stories, their opinion on something going on in the world of soccer or just about anything that is not the game they are at. And to me the worst is getting former American national players commentating or doing play by play about a WC game where all they want to do is whine about how hard it was for them or the advantages other countries have or how the US does not get respect.
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What former US player is doing play by play?
 
DDennis73 said:
Just give me the british feed and Im happy. I find that they normally stick to the game and tactics.

Watching an MLS game its as if the American announcers feel you can tell what is going on in the game by watching and their job is to talk about stories, their opinion on something going on in the world of soccer or just about anything that is not the game they are at.
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Oddly enough, this same phenomenon can be observed with beer can/bottle labeling. In the US, a brewery founded a month ago by two over-leveraged millenials will slap 4 paragraphs of backstory on the label, talking all about how the owners became friends and how much pain they go through to get the finest ingredients. Meanwhile, you could have a European brewery with the 400 year old recipe that was ripped from Charlamagne's cold dead hand (forget it, he's rolling) and their label will just have: name, ingredients, and "since 1620".
 
Atoning_Unifex said:
Personally I'm rooting for a Brazil / Poland final as the hotness of the Female fans will be amazing as Poland has IMHO the hottest women in Europe and Brazil is 'well Brazil
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nw9cJ.gif
 
I like Twellman. Holden is a little meh. Lalas...eh. At least they don't fake a British accent like Brad Friedel.

Lalas made a twitter comment referring to that quite a few American duos will be commentating the WC from the states in a studio, rather than on-site. That's going to not be enjoyable at all. They did that with some of these Europa League and Champions League matches, and it was obvious they were commentating from a closet and it completely killed the atmosphere of the match from a viewing standpoint.
 
PoopandBoogers said:
Are there any African teams in it this yr? I always enjoyed watching and pulling for Cameroon or Nigeria.
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Yes, each confederation/continental zone get "x" number of teams and Africa gets 5 currently. This year they have: Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia.

As to the discussion of American commentators, I like Twellman and appreciated him calling out the whole US system after we failed to qualify. I enjoy him during matches as well. The rest, I could not care less about and prefer over-seas announcers.
 
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fsugrad06 said:
Yes, each confederation/continental zone get "x" number of teams and Africa gets 5 currently. This year they have: Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia.

As to the discussion of American commentators, I like Twellman and appreciated him calling out the whole US system after we failed to qualify. I enjoy him during matches as well. The rest, I could not care less about and prefer over-seas announcers.
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I actually really enjoy Twellman. I like Lalas as doing analysis in the studio, but not so much during a match. I actually don't like when Darke calls matches. He just seems overly critical of everything and it drains the enjoyment and joy for me.
 
kc78 said:
I actually really enjoy Twellman. I like Lalas as doing analysis in the studio, but not so much during a match. I actually don't like when Darke calls matches. He just seems overly critical of everything and it drains the enjoyment and joy for me.
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I actually really enjoy Twellman.
latest


I like Lalas as doing analysis in the studio,

shock.jpg


I actually don't like when Darke calls matches.

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The best announcers/teams, for me, are:

1. Martin Tyler and Anyone. He's by far the best announcer in the game.
.
.
.
.
2. Derek Rae & Anyone. I love Derek Rae. I'm very happy he's doing WC 2018.
3. Ian Darke & Steve McManaman
4. The broadcast team of Arlo White, Graham Le Seaux, & Lee Dixon...but they only do Premiership matches
5. Ray Hudson & Phil Schoen (although they only do La Liga matches to my knowledge...and I know a lot of people LOATHE Ray Hudson - trust me I understand. Personally, I like him a lot though.)
 
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LesClaypool said:
The best announcers/teams, for me, are:

1. Martin Tyler and Anyone. He's by far the best announcer in the game.
.
.
.
.
2. Derek Rae & Anyone. I love Derek Rae. I'm very happy he's doing WC 2018.
3. Ian Darke & Steve McManaman
4. The broadcast team of Arlo White, Graham Le Seaux, & Lee Dixon...but they only do Premiership matches
5. Ray Hudson & Phil Schoen (although they only do La Liga matches to my knowledge...and I know a lot of people LOATHE Ray Hudson - trust me I understand. Personally, I like him a lot though.)
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I like this list.

I am rather disappointed Fox has the broadcast rights because I know they will broadcast multiple games with the announcers back in either a NY or LA studio. They do this a lot for the FA Cup matches they broadcast as well as Europa & CL games. You can tell the difference, and personally I am not a fan of it.
 
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As controlling as FIFA is I’m surprised they didn’t have some mandate during bidding that announcers must call all games in person.
 
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kc78 said:
They basically call the goalkeeper an offensive gay slur everytime he kicks the ball.

LAFC broke it out in front of Don Garber at their first match and it did not go over well. Let's just say that got squashed from happening ever again real fast.

There's plenty of reasons to hate Mexico in the World Cup. Having to cover players taking corner kicks with riot shields to protect them from all the batteries, bottles, piss, etc... raining down on them every time. The terrible racist/homophobic chants, the flopping for the entire game as soon as they get a lead. Just about everything terrible about soccer that you can think of is part of Mexico's game plan. God forbid they go up a goal with 30 minutes left, they're just going to lay on the damn pitch for as long as they can get away with it.
Click to expand...

Lighten up, Puto
 
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LesClaypool said:
The best announcers/teams, for me, are:

1. Martin Tyler and Anyone. He's by far the best announcer in the game.
.
.
.
.
2. Derek Rae & Anyone. I love Derek Rae. I'm very happy he's doing WC 2018.
3. Ian Darke & Steve McManaman
4. The broadcast team of Arlo White, Graham Le Seaux, & Lee Dixon...but they only do Premiership matches
5. Ray Hudson & Phil Schoen (although they only do La Liga matches to my knowledge...and I know a lot of people LOATHE Ray Hudson - trust me I understand. Personally, I like him a lot though.)
Click to expand...

Solid list. Completely agree on Tyler. What about Jon Champion?
 
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