World Cup

Massage...Bored · Post by **Massage...Bored** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 4:05 pm

Yeah, the US team usually is terrible, who cares!

I actually watched the entire Germany/Sweden match today and I finally got it! I finally realized why people love it so much. Call me a born again soccer fan, I used to play in middle school, I love the damned sport again!

Here's a little inquiry though, if so many kids in the States are playing soccer every weekend, then why is there no excitement about it from any groups in the US besides large pockets of immigrants? It boggles my mind.

LowLife · Post by **LowLife** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 4:27 pm

WELL I THINK ITS CUZ IN EUROPE AND ALL OVER THE WORLD FUTBAL IS A MAIN SPORT! IN THE U.S. WE HAVE BASEBALL, BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, AND ALL SPORTS CREATED HERE IN THE U.S. AND CUZ WE ARE SO UPTIGHT ABOUT "IT'S SOCCER NOT FOOTBALL!" LAST TIME I CHECKED "FOOTBALL" YOU ONLY USE YOUR "FOOT KICKING A BALL" MAYBE 5% OF THE WHOLE GAME! AND MMM FUTBAL YOU USE YOUR FEET 98% ASIDE FROM THROW-INS! THAT WHY IT CALL FUTBAL! SORRY JUST VENTING! DON'T GET ME WRONG I LOVE THE NFL AND COLLAGE BALL BUT WE SEE FUTBAL AS A PART OF THE OLD WORLD SPORT AND WE ARE IN THE NEW WORLD! PLUS NO OTHER SPORT IN THE WORLD HAS ITS OWN FEDERATION! ONLY THE OLYMPIC'S COME CLOSE BUT THEY DO ALL SPORTS! AND NO OTHER SPORTS MAKE YOU SPEND ALMOST A WHOLE YEAR IF NOT MORE, JUST TO QUALIFY FOR THE 32 SPOTS FOR THE WORLD CUP! ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS A NATIONAL TEAM! NO OTHER SPORT CAN SAY THAT!

7WetCigarettes · Post by **7WetCigarettes** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:00 pm

I am not a soccer fan.....but...

I watched two of the US matches and one of the Brazil matches this year, and I found it to be more exciting than I remember the sport to be.

I think I also found a few good reasons as to why Americans (& myself) do not follow soccer more closely. Fouls are based solely on the opinionated judgement of officials. This would not be such a problem, but when a player is bumped or tackled...90% of the time the player sprawls out on the turf as if they were shot in the leg by one of the soccer "hooligans" in the grandstands. The game lacks a certain amount of legitimacy when a greater portion of the game is based on the player's acting ability.

(example: player A is given what appears to be a clean slide tackle by player B. player A cries like a schoolgirl until he gets carted off the field in a stretcher. player B is issued a yellow card. a few minutes later player A rejoins his team on the field after being miraculously healed of all ailments by God the Father himself.) This happened several times in the matches I watched.

Add that to the rule of being issued two yellow cards equals an ejection from the match. (i think I have that right) There are two many variables and judgement calls involved in such an important part of the game.

With that said....I find soccer to be exciting at times. Although I don't think I would ever watch anything other than the World Cup. It helped this year that Beasley was on the team. Hopefully he will make it to the next Cup.

helix eternal · Post by **helix eternal** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:55 pm

American football, football (aka soccer), hockey, and basketball are all essentially the same. I just like hockey better than others cause of the fights.

Massage...Bored · Post by **Massage...Bored** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:00 pm

helix eternal wrote:American football, football (aka soccer), hockey, and basketball are all essentially the same. I just like hockey better than others cause of the fights.

Offsides is the reason I (mostly) couldn't stand soccer and hockey. What a dumb rule.

7WetCigarettes · Post by **7WetCigarettes** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:39 pm

agreed

LowLife · Post by **LowLife** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:10 pm

its dumb but it evens the playing field! if you have a good team playing a bad team they both need to show there world class ability! if there was no offsides the better team would kill the bad team! by having offsides it will make the better team show why they are better and a more world class team! it just keeps the games fair thats all!

a_change_in_seasons · Sun Jun 25, 2006 12:46 pm

offsides keeps the crappy teams from cherry picking and stealing games they shouldnt win. its a good rule for both sports IMO. yes the us team sucks but the media hyped them up wayyy to much. they were expected to do better then they possibly could. if more pure athletes chose to play soccer here in the us like those that do in germany and most of all brazil. we could keep up just as well. imagine if the likes of reggie bush or even better barry sanders played soccer. i think wed be better. if we could combine the toughness and size of hockey with the speed and agility of american football and mold it into our national team we could be great. but we wont at least not for a long time. however we are making more headway being as half of our national team players play in europe which is where the best players play. take beasley for example he plays for PSV in the netherlands. psv has been the dominant club in that league for the past decade. so were gettin there...slowly

GxWxLx · Post by **GxWxLx** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:11 pm

love to play it, hate to watch it.

flapjacks · Post by **flapjacks** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:26 pm

i played soccer threw elementary school and i still kick the ball around sometimes.

and this is the first time i have really gotten into the world cup so let me just say this, Ronaldinho is my dude

LowLife · Post by **LowLife** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:05 am

Ronaldinho rules, the hype about him before the cup i wasn't to sure bout him i never seen him play but after there frist game i was in shock over his skill and how feeds the ball to other players and his ability to read the field! the brazilians rule!

sharkmansix · Post by **sharkmansix** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:14 am

Brazil = Ew

Ghana = Awesome (Just ask Justice.)

tony2tone · Post by **tony2tone** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:31 am

i have never liked soccer.
that being said i love to watch the world cup. as a fan of sports i really have no choice. these are the best athletes in the world. there conditioning is excellent. the fans are awesome. pride is everywhere.

LowLife · Post by **LowLife** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:14 pm

the italy game was B.S.!