Soccer World Cup

petedude

Call me crazy, but I think the US actually has a remote chance of making the semis this time around.

If they stay disciplined, they can probably beat Ghana. Who would be up next? Winner of Uruguay vs. S. Korea. Neither of those two teams should prove too challenging, except that S. Korea has fast forwards.

If we get to the semis, look for soccer to get a little bit more attention on these shores. But it won't be the sea change most US soccer fans want-- that would have to wait until we can actually carry the Cup home.

RobertKaucher

petedude wrote: »

... If we get to the semis, look for soccer to get a little bit more attention on these shores. But it won't be the sea change most US soccer fans want-- that would have to wait until we can actually carry the Cup home.

Since it is getting to be more and more popular with kids, it's getting to be more and more popular with their parents. Which is good. I'm not a hug fan of soccer, but living 7 years in Brazil leaves a mark.

It will be decades before the US team is good enough to even consider taking it home. Wow, could you imagine that?!?! I think Brazil would declare a national day of mourning.

Pash

I can't believe Italy are out, there go's my office sweep stake ipad draw!!!!

And now come this Sunday we will be knocked out by the Germans on penalties. Double whammy.

petedude

RobertKaucher wrote: »

It will be decades before the US team is good enough to even consider taking it home. Wow, could you imagine that?!?! I think Brazil would declare a national day of mourning.

Ha. England, too. Not to mention maybe Russia would as well.

I dunno. I think it's possible that we could be facing a pattern with the US team like the bad Star Trek movies had for a long time-- one's bad, the next rocks (i.e. one step forward, one step back). If that's the case. . .

2002-- Quarterfinals
2006-- Three and out
2010-- Semifinals (shhh, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves!!)
2014-- Three and out (Adu gets his feet wet, but Davies rocks)
2018-- Finals (and probably Donovan's last Cup if he hasn't retired earlier!)

gosh1976

Scotland would beg to differ that USA tied with the UK!!

I've been watching either at home, at work, or at the bar. I had to work on wednesday so I had the England game on my laptop and I have a TV in my office so I had the USA game on that!!

The bar where I usually watch Premier League games at on weekend mornings is where I watched the first two USA games. The crowd has been insane they estimated 1700 people watched the US vs England game at that bar. The place usually only holds maybe 400 people but they put a big tent and beer garden out in their parking lot.

The newspapers have plenty of stories about how high the TV ratings have been for the games in the US. The internet had a record spike during the 2nd half of the Algeria game!

billyr

Kaminsky wrote: »

As the vast majority of this board is from the US, I was wondering if you guys are following the Football World Cup. (Not like a US "World Series" where only US teams play... but a real "drawn from all continents" event)...

You should be. Your US "soccer" team have just come top of the group with the UK coming second.

The U.K coming second ? You'd best inform the Scots, Welsh and the Northern Irish, unfortunately we all decided to sit this one out and let the English have the limelight.

Good luck to the U.S.A though, they have put in a hard shift in all their games and deserve to be top of their group. Looking at the official ticket sales, the U.S.A actually shows as the best supported team in the competition. They'll need that support against Ghana.

billyr

gosh1976 wrote: »

Scotland would beg to differ that USA tied with the UK!!

Damn, beat me to it, must type quicker...

varelg

petedude wrote: »

Call me crazy, but I think the US actually has a remote chance of making the semis this time around.

If they stay disciplined, they can probably beat Ghana. Who would be up next? Winner of Uruguay vs. S. Korea. Neither of those two teams should prove too challenging, except that S. Korea has fast forwards.

If we get to the semis, look for soccer to get a little bit more attention on these shores. But it won't be the sea change most US soccer fans want-- that would have to wait until we can actually carry the Cup home.

Petedude, we are talking about soccer here, not basketball.:D I applaud the optimism though.
Soccer will DEFINITELY get attention once colleges start to roll out scholarships for young and promising players of this magical game. So that US soccer will get a much needed influx of the athletic talent that other major sports regularly get. Thus it will bring the US national team's game up to a whole new level. There lies a chance to finally force the rest of the world into submission, by winning the World Cup. That's how things should roll when you have the system of collegiate leagues where the school IS the franchise. Only homegrown soccer promises successful international campaigns, like the World Cup. Italy, France are out exactly because they stopped growing their own talent from within and instead relied on high-class foreign players. Importing foreign coaches is on the other hand, an excellent move, especially if they are Dutch, their coaches have great track record wherever they were hired.
I am not convinced that even if US wins the World Cup the general public will ever understand the magnitude of that achievement.

mikej412

varelg wrote: »

I am not convinced that even if US wins the World Cup the general public will ever understand the magnitude of that achievement.

Would that be anything like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series?

za3bour

I'm a big fan for soccer actually almost every one in Syria is a big fan of soccer and if you walk around the cities here you will feel that you're in UN building because you will see flags for big countries in soccer world every were in cars, building, walls where ever you go. Most people here cheer Brazil then Germany then Italy and few of them cheer Argentina, Holland, England and France. Recently after Spain won Euro Cup there are some fans for them as well.

The only arab country in world cup was Algeria but sadly they didnt make it to second round. I myself is a huge fan of France but sadly as well they didn't make it too nither Italy so it's really been a weird world cup.

After france is out I'm with Argentina (and my wife as well) we hope they can make a great result they have an excellent team but the coach ...

Good luck for US too, they've been really good and in great fitness every one was talking about this, I think they can reach semi final they have a great chance to do so.

Plantwiz

mikej412 wrote: »

Would that be anything like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series?

Well...sort of, but since the Cubs won't be winning a WS anytime soon...not really

(BTW - I had forgotten the last WS of the Cubs was a defeat over Detroit...who also will not be winning a WS anytime soon).

It just seems that soccer fans are a bit more loyal to their teams (as a whole) then baseball fans. Ex. I know Chicago-land folks who vary the support between the Cubs and and the Sox depending on how the season is going...(likewise I know diehard Cub fans who will never support the Sox) as well as Tiger Fans who switch to one of the two Chicago teams if their season is better. Soccer people seem to take the winning years the same as the losing years and stick with their team.

varelg

mikej412 wrote: »

Would that be anything like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series?

Thank you mike for exactly proving my point.
As far as fan loyalty, I'd actually compare it with loyalty of fans for college sports. How many "crossers" do you know that jumped fences to become fans of the rival college team?

Turgon

The second half has just begun and its USA 0 Ghana 1 so far. I think its all to play for providing the US coach has got right at half time.

The US need to keep possession better, too often in the first half they gave the ball away hastily. Ghana seems to be coming forward thanks to this as opposed to creating their own chances. So USA, keep the ball better, pass it around and be patient. The US defence seemed more solid later in the second half. In attack, the US needs more pace and more crosses. More bodies upfront too, but at the right time because if Ghana break away they are pacy and strong. Those guys will run for 90 minutes. I suspect this will show later in the second half. 45 minutes is plenty of time to equalize.

No major preference either way really except to say I imagine there are many villages in Ghana with a boat load of excited kids crowded around the TV right now. Come to that, the whole village. Most likely that isn't the case throughout the US.

Lizano

US actually has a good chance of winning this match. And I'm sure US would perform well against Uruguay, I can't say it would be easy, but there are more challenging teams.

za3bour

An excellent goal for Ghana and it's 2-1 now in extra time.

dales

Well I'm one of the few brits who has never been into football (soccer, who do you call american football, football by the way there hardly seems to be any feet involved its rugby with padding isnt it I have no idea what my work mates are on about half the time, I still downloaded a vuvu app on my desire briefly though. Wake me up when the darts starts in the new year! Come on Wolfie!!!

varelg

Ghana actually had it rather easy in midfield and in certain defensive tackles. US team however is truly capable to put on heat in attack onto ANY team and unfortunately today the pressure didn't materialize.
Many would easily put a lot of guilt onto Ricardo Clark for that lost midfield tackle when Ghana scored the early goal. Many other midfielders of other teams have had worse errors but those lost balls didn't go into the net. Only this time Ghana's did.
Now African heroes are facing Uruguay, a team that has merciless midfield and frankly, if Team Ghana expects that their game against US would pass again against Uruguay, they don't stand a chance.
The common misconception about US soccer fan being an exotic minority died today:ten thousand people showed up at the public viewing in downtown Kansas City. In the american heartland, in the middle of the baseball season.
Now what, you may ask? Well, after Cardiac Kings are gone from the World Cup, it is important to build up on this hard- fought publicity gain. MLS could for example seriously pump up its youth programs and attract young athletes that would otherwise be gone to other major sports. Some say talk is cheap...

Turgon

varelg wrote: »

Ghana actually had it rather easy in midfield and in certain defensive tackles. US team however is truly capable to put on heat in attack onto ANY team and unfortunately today the pressure didn't materialize.
Many would easily put a lot of guilt onto Ricardo Clark for that lost midfield tackle when Ghana scored the early goal. Many other midfielders of other teams have had worse errors but those lost balls didn't go into the net. Only this time Ghana's did.
Now African heroes are facing Uruguay, a team that has merciless midfield and frankly, if Team Ghana expects that their game against US would pass again against Uruguay, they don't stand a chance.
The common misconception about US soccer fan being an exotic minority died today:ten thousand people showed up at the public viewing in downtown Kansas City. In the american heartland, in the middle of the baseball season.
Now what, you may ask? Well, after Cardiac Kings are gone from the World Cup, it is important to build up on this hard- fought publicity gain. MLS could for example seriously pump up its youth programs and attract young athletes that would otherwise be gone to other major sports. Some say talk is cheap...

Im pleased so many people turned out in downtime Kansas City to watch the game. I hope it was well supported throughout the country. The drama of a sudden death football match at the highest level! Some of the US players looked visibly heartbroken after the game as well as many fans in the stadium. I think the US showed up well in this tournament. They turned things around in the second half and only went out by a single goal in extra time. Donovan and a few others certainly looked the part throughout the tournament. If the US public and the sponsors get behind the sport it could go places.

mikedisd2

Don't follow the football at all but I was hoping N. Korea would make it far enough to play S. Korea. Countries should solve all their differences by playing sports. Just like on The Goodies.

za3bour

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Don't follow the football at all but I was hoping N. Korea would make it far enough to play S. Korea. Countries should solve all their differences by playing sports. Just like on The Goodies.

Or imaging N.Korea against USA ? that would be a match to watch just like the one between Iran and USA back in 1998.

In my opinion Ghana won yesterday because physically they're stronger than USA and it showed in 2nd goal were every one would expect Ghana player to fall down but he didn't and he smashed the ball into the roof of the net.

It's really nice to hear that people are actually interested in football and that they're seeing it in the streets and squares of kansas city (clinton was there too ) but it's still number 4 I think after football,baseball and basket so it's still a long road to go.

Amazing matches today and we're gonna lose at least two good teams

Germany Vs England and Mexico Vs Argentina.

I;m cheering England and Argentina of course

gosh1976

za3bour wrote: »

In my opinion Ghana won yesterday because physically they're stronger than USA and it showed in 2nd goal were every one would expect Ghana player to fall down but he didn't and he smashed the ball into the roof of the net.

I think the reason the US lost to Ghana yesterday all comes down to Bob Bradley. I've never been one of the Bob Bradley bashers that you see on the message boards but I've never been a big fan either. Bradley made some inspired decisions for in game early substitutions that enabled us to claw back and get at least a point out of each game. One would think though that after 3 games he would figure out that it might be a good idea to start the game with a lineup that looked more like the 2nd half lineups in the 1st three games. What does he do though? He starts Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley. I bet Findley would have started all 4 games had he not been suspended for one of them.

I like Ricardo Clark and I've met him a couple times and he is a GREAT guy but Edu was just better. As far as Findley I didn't even like him being in South Africa. We had a number of options that would have probably been better. Start Gomez or Buddle instead of Findley. Start Holden or Feilhaber and push Dempsey up top from the start.

The team clearly wasn't ready for the Ghana game and a big part of this is the huge emotional roller coaster of the first round and the fact that we did not make anything easy for us. But it is Bob Bradley's job to make sure they are ready. I think even the little impromptu party they had back at the team hotel with the friends and family after the Algeria should never had been allowed by Bob Bradley not when you only had a couple days to prepare for the next game. That is something you do when you have at least a week to prepare.

I'm also very tired of always seeing the same 4-4-2 from Bradley with 2 defensive midfielders. Bradley over the last four years has had some wonderful accomplishments over the last 4 years that he should be celebrated for but now it's time to move on and I hope that we go ahead and try to hire a new man before the Brazil friendly in August. If we can't do that It's not a big deal. Let Bradley say goodbye to the fans in August but please oh please don't renew his contract at the end of the year even on a temp. basis.

So anyway silver lining: 1. I can now focus a little more on my studying which is a good thing. Not that I won't be watching the rest of the world cup but at least I can focus a bit more now! 2. What a great ride it was even though it ended a bit early. I think US soccer picked up a few more year round fans and certainly a few more fans that will tune in for the big games without fail. 3. Bradley's tenure is over and I think the next chapter could be even more exciting.

The one thing that does worry me is our back line. we can win the Gold Cup and start off well with the backline we had in the World Cup but Bornstien and Spector are the only defenders that will be under 30 in 2014 that got regular playing time during this world cup cycle.

DevilWAH

I want to know where I can go to get away from football!!

Honestly I hope all you footy fans are having a good time, but me personally I will be happy when its all over and normality returns

Kaminsky

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Don't follow the football at all but I was hoping N. Korea would make it far enough to play S. Korea. Countries should solve all their differences by playing sports. Just like on The Goodies.

C.hrist... you joking ? That match could start off world war 3!

Kaminsky

DevilWAH wrote: »

I want to know where I can go to get away from football!!

Honestly I hope all you footy fans are having a good time, but me personally I will be happy when its all over and normality returns

Best place to go is over there at the back of the garden with my wife, daughter and all the neighbours wives.

za3bour

DevilWAH wrote: »

I want to know where I can go to get away from football!!

Honestly I hope all you footy fans are having a good time, but me personally I will be happy when its all over and normality returns

We're having a great time, 4 games a day every day for two weeks man it's heaven for us.

Now I'm sad because it's count down and soon world cup will be over

It's just one month each 4 years, not a lot you can do like my wife and decide that football is actually cool and enjoy watching it

za3bour

Kaminsky wrote: »

Best place to go is over there at the back of the garden with my wife, daughter and all the neighbours wives.

actually my wife is now a fan of football, she wasn't when we first met but she knew she gotta love it if she's gonna be my wife

redline5th

It was disappointing to see USA lose, but Ghana won fair and square. They just outplayed us. We didn't stand a chance against them in the final minutes. They were playing defensively and we just got out played.

Not a happy day for Soccer in the US of A.

gosh1976

redline5th wrote: »

It was disappointing to see USA lose, but Ghana won fair and square. They just outplayed us. We didn't stand a chance against them in the final minutes. They were playing defensively and we just got out played.

Not a happy day for Soccer in the US of A.

we had to fight so hard in the first round games and we also had to make tactical subs so early in 3 of the 4 games and didn't we make a pretty early sub in the Algeria game as well? Our players were spent and Bradley had no option to bring in fresh legs late in the Ghana game.

gosh1976

varelg wrote: »

Soccer will DEFINITELY get attention once colleges start to roll out scholarships for young and promising players of this magical game. So that US soccer will get a much needed influx of the athletic talent that other major sports regularly get. Thus it will bring the US national team's game up to a whole new level.

Soccer scholarships are all ready given out at colleges and universities. All the DivI and DivII have a certain number of full ride scholarships or they can split them into more partial scholarships.

Not sure if you saw what Klinnsman was saying about the youth system in the US but it is something that is well known to US soccer fans. The system is upside down to the rest of the world with our youth having to pay huge amounts of money to play for the best clubs for the chance to be seen by the college recruiters so they can possibly get one of those scholarships.

There is a place in the US for the pay to play youth club system in the US as well as the college athletics but it is not the answer it is the status quo. Things are possibly moving in the right direction with the US soccer academy system, the bradenton residency program, grass roots inner city programs offering decent programs for poorer kids to play in, and with MLS getting stronger all the time hopefully they can continue to move in a direction that strengthens their academy programs, and another huge thing will be when MLS can have a decent reserves system.

za3bour

What an amazing performance from Germany to beat England 4-1 yes there was a goal for England which amazingly was not counted but they out footballed them.Germany was stronger, much younger and much much faster than England.

It's gonna be another amazing match between Germany and Argentina and the first true hard opponent for Argentina.

What a match it will be.