The big show begins in a little over a month (Thursday, June 14th), with the final to be played on Sunday, July 15th. In the U.S., the English-language TV coverage will be broadcast on the FOX family of channels, taking over from the ABC/ESPN family of channels who had previously been covering the tournament since 1994. The Spanish-language TV coverage will be broadcast on the Telemundo family of channels, taking over from the Univision family of channels who had previously been covering the tournament since 1990. In any case, which team(s) are you rooting for and why? GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
It'll be pretty surreal not having the USMNT to root for in the World Cup this year after previously appearing seven consecutive times. Of course, it was just as surreal having the USMNT in the 1990 World Cup after a 40 year absence. Hopefully they'll make it back in for 2022 and beyond. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
With the Quakes doing lousy season, it'll be great to have a little "respite", rooting for the USMNT at the 2018 WC!! (Nevermind...).
Just like old times, Gman. I watched plenty of World Cups without the USA in them. It might even feel normal to me. CONCACAF first, CONMEBOL second, and any of the minnows. So I'll root for Iceland. I'll probably root for Spain and Portugal, because they play pretty soccer. (And I like the countries.) Iceland of course because they are really cool. I hope the Belgians (who usually play a really negative, boring, ugly style) beat the tar out of the Limies. Oh yeah, I'll be rooting for that!! I won't root for Serbia, but that's entirely political. Senegal usually play a stylish game, and this is Panama's first trip to the big show. So I hope they do well. Of course, I'll be on vacation during the beginning of the cup, so I'll have to watch highlights, or catch full matches on replay later. Yeah, I'm a Vacation Engineer this year. Go Quakes!! Viva Costa Rica!! - Mark
It'll be interesting to see if Iceland gets to celebrate like that again this time around (their first round opponents are Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria). GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Will there perhaps be World Cup viewing parties with the Quakes staff and roster? GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Even without the U.S. in the World Cup this year, we've still certainly come a long way with World Cup TV coverage here. For example, even though there was limited TV coverage in the U.S. from 1966 to 1974, there was literally no English-language TV coverage in the U.S. for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. And in between watching the games on TV, you can also enjoy the free 2018 World Cup update coming for all versions of FIFA 18 on Tuesday, May 29th. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I can't get excited about this tournament. After all the strides US Soccer has made in the last 30 years with the national team , new expanded thriving league that own their own stadia , I still can't believe the USA won't be playing. I'm equally sad about Italy not making the games after winning it all just 12 years ago. I guess I will watch a few games and the quarter, semifinals and final.
Maybe the U.S. and Italy can play a little mini-tournament: a Loser's Cup, and maybe invite a few more countries like Cambodia and Guam.
Yeah, I mostly watched WC matches in Spanish. I remember watching the '82 cup in Spanish with my brother. Might have caught an English language broadcast of one match that year in a "British Pub" in Palo Alto. Go Quakes!! - Mark
Yeah, but what if they made it a little mini-tournament, with a trophy like this. Eh? Now what do you think, Federcalcio?
Yeah I thought the same and also that it would help them in their quest for the Euro qualifiers but they don't even have a coach (CT) right now and the FIGC is pretty much broke. I guess figured it wasn't worth it.
World Cup 2018 Mascot Zabivaka (left) and World Cup 2018 Ambassador Victoria Lopyreva. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
In case you were all wondering who designed the mascot (as I'm sure you all were ): "Ekaterina Bocharova's Siberian fairytale" (FIFA.com - Wednesday, 2/17/16) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
This looks like a gift with Christmas wrapping paper. I thought the Russians were trying to get away from the red?