Soccer, sports and politics (R)

I have zero idea who wins this competition !

Any out of the last 8 other than Croatia I’d say … Holland and Morocco are real dark horses as well .

The other five all have an equal chance .. guess it’s gonna come down to a bit of luck judging by Spain hitting the post with the last kick of extra time ..

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I have to say, so far my "Neymar, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo all suck and I hate them" strategy has had, frankly, a mixed yield thus far, and future returns don't project to forecasts either

At least Portugal is going to bench/send home Ronaldo (right?)

 

This World Cup Withdrawal is really brutal.

My wife suggests referring to it as "a temporary return to normal levels of productivity." Maybe that would help.

 

I'm kinda shocked that it's still hitting some Americans this way.

I say that because there was a time when the only top-flight ball I saw was the World Cup. In undergrad school, I had to go to the library and look at microfiche/film to get info on past World Cups, and to the bookstore to read Four Four Two and look at Onze (french). This was post Soccer Made In Germany and pre regular matches on cable. even into the late 80s, I'd get excited when the World Cup started approaching and my colleagues mocked me.

The World Cup was all I had, but that's not the case anymore. In fact, cable and the Internet has made the World Cup the secondary thing it's supposed to be when you have a club and a league. We should be watching this thing the same way everybody else does- with an eye on getting back to proper club football.

 

Or, as is the case in Atlanta, sub par club football.

 

The debate about who is the greatest living player of Futbol has been put on hold as Pele has been recovering nicely in hospital!

 

Or perhaps we should not worry about what anyone else does and watch the sport however the ******** we feel like watching it.

Personally I’ve gone through waves. I started out knowing and caring only about the World Cup and the international game, over time was sucked into MLS and other leagues, and in recent years have backed off from that but have retained my love for the international game and mostly watch club to see American players I like. There are no rules to this stuff.

 

Man, you sound like a Brit.

 

The answer is Zidane anyway

 

....Tata Tito!

 

It's nice that the 2 of you are United in your loyalties. You're both on Fire!

 

I keep looking back on the time when, for all intents and purposes, the US national team pretty much was the club we followed.

And for USWNT fans, I assume that's largely still the case? The NWSL is the most successful women's soccer league in US history by a long ways, but I honestly don't know if any of those fans are club over country yet.

It's probably trite to observe that the World Cup taps into patriotism in a way few clubs can, so that inflames interest. Even in England right now I have to think clubs are in the background at the moment, let alone if they get by France.

 

My niece follows the Thorns religiously along with the USWNT, I should ask her where she stands on club/country. I would guess the latter still wins out.

 

In the end no matter how much I like the World Cup, it is still only a series of all-Star Games if more elaborate than any other in the world. I'll be glad to get back to club football.

 

I wouldn't if more of y'all echoed me

 

Well, that's a sour response.

I simply pointed out my own journey from newb to true football fan. It took getting a club of my own, and it's still hampered by stupid playoffs and financial restrictions, but at least I'm pointing in the right direction.

 

Actually, I just remembered a huge demarcation point, and it wasn't about fans. In or around August 1997, Danny Pena rejected a call-up because his club team was suffering an injury crisis.

Now, he might have assumed he wasn't part of Steve Sampson's long-range plans, or he may have hated Steve Sampson for some reason, or he may have known long before any of us what a death ship the 1998 World Cup team was going to be. But he turned down the national team for a club that had not yet played fifty games in its history.

It may take a little longer for the NWSL to get there - or the USWNT will have to reach toxicity levels that make 2007 look like a My Little Pony binge.

This was almost never a debate anywhere else, was it? It's strange to look back at the history of European and South American leagues and read how a player going abroad meant they had effectively quit the national team. But clubs paid and national teams didn't, which is a comparatively new dynamic for the USSF and American clubs.

 

We're nicer and better looking than your team's fans

 

Some of us are ok with that!

 

I just hope no Liverpool players get hurt.

Sounds like you’ve put you finger on the problem with the USMNT in international competition.

 

Well when you dub your journey that of a “true football fan” it does maybe run the wrong way for those on a different journey.

(Also, I like playoffs.)

 

Not WC but I just recalled something from my way back machine. I taped a match between Newcastle and ?. The great [past their expiration date] warriors Rush and Barnes that I had loved watching were 2 steps slow and painful to see. To this day I can't rewatch it!

 

I’m not sure I have that many fingers.