This point has been made many times already in this thread, but I still don't understand it. How does a country filled with people watching the game in pubs or at home make a game played thousands of miles away more exiting?
it makes the event more interesting, not the action on the field more interesting. The world cup is a huge event that generates a huge amount of interest. The champions league isn't an event, and the games don't capture the imagination in the same way. People will often sit and watch every game of the world cup, if possible - even games that they have no obvious interest in. People in England, for exampe, will sit and keenly watch Serbia v Ivory Coast, whereas they wouldn't give a toss about Basle v Shaktar Donetsk, even if it was on live.
I agree entirely. It can be in no doubt that the festival nature of the world cup makes it more interesting. I was only disputing the actual football aspect of it, which you agreed is not necessarily more exiting.
Well for example Germany - Argentina wasn't the greatest football game you ever saw, but for German fans it was just nail-biting and thrilling. And so much pleasure, after Lehman parried the last penalty. Everyone who wasn't already outside went there. The whole town was full of people and cars and joy. You won't see such a thing, if a German club beats a team in the quarters of the CL (especially because there a TWO games). Of course it as very sad, if your team loses. After the semifinal.... So I understand that the world cup isn't that much fun for people from nations which don't even make it out of the group stage. EURO 2004 wasn't exciting to me for example. But many people don't have such high expectations and will celebrate anyways.
Well it's irrelevant unless it's a direct response to a direct question about why world cup games are described as being more exciting due to the amount of people watching in bars etc, which it was.
Are you factoring in CL qualifiers in your responses? I think many forget that the CL starts with 76 teams of which maybe 8-10 are capable of actually winning the tournament.
The interest in the world cup in my view has more to do with nationalism than with football. I mean how many people who watch the world cup with a passion actually follow football on a weekly basis? It's like the olympics, when a country does well in curling or water polo or track cycling then a people will be interested in that once every four years, but it's no reflection whatsoever on the actual popularity of the specific sport. This is also what puts off a significant section of football fans when it comes to the world cup. I know plenty of people who won't watch their national team because in their view it's nothing to do whatsoever with football as they know it.
I'm a club supporter first and foremost but contrary to most Dutch club supporters I also like the national team. At its best I think the world cup delivers a contrast in footballing styles and cultures, whereas by contrast nine out of ten CL teams essentially have the exact same approach to football. That to me is the attraction of the world cup, it shows something different than what I as a European and football fan get to typically see. All of that said, and as convinced as I am of the appeal of the world cup, I'm 100% confident that the world cup doesn't feature the world's best footballing nations, and as such not the world's best football.
The entire strand of the discussion is irrelevant. People who are discussing things other than quality of players and football clearly did not read nor understand the opening post. No-one is factoring in WC qualifers so why should I do likewise for the CL?
Fits in a just for the record off-topic thought which came to mind while reading about opportune CL x national teams hypothesis: perhaps Al-Ahly or some top Mexican team could also do a fine job. Not arguing, as never did up to now (a JFTR one too), against present players in Europe well-known ($) highest individual quality.
Same can be said for the Champions League proper with regards to clubs in Europe. I'm not saying you should, but I think you need to make it clear otherwise nobody knows what you're talking about. There's a fundamental difference between the WC qualifiers and the WC finals (hence, its always clear which one people are talking about), wheras for the CL the qualifiers are just a naming convention.
Part of the discussion diverged due to an additional question. It must be a first in the history of message boards.
How do you explain people having an interest in group games that don't involve their team? Are you trying to suggest if Holland didn't qualify, people there wouldn't be interested in the world cup?
Everybody predicted that for Euro 2008 in England, but The Beautiful Game couldn't be ignored. He is correct though, in that people with no interest in football for 4 years will watch the World Cup.
I know of no-one who includes the qualifying section when they see CL. The issue is not divergence of the dicussion but people using the divergence when responding to the question. Perhaps I should not have quoted your response to make the point but the fact remains that the point is accurate.
Really............so whats the excuse for the 60 Million people in Vietnam tunning into the World Cup games..when their national team has never qualified for the World Cup? Whats my excuse for watching every single World Cup game.....before and after the US, got knocked out very early...............whats most of the worlds excuse for watching when their country gets knocked out early or dosent make it to the Final or Semi-final, or Quarter Final???
*sigh* "Chelsea grab Champions League spot" http://www.rediff.com/sports/2003/may/12chel.htm" "Totti Wants Champions League Spot" http://soccer365.com/champions_league/story_5409095656.php "The fight for the last spot for the Champions League in Serie A heats up" https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=896 Barcelona must try to cement Champions League spot http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-home-champions-deadly-enemies-Real-week.html In every case "Champions League spot" implies CL qualifying round spot. As I said before, "CL qualifying round" is just a naming convention. The real CL qualification is finishing in the top X of your domestic league.
There are also a fair few clubs in Champions League that wouldn't get past the qualifying stages of the World Cup.