[quote]Jim_Bobv2 wrote:
1-packlondoner wrote:
So a question to everyone outside the UK…
How much British football do you guys watch?
Just wondered what the general interest and knowledge of our game there is outside these shores. For example would you know off-hand without googling who, say, Pascal Chimbonda or Linvoy Primus is? It’s not a test, I’m just curious. I could probably only do the equivilent for the other big leagues but have a great interest in world football.
I personally take an interest in the English, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, Dutch, Argentine and French leagues and it’s actually easier to see Brazilian, Dutch and French football over here than the Premiership if you don’t have a big cable or satellite package and are willing to stay up late!
I know who Frankie Simek is, but had no clue on those two guys.
[/quote]
Simek used to play for Arsenal reserves if I remember rightly… American defender, yeah?
have just gotta say that i will be going away during the world cup to get away from the ranges of idiots that come out at that time.
Iceland, i think.[/quote]
I can understand that. Hate watching football in a pub where 25st cretins scream ‘man on’ every five seconds or call Rooney a c**t every time his 40 yard shot doesn’t knock the keeper into the back of the net.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
Simek used to play for Arsenal reserves if I remember rightly… American defender, yeah?[/quote]
Yes and Yes.
Frankie is with Sheffield Wednesday and they are coming to the States in July and will be playing here in Rochester in our new stadium that is set to open two weeks from tomorrow.
[quote]Jim_Bobv2 wrote:
1-packlondoner wrote:
Simek used to play for Arsenal reserves if I remember rightly… American defender, yeah?
Yes and Yes.
Frankie is with Sheffield Wednesday and they are coming to the States in July and will be playing here in Rochester in our new stadium that is set to open two weeks from tomorrow.[/quote]
I love soccer in general (Ajax off course) and off course the World Cup also.
That fifa ranking is just to laugh about… US at number 4? Also, the Netherlands don’t deserve the 3th place.
They’re good and I like the new style with van Basten, but my fear is that especially the defence doesn’t have enough experience for such a big tournament. They miss a routinier there. All the players are from AZ, and are too unexperienced in my opinion.
Unfortanetely, van Basten prefered Vennegoor of Hesselink (even his name is too big for the shirt LOL) over Huntelaar, who deserves it (if you ask me) to experience this tournament. Youth is the future and I’m dissapointed that he’s not going.
But I agree that all the arrogant assholes are gone, but maybe it’s too early for the Dutch team for outstanding results.
I’m more a Bergkamp- fan than a Nistelrooy, I know that Bergkamp said he quit but I think that if Van Basten asked him, he would say yes.
We’re in a tough poule with Argentina
What I like about the World Championships is that there are a lot of exciting games. I remember years ago when we didn’t even participate there were so many exciting games.
I do hope this time a European country wins, (but also except Germany)
The thing i like about the world cup is the often hard to believe stories about certain indivduals.
Look up jose luis chilavert, the paraguian keeper for one.
The guy speaks out against a dictatorship in his country so it is arranged for 2 heavies to pay him a visit and sort his attitude out. They dont and he serves them a beating. In addition he’s a free kick specialist and is frequently in the top scorers at his club. Only in latin america. In addition to being voted world keeper of the year 4 times, he spat on roberto carlos.
I of course am waiting for Spain to get jobbed yet again in the Quarterfinals and crash out of the tournament in their usual disappointing fashion.
(jobbed: 1994: Luis Enrique gets his nose broken by Tassotti in front of the ref in the penalty area - non-call. They were so deflated by that “jobbing” Baggio comes in and scores a sad ass goal about a minute later to clinch the win).
(jobbed: 2002: The ref overturns about 2-3 clear Spanish goals in favor of the host South Koreans. Complete bullshit. And after that ballsy victory in the 2nd round against Keane and the Irish squad - all of Spain thought they finally had the balls to make a run deep into the tourney).
Anyway, venting aside… I think Brasil is probably going to take it - and I’m calling a rematch of the 2002 final. Brasil v. Germany. (The host countries usually have a way of rising to the occassion)
I like England to go deep, but I think their hopes will lie with Rooney- as he goes so will the squad. Too many form questions to say they are a legitimate final match lock. We have to see how they look those first couple of matches to know for sure.
Argentina: I see them as a rebuilding team - I think they will be a force in 2010.
Holland: always strong - but I think they’ll bow out in the quarters
Any dark horse teams? - Czech Republic? USA? (even though they play like shite in Europe) Any of the African squads?
[quote]supermick wrote:
The thing i like about the world cup is the often hard to believe stories about certain indivduals.
Look up jose luis chilavert, the paraguian keeper for one.
The guy speaks out against a dictatorship in his country so it is arranged for 2 heavies to pay him a visit and sort his attitude out. They dont and he serves them a beating. In addition he’s a free kick specialist and is frequently in the top scorers at his club. Only in latin america. In addition to being voted world keeper of the year 4 times, he spat on roberto carlos.
What a top man.
[/quote]
Was is Chilavert that did the famous Scorpion kick in WC '98? It SOME mentalist South American keeper.
[quote]OARSMAN wrote:
I of course am waiting for Spain to get jobbed yet again in the Quarterfinals and crash out of the tournament in their usual disappointing fashion.
(jobbed: 1994: Luis Enrique gets his nose broken by Tassotti in front of the ref in the penalty area - non-call. They were so deflated by that “jobbing” Baggio comes in and scores a sad ass goal about a minute later to clinch the win).
(jobbed: 2002: The ref overturns about 2-3 clear Spanish goals in favor of the host South Koreans. Complete bullshit. And after that ballsy victory in the 2nd round against Keane and the Irish squad - all of Spain thought they finally had the balls to make a run deep into the tourney).
Anyway, venting aside… I think Brasil is probably going to take it - and I’m calling a rematch of the 2002 final. Brasil v. Germany. (The host countries usually have a way of rising to the occassion)
I like England to go deep, but I think their hopes will lie with Rooney- as he goes so will the squad. Too many form questions to say they are a legitimate final match lock. We have to see how they look those first couple of matches to know for sure.
Argentina: I see them as a rebuilding team - I think they will be a force in 2010.
Holland: always strong - but I think they’ll bow out in the quarters
Any dark horse teams? - Czech Republic? USA? (even though they play like shite in Europe) Any of the African squads?
[/quote]
Hiya,
We think we ALL have hard luck stories here… As for dark horse teams I would expect the Ivory Coast to do well.
I reckon Spain (with Cesc and Reyes) are going to have a very good WC. Hopefully not as good as England’s though - like I said before, I don’t think we’ll have ANY injury worries by the first match. I think it was all a trick.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
supermick wrote:
The thing i like about the world cup is the often hard to believe stories about certain indivduals.
Look up jose luis chilavert, the paraguian keeper for one.
The guy speaks out against a dictatorship in his country so it is arranged for 2 heavies to pay him a visit and sort his attitude out. They dont and he serves them a beating. In addition he’s a free kick specialist and is frequently in the top scorers at his club. Only in latin america. In addition to being voted world keeper of the year 4 times, he spat on roberto carlos.
What a top man.
Was is Chilavert that did the famous Scorpion kick in WC '98? It SOME mentalist South American keeper.[/quote]
Not too sure.
I know rene higuita (sp) the columbian mentalist and all round bad boy did one in a friendly against England. To be honest, judging by his size he, chilivert doesnt look the type to scorpio kick anything.
Must have been some latino mad man though.
[quote]supermick wrote:
The thing i like about the world cup is the often hard to believe stories about certain indivduals.
Look up jose luis chilavert, the paraguian keeper for one.
The guy speaks out against a dictatorship in his country so it is arranged for 2 heavies to pay him a visit and sort his attitude out. They dont and he serves them a beating. In addition he’s a free kick specialist and is frequently in the top scorers at his club. Only in latin america. In addition to being voted world keeper of the year 4 times, he spat on roberto carlos.
[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
UtahLama wrote:
As one of only 467 soccer fans in the U.S. I have a couple of comments.
Every year the U.S. gets no love and with the exception of ‘98’ they have overachieved.
All of my friends in England are in a tizzy over Jenas and Theo Walcott.
Once again the U.S. is stuck in the Group of Death while Mexico, who we placed over in CONCAF qualies gets a easier road.
My 2 cents
lol at fan number 467. When I was in Chicago I think I met numbers 465 and 466.
The US did brilliantly last WC and I thought it was a real shame they didn’t get the respect and treatment they deserved from the US media and general public. I guess there’s a general feeling amongst non-football (can’t use the S****r word. sorry) fans that if you didn’t win it, you failed at it.
If there’s one thing the US is good at, it’s producing top class athletes.
Now add to that ever-improving coaching abilities and I guess it’s only a matter of time before you guys win it. Some time after us, obviously
[/quote]
Proportionately this isn’t actually true at all. If you were to combine the uk, france, sweden, germany, and austria, and switzerland, you would find that we had many more great sportsmen for the equal population. Hence 75 of the top 100 ranked tennis players are european. Combining Europe’s medal total at the last olympics would have seen 4x the amount of medals the u.s had. Also a European soccer team would certainly be the best in the world, and how many eastern europeans do you see winning worlds strongest man? EU member Poland comes to mind. And don’t forget that Europe also hold the ryder cup! The world’s premier cricket team, ENGLAND are also from europe.
My point is that the success of the US is only because they have a large pool to choose from, and when you see how large the pool is it isn’t REALLY that much success…
England are definately favourites in my mind with everyone fit.
In Robinson England have one of the best upcoming keepers in Europe. At left back we have probably the best attacking left back in the world in Ashley Cole. Then at centre backs we have the best in Terry and the most expensive in Rio. At right back we then have Neville who is right up there, dependable and works well with becks on the right. Then in midfield we have officially the 2nd and 3rd best players in the world (in gerrard and lamps) as voted for in the fifa world player of the year awards. On the right we have becks, who has the most assists in La Liga this season and is stil a superstar.
And on the left we have the most improved player in the Premiership, Joe Cole, good enough for Chelsea so the same must apply for anyone else. Then up front we have Owen, one of the best goalscoring talents in Europe, and sure to become Englands leading scorer of all time at some stage. He is paired with Rooney, the hottest young talent in world football, need I say more?
[quote]alstan90 wrote:
Proportionately this isn’t actually true at all. If you were to combine the uk, france, sweden, germany, and austria, and switzerland, you would find that we had many more great sportsmen for the equal population. Hence 75 of the top 100 ranked tennis players are european. Combining Europe’s medal total at the last olympics would have seen 4x the amount of medals the u.s had. Also a European soccer team would certainly be the best in the world, and how many eastern europeans do you see winning worlds strongest man? EU member Poland comes to mind. And don’t forget that Europe also hold the ryder cup! The world’s premier cricket team, ENGLAND are also from europe.
My point is that the success of the US is only because they have a large pool to choose from, and when you see how large the pool is it isn’t REALLY that much success…[/quote]
Hi mate,
To clarify my earlier point - I said ‘top class athletes’ not ‘top class sportsmen and women’ or ‘top class competitors’. If you think that any quality issues with the US football team stem from strength or conditioning concerns I’d say you were mental…
I then went on to say that it’s the improving quality of coaches (plus ever increasing popularity)out there that will make a difference eventually.
[quote]alstan90 wrote:
England are definately favourites in my mind with everyone fit.
In Robinson England have one of the best upcoming keepers in Europe. At left back we have probably the best attacking left back in the world in Ashley Cole. Then at centre backs we have the best in Terry and the most expensive in Rio. At right back we then have Neville who is right up there, dependable and works well with becks on the right. Then in midfield we have officially the 2nd and 3rd best players in the world (in gerrard and lamps) as voted for in the fifa world player of the year awards. On the right we have becks, who has the most assists in La Liga this season and is stil a superstar.
And on the left we have the most improved player in the Premiership, Joe Cole, good enough for Chelsea so the same must apply for anyone else. Then up front we have Owen, one of the best goalscoring talents in Europe, and sure to become Englands leading scorer of all time at some stage. He is paired with Rooney, the hottest young talent in world football, need I say more?
We think we ALL have hard luck stories here… As for dark horse teams I would expect the Ivory Coast to do well.[/quote]
Yeah… I hear ya… I figure the English are still a little sore over the “Hand of God” goal in '86…
[quote]
I reckon Spain (with Cesc and Reyes) are going to have a very good WC. [/quote]
Yeah, but that’s the problem - every WC since '86 they have (plug in X and Y player) and look to have a very good WC - but as always they always seem to fail at the moment of truth. (i.e. can’t net the crucial goal). So we’ll see…
[quote]
Hopefully not as good as England’s though - like I said before, I don’t think we’ll have ANY injury worries by the first match. I think it was all a trick. [/quote]
We shall see… Sven playing mind games?? Interesting. Should be a fun Cup - can’t wait for it to begin.
I know rene higuita (sp) the columbian mentalist and all round bad boy did one in a friendly against England. To be honest, judging by his size he, chilivert doesnt look the type to scorpio kick anything.
Must have been some latino mad man though.[/quote]
Well we played Columbia in 98 so maybe that was the chap I’m thinking of. He’s the nutty long-haired biker gangster goalkeeper isn’t he?
[quote]mightyjuppe wrote:
HEJA SVERIGE!!! HEJA SVERIGE!!!
LETS GO SWEDEN!!! LETS GO SWEDEN!!![/quote]
Definite Dark Horse team. Lots of offensive firepower. Could definitely make a run like they did in '94 if your goalie keeps the ball out of the net.
Did anyone see Larssen blow Arsenal up in the Champions League Final? - he pretty much turned what would have been the ultimate choke job by FC Barcelona into a cheap victory for the Catalans. (Arsenal fans: have you shot your goalies yet? )
So yeah - the Swedes have some horses - that Larssen/Ljundberg combo is definitely top class.
