World Cup Only Weeks Away!

Off Topic
141

[quote]OARSMAN wrote:

Spanish boss Aragones is an idiot for not capping Morientes. I just hope Spain will not regret that decision.

[/quote]

A big fat racist idiot if I remember correctly after the comments about Thierry Henry he made to Reyes.

What about Joaquim (sp?) and Etxeberria? I figured both would start.

Also, I reckon an Alonso/Fabregas centre midfield partnership would provide a great balance of physical presence and creative passing.

Agree about Raul. They say that form is temporary and class is permanent but I haven’t seen anything special from him for about three years now. Also agree that Morientes still has something to offer.

142

[quote]BSims wrote:
Oarsman:

So what you are telling me is soccer players in general only put their best effort forward when the game is considered BIG?

wooo, i could go off on that one if that is true.[/quote]

no. I am saying the game play (i.e. more aggressive offense, more risk taking) rises a notch when they are in an international elimination tournament. (like Champions League, Copa Libertadores, European Championships, or the World Cup).

Think of it this way - it’s the difference between Regular Season Basketball and Game 7 of the Playoffs Basketball. Is that a clear enough analogy?

143

[quote]OARSMAN wrote:
no. I am saying the game play (i.e. more aggressive offense, more risk taking) rises a notch when they are in an international elimination tournament. (like Champions League, Copa Libertadores, European Championships, or the World Cup).
[/quote]

Fair point…

Many players will never play in more than one World Cup, especially those from smaller nations, whilst many others are doing all they can to put themselves in the shop window (See Senegal’s progress and subsequent ill-advised moves for players like ‘spitty’ El-Hadj Diouf to Liverpool last time out).

Add to that it’s the biggest stage for football and the pinnacle of the sport that only comes around once every four years, and it’s no surprise that for the most part the quality of football and the entertainment value is through the roof.

Truly the greatest show on Earth.

Except the Banana Bar in Amsterdam. That girl was an amazing shot - nearly took my eye out! :wink:

144

[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:
And I am almost incoherent with excitement…

Not just about England’s chances but the whole spectacle - the adverts - the gorgeous Brazilian women in the crowd every time they play - oh, and the best players in the world coming together - everything.

RE England - I’m not blinded by patriotism here but it IS true that we have the best team we’ve had in the last 10 years and so I expect us to do well. Not saying we’ll win it by any stretch but I think for any team other than Brazil getting to the semis has to be seen as doing well and having had a good tournament. Anything after that is in the lap of the footballing Gods.

Just wondered how everyone else was containing their excitement and what their thoughts were on this year’s competition and, as this is an international community, their thoughts on other national teams and secret weapons a la England with Theo Walcott.

Right, off to start sticking up England flags and hoping I don’t look like a National Front member!
[/quote]

I have not read this thread yet but I have high hopes that it’ll be another laugh riot (eg Balbos, Don’t Leave!)
HH

145

Disappointed! Who’d have thought that SOCCER would NOT be shredded here? Are we turning into a Crossfit site?

I like kicking, but its to someone else’s head, not after some horseshit ball.

SOCCER!?! Here??? WTF???

146

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Disappointed! Who’d have thought that SOCCER would NOT be shredded here? Are we turning into a Crossfit site?

I like kicking, but its to someone else’s head, not after some horseshit ball.

SOCCER!?! Here??? WTF???[/quote]

lol… Knew it was only a matter of time.

And yet its less interesting than American football which to my mind is summed up thus?

Run for five seconds.
Stop.
Get breath back.
Have a conversation for 2 minutes.
Run for five seconds.
Knock someone over.
Knocked over person gets cross.
Stop.
Get breath back.
Have a conversation for 2 minutes.
Score touchdown.
Do a silly dance.
Get breath back.
Repeat.

If you like kicking heads, might I siggest you come to a Millwall, Cardiff, Lazio or Roma game. I’m sure the fans would be happy to oblige.

As stated in a previous post - In football (or ‘sawker’ to you) the players get on with playing the beautiful gsme and leave the fans to do the kicking.

Not that I approve of that, naturally… lol

147

siggest?

SUGGEST. Lousy keyboard.

148

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Disappointed! Who’d have thought that SOCCER would NOT be shredded here? Are we turning into a Crossfit site?

I like kicking, but its to someone else’s head, not after some horseshit ball.

SOCCER!?! Here??? WTF???[/quote]

Fuck you. Now u want to come kick my head in, bring it fatty.

149

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Disappointed! Who’d have thought that SOCCER would NOT be shredded here? Are we turning into a Crossfit site?

I like kicking, but its to someone else’s head, not after some horseshit ball.

SOCCER!?! Here??? WTF???[/quote]

Believe it or not tough guy guys who lift weights and played College (American) Football like soccer also. So take your stereotyped attitude and kick yourself in your own ass. Tool.

150

i havetn read through all of this…but all your brits will be happy to know that Phil Neville just got drafted into the england reserve squad and is now one injury to midfield or defense away from making it to Deutschland

rooney will be fine i just hope sven doesnt ruin him for next season when United will be in top form once again.

shame about henry only playing for about 35 minutes in the champions league and f’ing up to clear chances to give Le’arse the win.

I look forward to the US playing well, but there group is hard as all hell. Mexico got off easy.

Cassano didnt make the world cup squad last i checked so whoever said fear cassano for the italians was incorrect. the Italians are going to be a mess, especially with all this match fixing shit going down

my pick is obviously brazil who are the odds on favorite but if i had to pick a someone else it would be england. I also think Portugal have the chance to go pretty far although i doubt they can win it.

And WTF is up with England Naming McClaren manager post WC. What a joke

151

[quote]biltritewave wrote:
i havetn read through all of this…but all your brits will be happy to know that Phil Neville just got drafted into the england reserve squad and is now one injury to midfield or defense away from making it to Deutschland

[/quote]

PLEASE TELL ME THAT IS A FUCKING JOKE!!???

I can tell you for certain that that IS a fucking joke! His own club were going to fire him at Christmas and now all of a sudden he’s good enough for England?

152

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Disappointed! Who’d have thought that SOCCER would NOT be shredded here? Are we turning into a Crossfit site?

I like kicking, but its to someone else’s head, not after some horseshit ball.

SOCCER!?! Here??? WTF???[/quote]

And Americans wonder why Europeans think we are all retards…

Jeez, you are a fucking moron.

And quite illustrative of my earlier point on how most Americans perceive any “non-American” sports as wholly inferior.

And 1pack - your rudimentary slag of American football also lumps you in the same boat as our retarded friend here…

153

[quote]OARSMANwrote:
And Americans wonder why Europeans think we are all retards…

Jeez, you are a fucking moron.

And quite illustrative of my earlier point on how most Americans perceive any “non-American” sports as wholly inferior.

And 1pack - your rudimentary slag of American football also lumps you in the same boat as our retarded friend here…

[/quote]

Did I just get called a retard? Hows about you go get fucked? :wink:

I can appreciate the physicality and whatever but as a spectator sport it just drives me crazy.

I find it soo stop-start that I want to put my foot through the tv and I might be way off here (don’t claim a strong knowledge of the sport) but people genuinely seem to spend more time talking/huddling than doing anything resembling playing a game.

As for my breakdown. It was about as informed about American Football as the initial post was about ‘proper’ football (still can’t use the S-word), which was the intention, in a poor attempt at irony, when someone came onto this football thread specifically to slag it off.

Please don’t try to explain what I’m missing out on - I’ll take your word for it. It may well be the single greatest sport ever invented but to use a Samuel L. Jackson quote as an analogy:

‘Sewer rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I’ll never know because I’ll never eat the filthy motherfucker’.

I will never watch another American football game - But anyway that rant is best saved for another thread. Because this thread is about football and the World Cup, although as thread starter I’m reserving the right from now on to insult any sport I so choose.

Right now it’s Curling, which I have lovingly broken down thus:

Ghey underarm throw
Frantic sweeping
Repeat

And that for some reason constitutes an Olympic sport? What IS the world coming to? Still it’s good to know that janitors and roadsweepers can also dream of one day being Olympic champ.

And don’t even get me started on Luge! Falling down a hill on a tea tray? What a load of old bollocks. We used to do that down the stairs when I was 5. No-one ever game me a medal. Just a clip round the ear for breaking my nan’s ornaments as I ended up a scabby-knee’d heap at the botom of the stairwell.

Lots of love - The retard.

154

[quote]1-packlondoner wrote:

Did I just get called a retard? Hows about you go get fucked? :wink: [/quote]

Yes, 1-pack, I called you a retard for lowering yourself to the original retard’s level. LOL

[quote]
I can appreciate the physicality and whatever but as a spectator sport it just drives me crazy. p/quote]

seriously, 1-pack, you don’t really understand American football - just like the other guy doesn’t really understand any of the inherent strategy or artistry involved in regular football. My parents are Spanish, so I was raised to appreciate regular football - but being born and raised in the US I also loooove and appreciate American football.

Actually, barring hardcore final level knockout tournament matches in football, the NFL and high level university football is generally more exciting to watch than “soccer” on TV(at least for me) - why? There is usually much more parity (evenly matched teams) so the games are more exciting - also a football season only has 16 regular season games - so you can’t slag a few games here and there - a few losses and no post-season tournament. Rather exciting stuff - but I fear you would have to pretty much live in the US for a few years to really get the feel for American football culture.

Also, I think it’s different (for the better actually) in that it isn’t a situation as in most of the big European leagues where all the class is accumulated in 4-5 good teams. For example, it’s pretty boring that Barcelona and Real Madrid have won over 80% of the Liga titles in the history of the tournament - or that Bayern pretty much wins every year in the Bundesliga- or that Juve, Inter or AC Milan pretty much win the Scudetto every year. In American football the system is set up so that every team has a decent shot at the title - that makes for more exciting football.

[quote]
I find it soo stop-start that I want to put my foot through the tv and I might be way off here (don’t claim a strong knowledge of the sport) but people genuinely seem to spend more time talking/huddling than doing anything resembling playing a game.[/quote]

true - but remember that American football is a mutation of rugby union and that the games take almost 4 hours to play. Also please remember that extremely large men are plowing into each other and the other guys on the field are SPRINTING 30-40 yards downfield not jogging on every play - I don’t think even regular footballers can do that on a consistent basis. Most of football is spent jogging around when that player does not have the ball.

[quote]
Lots of love - The retard. [/quote]

right back at ya!

155

Alright! I managed to piss off all the soccer weenies! I disturbed them from running up and down and kicking a ball…how terrible!!!

You guys are a laugh riot! Shouldn’t you be posting over on the Crossfit site?

This site is about bodybuilding, powerlifting, fighting, and so forth …not kicking a little white ball around while dopey fans riot in the stands. WTF?

LMAO!!!

HH

156

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Alright! I managed to piss off all the soccer weenies! I disturbed them from running up and down and kicking a ball…how terrible!!!

You guys are a laugh riot! Shouldn’t you be posting over on the Crossfit site?

This site is about bodybuilding, powerlifting, fighting, and so forth …not kicking a little white ball around while dopey fans riot in the stands. WTF?

LMAO!!!

HH[/quote]

You are a cock.
This was posted in the off topic section. Hence soccer is ‘off topic’ from bodybuilding, fighting and powerlifting.

Out of interest, what is your sport? PL? BB? let me guess - your into MMA?

157

Let?s get it on ladies. Last time, we were the shittiest team ever to make it into a WC Final Game. This time we are not much better, but it`s homecourt advantage!!!

54 74 90 06

Now go practice your penalty kicks:

158

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Alright! I managed to piss off all the soccer weenies! I disturbed them from running up and down and kicking a ball…how terrible!!!

You guys are a laugh riot! Shouldn’t you be posting over on the Crossfit site?

This site is about bodybuilding, powerlifting, fighting, and so forth …not kicking a little white ball around while dopey fans riot in the stands. WTF?

LMAO!!!

HH[/quote]

Yep, well done. Aren’t you a clever little sausage? I actually thought that this website was free of pointless trolls.

And Mick, as for what he’s into, I’m guessing cock. As much as possible.

159

[quote]OARSMAN wrote:
1-packlondoner wrote:

Did I just get called a retard? Hows about you go get fucked? :wink:

Yes, 1-pack, I called you a retard for lowering yourself to the original retard’s level. LOL

I can appreciate the physicality and whatever but as a spectator sport it just drives me crazy. p/quote]

seriously, 1-pack, you don’t really understand American football - just like the other guy doesn’t really understand any of the inherent strategy or artistry involved in regular football. My parents are Spanish, so I was raised to appreciate regular football - but being born and raised in the US I also loooove and appreciate American football.

Actually, barring hardcore final level knockout tournament matches in football, the NFL and high level university football is generally more exciting to watch than “soccer” on TV(at least for me) - why? There is usually much more parity (evenly matched teams) so the games are more exciting - also a football season only has 16 regular season games - so you can’t slag a few games here and there - a few losses and no post-season tournament. Rather exciting stuff - but I fear you would have to pretty much live in the US for a few years to really get the feel for American football culture.

Also, I think it’s different (for the better actually) in that it isn’t a situation as in most of the big European leagues where all the class is accumulated in 4-5 good teams. For example, it’s pretty boring that Barcelona and Real Madrid have won over 80% of the Liga titles in the history of the tournament - or that Bayern pretty much wins every year in the Bundesliga- or that Juve, Inter or AC Milan pretty much win the Scudetto every year. In American football the system is set up so that every team has a decent shot at the title - that makes for more exciting football.

I find it soo stop-start that I want to put my foot through the tv and I might be way off here (don’t claim a strong knowledge of the sport) but people genuinely seem to spend more time talking/huddling than doing anything resembling playing a game.

true - but remember that American football is a mutation of rugby union and that the games take almost 4 hours to play. Also please remember that extremely large men are plowing into each other and the other guys on the field are SPRINTING 30-40 yards downfield not jogging on every play - I don’t think even regular footballers can do that on a consistent basis. Most of football is spent jogging around when that player does not have the ball.

Lots of love - The retard.

right back at ya!
[/quote]

So pleased you didn’t stick up for curling then!

Ok, as I really really don’t want to talk about American football I’ll just say it IS possible to understand a game and STILL not like it.

As I said before the physical aspect of it is very impressive but it just winds me up. The tactical subtleties will probably always elude me - Just as in the same way I’m really into F1 but can appreciate that all my friends who detest it will never see beyond the fact that its 20 cars going round and round.

Likewise, watching people chatting and huddling is not, and will NEVER be a form of entertainment to me.

But each to their own.

160

[quote]hotsauce wrote:
Let?s get it on ladies. Last time, we were the shittiest team ever to make it into a WC Final Game. This time we are not much better, but it`s homecourt advantage!!!

54 74 90 06

Now go practice your penalty kicks:

[/quote]

Great video - The flash bastard.

Yey, we finally have a German opinion on the thread. Thoughts on your squad and chances?

It seems that you guys are the least popular world cup hosts ever, at least if the opinions here are anything to go by! Everyone’s written you off but time and time again you bring it together when it matters.

I have this nagging feeling (dream/hope) that it’ll be a Germany-England final.