2014 World Cup Thread

[Unkotare]

Personally, I don't care if you like the sport or not, Unk. Nor do I care that you like sumo wrestling. That's your business.

Stop right there and you're all set. You have to admit that soccer fans in the US (few though they are) get very defensive about it.

 

[Merchant_of_Meh]

Personally, I don't care if you like the sport or not, Unk. Nor do I care that you like sumo wrestling. That's your business.

Stop right there and you're all set. You have to admit that soccer fans in the US (few though they are) get very defensive about it.

Go into a NFL thread and slag it off. They'll get defensive too. Its not a soccer thing.

 

[Toro]

Personally, I don't care if you like the sport or not, Unk. Nor do I care that you like sumo wrestling. That's your business.

Stop right there and you're all set. You have to admit that soccer fans in the US (few though they are) get very defensive about it.

Yeah, sometimes we are. We can be a bit snobbish and insufferable at times too. And some of the criticisms of the sport, like all the playacting, are valid.

But I cannot think of any other sport that gets slammed in America like soccer. You mentioned golf. How many times will you hear American commentators talk about how boring golf is? I've never heard it. Or baseball? There aren't even 10 minutes of action in a typical 3 hour baseball game. Yet God forbid if anyone criticizes America's National Pastime. But soccer is foreign, so some Americans feel safe ridiculing it. I'm not going to criticize people for liking baseball or golf (or sumo wrestling for that matter).

If soccer is not your thing, fine. But the "soccer is boring" brigade is old.

 

[Unkotare]

Personally, I don't care if you like the sport or not, Unk. Nor do I care that you like sumo wrestling. That's your business.

Stop right there and you're all set. You have to admit that soccer fans in the US (few though they are) get very defensive about it.

Go into a NFL thread and slag it off. They'll get defensive too. Its not a soccer thing.

Start such a thread and try it. Conduct the experiment.

 

[Unkotare]

Personally, I don't care if you like the sport or not, Unk. Nor do I care that you like sumo wrestling. That's your business.

Stop right there and you're all set. You have to admit that soccer fans in the US (few though they are) get very defensive about it.

Yeah, sometimes we are. We can be a bit snobbish and insufferable at times too. And some of the criticisms of the sport, like all the playacting, are valid.

But I cannot think of any other sport that gets slammed in America like soccer. You mentioned golf. How many times will you hear American commentators talk about how boring golf is? I've never heard it. Or baseball? There aren't even 10 minutes of action in a typical 3 hour baseball game. Yet God forbid if anyone criticizes America's National Pastime.

Commentators talk about the speed and length of game in baseball all the time. In particular, there is often a lot of debate over ways to make pitchers speed-up their time between pitches (which can really slow down a game). In recent years there have been much-discussed efforts at shortening catcher-pitcher mound conferences, and how much time a reliever can take getting from the pen to the mound. So, God does not forbid such discussion, and baseball fans don't feel personally challenged by it.

Soccer gets "slammed" a lot in America mostly - I believe - due to the conspicuous efforts at 'forcing' Americans to looooooove it because "the rest of the world does!" That approach doesn't go over well with Americans, as you know. Nobody angrily demands that Americans loooooooove football (you know what I mean). The sport is very popular on its own merits. If most people in Tbilisi don't go nuts over the NFL I don't take it personally.

 

[Zander]

The Tico's were simply outclassed and their "milagro" run is over. It was great fun while it lasted!!

PURA VIDA!!!!

 

[Toro]

I was rooting for Costa Rica, but Holland deserved to go through. I thought the Ticos would win on penalties since the Dutch squandered chance after chance, and I began to think, "It's going to be one of those days." And as much as I would have liked to have seen Costa Rica go to the semis, Argentina v the Netherlands will be a better match.

I picked Brazil v Argentina in the final, and I'll stick to that.

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

Nah. The Dutch penalty shooters are assassins.

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

It will be a Germany Argentina Final.

 

[Merchant_of_Meh]

Gotta say...CONCACAF represented so well in this tournament. Best I've seen ever. Only Honduras blew it for the region by being scrubs.

All 4 Semi-finalists are deserved and not at all surprising. I personally now have to root for the Dutch as they are the only one of the 4 not to win a World Cup (Brazil have 5, Germany have 3, Argentina have 2). Would be amazing for them to do it here.

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

I don't think CONCACAF was any better than I've seen in the past tbh. I think the field just doesn't have that many dominant teams. The favorites made the semis, but they weren't dominant. Germany and Netherlands have shown flashes of dominance though.

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The biggest hurdle for soccer to overcome in order to gain acceptance in the USA is that players need to stop acting like, well, ******* faggots who collapse at the slightest touch.

We like our athletes to act like they're at the peak of their game even when injured: Wills Reed, Kirk Gibson and the iconic one for me is hockey player Ron Flockhart who caught a stick to the face behind the goal and suffered a gash that needed many stitches to close, yet still came out to start the next period, after the ground crew cleaned all the blood off the ice.

Talented as he is Neymar loves to fall and writhe on the pitch at any contact and he's like the Boy Who Cried Foul. This time he really got hurt and instead of getting red carded, Zuniga got off scott free.

You want Americans to take your sport seriously take Vito Corleone's advice: Act like a Man!!

 

[Zander]

The biggest hurdle for soccer to overcome in order to gain acceptance in the USA is that players need to stop acting like, well, ******* faggots who collapse at the slightest touch.

We like our athletes to act like they're at the peak of their game even when injured: Wills Reed, Kirk Gibson and the iconic one for me is hockey player Ron Flockhart who caught a stick to the face behind the goal and suffered a gash that needed many stitches to close, yet still came out to start the next period, after the ground crew cleaned all the blood off the ice.

Talented as he is Neymar loves to fall and writhe on the pitch at any contact and he's like the Boy Who Cried Foul. This time he really got hurt and instead of getting red carded, Zuniga got off scott free.

You want Americans to take your sport seriously take Vito Corleone's advice: Act like a Man!!

Yep, and the crying has to go too. Whimpering like a little ***** everytime you lose is not gonna fly....

 

[Merchant_of_Meh]

Germany have utterly destroyed Brazil so far. Not just talking about the team either. The whole country as well.

Ultinately, I think is more down to Brazil's inept defending than Germany's incisive finishing. They've been their typical ruthless selves. They just found an extremely vulnerable victim and have shown no mercy, as expected.

 

[TheOldSchool]

The streets will be in flames in Brazil tonight

 

[Unkotare]

Not a good night for German tourists to be wandering the favelas.

 

[Nutz]

The Nazi flags will be waving in Germany tonight.

 

[Toro]

That was one of the most amazing results I have ever seen in any sport.

 

[Zander]

The Germans kicked the life out of the entire nation of Brazil.

It was a mugging. Destroyed. Crushed. Aniihillated. Stock Markets will crash. Cities will burn.


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