The Official Football Thread

[fertygo]

Well its depend Madrid's press want to "murder" him like they did with capello or not, if mou always bitchin" about italian press behavior to him then no way in the hell he' find situation on madrid's is better.

Btw Chamakh as RvP cover ?
I think he will be starter' on your team

[KiNA]

I really wished that we revert back to 442.. or if you ask me, 4312/4132 (with AA23 playing in the hole behind RvP and MC/ or Song playing behind 3 CMs) .. but there are no such luck.. as our 433 formation are used thoroughout the club, down to the academy.. to switch back are quite @.@

[Terrestrial Dream]

Korea played Japan today and it went kinda of like this.

Exception being Japan didn't score three goals and 60,000 Japanese supporters were outcheered by the 3000 Korean supporters . So yeah pretty close to above video .


on the side note anyone seen this ad? Amazing ad imo.

[CuXe]

LOL... .this is the right time to pull my Stephen Chow Soccer movie to get all pumped up for the worldcup... aggrr I wonder why he didn't keep on making "funny" movies like that... I've seen a great deal of Asian movies and his had this uniquely funny aura to them.

Spoiler for Space - Shaolin Soccer:

[germanturkey]

i meant cover in the way that if RVP gets hurt, someone can fill the hole he leaves. ie. not bendtner. he'll probably start on the right if we use 4-3-3.

[solomon]

Everyone here pumped up for 11 June?.

Heh, I am a Yank who actually has read up on the status of the US team so I am like UBER minority. My job will be pretty time consuming this summer , but I think i'll watch our bout with england.

World Cup will actually get decent coverage on ESPN cable channel here but once again outside of that service only obligatory coverage. Honestly, no one cares here

Oh yea that Japan Adidas commercial is F&#@ING WIN!!

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by CuXe

LOL... .this is the right time to pull my Stephen Chow Soccer movie to get all pumped up for the worldcup... aggrr I wonder why he didn't keep on making "funny" movies like that... I've seen a great deal of Asian movies and his had this uniquely funny aura to them.

Spoiler for Space - Shaolin Soccer:

Yeah, I watched Shaolin Soccer a lot of times, it was hilarious. It was really over the top, but that was what makes it very funny. I liked it better than Stephen Chow's newer work, Kung Fu Hustle, but maybe that's just the soccer fan in me. I didn't hear any newer movies after that though...

Originally Posted by solomon

Everyone here pumped up for 11 June?.

Heh, I am a Yank who actually has read up on the status of the US team so I am like UBER minority. My job will be pretty time consuming this summer , but I think i'll watch our bout with england.

World Cup will actually get decent coverage on ESPN cable channel here but once again outside of that service only obligatory coverage. Honestly, no one cares here

Oh yea that Japan Adidas commercial is F&#@ING WIN!!

Yeah, of course I'm pumped! Coming from an Asian country that is years away from being strong enough to compete in the World Cup, I don't have my own nation to support though, so I'm mostly being an impartial supporter. I suppose now that I'm living in Netherlands I should support them though. They are a strong team with good players, (Robben and Sneijder in particular really shine this season), a good contender for a cup although not being a clear favorite. But really, I'm mostly there to enjoy world-class soccer plays without any specific team to root for.

And yes, that commercial is WIN in the highest degree. First time I saw it I just stop and stand there watching through all of it, it's been a really long time since I was that focused in watching a commercial. Great stuff.

[Sparvid]

Well, no home country to cheer on, on behalf of being too sucky to qualify...

I guess it would be nice for England if they succeeded in a big tournament for once. I used to say that I'd like to see Spain and England play in a final, since that would mean that how much they both failed, one of them was bound to win anyway. But then Spain went and won the European Championship.

[solomon]

I hear in some countries, the WC is SO popular the entire nation comes to a freaking halt. Apparently, if you miss work (dependent on your field) it's not a big deal cause sometimes supervisors are also watching the match.

Is this true in your countries?

I saw an anime original ep of Shin Chan where the Nohara's all stay up and watch the World Cup late at night. When Hiroshi (the dad) goes to work all groggy, the company meeting is at a stand still, cause all the stiffs were groggy from staying up late too!

I know if you tried and pull that crap in America, your ass would be fired though.

[germanturkey]

well, the World Cup did stop the civil war the Ivory Coast was having..

and personally, during the last world cup, my high school teachers let us watch the games while they were on. but of course it was basically the end of the year.

[Shinndou]

Originally Posted by solomon

I hear in some countries, the WC is SO popular the entire nation comes to a freaking halt. Apparently, if you miss work (dependent on your field) it's not a big deal cause sometimes supervisors are also watching the match.

Is this true in your countries?

I saw an anime original ep of Shin Chan where the Nohara's all stay up and watch the World Cup late at night. When Hiroshi (the dad) goes to work all groggy, the company meeting is at a stand still, cause all the stiffs were groggy from staying up late too!

I know if you tried and pull that crap in America, your ass would be fired though.

The day after the final in 2006 world cup I was supposed to have an exam at uni. However due to the fact we reached the final (and won the cup) I obviously stayed up all night celebrating the victory with everyone on the streets.

So basically the following morning everyone was so wasted (even our professor, haha) that no one in the room did really care if they could concentrate on the test. Some people didn't even get a hour of sleep and just went to the exam wearing the italy shirt they wore the night before, lol

[Bri]

Originally Posted by solomon

I hear in some countries, the WC is SO popular the entire nation comes to a freaking halt. Apparently, if you miss work (dependent on your field) it's not a big deal cause sometimes supervisors are also watching the match.

Is this true in your countries?

I saw an anime original ep of Shin Chan where the Nohara's all stay up and watch the World Cup late at night. When Hiroshi (the dad) goes to work all groggy, the company meeting is at a stand still, cause all the stiffs were groggy from staying up late too!

I know if you tried and pull that crap in America, your ass would be fired though.

Yup, it's true. Football isn't just popular, it's part of the national identity. The World Cup is only once every four years like the Olympics, but is considered way more important. Just like on national holidays work slows down.

At least one match of our national team will be played under office hours. Newspapers reported that at least 25% of the working population will take a day off.

A lot of companies will allow people to watch it at work, simply if they didn't people would probably call in sick. Work is slow during those days anyway so they don't care, besides the management will want to see the matches too. Most schools will probably close early as well. During game time streets are guaranteed to be empty.

[solomon]

Amazing, no domestic sporting event would do that. NO, not even the Super Bowl.

[Saturn Beaver]

In my country Indonesia, due to time zone differences most of the time it's already late at night when the matches are on (I remember staying up to Calcio matches at 2AM) so there's no watching at home. And despite our national team never being on world cup, the excitement runs very high.

When it's champion league finals (sometimes even semi, if it's big match) or any particular big matches in the world cup, you can find the bars and restaurants packed with people wearing uniforms of the team they support surrounding a large TV screen. The TV, as well other sorts of football related entertainments is provided by the place. Even at the suburbs and the villages they will gather a place at watch it from the TV. I think for some after the World Cup Finals they specifically asks for a half day or full day leave from work to sleep in. Yeah, I think football is the most popular sport here.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by solomon

I hear in some countries, the WC is SO popular the entire nation comes to a freaking halt. Apparently, if you miss work (dependent on your field) it's not a big deal cause sometimes supervisors are also watching the match.

Is this true in your countries?

One time, the Headmaster suspended all morning lessons and let all the pupils gather in the main hall to watch England vs Brazil on a theatre like screen.

Another time when we were having exams in our school, the teacher in charge gave us goal updates since one of the England matches was on at the time.

[yoropa]

Originally Posted by solomon

I hear in some countries, the WC is SO popular the entire nation comes to a freaking halt. Apparently, if you miss work (dependent on your field) it's not a big deal cause sometimes supervisors are also watching the match.

Is this true in your countries?

When I was in Jordan for the 2006 World Cup, this was the case, and they weren't even in the tournament! I remember I was in the biggest mall in the capital city of Amman, in the food court. A cafe suddenly busted out an enormous, flatscreen, widescreen, HDTV to broadcast a game. Hundreds of people gathered. This was especially shocking since at this time, the standard of living was incredibly low and so something like that television was 100% foreign to me in this nation.

I later was in Aqaba, the port city and a beach resort town. At the resort, they pulled out a projector and started projecting the matches onto the side of an entire, 5-story, hotel building. Even more it was in such a manner that you were able to be in the water, swimming about, while watching the game.

This is why I'm so sad I'm stuck in America for the World Cup. There isn't enough hype, and it's not as fun here as it is in other countries.

Does anybody know where I can buy World Cup jerseys? I specifically want Algeria and ROK, and it's hard to find anything outside the general popular ones like Brazil and stuff.

[germanturkey]

my cousin was in italy for the 2006 world cup. when they won, she said you could literally hear the whole country yelling.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by solomon

Amazing, no domestic sporting event would do that. NO, not even the Super Bowl.

Hence why this is truly a World international event that encompasses the world on a similar level to the Olympics.
Superbowl is mainly an American thing.
The massive hype to reference of yoropa's post seems to be with American Football and Baseball and that's about it, as far as I can tell.
Basketball national finals, probably gets something similar, but no... I don't think the country would turn to a standstill or have that fan crazed atmosphere for football. as it does in Europe. I think it's just reserved for the finals of American football (which is what superbowl is iirc).

I'm gonna miss not being in London, with other 50 ethnic minorities living together in the country of 'The beautiful game', and pubs in every corner, you can bet it totally transforms the city.
There's is beautiful energy of.. unity among us all. Yeah we're cheering for the other team to lose, but the colours of the fans, having people run for any pub, tv shop or any screen while waiting for the bus just to see what's going on is the same.

Strangers striking up convo with other strangers about it, no matter their level of knowledge on the game or the sport.
People milling around in the streets, just to see what's going on.
Extra TVs in offices. The fantasy league. Office bets on who'd win. Long ass debates and discussions on foul refs, best goals, the cheekiest players (and violent ones)
And of course, those penalty moments when the world stands still and holds their breaths.
Those actions and emotions are felt amongst all humans who are interested in it.

So so so so so much influence and fun on this sport, like no other.
Football truly does unite the world once every 4 years and I'm happy for it.
Here's hoping that S.Africa also shows the world the spirit of Africa culturally in music and dance and hospitiality, reminding the world that the entire continent is not one mass of starving, dying people.

Bring on the 11th, I'm not sure how Tokyo will prepare for this or if the zeal will be felt (it'll be nothing like London sadly, no blowing car horns in the street and waving flags about when someone wins, lol)
But most games should be live in my evening time (I hope), so I'll try to catch as much as possible.

[solomon]

My super bowl post was in reference to the reaction inside america, not world wide. I know no one really cares about it outside the US.

Even still, Aside from the two cities in the game, Super Bowl Sunday is a big cocktail party.

Anyways, who do you guys think will go all the way. COULD IT BE ENGLAND?!??!!

[justavisitor]

I would definitely cheer for England if Beckham was in it...
I don't think England could go all the way tho...penalty kick is their biggest nightmare..they will start to panic near the end of a tie game in a knockout match