So does Germany and the US actually play the game, or waste time until the final whistle blows. Germany has no reason to play for the win, they win the Group with a tie. The US has a reason to win, but advances with a tie.
Sounds like a great time to catch up on my sleep.
Well, Spain goes home with a win, at least. Many people here on Spain are shocked with our poor World Cup. But I find it no surprise. Our team already is getting a bit old, and Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid, where many players come from, ended La Liga exhausted. The end of the great Barcelona (maybe one of the bests teams of all times?) of last years heralded the end of the years of glory of Spanish team.
Very interesting World Cup until now. Hope the final fase will be good too.
Is anyone else concerned over the match fixing allegations against Ghana? If the game is rigged then it may drive away fans just as the sport is becoming big in the US.
Allegations agaisnt Ghana? What happened?
My pet difference is how many Europeans will say Spain are out of the tournament instead of Spain is out of the tournament, or England have a difficult game ahead instead of England has a difficult game ahead. Hearing these said the European way really stands out to me as being grammatically incorrect :)
In unrelated news: Smilies are not punctuation. I think you forgot something at the end there. :p
I don't know if the game is "rigged" or not, but at least is painfully obvious that the Group distribution is incredibly unbalanced. Nobody can say that Groups like C and H have the same might as Groups like B and D.
Allegations agaisnt Ghana? What happened?
Ghana's football organization agreed to participate to an undercover group that had a system in place to buy off or place corrupt officials into ANY game to predetermine it's outcome.
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/06/23/ghana-match-fixing-allegations-ca st-cloud-over-world-cup-after-undercover-investigation-exposes-corruption/
Sorry the forum appears to be inserting a space into my link I can't remove... just remove the space in 'cast' and it should work.
Allegations agaisnt Ghana? What happened?Ghana's football organization agreed to participate to an undercover group that had a system in place to buy off or place corrupt officials into ANY game to predetermine it's outcome.
Sorry the forum appears to be inserting a space into my link I can't remove... just remove the space in 'cast' and it should work.
Linking should fix that.
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Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about "strong" growth in the US; I think, though, that a fan's perspective greatly depends on where in the US one lives. For me, the last 3 cities (2 FL, 1 NC) I've been in have had absolutely NO international football love. Real Madrid vs Atletico a month ago didn't even exist here. Not a single "Irish" Pub or sports bar (I called over 20, all I could find) even knew it was on or what it was. Same with all the other Champions' League games the last few years -- not to mention Premier League games. And no one on ESPN knows anything about football.
But we are growing -- just not very fast.
. . . .
Really, Spain are happy they won a game. Against Australia-
How the mighty have fallen. They were pathetic the whole tournament.
Question: Will Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi, Pique, Busquets, Sergio Ramos, Iker Cassilias or any of the other Barca/ Real players ever play for the Spain squad again?
They can't cut it.
It seems as though Mata, Cazorla, Silva, Fabregas & DeGea, and young players I've not learned yet, should be the future of the club. What do the Spain followers say?
. . . .
Anyone else excited about Brasil vs Chile?!
. . . .
I'm not convinced the Group draws are rigged at all. I revile FIFA as much as the next human with a beating heart and a soul -- but I don't see their motive for fixing the Groups.
They should be far more transparent in, well, in everything (if they should even exist as a governing body at all). But ultimately, the teams have to be rated (so that the A teams are in separate Groups) and you can only fairly rate them on performances. Switzerland isn't 1/100th a team as Germany, France, Argentina, Spain -- even Brasil. But based on their handful of games, they deserved to be one of the 8 "A" teams.
Did FIFA rig it so that France, on paper the 3rd or 4th best team in the world despite stinking up every football pitch they'd been on, humiliating their country and looking like asses since 2010, would be in the same Group as Switzerland so that the Group would have a legitimate contender (cuz the Swiss sure as heck ain't real contenders)?... I don't think so.
And I really don't believe that US and Ghana were matched together on purpose. Or anything else. FIFA, as corrupt, pathetic and soulless as they are, have no motive to do that.
Sometimes appear news of rigged match. Specially important was one like 5 years ago (aprox.) with Juventus and Milan, or problems like that on Africa. But I really don't see something like that on the World Cup. Too much people involved. Thanks for the link. I have not heard it, and here people are really interested on all World Cup things.
Oh, the people here on Spain are really sad and angry of our Cup. But at least I was no surprised. Barça is right now a team that has to be remade from near 0 and was the base for Spain team; players like Xavi and Puyol are gone, and will be REALLY difficult to replace. Spain will be back, but that Spain that ends now will be imposible to substitute.
While I write, Uruguay scores, Italy can return to Europe like England and Spain... European debacle? Well, there France and Germany continue strong.
yes!!!!!
Uruguay! Uruguay! Uruguay!
So does Germany and the US actually play the game, or waste time until the final whistle blows. Germany has no reason to play for the win, they win the Group with a tie. The US has a reason to win, but advances with .
that wont happen!!
we havE been there, done that,
Germany will not risk another Disgrace of Gijon. It is embedded in our collective memory and is brought up everywhere these days
Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about "strong" growth in the US; I think, though, that a fan's perspective greatly depends on where in the US one lives. For me, the last 3 cities (2 FL, 1 NC) I've been in have had absolutely NO international football love. Real Madrid vs Atletico a month ago didn't even exist here. Not a single "Irish" Pub or sports bar (I called over 20, all I could find) even knew it was on or what it was. Same with all the other Champions' League games the last few years -- not to mention Premier League games. And no one on ESPN knows anything about football.
But we are growing -- just not very fast.
The US/Portugal game was the most watched non-NFL sporting event in ESPN's history.
Around me a bar threw a block party.
So does Germany and the US actually play the game, or waste time until the final whistle blows. Germany has no reason to play for the win, they win the Group with a tie. The US has a reason to win, but advances with .that wont happen!!
we havE been there, done that,
Germany will not risk another Disgrace of Gijon. It is embedded in our collective memory and is brought up everywhere these days
That is kind of funny that anyone believes that changed anything. I remember watching a World Cup match where both teams just stood around for most of the second half, because the tie they had meant both advanced.
Yeah, I'm not too optimistic about "strong" growth in the US; I think, though, that a fan's perspective greatly depends on where in the US one lives. For me, the last 3 cities (2 FL, 1 NC) I've been in have had absolutely NO international football love. Real Madrid vs Atletico a month ago didn't even exist here. Not a single "Irish" Pub or sports bar (I called over 20, all I could find) even knew it was on or what it was. Same with all the other Champions' League games the last few years -- not to mention Premier League games. And no one on ESPN knows anything about football.
All american sports are regional. Obviously part of that will be the heritage of the populations. Places with a large 'ethnic'(anyone but 'mericans) population have soccer fans in droves. But like I said, international soccer fans isnt what's important to the american game. Its the mls. As that grows, we will get more talented american athletes in soccer, and more of the talented soccer players WILL end up playing pro soccer.
And as far as the pundits. That will come. Heck we had micheal strahan making comments about the world cup on espn recently. That is just going to take time. As more people start watching the mls, more sports writers/sports casters will know more about soccer. Again they might not know as much internationally, but that isnt all that important to the growth of the american game (in the terms of the national team and overall talent in the us).
And I would imagine, things will change slowly in florida soon, Orlando's getting an mls team in I think 2 years and the team might actually be successful. The semi pro team already pulls over 10k fans most games. Imgaine if they actually get a few names in house.
But we are growing -- just not very fast.
Given the colapse of other leages that grew too fast, I'm ok with the mls' growth rate. I'd rather slow and steady without collapse then
And honestly, the growth has been faster then you think. Since 1994 the american team has gone from obscure also ran, to potential contender in the round of 16. That might not seem like much to us americans who are spoiled by teams like the steelers, patriots, or yankies, or other dynasties who dominate consistently.
But think about this for a moment. 20 years ago, (exactly 1 generation in soccer terms) the US UNEXPECTEDLY made the world cup, they actually won a few games and it was a complete surprise.
This year, it was expected that the US would make the world cup. They dominated a match against 4th ranked portugal. In fact fifa ranks them 13th. That might seem low. In a league of say 30 teams thats middle of the road. But we arent talking 30 teams.
There are 8 soveirgn states on the PLANET that dont have fifa membership. There are 209 members of fifa. The US is ranked 13th in a league of 209. And they have made the playoffs 7 straight times. By any measure of the word, that is a success. In 2002 we got as high as 7th in the fifa rankings, and if not for a missed goal line handball, they could have gone further. Think about that for a moment and tell me that the US mens national team hasnt grown.
You arent going to get a dynasty anymore. There is too much parity, the game is too fast, and so a single generation of players wont last long at their peak. Spain, one of the single most dominant teams in the sports history, had 3 major tournaments, 2 eurocups and 1 world cup. Now their key players are past their prime, and its time for a rebuilding cycle.
The US was by all rights a top 4 team in 2002. 2006 was a let down, 2010 was a bit of a climb back up. Now in 2014 we have a team that by all rights beat up on 4th ranked portugal and the Worlds best player in Ronaldo. Tommorrow they face powerhouse germanty (ranked 2nd at the moment), and they likely wont just play with 11 men behind the ball and hope for the best. They will PLAY. That in and of itself is something to be proud of.
. . . .Really, Spain are happy they won a game. Against Australia-
How the mighty have fallen. They were pathetic the whole tournament.
Question: Will Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi, Pique, Busquets, Sergio Ramos, Iker Cassilias or any of the other Barca/ Real players ever play for the Spain squad again?
They can't cut it.
It happens. They are a bit too old. People should have seen it with Barcelona falling from grace on the european stage. But no one wants to admit that a team that effectively spent 6 years dominating everything they saw might be past its prime. I imagine some of them might play again for spain, but not as the core of the team, and maybe not as starters.
It seems as though Mata, Cazorla, Silva, Fabregas & DeGea, and young players I've not learned yet, should be the future of the club. What do the Spain followers say?
Like every team that makes if over the hump, soccer is a young mans game. They will find new players.
I'm not convinced the Group draws are rigged at all. I revile FIFA as much as the next human with a beating heart and a soul -- but I don't see their motive for fixing the Groups.
They should be far more transparent in, well, in everything (if they should even exist as a governing body at all). But ultimately, the teams have to be rated (so that the A teams are in separate Groups) and you can only fairly rate them on performances. Switzerland isn't 1/100th a team as Germany, France, Argentina, Spain -- even Brasil. But based on their handful of games, they deserved to be one of the 8 "A" teams.
Did FIFA rig it so that France, on paper the 3rd or 4th best team in the world despite stinking up every football pitch they'd been on, humiliating their country and looking like asses since 2010, would be in the same Group as Switzerland so that the Group would have a legitimate contender (cuz the Swiss sure as heck ain't real contenders)?... I don't think so.
And I really don't believe that US and Ghana were matched together on purpose. Or anything else. FIFA, as corrupt, pathetic and soulless as they are, have no motive to do that.
I HATE fifa. Seriously, despite it being literally something I grew up with, fifa has the capacity to sour me on the sport as a whole. It wouldnt surprise me that they did anything corrupt. But I do think the ghana us thing is likely chance. There is always a group of death or two every world cup. Thats what happens when you cram the best 32 teams of 209 into groups of 4.
I do think fifa has biases. How they come out is hard to say. Ref assignments seems like the most obvious ones. But in terms of groups, I think that at least happens as it has been shown so far. I dont have a reason yet to believe the groups were 'fixed'.
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Suarez should be banned for life.
Another thing to consider - in my parents schools no one played soccer. At my school, soccer was the most played sport, and soccer didn't really get big until a few years before me. It has grown since I was a student. I'm 30 now, the average age of a professional soccer player. US soccer is on the rise because kids started playing it 25 years ago, and before that it wasn't a big thing.
I do wish these guys covered in tattoos and sporting mohawks and such would do a bit less LeBroning.
Bosnia are going to win a game at their first time in the World Cup. WOOT!
And win it handily.
Argentina-Nigeria good match. Argentina has improved from the firsts matches.
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17 minutes till Germany vs USA
*waves Black Red and Gold Flag*
good game so far
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You an American fan?This game is so easy for me to watch. I get to cheer for Germany AND against the usa.Wow, nice ...
I am indeed! Just an FYI - you can cheer FOR your team without making snide comments about cheering against another ... especially when the majority of folks on these forums ARE American
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Unless we're talking sports, it must be something to do with manifest destiny and the fact that all Toronto teams suck s***. Oh, and the fact that American teams keep taking all the Canadian players. And one last thing, YOU GUYS ARE GOOD AT FLIPPING EVERYTHING!!!!!!! LET SOME OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE A CHANCE!!!!!!!!!
That was an exciting finish.
good game so far
well, not that an exciting second half but a save and sound win
and congratulations US for reaching the round of last 16