W/NW: World Cup Fever

I live in a mostly Portuguese neighbourhood. This is what the streets are like

today, although these people are celebrating the win over Netherlands. As you

can see, bets were also covered with the addition of the Brasilian flag-but it

won't be necessary this year. Zidane and Henry are a scary pair!<div></div>

Netherlands? You mean England, eh? What a goalkeeper!

Oh I got it now. BTW, Netherlands vs. Portugal: wasn't that the nastyest game ever!?

Little Roon who lost it. Yep, England down to one man with a wooden leg which fell off.

 

He fought like a hero....then we lost.

 

Same old story.<div></div>

This bloke gave him a rear head butt before the match to wind him up

 

Roon cried.

 

Then lost it when it matters.<div></div>

Think the Soap actors ,especially from mexican soaps are "under acting" compared to many of the soccer players I was watching today. They would grab their faces, roll around on the ground in agony when the other player was not even close. I think they deserve Oscars.

They will never sell soccer in North America unless they can control the acting-and improve the mind/eye coordination of the officials so they recognise what they see.

 

I almost believe that arbitrariness and melodrama are an indelible part of soccer culture. What do all you Euros think?

At the end of the day, I just have loved watching Zidane the last 2 matches. Today he ruled.

What a sweet player. Did you see the ball he put on Henry's foot for the goal? Schweeet. But

did any of you think that Brazil never exerted itself the whole cup until they were down 0-1

and had about 15-20 minutes left? Then they started looking dangerous. I really think they

felt they couldn't lose. But as it turns out, they seem to be France's lil b**** :) Its amazing

how much talent was on the field for that game today.

 

Too bad about England, I was hoping they would go all the way or at least to the semi's.

Now I have to root for France.

!!!!!!<div></div>

I'm a sad man today, penalties and England just don't mix, but although I'm gutted that my home team is coming home early what a great game of football.

Wish I were there to shoot some great pixs when Rooney got his red. Probably sell like hot cakes. And Zizou came out of retirement and played to his old best to beat champions Brazil. Great games.

I don't have a world cup fever shot, but here's a good one?

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/4614521

 

I must say it broke my heart to see England exit the world cup at the same stage again.

They were lucky to get that far. Worth staying up till 4 AM to watch Becks cry.

 

Ah well... after thrashing the pommes at rugby, there's November and the ashes to look

foward to.

 

C.

<i>"What do all you Euros think?"</i><br><br>We think it's called FOOTBALL. Soccer is an American invention... We also think that games invented for statistics sakes basically SUCK, and that how American media tries to force statistics onto football is hillarious.<br><br>I'm glad that England was kicked out today. As for Brasil-- they finally met some real opponent, and failed utterly (I'm not a France fan either, but Zizu was simply great).

Roony is just a fat little bully, he shoves like girls.

Brazil lost cause they don't play physical like France. And also cause they played like drunken idiots.

"they are all littel blokes tiny incy weenie types - no good in a pub brawl "

 

Ah, so the only athletes worthy of the name have to be big, incoherent, drunken, violent slobs who fight in pubs?

 

Sounds like Paul Gascoigne! (Gazza)

 

It is a weird criteria for determining your approval of a sport but certainly speaks volumes.

Now now Trevor .... Ruby League is working hard to clean up its act.

"I onlyhave two issues with foosball - firstly - they are all littel blokes tiny incy weenie types"

 

Unlike American Football players, who all got to be that huge size completely naturally, yes sir, no chemicals involved.

 

Yeah, right.

I saw several obvious "flops" of this sort while watching World Cup soccer recently.

 

NBA basketball players in the US do this, too, attempting to draw a charging foul. But 99.9 % of the time, they spring back to their feet immediately, either pumping their fist to celebrate a call that went their way (offensive foul) or going over to the ref to protest a contrary call (foul on defensive player).

 

No fan likes to see the referee 'take over' a contest. I am not a sophisticated soccer fan, but I saw yellow cards flashed so inconsistently and so often that I wondered sometimes if the refs were watching the same game I was watching.

 

The penalty kick awarded to Ghana at the end of the first half of the Ghana v. US game was a key call that I thought was blown. Ghana outplayed the US in that game in any case, in my opinion, but that call was off the mark.

<p><i>Something just plain UNMANLY about being trained to fall over

and pretend you are hurt</i></p>

 

<p>Oh c'mon Peter, what prevents you from appreciating the

occasional dramatic performance? Didn't your mom make you perform in

drama in junior school?</p>

Michael, I believe the Nether vs Portug referee was suspended. I do

agree that the referees of quite a few matches in this cup SUCKED to

put it mildly.

Yaron-"soccer" is simply the North American (Canadian & US) word for football, because we each have a different sport which we call football. And I agree about the statistics business. The British play-by-play man on my TV yesterday was quoting a bunch of-mostly meaningless-statistics when he should have been verbalising the events on the field.

Zidane has been magical.

 

My question to the Europeans among us is whether the arbitrary referee calls, the wounded soldier impersonations, are timeless idiosyncracies of the sport, or a more recently developed phenomenon. It seems clear no one here is a fan of it.

 

But maybe it satisfies the loser's need to have something to grouse about for the next four years?

<a href="http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~pstone/why.html" />On the origins

of the word "soccer."</a>

Ronaldo is one f***ing annoying diver

"My question to the Europeans among us is whether the arbitrary referee calls, the wounded soldier impersonations, are timeless idiosyncracies of the sport, or a more recently developed phenomenon."

 

Diving is much more common in mainland Europe than in the UK. Renowned divers like Robben and C Ronaldo were amazed when they arrived here to be booed for diving. It's so much a part of the game in mainland Europe that they never gave their behaviour a second thought.

 

Why is this? Who knows? That old British sense of fair play?

I don't think the United States will ever be very strong in World Cup soccer. There's fundamental flaw in the American approach to youth sports. As anyone who played Little League, or even had athletics class in junior high, knows, the American response to any injury that doesn't involve a joint bending backwards, a bone poking out of the skin, or gushing blood is: "Walk it off!" Anyone who makes a show of being hurt will be hounded off the field and into drama club by the time they reach high school.