World Cup 2014!

[Sload Soap]

And as someone who can't understand why people enjoy watching sport at all, I don't see why people need to come in here and post negative stuff about football if they aren't fans. Just ignore the damn thread.

More this. ^

Gooooooooaaaaaaaallllllll!

Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn!

Less of this. ^ If you don't mind.

And yes you can draw in football.

[Aramonde]

And yes you can draw in football.

Well yes i know you can draw, i meant i didn't know that was in the world cup. I though the whole thing was a playoff with no ties.

[alienjesus]

And yes you can draw in football.

Well yes i know you can draw, i meant i didn't know that was in the world cup. I though the whole thing was a playoff with no ties.

During the group stage all teams play the other teams in their group. Winning teams gain 3 points, drawing teams gain 1 and losing teams gain none. The top 2 teams of each group move on to the knockout stages. If two teams have the same points, the team that goes through is determine dby goal difference (goals scored - goals conceded).

In the knockout stage you can;t draw. If no-one has one by the time the final whistle blows it goes into extra time. I'm not toally clear on the rules for all this, it might be golden goal (first score wins). After that, if times up and still no-one has scored it comes down to a penalty shoot-out

England inevitably loses penalty shootouts.

[Sload Soap]

And yes you can draw in football.

Well yes i know you can draw, i meant i didn't know that was in the world cup. I though the whole thing was a playoff with no ties.

What AJ said, except there hasn't been golden goal for a few years.

[dsheinem]

Gooooooooaaaaaaaallllllll!

Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn!

Less of this. ^ If you don't mind.

I kid, I kid. I do usually watch bits and pieces of the World Cup every four years, but compared to pretty much every other sport I watch I find it pretty boring (and yes - I do understand the strategy, rules, flow, etc. and have played soccer many times myself). There's just a lot of down time where nothing especially interesting is really happening. It's a great sport for watching at a bar, chatting with friends over drinks, and debating world politics around - with the right crowd, anyway.

That said, "World Cup Fans" - meaning those people who only care about the World Cup exclusively when it comes to sports - are amongst my least favorite kinds of sports fans here in the U.S. These people generally compress four years of not following sports into a few weeks where they are giant, horrible assholes who you don't want to be around because the World Cup is all they fucking talk about and watch - and they generally don't follow or give a shit about soccer any of the years between Cups. Some of them try to "compensate" by spending a few weeks pouring over every miniscule stat and factoid about every team and player, and they then bombard you with this information constantly during and between matches. I met quite a few of these people in college and grad school, and they were all obnoxious twits that, frankly, have lowered my enthusiasm for the Cup

In any case, I like to root for the USA and the host country as well as teams that are big underdogs, so I'll be watching for upsets and the like.

[ZeroAX]

Thoughts:

Group A:
If Brazil does bad in its first game it would be quite an unpredictable group.

Group B:
ahahahahahahaahhahahaha....at least Chile won't have a long flight back home. Australia on the other hand

Group C:
We SHOULD qualify to the next round, but then again we DO suck so every scenario is possible. By the way for all Americans saying football is just the defenders passing the ball around, don't watch Greece's games

Group D:
Sorry my English brothers, but Uruguay and Italy are going to the next round....your team sucks in a unique way. It's never absolutely bad, but it is also never actually good enough to achieve something in a tournament.

Group G:
I actually believe the USA will pass along with Germany. Of course Germany are a powerhouse (and I'm really wondering for how much longer they'll keep failing at these tournaments, cause they really should have won a world cup/European Championship in the past decade), but Portugal is not that good.


Also to Americans saying football is boring: really? the people who watch/play baseball are talking? And I never found handegg (american football) much interesting to watch either, but I will be honest it was really fun to play (which imo you have to admit is also true for football).

At least you have the best league in the world when it comes to basketball which is very fun to watch and play (not to mention the kick-ass NBA 2K series), so you win my respect in that regard.


Now that I mentioned video games, has anyone bought the FIFA World Cup game?

[Pulsar_t]

The only soccer that ever mattered to me

[Sload Soap]

I kid, I kid. I do usually watch bits and pieces of the World Cup every four years, but compared to pretty much every other sport I watch I find it pretty boring (and yes - I do understand the strategy, rules, flow, etc. and have played soccer many times myself).

That's fair enough, but I would prefer this thread not be cluttered up with the boring and circular Soccer Vs American sports bullshit arguments.

And I agree with Zero: don't watch Greece. Ever.

[ZeroAX]

And I agree with Zero: don't watch Greece. Ever.

ssssssshhhhhhh



But in all seriousness man, it's not like you guys are any good .

Honestly the national team I enjoy watching the most is USA because their players are "naive". They actually run after every play not giving up the ball till the last second, and they don't fall down the second you touch them, or pass the ball around the defense when they are ahead to waste time. Basically they are playing football the way it's meant to be played.

EDIT

I went searching on google for an old football meme (which I couldn't find) and I came by this

It's really disgusting how racist and close minded football fans can be

[Sload Soap]

We are underwhelming, even though the players themselves are good to great. Not up to Spain or Germany's level but still good players who do well at club level. It's the management or lack of. Greece are a good example of a clear management vision being successful with limited resources. Still awful to watch though.