World Cup 2014!

[Sload Soap]

Thanks for those articles Jfrost they helped to widen my perspective. I'm shocked by some of the stuff I've read about in the lead up to this World Cup. It makes me angry to think England will play their first game in a stadium built over the homes of displaced people. Man, it takes some kind of corruption and greed to turn Brazilian's against the idea of hosting a World Cup!

It's tough because I am still excited for the football itself (hence why I created the thread) but question if my passively watching the tournament contributes to an environment where this level of greed and incompetence is deemed acceptable.

[PinkPanzer]

I was very surprised to see Russia awarded the games over England, but with all due respect that should still be a decent world cup.

While we are on the topic of soccer, is anyone else completely cheesed that euro 2016 will have 24 teams? 16 teams was perfect, it gave qualifying for the tournament a sense of prestige... I guess fringe nations like Bulgaria, Norway, Scotland and others at least have a decent chance of qualifying now, but I think its a joke!

[ZeroAX]

I was very surprised to see Russia awarded the games over England, but with all due respect that should still be a decent world cup.

While we are on the topic of soccer, is anyone else completely cheesed that euro 2016 will have 24 teams? 16 teams was perfect, it gave qualifying for the tournament a sense of prestige... I guess fringe nations like Bulgaria, Norway, Scotland and others at least have a decent chance of qualifying now, but I think its a joke!

Agreed. Heck, with Europe only having....44? countries, there's a bigger chance of a country being in the tournament than outside.

Still it might provide for another major upset like in 1992 or 2004

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I'm ok with the increase of teams as long as it doesn't effect the overall structure of the competition. It was Ireland and Scotland's FA that suggested the increase and England and Germany opposed it. More intriguing is that FIFA has said the 2020 competition will be across "multiple cities in multiple nations" which may be a sneaky endorsement of the "Celtic" nations bid from Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

In other football news: England were bollocks again last night and Argentina used their game to shamelessly promote their claim to the Falkland Islands. The worst news though is the injury to Marco Reus which puts him out of the competition. Sad shame, he has the skill and guile to light up the tournament.

[Blu]

USA's game wasn't much better. I'm not convinced that Altidore is up to snuff, and that our formation is going to be well suited tactically. Kyle Beckerman and Jozy both had a handful of awful giveaways from bad first touches.

The bandwagon here though is blindly supporting the USMNT as if we're going to win the group.

As for all of the social commentary and various matters concerning social justice -- it's really hard to ignore the blatant civil rights injustices and still be a huge fan of the tournament. Perhaps this is why it's hard for me to really back a team this year. USMNT looks mediocre, FIFA is corrupt, Qatar needs a revote. Some sort of justice needs to prevail for me to feel better about this.

[jfrost]

The bandwagon here though is blindly supporting the USMNT as if we're going to win the group.

The US will be lucky not to finish last in the group, I reckon.

[ZeroAX]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27762435

+ for doing something about it

- for coming up with such a poor argument to defend your bad choices

[Blu]

Sepp Blatter deflecting the issue as always. The September or October ruling seems quite late as well, considering I had heard reports that the ethics committee or whatever body was conducting the investigation was hoping to have something by the end of July.

FIFA just needs to own up to it, or maybe it could see itself no longer the ruling body of soccer.

[ZeroAX]

FIFA just needs to own up to it, or maybe it could see itself no longer the ruling body of football.

THIS. Same for the IOC (Olympics guys). We've had enough with these international organizations that have turned the bidding process into an ebay bid for whoever spends the most money, turning what used to be international parties that everyone could enjoy, into gigantic money pits.

[Sload Soap]

You know the legitimacy of the Qatar bid is shaky when FIFA play the racism card so early. What a gimboid.