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FORZA AZZURRI

>joining England

Ha!

According to FIFA England are the 6th best team in the world, and as everyone knows FIFA is never wrong!

...and you never know... Howard Webb might referee a final again

Sixth buys them a spot in the semifinals, not the finals. I'll concede the Webb point though.

Clearly, the cup is going to end in an Ireland-France final with the Irish getting revenge for the 2010 qualifier bullshit.

The England team visited an orphanage in Poland. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope." said Igor, aged 6.

Sorry, that one's been doing the rounds.

Soccer is gay.

Maples are muted now.

Calling football "soccer" is gay.

I really liked russia. so much energy in their game.

Holland sucked big time.

And about England: they really lack a playmaker to get far. It's a team full of football loggers and miners. Good at defence, control, pace and resilience. But really, imho the creativity has to come from the 18 year old Ox.. that's just not gonna get you to the final I am afraid. Or maybe Chelsea style you will grab the cup ;) Who knows? That makes football awesome.

Germany!

Using "gay" derogatorily is ga- inappropriate.

Ghug, I couldn't agree more. Of course, this doesn't apply to my opinion that gays call football "soccer".

I don't call football "soccer". I call football "football".

How come soccer players run AWAY from their teammates when they score?

Until the Ladies Committee gets rid of "off side" in the "soccer" form of Football you will continue to have a low scoring game, where TOO OFTEN the best team on the day DID NOT win because of a dodgy referee, or lucky goal.

Calling that form of Football is simply being precise and clear, what about all the other forms of Football, such as Rugby, American "fried iron \" football

If you want the most "brutal" football, probably Rugby league eg New Zwaland All Blalcks V South Africa, or State of Origin---- NSW v Queensland

As to the form of football I enjoy the most to watch etc, its Australian Rules Football
as it's clearly the best, and ( albeit slowly ) increasing TV audience share in the US
backs that up, The US is the most diverse ethnic nation going around & about, and I am sure the greatest Sportswriter from the US ( big, big call here ) Damon Runyon would have found it second only to Horse Racing, i am sure.


As to "Soccers" governing body, FIFA, they have clleard out all the corruption,
it was all that "Septic Bladder" chaps doing & now he's beeen scapegoated, please go back to consuming uncritically the product they dish up.

arghh, another typo

...calling that form of football SOCCER is simply being precise...

is how that should have read

& Aussie rules Football will continue to expand into new "markets"

The simple fact that it's much different "spatially" is one of it's grate advantages--

we " thought outside the box" & ditched the regimented rectangle
and the "bounce" trajectory of your round ball is too easily predictable
( even the "spinning ball" ) and again we ditched that boring predictability,
and have an "elliptical" shaped ball that can have both predictability, but also seemingly "anarchic" bounce patterns.

the other good thing about Aussie rules foot ball, is unlike say Rugby, where the "ideal" body shape/ size is almost the same for all playing posititons, you HAVE to have a mix in an aussie rules team, so it suits kids of all sizes etc

eg you have to have a few good really tall chaps as its an "aerial" sport
but you also have to have a good band of gnomes, short chaps, who can get
the ball when it's at ground level & in winter when its wet and muddy
the "in and under" chaps

so it doesn't matter what "body shape" a kid gets, he can find a "role" in our game

can you say that about Basketball or Rugby as easily ?

I'm rooting for Germany, though my heart has always had a soft spot for the Dutch. Perhaps its because they look so silly in orange...

Sadly I've had to miss the games so far. What channel are they on in the US, does anyone know?

Surely Spain are still a reasonable bet for the final. A sublime world cup performance.

MajorMitchell, saying that football is a "low scoring game" and making it sound like it's something negative is soooooo American. More, more, more of everything. Quantity means quality. We want McFootball with more goals. Poor Major hasn't got the first idea about football, but he'll talk about it nonetheless.

I suspect Germany will win. England? Can beat anybody on their day, but that day doesn't happen often enough.

***

As for other forms of football:
Rugby League is like watching paint dry
Gridiron is watching paint dry with some bloke gibbering on for three hours about the chemical changes occurring in the paint molecules
Rugby Union is reasonably interesting if played well.
Gaelic/Aussie Rules are great fun, particularly when Ireland play Oz, the teams forget which set of tules are in use and a massive brawl ensues

Sorry for the duplicate thread. A new star is born in Russia (Dzagoev)! And the Oranje are done! Great tournament so far.

It cracks me up when the plebes blather on about the "beauty of football" that the great unwashed will never appreciate.

Soccer is a poor person's sport; plain and simple. It is the most "popular" sport worldwide for the same reason that rice is the most "popular" food worldwide.

The people who play soccer have no other option. The people who eat rice have no other option.

Fortunately for me, my parents could afford hockey equipment.

We're all secretly longing to play hockey. We'd never admit it, of course.

The "soccer is a sport for poor people" argument is trotted out time and time again and it's complete nonsense.

Soccer might be the most popular sport across the developing world. but it's also by far and away the most popular mainstream sport in the developed world, who could easily afford to play other games if they preferred,. The fact that it's cheap might explain it's popularity in Africa, but it doesn't explain it's popularity in Europe, Japan, Australia.

^ Well, apart from the billions of [insert any currency] that are made off of it each year...

Always wonder why people bash other people's sports. Sport is more of a cultural thing than anything else - both cricket and baseball bore me to tears, but I don't care if someone else grew up appreciating the intricate strategy and craft involved. I'm sure it's very enjoyable to them and wish them well watching it.

As for "World's Greatest Football Tournament," that's a load of crap that Europeans like to trot out to feel superior. The World Cup may have more diversity in skill level from top to bottom, but if anything that makes it better. It's not really a surprise when Denmark beats Portugal, even if they aren't favored. It's a shock (and fun to watch) when Nigeria beats Argentina or the like in the World Cup.

Anyone who watched the Brasil - Argentina match yesterday would have to agree it was MILES better than the two Euro games that were on. 4-3 and a great hat trick from the world's best player ... can't argue with that for entertainment.

* sorry, should read "Denmark beats Holland," though the point stands.

Except Nigeria doesn't beat Argentina in the world cup. It's almost always an all-European final four. South America has been underachieving, so has Africa. The 'diversity of skill level' means that the tournament has weak teams. There are no weak teams in the Eurocup finals, except in this case the hosts. But Ukraine can play.