world cup

It's interesting to see this happening in the USA.

Bear in mind that in our country, soccer news usually appears in the papers (if at all) on about page 47, underneath the tide schedules.

But there's visible hoopla here, a bit anyway. The USA-England game actually made the headlines, briefly. The BBC reports that the largest block of foreign ticket-holders in South Africa this year are, inexplicably, the Americans.
So, it's maybe starting to catch on.

And I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.

US is a decent team now and the americans i know are interested in the tournament, but i spose most americans are different cos they havne't been outside of the states....

I've been wanting to watch some of the matches in 3d. I've heard that it's a great viewing experience. What kind of glasses do you have to wear?

The average MLS match has more fans in the stadium than the typical NBA or NHL game. MLS, though presenting a generally terrible quality of game, has done well to find a balance between being family friendly and enjoyable for adult fans. They started out focusing too much on the family aspect (playing music throughout matches, etc.) and now have a better balance. They've kept their games affordable, which is huge.

(you can stop reading now)

So why do so many people keep clinging to the idea that soccer isn't popular in the States?
Part of this is a generation gap. Younger people (generally) seem much more interested in and aware of football as a legit sport. The American media are slow to adopt coverage of soccer because people in the media are, well, old. However, US soccer bloggers are fantastic. The Shin Guardian and Fútbol For Gringos both offer a quality of US football analysis and reporting that was absolutely unheard of even ten years ago.
The other factor is race/ethnicity. We have many new citizens who are huge football fans. The Latin American immigrant population is brining with it a huge passion and demand for football in the States. Savvy marketers have cashed in on this, and I think they're still trying to figure out what to do with all the English-speaking viewers they've attracted. I have a number of anglophone friends who will watch matches on Mexican channels in Spanish simply because there's no other coverage...maybe Univision and Azteca America will smarten up and offer English...on SAP. The good football reporting we do have is primarily done by first generation immigrants.

MLS is finally working to get us away from pay-to-play youth football. Once this happens and MLS teams are running good-quality youth academies, watch out world.

i must admit i'm a bit gutted about america embracing football

america could win the world cup in my lifetime, and fair play for that if a credible team wins it, but even if it does keep growing, it just won't be the same for americans in general as it would be for english just because i've spent my whole time on this planet thinking fooling myself that england could win sit this time even tho it's always pretty unlikely.....

americans have a choice, so if america wins it will be a big deal, but if they lose it isn't a big deal

The World Cup Finals have too many teams. Like, come on! Why is North Korea, Switzerland, Serbia, and a bunch of others. 16 real contenders is all that's required though the revenue stream won't be the same

The atmosphere in the bar last night was great.  Half British and half Americans.  The Americans shut up and were very quite after the first goal.  Then they scored, so the Americans started singing their one and only song, USA USA USA USA, they really need to make some new songs for football games.  

Anyway it was good to be in such a great atmosphere for the game.

El Macho, the glasses are the same as those used for 3-D movies in theatres.
The glasses (at least one pair) come with a 3-D TV, which is the difficult (ie expensive) part. They're just emerging, and there aren't that many in circulation.
Yet.

And who cares?

Now, now, I don't remember anyone being like that in your Australian (rules) football thread.

That's because Australia does not rule football

Quote from: George on June 12, 2010, 04:03:56 AM

And who cares?

Now, now, I don't remember anyone being like that in your Australian (rules) football thread.

aussie rule 1. you have to be overweight

Meanwhile, I learned that Brits all think Tim Crouch, the ridiculously tall forward who's hgood at headers, is nothing but a cheap gimmick, effective at scoring against lesser opponents but useless against the A List.  They all thought England played poorly; I think they're WAY too hard on them.  But what do I know?

Peter Crouch is the tall forward.

By the way, England qualified for the World Cup, not Great Britain.

We're English, not British.

This is the flag, unfortunately the emoticons on the forum only have the Union Flag, not St George's Cross:

Got my part-time job tomorrow though, so no supporting "anybody but England" for this Scot tonight, need my beauty sleep.

Never in the history of the Saloon has my opinion of a forum member plummeted as rapidly as my opinion of MK.  Dear, oh, dear.

Ooh touchy aren't we?

But, seriously, I'm an African American female who's favorite team of anything is Arsenal, so, I'm uber excited to see (what I call) international football taking off. It means that this cold, desperate loneliness I feel when it comes to sports might soon be at an end. Look, the day that I can (regularly) watch ESPN for a match that I want to see is a day worth celebrating. Now, granted there aren't, you know, commercial breaks. At all. But, the guys on the pitch are walking billboards, so, there ya go.

they really have to get rid of those horns, it's absolutely ruining the tournament. i'm watching the games with inept chinese commentary and a constand drone

I like the horns. If they're going to stop anything, tell the Mexican fans it isn't OK to yell "PUTO!" ("faggot") after each free kick by the opposing team's keeper.

EDIT: Also, the French blame their poor play on the horns. More the reason to keep them, if it bothers the French.