OT: soccer thread

[e4Nf6]

As far as Spain's playing style....

I actually don't mind it too much although I'll admit that I wasn't on the edge of my seat for 120 mins today. It's not Spain's fault that none of the teams they played did anything but put the whole team behind the ball.

Btw, great result for US fans. We can now brag that we were the only team to knock Spain out of major tournament in the last 4 years.

[Det the Threat]

I actually don't mind it too much although I'll admit that I wasn't on the edge of my seat for 120 mins today. It's not Spain's fault that none of the teams they played did anything but put the whole team behind the ball.

It's just that balance that you need against Spain.
You can't push forward too much, cause they'll pick you apart, but if you aren't doing enough for your offense they'll push you backwards and it's only a matter of time till they score.
So if you want to beat them you need to score the first goal and keep being dangerous on counter attacks.

BTW: Thomas Mueller just won two awards.
He's been voted as the best young player of this tournament and will also receive the golden boot as the best scorer of the tournament. Forlan, Villa and Snijder scored just as many goals, but he also assisted on three goals and that's being taken into account as well.
Seeing how those two teams(and especially Snijder and Xavi) played today I think Schweinsteiger should receive the golden ball as the best player, because he was truley the best player of this tournament, IMO.

[fatlever]

honestly, i thought forlan was the best player in the tournament. he was amazing. castillas or schweinsteiger would be my second choice, following closely by villa, mueller and sneijder.

[Thaliontil]

Just one word:

CHAMPIONS!

I practically can´t speak,our whole country is a big party.Everyone is mad at this team,thousands of people celebrating in the streets.I live in Tenerife and this is amazing!Thousands of banners and flags,the T-Shirts,everyone singing: "Que viva España" and "Yo soy Español",It´s just incredible.

The game was terrible for me,I lost my voice for the third time in three matches but hell,that goal was like the end of a book whose plot has catch you from the first page,I was just seating like Camacho,one of my friends was saying that going into the penalties would be our death and then Iniesta...

Today we have no economical crisis,today life seems to be beautiful for those millions of people who are currently suffering because they have no job,no home or no family...Today there are 23 heroes in our Heaven and we are all happy again.Today my parents just argue,my father was absolutely angry but now he is smiling and celebrating...It could sound pretty dramatic or fussy but the power of soccer is incredible.

HELL YES!WE ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!Thanks for your support!

http://www.marca.com/

"¡Qué viva España!,Y siempre la recordarán
"Que Viva España"
La gente canta con ardor
"Que Viva España"
La vida tiene otro Sabor,
Y España es la Mejor"

Do you want a translation? (Sorry for my bad english today but I´m just overexcited!)

edit: EPIC LOL http://i28.tinypic.com/2csjqc2.gif

[e4Nf6]

Felicidades Thaliontil...

[fatlever]

i am definitely happy for you thaliontil. it must be an amazing feeling. congrats.

[Det the Threat]

honestly, i thought forlan was the best player in the tournament. he was amazing. castillas or schweinsteiger would be my second choice, following closely by villa, mueller and sneijder.

You're absolutely right, Forlan was amazing and he won the golden ball being crowned the best player of the tournament.
Being a fan of his since his Manchester United days(too bad Fergie didn't believe in him back then), i'm liking it a lot.

@taliontil:
Congrats and enjoy it.
You've just joined Germany as the only teams to win the world cup as the reigning european champions.
We did it back in 1972 and 1974.

I hope we'll finally win something again real soon, because it's been 14 years since our last title(EC) and 20 years since we last won the world cup.

[koko]

Congrats to Taliontil, the only spaniard fan i know of Charlotte Bobcats.

He should be happy for the World Cup and for the Calderón Trade !

Some images




















PS : eoooo representando el foro de los ositos !!!!

[fatlever]

great pics. awesome to see such passion.

[Battery]

My grandfather (may he rest in peace) used to take me to Ft Lauderdale Strikers games back in the NASL days and I don't remember seeing such outrageous flopping on every play like they were doing in the World Cup. Seriously that is so ridiculous and it makes the sport unwatchable especially when the US is not playing. Also the World Cup final was a big snoozefest and I'm wondering if soccer will ever get back to the popularity the NASL enjoyed back in the 70's and 80's. I never watch any of the whatever our new soccer league is called, but do they flop like crazy on every play like in the World Cup? And have the referees always been this bad? Seems like they all had agendas, especially that anti-American clown who reffed the US-Uruguay game.

[doc.end]

My grandfather (may he rest in peace) used to take me to Ft Lauderdale Strikers games back in the NASL days and I don't remember seeing such outrageous flopping on every play like they were doing in the World Cup. Seriously that is so ridiculous and it makes the sport unwatchable especially when the US is not playing. Also the World Cup final was a big snoozefest and I'm wondering if soccer will ever get back to the popularity the NASL enjoyed back in the 70's and 80's. I never watch any of the whatever our new soccer league is called, but do they flop like crazy on every play like in the World Cup? And have the referees always been this bad? Seems like they all had agendas, especially that anti-American clown who reffed the US-Uruguay game.

Ugh, which one?

[e4Nf6]

I'm wondering if soccer will ever get back to the popularity the NASL enjoyed back in the 70's and 80's. I never watch any of the whatever our new soccer league is called, but do they flop like crazy on every play like in the World Cup?

I think I may be the only MLS fan here so I guess it's up to me to answer. (It's "Major League Soccer" btw, we say "MLS," one should never ever say "the MLS,"

You'll be happy to hear that there is generally less flopping in MLS, although it certainly does exist. It's a shame more Americans aren't fans of MLS instead of leagues thousands of miles away. The quality of the league is quite good right now, and most teams now have one "worth-the-price-of-admission" guy as well: Ljunberg, Donovan, Thierry Henry, etc. I highly recommend MLS to any of the American fans that have been posting in this thread.

As for the NASL. It's hard to compare the popularity of two things across eras, but I'd argue that MLS is already bigger than the NASL ever was. MLS is an undeniable financial success with potential owners lining up to get new franchises while NASL, except for one team was hemorrhaging money for the entirety of it's existence. MLS is mostly American players while Americans were few and far between in the NASL.

[fatlever]

i have four main reasons why i havent gotten on board the MLS yet

1) no local team. if charlotte had a team i would be all over it. until then i just need to pick a team and stick with it. i just cant decide.

2) not enough players i know. its hard for me to get that excited when ive only heard of a handful of guy on each roster. hopefully that will improve as more big names come to US to retire and as i take more time to really learn the lower tier USA guys.

3) i hate watching soccer being playing on football fields and astroturf. more teams are coming up with soccer exclusive stadiums which is a great thing.

4) i think its (Please Use More Appropriate Word) that the MLS refuses to move their schedule to coincide with the rest of the world. at least stop scheduling games during international windows and wcq fixtures.

sidenote: i'd love to see relegation but i know it will never happen in the US.

[e4Nf6]

Let me emphasize that I don't blame anyone for not following MLS, I know when Chelsea and ManU or Real and Barca play I'm watching just like everyone else. I just said it's a shame...

I forgot to mention that Superliga is coming up and the Mexico-US rivalry is just as strong on the club level as it is with the national teams. Although Superliga is kind of like the UEFA cup, the real deal, CONCACAF champions league comes later. Also, MLS clubs spend about 1/10 the money on players that the Mexican teams do, and the results show it.

[fatlever]

i was really annoyed at the concacaf champions league last year. it seemed like all the MLS teams sent their B-squads to play. do we not take it seriously, was it bad scheduling, or am i making it up?

[e4Nf6]

It depends entirely on the teams involved....

Columbus for example was playing all their normal starters and almost beat Toluca in Mexico.

New England clearly had no interest at all in the tourney and would have run out some of their office staff if they could. After the first game it should be pretty clear who is taking the tourney seriously and who isn't...

[fatlever]

It depends entirely on the teams involved....

Columbus for example was playing all their normal starters and almost beat Toluca in Mexico.

New England clearly had no interest at all in the tourney and would have run out some of their office staff if they could. After the first game it should be pretty clear who is taking the tourney seriously and who isn't...

hopefully as the concacaf cl gets more history, more teams will take it seriously. i could definitely get behind it then.

btw... if and when the vancouver whitecaps get an MLS team, i will get on board as one of their fans. i've been rocking a NASL vancouver whitecaps tshirt the past 4 years. i also have a tampa bay rowdies NASL shirt and a fort lauderdale strikers tshirt. those were the good ol' days.

i dont know if anyone else remembers, but back in 1981ish, charlotte had a great minor league soccer team called the charlotte lightning. it was the top minor league league below the NASL. they played their games at memorial stadium (seats about 20k). i went to a bunch of games. we won the league in 1981 i think and i went to the championship game at memorial stadium, which was sold out and it was raining. i was only 8, but i remember that game vividly.

[Thaliontil]

its only a matter of time before european soccer as we know it undergoes a massive overhaul in terms of finance and spending.

the funny thing is... real spent all that money last year even though they had a stacked squad. kaka did nothing. the players they sold sneijder and robben ended up meeting in the CL finals. that's a 9 on the unintentional comedy scale. however, i do believe the special one will get that team a title w/in two years. ugh.

I think it already has undergone some overhaul in terms of spending, as even a guy like Abramovic doesn't wants to pay his old guys(Ballack, J. Cole etc.) all that much anymore and has drastically limited his spendings on new players.

In Germany that had to be done a couple years ago, with the guy paying for the TV contract going in dept and the league having to sign a contract for way less money.
Though, it did good for us, as teams are now more intelligent in using their money and are willed to give their youngsters a chance.

As far as Barca and Real goes.
There are new Presidents about every two or so years and every time a new guy gets that position they'll buy two or three new top players because that's what they guarantee their voters to get voted in.

Apparently Barca had to take out a loan to pay their players last month. They still had no trouble digging up 40 million euros to buy David Villa and have 50 million more on hand to buy Fabregas apparently. I'm not an expert but I've heard that Barca and Real survive on sweet-heart loan deals from Spanish banks who might not be especially solvent themselves as of late. I don't care how big they are, If Real and Barca are living hand-to-mouth then a complete Leeds-style collapse isn't out of the question for the two of them one day.

Yes, they had to take out a loan to pay their players and still did buy Villa for 40 million euros. And there's also a lot of talk about Fabregas joining him in Barcelona with a move for about those 50 million as well.

Like i've said, no one really knows how they do it or where that money's coming from, but Barca and especially Real always seem to get that money somehow. And like you've said, those banks aren't the weathiest anymore as well and it could easily fall apart some day.

Still, it's Barca and Real and there'll always be a solution found for them, if they hurt financially.

Hey det,I don´t know if you speak Spanish but I think this article will be useful for you:

http://www.marca.com/2010/07/14/futbol/ ... 05136.html

It mainly says that your Bundesliga is the most economic league among the europeans.Followed by the premier and the French one.Our league sits on the 4th position.

Congrats for that!And thank you all for your congratulations ^^

P.S: Ahí estamos koko (¿bystander verdad xDDDD?)

[koko]

P.S: Ahí estamos koko (¿bystander verdad xDDDD?)

Ahí, ahí.

No Calderón for you. Do you want him in Charlotte ?
---
Te quedas sin Calderón eh ? Tú lo querías ?

[Paydro70]

The MLS is not going to become a big league in its own right any time soon. What will happen is that enough people will begin avidly following European soccer that they will crave live games, and will turn to the MLS out of that. Eventually, that is going to be good enough for teams to actually make money, at which point the slow climb of legitimacy can truly begin. Until that point, it's going to remain low-prestige, and the best American players ought to be seeking opportunities elsewhere.

I personally can't get into it at all, it's like watching high school football or basketball.