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Chris C 
"Four words, never backwards."
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 Posted - 06/12/2010 : 18:01:04
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Is anybody out there watching what's happening in South Africa at the moment?
Just in case you don't know, there is the small matter of a football tournament taking place now in SA until 11th July. The FWFR "home nations" are England, USA, Australia, New Zealand (and Serbia is the closest for Rabid Kazook).
My predictions: England for the semi-finals, USA to lose to Germany in the 2nd round, New Zealand won't get out of their group. Australia and Serbia will battle for 2nd place in their group and the survivor will go out in the second round (against England). |
Edited by - Chris C on 06/12/2010 18:14:50 |
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rabid kazook 
"Pushing the antelope"
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Posted - 06/12/2010 : 21:49:28
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Cool. Actually Slovenia is a bit closer (Slovenes actually understand and converse in Croatian quite well, while we can't understand them a bit  )
and I predict the little country to give both US and Englanders run for the money in that group.
I think Germany should hinder whoever gets out from England group (even England?). E's gamemode tonight wasn't very optimistic. I predict Australia to go through to playoff over Serbia, but it will be close.
Too bad for NZ, nobody's taking them into the equation.
Also what about Switzerland (ChocolateLady's dream country)?
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/12/2010 : 23:10:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
...New Zealand won't get out of their group...
Actually if NZ has anything other than 3 first-round losses then I'm gonna claim absolute, total World Cup victory! 
quote:
England for the semi-finals,
Oh yeah?  
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Edited by - Sean on 06/12/2010 23:13:18 |
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ci�nas 
"hands down"
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Posted - 06/12/2010 : 23:31:50
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England drew with the USA a few hours ago. The US goal was absurdly soft, but all the same they earned their point, I�d say; & clearly this was a better result for them than for England.
(It makes no odds to me, Ireland having failed to qualify. Four-word review: Henry beats Ireland singlehandedly.)
Anyway, I was wondering if an American FWFRer or 2 would care to expound on the perception of the World Cup in the US. How much interest is there in it? Is �soccer� ever going to become as popular as the big 3 over there?
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Salopian 
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 06/12/2010 : 23:57:38
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| What's with these vuvuzelas? Apparently they are part of the authentic South African football experience and banning them would have been trying to Europeanise an African World Cup. Hhmmm. They developed in the 1990s and so are not exactly the most convincing national tradition I've ever come across. And if the World Cup comes to England are we going to have hooliganism to endorse its 'authenticity'? Other countries wanting to stop something isn't necessarily neocolonialism -- that something might just be really, really annoying. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 06/13/2010 : 09:26:27
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quote:
Originally posted by rabid kazook
Also what about Switzerland (ChocolateLady's dream country)?
Correction - that would be Belgium - the world's best chocolate makers on the planet. However, the French have been making a valiant and impressive bid for that title, lately.
But since Israel isn't playing, I'm not interested.
(Not that I would be all that interested even if they were playing, but that's another matter altogether.)
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rabid kazook
"Pushing the antelope"
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Posted - 06/13/2010 : 15:03:43
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I just ate some Swiss chocolate. Mrrmmm mrmm... Ups I'm crumbling it. Mrrmmm mrrmm. And I'm watching some Beckham football pictures,Mrmmm mrmm.
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Edited by - rabid kazook on 06/13/2010 15:17:29 |
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Chris C
"Four words, never backwards."
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Posted - 06/13/2010 : 17:38:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
...New Zealand won't get out of their group...
Actually if NZ has anything other than 3 first-round losses then I'm gonna claim absolute, total World Cup victory!
I reckon you'll have your best chance against Slovakia.
quote:
quote:
England for the semi-finals,
Oh yeah?
That's eternal English optimism, thinking that we are better than we really are, no doubt to be followed by the traditional post-quarter-final disappointment.
Se�n, you might find this of interest. |
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turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
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Posted - 06/13/2010 : 21:00:33
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As an avid sports fan, yet a casual soccer fan I am like some Americans. I watch the World Cup - some of the better teams (Spain, Germany, Brazil, etc.) and most of the American matches - I would say this is akin to interest in the Olympics. I do not watch soccer at any other time unless my children are playing it. This is interesting because soccer remains the most popular sport to play for children under the age of 14 in the US, but that at best translates to having an appreciation for the rules and style of play for world cup soccer. Many people share this style of appreciation for FIFA World Cup, but the interest wanes when it is not the US or World Cup tournament.
Many (perhaps most) sports fans are either ambivalent towards soccer or outright antagonistic towards soccer as being too soft, too slow, too low scoring etc. I am not making any of these arguments, just relaying this as the general perception of soccer in the US.
I don't believe it will ever gain the popularity of the sport abroad. Sports are dominated in this country by American Football, Basketball, Baseball in that order and then Hockey a distant 4th in terms of team sports. Many people thought that a good showing by an American team would spawn interest, but I don't see that happening - we would be more aware of the sport, but if you aren't a fan you aren't a fan. My undergraduate university has one of the best Women's Lacrosse teams in the US - They won 5 straight NCAA titles until this year when they lost in the finals - I have yet to watch the sport because I don't have any interest in it - I am happy that my school has the success but I'm not a fan. Similarly, a sizable minority of Americans were interested in the Tour de France when Lance Armstrong was dominating the sport a few years ago - interest in the sport is almost completely gone now for the casual viewer.
Part of the not enough scoring argument is that it detracts sports betting, although I think that only impacts a small portion of the sports audience.
It is unlikely to gain wide appeal here because of competition of the other sports. It is not a matter of us not understanding the game - whilst we may not have an appreciation for the sport, many of us grew up playing it but discarded it for basketball, football or baseball. I think this World Cup will be the biggest US audience ever, but a lot more people are interested in what's going on between the Lakers and Celtics right now. |
Edited by - turrell on 06/13/2010 21:02:57 |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/13/2010 : 23:46:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
Se�n, you might find this of interest.
I read a similar article to that a few days ago. I don't think rugby is really under threat by soccer. As long as the All Blacks are among the world's best then it would be hard to switch allegiances to a sport where there's no hope of ever really competing internationally. Mind you, if the departure of our best rugby players towards bigger money overseas becomes standard practice then the days of All Black dominance will likely be over. The thing that surprises me is that NZ still actually is competitive given half our country's best players don't live here any more (and aren't available for All Black selection).
Anyway, I lost interest in rugby years ago, at about the time the 4-month rugby season became a 10-month season. I haven't watched a rugby match for about 4 years, and probably haven't watched a soccer match for 10. |
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Salopian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 00:55:04
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quote:
Originally posted by turrell
Part of the not enough scoring argument is that it detracts sports betting, although I think that only impacts a small portion of the sports audience.
I dunno. There is a lot of betting on football. It's just that it's not only based on final scores, but also on who will score when and on numerous other factors within the games.
I've only got limited interest in football, but I think the low scoring makes it exciting -- each goal is such a big deal. In something like basketball, where the teams score continually, it makes it look no challenge (even though I'm sure it is) and I just zone out. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 05:53:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
That's eternal English optimism, thinking that we are better than we really are, no doubt to be followed by the traditional post-quarter-final disappointment.
You might be interested in this. No idea if it's accurate but I did find it entertaining.
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rabid kazook
"Pushing the antelope"
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 20:34:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Cracovian
I dunno. There is a lot of betting on football. It's just that it's not only based on final scores, but also on who will score when and on numerous other factors within the games.
I've only got limited interest in football, but I think the low scoring makes it exciting -- each goal is such a big deal. In something like basketball, where the teams score continually, it makes it look no challenge (even though I'm sure it is) and I just zone out.
"The less is more", ey. I agree. I really can't get into the 100 season games a basketball, baseball hockey club makes. When nobody is stressing about losing 20 games in 2 months it's just too wierd.
My thought is the Americans have too much of the escapism mentality to their sports, with Europeans it seems it is a different kind of an approach.
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turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 21:23:41
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quote:
Originally posted by rabid kazook
"The less is more", ey. I agree. I really can't get into the 100 season games a basketball, baseball hockey club makes. When nobody is stressing about losing 20 games in 2 months it's just too wierd.
Our most popular sport is the NFL with 16 games and a 3 - 4 game playoff so I don't think its that Americans like long boring seasons. |
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Chris C
"Four words, never backwards."
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 23:30:18
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I know that some Americans aren't too clued up about football, but you think that someone would know better than to print this.  
I agree with Turrell - I think that Americans in general are so wrapped up in their national sports that their is little chance of anything else getting a look-in, no matter how big or corporate it becomes. On the other side, not many around the rest of the world play or follow American Football, baseball, or ice hockey. We get almost no baseball or hockey on TV over here, and minimal basketball. We do get a lot of American football, and it has a big following over here.
One of the arguments I've heard for soccer not becoming established in the USA is that there are no natural breaks - therefore TV cannot take advantage and show endless adverts. How true this is I don't know.
Hard luck on Australia yesterday - they met a very good Germany team on top form. |
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ci�nas
"hands down"
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Posted - 06/14/2010 : 23:48:50
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Thanks Turrell. Yup, that�s pretty much what I�d thought really. F�tbol is seen as lacking machismo. A flurry of interest is generated during the World Cup, dying down afterwards. As Chris says, more or less, the US has so much regional diversity & rivalry that it�s content to compete against itself in most sporting arenas.
Few nations are more sports crazy than the US, it seems to me (& of course no nation is more obsessed by sports statistics). I remember how amazed I was on the first internal flight I took in the US, a good while ago now. It was an evening flight from New York to Chicago, & the pilot gave out updated basketball scores throughout, to lots of whooping & clapping from the passengers. I felt very foreign.
It still strikes me as strange, though, whatever the reasons for it, that the US doesn�t fully engage with or participate in the biggest & most unignorable global sporting event every 4 years.
Yeah: Germany were very impressive yesterday!
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World Cup
