World Cup!

[MrRoboto]

Netherlands win was quite boring. Chile did much more for the game, but it was not their day. That Alexis Sanchez though… I’ve not seen these great games from him in the barca dress.

Halftime now for Croatia - Mexico. Still rooting for Croatia, I just like their players.

Neymar is by far the best man in the other game so far. Good thing my answer to “Which country will have the topscorer of the WC?” was “Brazil”. A bit disappointed by Oscar, after he displayed a great performance against Croatia.

BTW, I only betted with my friends, the stake was just 5 EUR. But still, I’m such a competetive person, it hurts to perform so badly with my predictions this year. Usually I am spot on.

[Witt]

Bugger!

[John Brown]

Wow, FIFA needs to ban this player from the sport, since this has happened before. Has FIFA ever banned anyone for life?

[MrRoboto]

As much as I enjoy Italy dropping out of the WC… That ref made some serious mistakes in this game. But in the end I don’t care. Italy out, Spain out - Germany is basically world cup winner already! :-)

[Witt]

Nice Tiger John Brown.
Not sure if they have ever done that, but I suspect for misconduct, the answer is no.
I can’t believe we have gone out in the First Round again.
We were poor though.

[John Brown]

@wittmann:

Nice Tiger John Brown.
Not sure if they have ever done that, but I suspect for misconduct, the answer is no.
I can’t believe we have gone out in the First Round again.
We were poor though.

Thanks, I found the picture, yesterday. I wonder what it would take to get a lifetime ban for a habitual offender?

[John Brown]

Congratulations to Germany for winning the group. I hated we lost, but at least we will advance to the 16. :-)

[Panther]

@John:

Congratulations to Germany for winning the group. I hated we lost, but at least we will advance to the 16. :-)

Great! But congrats to the US boys, too - they well deserved advancing. Great games against Portugal and Ghana!

[frimmel]

Backing in is still in.

So has every team lost their game after playing in Manaus?

No because Portugal won.

[John Brown]

@P@nther:

@John:

Congratulations to Germany for winning the group. I hated we lost, but at least we will advance to the 16. :-)

Great! But congrats to the US boys, too - they well deserved advancing. Great games against Portugal and Ghana!

Oh, for sure. I was just disppointed in the loss. I’m proud of our team. There is no doubt about that. :-D

[MrRoboto]

Exactly how popular is soccer in the USA this year? I remember that the German media tells us about new viewer records every single WC. But is soccer still just interesting for very few us-americans or is it starting to get a public thing?

I mean the WC basically dominates and defines German life for 1 month, it’s like 4 weeks of Superbowl :-)

And btw - I’m super drunk right now, celebrating the round of 16, so please don’t judge my English today

[frimmel]

It is picking up. I think as the US continues to have success in international competition it will continue to pick up. It is becoming less second tier.

I also think as the danger of American Football becomes more known, kids will be steered more to soccer and other less concussion inducing sports. A win against the Belgium team will be huge.

My interest has picked up considerable with the availability of Barclay’s Premier League matches. It was sort of a “Ohhhhh… Now I get what everyone sees in this” moment.

[General Veers]

The MLS needs to change its protectionist transfer rules and let teams sign as many foreign stars as they like. Americans want to see professional sports played at their highest level by the best players, no matter where they’re from. We’re embracing the contributions of European and Latin American players in basketball and we’ve long since accepted the major presence of Latin Americans in baseball as well as buying Japanese stars.

I for one am excited by the signings of David Villa and Frank Lampard (best days long gone, but provides credibility) by the new MLS club in New York. As much as I can’t stand Man City I appreciate what their owners are trying to do here.

[frimmel]

As much as I hate to say it MLS pales in comparison to BPL. Not even close. But with that stuff available both MLS and BPL (I don’t remember ever watching soccer as a kid) you’re going to get more kids interested. Look at the turn outs for the USNMT in the qualifying matches, especially in towns with MLS teams. This stuff takes time.

[Panther]

Are German Bundesliga or Spanish Primera Division matches available in US?

[frimmel]

@P@nther:

Are German Bundesliga or Spanish Primera Division matches available in US?

Not to my knowledge. The Barclay’s stuff is just available since that new NBC sports channel started about this time last year. There have been some other leagues on but I’m not particularly familiar with all the different ones.

But before the Barclay’s stuff was available I’d only watch US international matches like the World Cup or the Olympics. I think those being available are going to help push the game in the US a bit.

[General Veers]

beIN sports has the Spanish, Italian and French leagues, it’s not part of basic cable packages though. Part of the al Jazeera media empire from Qatar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeIN_Sports

[Flashman]

@wittmann:

Bugger!

At least you get a new president and coach; we’ve stuck with the same worthless losers for another 4 years!

[Witt]

Waddle said it: you have  been saying for 20 years how you are trying out a new crop of players and it takes time. Nothing changes. All excuses. Needs to change from the ground up.

I did like Prandelli. He was Fiorentina’s ex coach (my team from Florence). We were sad to see him go. He is an honest and honourable man. Unfortunately, he placed all his faith in one striker, Balotelli. He, I can not stand. Being an honourable man, Prandelli had fallen on his sword. I am sorry he has gone. It sounds like the Senatori, the older players, run the team anyway.
Nice to hear from you though Flashman.
Rik has died. Now that is a bigger shame. What a character. My idol as a youth.

[Imperious Leader]

Thank god Mexico lost. No more of those flags on SUV’s. I wish only European nations are left.