Anyone care about Soccer?

Love the travel advice for the World Cup, dont scream out loud if you get mugged less likely you'll get murdered

I still dont understand how this is the worlds biggest sport

In other news, took me 5 years here to work out HF doesnt actually have a sports forum

 

No Need To Feel Ashamed, All Forums Have Members That Aren't

The Sharpest Tools In The Shed....



Cheers Glen.

 

I'm the biggest tool in the shed though

No, wait, that didnt come out right

 

3-4 billion people do, but im willing to bet nobody here does. ok maybe one brit that only found this site because he was looking to grow his own weed but nobody else.

 

Yes, soccer is a great game. Do i care about FIFA? No, I shit on them.

 

I'm not very much into it, but I will pay some attention to World Cup.

 

I cannot watch it. It consists of ---they're going up field and --they're going the other way and---now they're going back and --now they're going the other way and ---and now---------etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,etc,-------------the most boring idea of a sport that I have ever seen. If one watches it for 30 seconds---you can go away and come back later and------the same shit with nothing happening. No wonder people go crazy------nothin' ever happens!! It's even worse than hockey------and that's going some!!

 

Scratcho, it seems you have found the origin of hooliganism.

 

I think so. People need a release from tension or bad stuff happens. Soccer is endless tension with little or no release. I'd rather watch my clothes whirling around in a dryer while I make up stories about what my pants are gonna' do to my shirts!!

 

It really depends on the game if it is fun to watch all 90 minutes. So I can relate to both people who enjoy a good soccer match and to you as well because there are a lot of people who watch every game in the national competition (and besides that international competitions) and that seems unbearable boring and really an insane thing to do :biggrin:

 

Game has no appeal to me whatsoever.

 

Association football must be just about the dullest thing ever invented.

 

How long is this shit going on for?
Can't remember what Google's fucking logo looked like.
I think sports are for fags.
Couldn't give a rats ass.
Unless it was like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJOiCsL6eD0"]Alex Gaudino ft Shena - 'Watch Out' (Official Video) - YouTube

 

I got totally sucked into the World cup, so I eat my words

I care about Soccer!

Well at least for one month every 4 years

 

It would be a wonderful thing if people stopped caring about it altogether, and players stopped getting paid 60k a week, and slaves stopped building stadiums in the middle east in 48 degree sunshine.
But business is business eh, plus its very useful to governments to have people care about a bunch of fuckwits kicking a ball around because then they will have less time to care about what business and government is actually doing on a larger scale. Its just a distraction. Its nothing new.

 

You are talking about organisation. The game itself is not responsible for construction workers dying in Qatar or people losing their homes in Brasil. I am against the outrageous paychecks and retarded expensive transfers as well. The game however is my fav in sports. They are different things.

 

Of course, I have nothing against people kicking balls per se.
The business however is disgusting as is the tribalism and general male shoutiness that matches seem to spark off with a certain breed.

 

Check this out from the Wall St. Journal, Jan 2014.


Seems a log of young Americans quite like soccer. Youth participation doubles football, is a bit ahead of baseball, and second only to basketball in popularity.
Of course this is not a couch potato poll, so in terms of consumers, I'd say that football is probably still ahead. Where you all hang, anyhow.

Check the whole article here:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303519404579350892629229918

From experience I know that soccer is bloody hard to pick up if you've never played in an organised league. US & Canadian television commentary is light years behind what's available for the rest of the world & in north America for football, baseball, & basketball. Teams come at each other with a virtually unlimited number of possible formations (4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1 etc.) & variations (with or without a sweeper, a diamond 4 centre field, a flat back 4 or a 4 in the back with the fullbacks playings as wing backs etc.that don't appear to ever hold a recognisable shape but shifts relentlessly into entropy/chaos. It isn't. About 50 to 70% planned strategy and the rest creative reaction to reading the game.
The offside rule is almost unexplainable, and how it ever gets enforced consistently remains an utter mystery.

I am still working my way past the basics after 10 years of trying, though since coming home to Ireland I've about doubled my knowledge based on far superior colour commentary.

Anyhow compared with American/Canadian football, soccer remains an infinitely better viewing experience.

Consider a game that takes 2.5 hours + to finish 4 15 minute quarters, and of those 60 minutes of 'play', the ball is in play for only 11 minutes with the average duration of 'a play' being a whole 4 seconds. Counting replays, a typical broadcast shows about 17 minutes of action. Or worse a game that takes 2.5 hours + to play 4 12 minute halves. Pro basketball teams are worried about the duration of games so they hope to solve that by reducing quarters to 11 minutes and the number of mandatory time outs from 3 to 2. Sheesh! Let's reward the faithful fans by giving them 4 less minutes of action! Mind you those 4 minutes alone may end the game 30 minutes sooner (not counting time outs!)
Unlimited substitutions. What's that all about?
Ready, set, go. Ready set go. Ready set go. Now that is an excellent definition of borrrrinnnng.
And do not get me started on the suits of armour worn on the gridiron and hockey rinks. Protection? Bah. A helmet or the butt end of a stick in the gut can rupture a spleen.
Physical requirements. How many linesmen under 300? Basket ball players under 6'7" (Hint: Average height in the NBA is 6'7")

Soccer on the other hand, is almost constant action - no stopping the clock. It takes 90 minutes to play 2 45 minute halves, plus extra or injury time of an average of 3 to 4 minutes to make up for time lost to goals, substitutions, injuries. The clock is bloody relentless. It doesn't stop for free kicks, offsides, out of bounds. It keeps on going, 96 to 98 minutes of solid action plus a 15 minute half time break all squeezed into just under 1.5 hours. Who has time to be bored?

No time-outs.
Only 3 substitutions allowed, no matter what. When a manager has used his 3, and his goalie breaks a leg, tough tittie. One of his on-field players has to put on the goalie jersey & they play short-handed.

Perhaps the best part of pro-soccer everywhere in the world outside of NA is 'the relegation battle.' In the vast majority of leagues, you are punished for being a loser; in NA it gets you first pick in the next draft, something of a reward I'd say. It makes the last 2 months of the season at both ends - top and bottom - completely fascinating. More so on the bottom.

In the typical NA sport, you play league games and playoffs. In soccer there are open competitions to play in, some of them international. Adds a lot of interest.

I'm not saying soccer doesn't have its quirks. You can be carded for taking off your shirt to celebrate a goal.

Sure hope I haven't ticked off too many good folks here.