The World of Football/Soccer.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I have no idea. The World Cup is the greatest sporting event in the world. Sometimes the teams do play too defensively and I thought the 2006 Cup featured way too many fouls and yellow cars. But it is still the greatest event in sports.

Couldnt agree more. Ancient hatreds are played out on a 21st century modern stage in intense yet bloodless combat. And no commercial interruptions either.

[LFC1892]

Like France vs Italy..............

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

There are still about 500,000 unsold World Cup tickets.

England have sold out their allocation, as far as the unsold tickets go one of the reasons going around is that airlines, hotels and such have hiked their prices through the roof. Think I read somewhere that the South African goverment have started an enquiry about the price hikes and maybe force companies to lower their prices, also think they were thinking of lowering ticket prices so more South Africans could afford them.

Again a bit sketchy on it as forgot where I read it but it would cost an English supporter something like £10,000 if England got to the final.

(You can insert the "Least English fans will save on costs seeing they'll be out early" < here )

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Pi Kappa Phi Corey

For those of us who are relatively "noobs" when it comes to the soccer/football world..... Why have I heard it said that the World Cup is overrated and oversold to the general public? Seems to me it would be like the Champions League on steroids...

Just like all other sports it's got way too commercial over the years, also most players in years gone by they'd only think of playing in that world cup then going back to their teams now you get the mentality of, "If I showcase my talents I get an improved contract or a transfer to a bigger team". Thats when you get greedy players and in house fighting aka Holland at every tournament.

[phightin]

I say over-rated here in the US because of all the emphasis put on it as the stand-alone measuring barometer for the state of US soccer. The average person here for the most part sees the world cup as the end all and be all for soccer, and to be honest I don't agree at all. I get much more enjoyment out of watching the european leagues. Internationals, players are thrown together, there's little tactical structure, and the overall flow can be very choppy. US soccer has this grand overall goal of winning a world cup and, while its improved, that's still what our development program's goal is here at the youth level: find talent that can lead the US to a world cup one day. The reality is we should be focusing on one thing and one thing only at the youth level: Developing the best possible talent we can and not worrying so much about the overall national program. Doing well in a world cup, for most countries, especially one like the US can be hit or miss. Our overall measuring barometer should be our ability to produce players capable of performing at the highest levels overseas one day, the winning at the international level will work itself out. Hence, how Spain can thank Barcelona's youth academy for their national team.

[ukhotstove]

Nothing better than club football, I can't speak for the US but over here in England the media think it's the be all and end all of football. You ask most football fans here if they want their club team to win something or England to win something and club will beat country every time, Wigan Athletic to win something or England to win something no contest Latics everytime.

[ukhotstove]

FA Cup still and probably only competition in football that still makes dreams come true.

[Pi Kappa Phi Corey]

That seems a little backwards to me. To say i'd rather see the Atlanta Braves win a WS rather than the USA win the WBC (just imagine if the WBC was actually on par with something as big as the World Cup) would be ridiculous. I'm sure most of my family and friends would feel the same way.
Just for example, today I watched Liverpool and Fulham (mostly Liverpool) go back and forth for 90+ minutes and get NOWHERE.... Most boring sporting event I've watched in some time. Whenever the clubs on television aren't some of the couple big teams that actually get attention and have the $$$ to gather all the great talent, it's extremely boring to watch. Watching the MLS is the same way, painful. If Landon Donovan or Beckham aren't in the game, I'm snoozing ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.... You can just tell that these guys aren't even on the same planet as the guys I watch during UEFA. Plus UEFA has such a great presentation, even if you didn't have a clue (I mostly don't), the presentation of the UEFA locks you in and gets you interested.

[ukhotstove]

I'm not sure what you mean by UEFA, on the club front and no disrespect intended but when you watch football on TV it's hard to understand or know exactly what it's all about specially club football.

[Cooleyvol]

I think he means Champions League.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Cooleyvol

I think he means Champions League.

That's what I was thinking but wasn't too sure with phightin talking about the world cup, football's like any sport you get good games you get poor games. Usually but not everytime the better games are actually between the poorer teams, looking back on the games I've watched and I'd say the majority of the better games have been in the lower leagues.

[Pi Kappa Phi Corey]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Whatever, that's what I get for trying to understand something I've never paid attention to before.

[His Own Bad Self]

I very much will be rooting for Portsmouth against Chelsea in the FA Cup final - though I would have preferred Spurs go through for the sake of having a better-quality match. I was stunned to see Spurs didn't win that game handily.

Between the FA Cup final, the Champions League final four, and the last few weeks of the major league seasons, I'm looking forward to the next month or so.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

England have sold out their allocation, as far as the unsold tickets go one of the reasons going around is that airlines, hotels and such have hiked their prices through the roof. Think I read somewhere that the South African goverment have started an enquiry about the price hikes and maybe force companies to lower their prices, also think they were thinking of lowering ticket prices so more South Africans could afford them.

Again a bit sketchy on it as forgot where I read it but it would cost an English supporter something like £10,000 if England got to the final.

(You can insert the "Least English fans will save on costs seeing they'll be out early" < here )

I think the biggest reason and probably the unstated reason because of the political correct nature of the statement is that a lot of travelers simply don't want to go to South Africa.
It is still a developing nation that is going to experience transportation and infrastructure problems with that many people. And even though it is 2010 I still think the stigma of AIDS hangs over the country and drives off some people as well.

I thought about seeing if I could get down there for a few matches but the cost is too high and I really have zero interest in South Africa as a place.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by His Own Bad Self

I very much will be rooting for Portsmouth against Chelsea in the FA Cup final - though I would have preferred Spurs go through for the sake of having a better-quality match. I was stunned to see Spurs didn't win that game handily.

Between the FA Cup final, the Champions League final four, and the last few weeks of the major league seasons, I'm looking forward to the next month or so.

You never know, don't forget that for alot of Portsmouth players this will be their last game for the club and with that they'll be advertising themselves to possible future employers. Also in 4 games at the so called New Wembley they've yet to concede a goal in open play.

FA Cup Semi Final 1-0 WBA
FA Cup Final 1-0 Cardiff City
Charity Shield 0-0 Man Utd
FA Cup Semi Final 2-0 Spurs

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I think the biggest reason and probably the unstated reason because of the political correct nature of the statement is that a lot of travelers simply don't want to go to South Africa.
It is still a developing nation that is going to experience transportation and infrastructure problems with that many people. And even though it is 2010 I still think the stigma of AIDS hangs over the country and drives off some people as well.

I thought about seeing if I could get down there for a few matches but the cost is too high and I really have zero interest in South Africa as a place.

There was a guy on the radio the other week who had been travelling the world doing a sponsored charity thing, anyway with it being world cup year they asked him what South Africa was like and his answer was.

"A very scarey place, so scarey the taxi drivers pretty much refuse to stop at traffic lights just in case they get car jacked."

Sounds like a lovely place to go watch a football game.

[cognito20]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

You never know, don't forget that for alot of Portsmouth players this will be their last game for the club and with that they'll be advertising themselves to possible future employers. Also in 4 games at the so called New Wembley they've yet to concede a goal in open play.

FA Cup Semi Final 1-0 WBA
FA Cup Final 1-0 Cardiff City
Charity Shield 0-0 Man Utd
FA Cup Semi Final 2-0 Spurs

Also keep in mind that, no matter what happens in the FA Cup Final itself, Portsmouth is guaranteed to be playing in Europe next year (the Europa League - former UEFA Cup). Since Chelsea will be playing in the Champions' League barring the most epic late-season collapse in the history of sports, the Europa League spot for the English FA Cup winner will go to the other Cup finalist (assuming that Chelsea wins), and that's Portsmouth. So that's a little something for the suffering fans of Pompey to look forward to next season - European football at Fratton Park.

--Scott

[His Own Bad Self]

Originally Posted by cognito20

Also keep in mind that, no matter what happens in the FA Cup Final itself, Portsmouth is guaranteed to be playing in Europe next year (the Europa League - former UEFA Cup). Since Chelsea will be playing in the Champions' League barring the most epic late-season collapse in the history of sports, the Europa League spot for the English FA Cup winner will go to the other Cup finalist (assuming that Chelsea wins), and that's Portsmouth. So that's a little something for the suffering fans of Pompey to look forward to next season - European football at Fratton Park.

--Scott

That had me confused. I thought that the Europa League places went only to teams that ranked highly enough in the league tables. So teams that win national cups also get Europa League bids, then?

[bababui]

Originally Posted by cognito20

Also keep in mind that, no matter what happens in the FA Cup Final itself, Portsmouth is guaranteed to be playing in Europe next year (the Europa League - former UEFA Cup). Since Chelsea will be playing in the Champions' League barring the most epic late-season collapse in the history of sports, the Europa League spot for the English FA Cup winner will go to the other Cup finalist (assuming that Chelsea wins), and that's Portsmouth. So that's a little something for the suffering fans of Pompey to look forward to next season - European football at Fratton Park.

--Scott

Originally Posted by His Own Bad Self

That had me confused. I thought that the Europa League places went only to teams that ranked highly enough in the league tables. So teams that win national cups also get Europa League bids, then?

Portsmouth will NOT be playing in the Europa Cup if they lose. The place will go to the 7th place team.

The national cup winners get a EL place if they hadnt qualified for the CL.

[kenyan_cheena]

Looking at the remaining schedule Liverpool still have a slight chance of reaching 4th place. They're playing Chelsea plus three of the bottom four while Spurs and Man City have a much tougher finish, with both having to go up against two of the top three. They also play each other, which helps the Reds.