World Cup 2018

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Muse

Muse

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Is anyone watching it this year? Listening to the talking heads being shock at the US being knocked out I was surprised to be honest why they were shocked. They do try but they just can't seem to compete on the world stage. :donkeys:

The part that does piss me off is how the ladies won and made so much less than the men who had placed 16th. Total bull crap but that is for another day of discussion.

So if you are watching who are you looking at, feel has a shot or should I keep an eye on? I do want to watch for I do enjoy it. Thinking now it might be nice to just enjoy without a horse in the race. :muse:
 
Obligatory to rate Brazil quite high and Germany also has a shot at it.

My dark horse to go far in the tournament despite predictions and an overall horrible draw is Morocco.
 
I watch a good deal of big time futbol now and now realize that the World Cup is not really on the same level as, say, the UEFA Champions league or some of the other top circuits like Premier, La Liga or Bundesliga because players don't have the same familiarity with their national teammates, but it's still a good show.

I'm disappointed that the US isn't in it and hope that someday we can compete at a higher level. We get close at times, but the National team looked completely out of synch during qualifying and deserved to get beat.

I'm thinking Spain is the team to beat, but I dunno what the experts are saying. Germany should be a threat and Brazil is always strong. Spain's Cristiano Ronaldo is maybe the most skilled scorer I've ever seen, although Messi with Argentina is the Wayne Gretsky of soccer and probably the best overall player.
 
Too busy this weekend, trying to help keep security in south Framingham. It's a madhouse during World Cup.
 
Baron Samedi said:
Too busy this weekend, trying to help keep security in south Framingham. It's a madhouse during World Cup.
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Those Framingham Brazilians are nuts. They'll have impromptu parades through downtown after a win. Four years ago, the police had to put up barriers and strategically funnel the crazies through the streets so they wouldn't completely gridlock downtown.

My wife's office is in downtown. Unfortunately, 2 of the Brazil matches will end during her work day which will make it tough for her clientele and clinicians to get into the office.
 
Muse said:
Is anyone watching it this year? Listening to the talking heads being shock at the US being knocked out I was surprised to be honest why they were shocked. They do try but they just can't seem to compete on the world stage. :donkeys:

The part that does piss me off is how the ladies won and made so much less than the men who had placed 16th. Total bull crap but that is for another day of discussion.

So if you are watching who are you looking at, feel has a shot or should I keep an eye on? I do want to watch for I do enjoy it. Thinking now it might be nice to just enjoy without a horse in the race. :muse:
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The US team is to the World Cup what the Knicks are to the NBA. Everybody likes to pretend that they're legitimate for some bizarre reason.
 
Soccer is my favorite sport, so will be watching as much as I can. World cup tends to be like the NCAA tournament, there will be a great story/cinderella or 2, but the more traditional teams tend to be the ones fighting it out in the end. Germany, Spain and Brazil are the traditional powers most likely to be there at the end again this year, although I think Brazil is too inconsistent, and can be very suspect in the back at times, so I don't think they are likely to be raising the cup. Belgium should be in the mix this year - a lot of talent, but lack a team identity and haven't always lived up to expectations.

2 teams to root for that have a chance to be cinderellas (although won't be around near the end) - Iceland (do they have a sequel to their cinderella story from the Euros?), and Senegal. An African nation always seems to makes a bit of a run. In years past we have seen good things from Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast. Can Mane lead Senegal out of the group stage this year? A lot of attention will be paid to Egypt, and rightly so given Mo Salah's past year with Liverpool, but I don't think he has nearly enough around him with this Egypt team.

Let the fun begin!
 
O.Z.O. said:
The US team is to the World Cup what the Knicks are to the NBA. Everybody likes to pretend that they're legitimate for some bizarre reason.
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TommyD420 said:
Or the Cowboys to the NFL.
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That sounds about right. I am looking for the dark horse that has no chance in Hades of winning also will have to check out the stats.

I do prefer the UEFA and finally getting the hang of the rules. And we get quite a few of the games here in this area so it is pretty cool. The fans are always an interesting sort LOL but we like it.
 
Muse said:
That sounds about right. I am looking for the dark horse that has no chance in Hades of winning also will have to check out the stats.

I do prefer the UEFA and finally getting the hang of the rules. And we get quite a few of the games here in this area so it is pretty cool. The fans are always an interesting sort LOL but we like it.
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the problem with that is that FIFA officiating is without question the most corrupt of ANY major professional sport. It's like combining an NBA ref in a playoff game that LeBron is involved in with a home plate umpire in a September game at Yankee Stadium during a pennant race, multiplying them by 10, and then giving that creation steroids.
 
O.Z.O. said:
the problem with that is that FIFA officiating is without question the most corrupt of ANY major professional sport. It's like combining an NBA ref in a playoff game that LeBron is involved in with a home plate umpire in a September game at Yankee Stadium during a pennant race, multiplying them by 10, and then giving that creation steroids.
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:clap::clap::clap:

Yikes.
 
bideau said:
Those Framingham Brazilians are nuts. They'll have impromptu parades through downtown after a win. Four years ago, the police had to put up barriers and strategically funnel the crazies through the streets so they wouldn't completely gridlock downtown.

My wife's office is in downtown. Unfortunately, 2 of the Brazil matches will end during her work day which will make it tough for her clientele and clinicians to get into the office.
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Yup. I won't be anywhere near downtown, thankfully.

The Brazilians go nuts, but generally speaking, they don't damage a lot of stuff or hurt people...they just kind of make a lot of noise.
 
The World Cup is great spectacle, but not generally great soccer.

The best club teams roll out 11 superior athletes, work together over the course of years and are constantly looking to add new talent and improve.

Even the best National teams have players who couldn't dream of cracking a major clubs lineup, are thrown together for a few weeks per year at most and are limited to adding guys from that country. I find the games sloppy at best, especially in the early rounds, and the disparity in talent between the best teams and the also rans tends to encourage negative soccer.

It's like judging basketball by what you see at the Olympics.
 
Hawg73 said:
I watch a good deal of big time futbol now and now realize that the World Cup is not really on the same level as, say, the UEFA Champions league or some of the other top circuits like Premier, La Liga or Bundesliga because players don't have the same familiarity with their national teammates, but it's still a good show.

I'm disappointed that the US isn't in it and hope that someday we can compete at a higher level. We get close at times, but the National team looked completely out of synch during qualifying and deserved to get beat.

I'm thinking Spain is the team to beat, but I dunno what the experts are saying. Germany should be a threat and Brazil is always strong. Spain's Cristiano Ronaldo is maybe the most skilled scorer I've ever seen, although Messi with Argentina is the Wayne Gretsky of soccer and probably the best overall player.
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Ronaldo is from Portugal.

Brazil and Germany are the favorites, but a lot of teams have a shot this year.
You can't rule out France, Spain or Argentina. England and Belgium have squads to compete as well. Portugal have Ronaldo, so you cant rule them out either. They did win the Euros in 2016.

The level of play probably isn't at the same level as in the Champions League playoff, but it is quite strong after the lower seeded teams get knocked out in the group stage.
 
I've watched some games recently and the tactics have been awful.

The "ball carrier" runs with the ball at his legs, the O linemen are undersized and NEVER run block, and there's a guy on each side who wears gloves to field kicks and punts. However, the returns are non- existent.

Don't get me started on the Defence.
 
Darth Despot said:
The World Cup is great spectacle, but not generally great soccer.

The best club teams roll out 11 superior athletes, work together over the course of years and are constantly looking to add new talent and improve.

Even the best National teams have players who couldn't dream of cracking a major clubs lineup, are thrown together for a few weeks per year at most and are limited to adding guys from that country. I find the games sloppy at best, especially in the early rounds, and the disparity in talent between the best teams and the also rans tends to encourage negative soccer.

It's like judging basketball by what you see at the Olympics.
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Excellent point. If you took the current Real Madrid and put them up against the current Brazil, I suspect Madrid would win relatively easily.
 
For those bemoaning the quality of play, just wait until they expand the field to 48 teams in 2026
 
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