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World Cup 2010


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A few things:

1) While some talk of people named Tremblay cheering on people named Halak in hockey, we have an interesting story today between Germany and Ghana:

No doubt Mr. and Mrs. Boateng are equally proud of their sons, but you have to wonder what was going through their minds as a modern-day Cain and Abel drama unfolded before their eyes.

Putting a new spin on sibling rivalry, half-brothers Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jerome Boateng made history Wednesday by becoming the first brothers to feature on opposite sides in a World Cup match.

Kevin-Prince, 23, played for Germany's junior team before switching allegiance to Ghana last year, while younger brother Jerome, 21, has earned six caps for the Germans. The two were born and grew up in Germany and share the same Ghanaian father but have different German mothers.

A contentious incident a month ago in London stoked the fires between the two teams and brothers before a ball was even kicked in Johannesburg. Kevin-Prince, who plays for English club Portsmouth, became a hated figure among German fans when his rash tackle on Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack ruled Germany's captain out of this tournament with an ankle injury

Well, isn't that interesting.

2) We could have Argentina vs England in the quarter finals!

I'd prefer Argentina vs. Germany but if England can beat the Germans it will be a classic match up.

3) I'm cheering for Argentina even though some think they are "cheaters."

Some links:

World Cup Calendar

Tactics

Edited by msj
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3) I'm cheering for Argentina even though some think they are "cheaters."

I don't have any real ill will toward Argentina.. they definitely do a little too much diving and "embellishment".. and I guess theres always the hand of god goal from a ways back..

But really, their transgressions pale in comparison to teams like Italy and Brazil. While a lot of teams have been quite bad for that this time around, its traditionally been a defining charecteristic of Italy and most of the South American teams. Even at the amatuer level in my city :(

For my part, I'm pulling for 1) Netherlands, 2) Germany, and 3) England.

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I don't have any real ill will toward Argentina.. they definitely do a little too much diving and "embellishment".. and I guess theres always the hand of god goal from a ways back..

But really, their transgressions pale in comparison to teams like Italy and Brazil. While a lot of teams have been quite bad for that this time around, its traditionally been a defining charecteristic of Italy and most of the South American teams. Even at the amatuer level in my city :(

For my part, I'm pulling for 1) Netherlands, 2) Germany, and 3) England.

"the hand of god" will always be the defining moment for Argentina...then there was the same players dismissal in another WC(1990?) for drug use...then the 78WC where a game was fixed...I have nothing but contempt for Argentine football...

but enough about the arggies, what a match today best of the tournie so far, Slovakia sending home the WC champs 3-2...fitting justice for Italians and their theatrics watching the Slovaks waste time in a similar fashion in the closing minutes...

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What about that Australian regulation football. That looks pretty intense. I don't understand the rules. I'm not sure the game has rules. I see refs, but.....

I'm not a fan of every sport but every sport at the top level has great athletes. We North Americans rag on Cricket but try using your bare hands to field a ball that makes a baseball feel like a marshmallow.

Whether you like auto racing or not you have to be damn fit to drive F1

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I'm not a fan of every sport but every sport at the top level has great athletes. We North Americans rag on Cricket but try using your bare hands to field a ball that makes a baseball feel like a marshmallow.

Whether you like auto racing or not you have to be damn fit to drive F1

they all have different types of exceptional technical expertise...but not all sports have the same requirements for fitness and stamina, pro-boxing, football(soccer), swimming, cross country skiing are at the top end for fitness and stamina...baseball, cricket, curling are at the other...

true about cricket as compared to baseball, IMO cricket is the more technically difficult of the two...

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I guess that begs the question, what is a sport? A person could be incredibly fit but have barely enough co-ordination to tie their shoes.

I had that discussion with one of our national coaches, he had it worked out to sports and activities with a grey area in between...

bowling, darts, snooker and curling in his mind were activities that required technical skills but not sports in the true sense...

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Guess it depends on where you are coming from. What level of fitness or activity qualifies something as a sport? When is a game not a sport? Pretty subjective methinks. As one wag put it, a sport is anything that puts my cigarette out. Maybe that's as good a definition as any.

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Guess it depends on where you are coming from. What level of fitness or activity qualifies something as a sport? When is a game not a sport? Pretty subjective methinks. As one wag put it, a sport is anything that puts my cigarette out. Maybe that's as good a definition as any.

we could start an entire thread on this topic...is olympic Ice Dancing a sport? if it is why not ballet and ballroom dancing, they all require athletic ability, stamina, balance, where do you draw a line say this is a sport and that is an art form/entertainment or what is a game... Edited by wyly
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To celebrate the World Cup, Youtube has added a "vuvuzela" feature to its videos!

Added to the toolbar along the bottom of the video frame is a little soccer-ball icon. Click the soccer ball, and the sound of a whole stadium full of vuvuzelas will accompany your video!

I find this feature provides an ideal soundtrack for when I am reading Naomi Glover's latest messages.

-k

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fitting justice for Italians and their theatrics

I agree. I don't think there's a team I dislike worse than the Italians. I'm also glad that France is going home as well. Did anyone see the French coach refuse to shake the hand of the South African coach after the match? It was pathetic.

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LA Times: France, soccer, and race

Since winning the World Cup 12 years ago with a team starring Zinedine Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, the French team has been regularly associated — rightly or wrongly — with people from France's poor suburbs. And it is not new for French intellectuals to sermonize on the larger, societal significance of the national soccer team.

There is even an exhibit in Paris of soccer as an anthropological "learning tool" highlighting the "plurality of French society." The show at the National Center of the History of Immigration, scheduled to run until Oct. 17, focuses on the immigrant backgrounds of past French players as a reflection on ongoing changes in French identity.

That topic was reason for many to cheer when the French won the World Cup, and its ethnically mixed players were celebrated as a rainbow of Frenchmen who united for victory, said Yvan Gastaut, a historian and a curator of the exhibit.

That team was "a symbol of living together, which we hadn't seen since France was freed from the Nazis," said Gastaut.

At the time, the media hammered home a positive association of the soccer players with the country's poor suburbs. But as soon as the team began to play badly and the public grumbled about the star-studded lifestyle of team members, that message started to backfire.

"Before, we said the suburbs won the World Cup. Now it's all the opposite, and we say these children of the ghettoes lost it, and as a result we stigmatize the suburbs," Gastaut said.

When the team was winning, it was important to point out that France's non-white suburbs won the World Cup and the "rainbow team" was a symbol of the power of diversity. But now that the team is a national embarrassment...

-k

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LA Times: France, soccer, and race

When the team was winning, it was important to point out that France's non-white suburbs won the World Cup and the "rainbow team" was a symbol of the power of diversity. But now that the team is a national embarrassment...

-k

no one cares about france, they cheated to get into the world cup and the entire world (except france) is happy to see them go home early....

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no one cares about france, they cheated to get into the world cup and the entire world (except france) is happy to see them go home early....
I am utterly confused by this - and I refuse to google to find out the story.

Some Slovak explained to me, jeering, that the French team went on strike ("That's what the French do", he said to me). I got an email from home with a similar message. So the French are no longer in the World Cup?

I was in Germany when they lost against Slovenia (?). (I thought the Germans had won, and were simply subdued in their nationalistic pride. Later, I realized that the Pole had been explaining his pleasure in the German defeat. It had someting to do with referees and flags.)

To be honest, I just don't get this game. I am appalled with the rank nationalism, and the supposed respect of laws and referees - as if an ulterior power can decide a victor. To me, this sports game (soccer) is boring.

----

Since I was about 10 years old or so, I have given up on sports. I consider sports to be a child's game. But if we must have a sport, then surely ice hockey is the only sport worthy of the name. It is faster than any other sport, and while shots on goal are often high, the goals scored are usually low. No game offers such speed, and such drama.

In soccer (world football) like golf, nothing ever happens. It is as boring as baseball or chess, but lacks the complexity of baseball. In hockey, something happens all the time - yet the end scores are often no different from European football.

----

In hockey, the best, most important game of all is played in the Stanley Cup when Canadians, Americans, Russians, Czechs, Swedes (even a Lafleur, Béliveau or a Richard) play together against various other mixed teams. We Canadians and our ice hockey have the right idea when it comes to sports. Years ago, a century ago, the NHL crossed borders of language, religion, province and even country.

Sorry, I have a tremendous disdain for this FIFO Football/Soccer World Cup. We Canadians understand sports - and life - much better.

Too many Canadians died in Europe fighting against such European foolishness.

Edited by August1991
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To be honest, I just don't get this game. I am appalled with the rank nationalism, and the supposed respect of laws and referees - as if an ulterior power can decide a victor. To me, this sports game (soccer) is boring.

Beats their old pastime, shooting at each other.

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Beats their old pastime, shooting at each other.

Well...Riots(race riots),blood and urine bombs,open bigotry,religious sectarianism taken to extremes,murdering officals...etc...

Some Euro bonehead actually nominated the sport of soccer for a Nobel Peace prize because he felt it promoted world peace...

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To be honest, I just don't get this game. I am appalled with the rank nationalism, and the supposed respect of laws and referees - as if an ulterior power can decide a victor. To me, this sports game (soccer) is boring.

In hockey, the best, most important game of all is played in the Stanley Cup when Canadians, Americans, Russians, Czechs, Swedes (even a Lafleur, Béliveau or a Richard) play together against various other mixed teams. We Canadians and our ice hockey have the right idea when it comes to sports. Years ago, a century ago, the NHL crossed borders of language, religion, province and even country.

As others in this thread have pointed out, comparing an international competition to league play is really rather foolish. The NHL is comparable to professional leagues in soccer. The World Cup is comparable to the World Cup of Hockey. You may have noticed "rank nationalism" present during that event, as well as during the Olympics.

Its not a big mystery as to why thats the case. In fact, its quite obvious...

In soccer (world football) like golf, nothing ever happens. It is as boring as baseball or chess, but lacks the complexity of baseball. In hockey, something happens all the time - yet the end scores are often no different from European football.

Everyone has different tastes in sport, as in anything else.. but just because you don't understand whats going on at any given moment doesn't mean that nothing is happening.

Sorry, I have a tremendous disdain for this FIFO Football/Soccer World Cup. We Canadians understand sports - and life - much better.

Well I'm a Canadian with almost complete disdain for hockey as a sport. I guess I just understand sports - and life - much better.

Too many Canadians died in Europe fighting against such European foolishness.

Cheering on ones national team at a sporting event is clearly analogous to the violent nationalism of Europe's dark history....

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I am utterly confused by this - and I refuse to google to find out the story.

Some Slovak explained to me, jeering, that the French team went on strike ("That's what the French do", he said to me). I got an email from home with a similar message. So the French are no longer in the World Cup?

I was in Germany when they lost against Slovenia (?). (I thought the Germans had won, and were simply subdued in their nationalistic pride. Later, I realized that the Pole had been explaining his pleasure in the German defeat. It had someting to do with referees and flags.)

To be honest, I just don't get this game. I am appalled with the rank nationalism, and the supposed respect of laws and referees - as if an ulterior power can decide a victor. To me, this sports game (soccer) is boring.

----

Since I was about 10 years old or so, I have given up on sports. I consider sports to be a child's game. But if we must have a sport, then surely ice hockey is the only sport worthy of the name. It is faster than any other sport, and while shots on goal are often high, the goals scored are usually low. No game offers such speed, and such drama.

In soccer (world football) like golf, nothing ever happens. It is as boring as baseball or chess, but lacks the complexity of baseball. In hockey, something happens all the time - yet the end scores are often no different from European football.

----

In hockey, the best, most important game of all is played in the Stanley Cup when Canadians, Americans, Russians, Czechs, Swedes (even a Lafleur, Béliveau or a Richard) play together against various other mixed teams. We Canadians and our ice hockey have the right idea when it comes to sports. Years ago, a century ago, the NHL crossed borders of language, religion, province and even country.

Sorry, I have a tremendous disdain for this FIFO Football/Soccer World Cup. We Canadians understand sports - and life - much better.

Too many Canadians died in Europe fighting against such European foolishness.

And yet some historians sedulously declare that obliterating soccer was not a major purpose of the soldiers' sacrifices.

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Has the paint dried yet or have you become sophisticated? :D

I said I watch games here and there. But it is still nothing compared to hockey. I would not be online during a hockey game. I already was sophisticated. You would think FIFA would catch up. Hockey has goal review. Another thing I keep noticing is a lot of these goals which are being counted are without a doubt being kicked in....distinct kicking motion!!!!

Edited by jefferiah
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[snip a bunch of unneccessarily defensive nonsense]

Seems I has touched a nerve.

What is it about the :D that prevents people from getting the joke?

Anyway, the right team is going to win and hopefully it will be Germany v Argentina in the quarters.

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Seems I has touched a nerve.

What is it about the :D that prevents people from getting the joke?

Anyway, the right team is going to win and hopefully it will be Germany v Argentina in the quarters.

And nothing to say about these goals which are being intentionally kicked in?? Refs in hockey would have caught those ones.

Edited by jefferiah
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And nothing to say about these goals which are being intentionally kicked in?? Refs in hockey would have caught those ones.

Mildly funny, perhaps.

-----------------------------------------

With England out I only have teams that I want to win! I don't remember when that has every happened (I dislike England and Italy for irrational reasons that are not worth exploring here).

Still hoping for Argentina though.

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Mildly funny, perhaps.

-----------------------------------------

With England out I only have teams that I want to win! I don't remember when that has every happened (I dislike England and Italy for irrational reasons that are not worth exploring here).

Still hoping for Argentina though.

Spain....I went for Spain last time around.

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