the US soccer team needs you

[Dan D]

If you are a lost case anyway, you may put down your monocle now or read/watch the famous Monthy Pythons „Philosophers’ football match“ here:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ebarnes/python/international-philosophy.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwJVcQ-mpA8&search=monty%20python%27s%20flying%20circus


Others:

Set your alarm for the football/soccer friendly match Germany : USA today/tonight!

I for one have tickets for the match and will join 70.000 other self-proclaimed football/soccer experts in the stadium to get a first hand impression of the state of the art of both teams and of the World Cup fitness of the US soccer fans.

I am really curious how the US boys will perform. With the manpower of 300 million potential soccer players some think of the US as the „sleeping giant“ (cough, cough). My cristall ball says, the US team will sooner or later belong to the top teams in the world.

The US Soccer Federation President said that „everyone tells us that we should have beaten the German team in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals “ because „we“ were the better team that day.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,406366,00.html

Let’s put it that way: the Germans were lucky that day, but they always are anyway, just ask others.
So it could as well have been the US team in the World Cup final already in 2002.

For the world cup 2006 I am expecting an even better performance of the US team, basically because I would like to watch the semi-final „USA : Iran“. If the US teams makes it through the group round which will be tough because they play in a „death group“ with Italy, Czechia and Ghana, everything is possible.

So Yankees, give it a go! Support your team! US soccer since 1913!

[Skybird]

Germany played fantastic during the Confed-Cup - and after that the team and coach fell into a deep black hole and never came out of that. Another defeat today would bring german soccer into a deep crisis, so short before the championship, after scandals of league manipulations and bought game results, the arrogant behavior of the national coach (spending more time in California than in Germany), and the unacceptable performances of the team in recent matches (the 1:4 against Italy was like beein eaten up alive).

american teams often show high motivation and pride, and I think they will beat the Germans today. The complete helplessness ont he faces of Klinsmann and Bierhoff after recent matches speaks volumes.

The luck of German teams in during champiomnship is proverbial, and also there probably will be a raise in fighting spirit once the event has started, yes. But I could imagine that this time it will not be enough. It is very possible that germany even will not survive the first round, turning all finacial investments and economical predicitons into a chaotic mess.

Not to mention the blame. The German soccer association DFB is the biggest sports organization worldwide... :o Really, it's true!

There were plans by some to order Klinsmann to appear before the Bundestag and explain the siutation, and other voices suggested one should confiscate his passport the next time he enters germany, and keep it until the championship is over. :lol:

[Dowly]

Can americans play soccer? :o

And why the football is called soccer in america?

FOOT
- The ball is most of the time in the HAND of the player in American Football

BALL
- The ball in the american football, isnt really shaped as ball. Reminds me of egg.

So I come to the conclusion that Soccer should be called football again and the american football should be called Handegg.

:yep:

[August]

Can americans play soccer? :o

And why the football is called soccer in america?

FOOT
- The ball is most of the time in the HAND of the player in American Football

BALL
- The ball in the american football, isnt really shaped as ball. Reminds me of egg.

So I come to the conclusion that Soccer should be called football again and the american football should be called Handegg.

:yep:

Do you Euros hand out scripts for that old saw?

[Skybird]

Ahhh, I think this is the right time for a new essay:

http://www.heise.de/bin/tp/issue/r4/dl-artikel2.cgi?artikelnr=22244&mode=print

German language only, sorry. It concentrates on the differences in mentalities, making US and european sports so different.

[Sixpack]

Handegg is a new one for me. I like it. Gonna use it when I see fit :up:

[Dan D]

According to the FIFA World Ranking the USA is rated 5th best team at the moment, which means yes, they can play football/soccer even if it is not part of the US sport heritage and the US team has done quiet well over the last years. More successful teams were only Brazil, Czechia, Holland and Argentina.
The US team yesterday did not play well but that was because 5 players of the starting team were missing. It was no official FIFA friendly match but a match arranged between the US and the German coach for game practise and testing players. Some of the US players were with their national teams.
The US team will be facing problems in the World Cup tournament if they have to replace players of the starting team with less experienced substitute players. The German team has the same problem. In the first half the US team was defending deep, thus showing how limited the abilities of the German team are, in the second half the US B-team fell apart when the German team scored goals.

The US soccer fan test:
The US soccer fans are definitely fit for the World Cup. I saw at least 4 people dressed as Abraham Lincoln (beard and hat), some others in colourful fantasy dresses. Lots of fans had enveloped themselves in huge American flags to show their pride and there were some nice ladies wearing cowboy hats. Howdy!

[goldorak]

Americans play football ?
Now thats news :rotfl:

No way that an american football team will be able to compete with the AAA european countries.
Usa just doesn't like nor understand "soccer".
They live and die by Baseball, Basketball and American Football.

[Skybird]

The Germans played bad, nop matter what the score is. Against a better team they would have been ripped apart. They are too static, too slow, and have no creative ideas. :down: Booooh!

I really wonder what has happened since the confed cup, I can'T see international oppposition having become stronger, so obviously there must have been a massive loss in abilities with the Germans.

[goldorak]

bad post

[Sixpack]

Thank goodness for USA's lack of interest in football (not be confused with handegg). The big countries (practically continents !!) ruin every sports event with their dominance (USA/ China/and in the past USSR). I am personally going to boycot the China Games btw.

Imagine N-Americans as keen as Europeans and S-Americans wrt football !?! :roll:

I would not like to see Holland take on the entire continent of USA. That's a pool of 17 million against a pool of ?????????????

However small size vs big size didnt stop us from whipping USSR's ass @ the EC 1988 :rock:

PS Ofcourse in 75 years time when the USA is a Mexican dominated continent we will possibly witness changes in attitude and potential....

[Dan D]

Bump, World cup countdown: 71 days left :ahoy:

Well, I had expected a little more enthusiasm :lol:
Howerver: Interesting interview with an American football, pardon: soccer professor in the local rag today (WAZ 29.03. 06): “World champion USA = shock”
The American social scientist Andrei S. Markowits, guest professor for sport and football/soccer studies at the university of Dortmund/Germany, author of the book “Offside” (550 p.) about the American soccer “Sonderweg”, has a theory:
“The established football (read: soccer) nations despise the “arriviste” USA.
Would the USA become Football World Champion, this would be a shock for the “arrogant” football nations. The US is facing a double drawback. In terms of football the US is a novice like South Korea or Angola, yet they are the world power par excellence. How delicious, if they get it in the neck--- at least in football. :nope:
So, if the USA would succeed in football, this would be maddening for “the Europeans”. That calls for an evil plan :hmm:
Mr. Markowits, who grew up in football-loving Romania describes himself as a true fan of the US soccer team, especially because he feels sorry for the players. They are fameless at home but the rest of the world is looking down at them, he thinks. The US players are probably the only participants in the upcoming World cup tournament that have no significance for the people at home at all :( . Yet, they try their very best. :up: While sport in general is probably taken even more seriously in the US than in Europe, the US national teams don’t have the special meaning they have in Europe. They do exist, but they are subordinate to the club teams”.

Well, the football chauvinism in Europe should of course not be taken too serious. It is a more or less humorous thing of teasing each other in and around Europe and abroad. Welcome to the jungle!
Personally, I recall hard times when France (!) became football champion in 1998.
AfterGermanyhad lost the quarterfinals against Croatia, I felt it was time for a canoeing trip in the Swedish wilderness. When I re-entered civilisation, I noticed that France had become football champion which -I have to admit- gave me a little shock. There were noisy French football -playing kids everywhere. I hated them, especially for mocking me for spending 1 hour on the toilet, where I enjoyed the comfort of a seat and electrical light to read –not a porn magazine, what these little stinkers seem to think--- but the “Kicker”-football magazine.
I say: a good man does not need to justify himself for reading a sport magazine on the toilet, not even against a French world champion. :ping: