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yah, once we open it up (which is inevitable anyway since someone is going to do it as Z said), there is likely to be a tool factor.Depending on what people decide, the best we can do is likely be the first people to populate the thread in the early going (the run up to the draw would make for a nice start) and set a tone if we can.
What about the college basketball thread concept - completely unrelated topic heading - to keep the unwanted commentary to a minimum?
I am unfamilair with this concept.However, I don't think it solves the problem. The World Cup is big enough and is interested by enough cross over fans that if someone does not see a specific official thread, they are likely to start one and then the conversation would get splintered. I would rather keep all the World Cup talk in one thread and hopefully if we get enough normal people posting, the trolls will be kept to a minimum.
As someone who trolled the World Cup thread in '06, just ignore them and they'll go away. There should be enough good discussion to drown out the occasional shot at the sport.
people that dont like Ripley's started "The knitting thread" where they talked about college basketball and invited everyone who they knew liked college basketball (except for Ripleys). It went along for a few months until he found it like 2 weeks ago.
I managed to DVR and watch nearly every single game of Euro 2008 (I skipped 2 of the meaningless group stage games between poor teams) and the 1/2 of WC 06 games where I was working during the day. I didn't miss a single game of World Cup 06.It's doable, you just have to make sure to not come in here and tell all your soccer-friends beforehand not to say anything....
i feel weird cheering during a Tivo'd match (did this a couple of times during the confed cup. I went nuts during the semi's against Spain).I'd rather use the PTO day (or half a PTO day if the games are on the same time as they were this summer) and watch it live.
I will probably take vacation time for the US games, but on the other days, I'll have to DVR. The only time it gets difficult is when you start accumulating a backlog of games to watch. On one of the Fridays, I taped the 3 games but went out to dinner after work. I didn't get home until like 11 PM and was dead tired, so I went to bed. Thus, on Saturday, when the games started at ~10 AM, I had to DVR the live game and watch the taped game so it didn't ruin the results for me. Dedication.I really don't have a lot of soccer-watching friends, so I really only have to tell a handful of people not to say anything.
The fun thing will be if CONCACAF gets 4 teams in and Bahrain beats New Zealand to give Asia 5 teams. It's going to be hard to work out the pot math and keep all the confederations together.Pot 1 = SA, Brazil, Arg (if they make it) and 5 Euro teamsPot 2 = 8 remaining Euro teamsThat would leave:2 South America (one of which has to be placed in South Africa's group)5 Africa5 Asia4 CONCACAFThe question is who of the 5 Asias and 4 CONCACAFs gets bumped to Pot 3 with SA and Africa (which is a much more desirable draw). My guess normally would be whoever of the 9 teams is ranked highest in FIFA rankings (which is currently the US). But since FIFA's rule tweaking always end up screwing us, I'll say either Australia or Mexico gets bumped up and we end up in yet another Group of Death.Of course, chances are South America 5th beats CONCACAF 4th and the 3 CONCACAFs and Asia/NZ neatly make up Pot 4.Ideal World Cup group for US (assuming pot 4 placement)South AfricaDenmarkChileUSAWhat we'll actually end up with:GermanyNetherlandsIvory CoastUSA
Jesus...hope you're wrong.
It's even rarer to do all that and have the best (or possibly second best next to Bradley) workrate on the team. I think LD's defining characteristic is his fitness. Because he's what passes for a "flair" player in the US setup it's easy to find him wanting against the best in the world. But because he's so fit and so committed, I think even his off games are pretty good. And that's kind of rare.The player he reminds me the most of is Yossi Benayoun. Yossi is more skilled, but I think Landycakes is probably a bit more consistent and even more tireless. Park for Man U is probably a bit less skilled but even more fit than Landon. He's kind of a cross between those two players in my book. I hope the move to PSG goes through for him this winter. I think that's a good fit.
I think it's possible to agree with that show and with CM (notwithstanding the fact the CM and I are this board's resident Petr Cech critics). Tim Howard is a very good keeper. One of the best in the EPL. I agree with Cletius that his tantrums to his defense are getting a bit out of hand. These are very tight games. Games where I really feel nerves have gotten the best of the team at times. In the Confed Cup, against Spain, I noticed Howard giving his defense a lot of positive encouragement and I think they responded.I know that keepers are supposed to be vocal. But there are times when a leader needs to settle people down.
No doubt Landon has grown up in the last year or two and it has really shown in his workrate. But I think for all the #####ing and moaning about Bradley, the change in style to the ugly counterattacking brand that everyone hates has a lot to do with his (re)emergence. LD has some very nice qualities but I don't think any of us would put him on par with the world's elite. But....he may be there playing counterattack. For many of the best players in the world, such a style would be a very poor fit. Imagine Xavi playing counterattack? Or Kaka? Just not a great use of their talents. But it suits Landon's game to a tee. I also think it's a horrible fit for Dempsey (and others) which is why they play better at club than for country. But we have built our team around LD and are fitting pieces into it (ex. Davies) that suit this style of play. I think the next cycle LD will be much less of a force not because he will be worse but because we are building to the point that we will likely permanently take on a more traditional style that will highlight other players more.scoobygang said:
Granted I didn't see Saturday's game, but in general I think our defense (with the A team defenders) has been fairly pitiful in general starting with the 2nd half versus Brazil. Brazil basically showed everyone how to attack us down the wings and until we get that solved, I think Howard is going to be screaming his head off. As long as its deserved (and its hard for me not to believe its deserved when you give up 2 goals, a pk, and a couple of point blank shots), I'm glad someone's getting fired up.scoobygang said:
Jesus, thats horrible.
Is this specifically spelled out in the plans? Why does a South American team have to go into SA's group?-QG
In most scenarios, Pot 3 would be South American and African teams, so a South American team has to be placed in South Africa's group to avoid having two African teams in the same group.Likewise, African teams would have to go into Brazil and Argentina's groups.
He was our best on the ball striker IMHO, but he had his flaws.
Had his flaws, sure, but he's also become one of the more irreplaceable parts of the NT. Brings an unique attacking element to the squad and works well with our other strikers and midfield. Absolutely sad story, thoughts are with the woman's family in this tragic time. Hope for nothing but a full recovery for Charlie.As for the MNT, I guess it's fortunate the team qualified in Honduras - this would have been quite the distraction if the Costa Rica match was a must-result.
Very bright future, nearly as bright a future as any US player.Young striker, very quick....a real nuisance for the defenders, and one of the better scorers on the team. A great counterpart to the big, physical Jozy Altidore or Brian Ching - the exact opposite.He will never (would never?) have become a phenomenal international striker who played for Manchester United or any of that, but he could be a serviceable striker for a mid-level club in one of Europe's top leagues and could have a long US international career.
If he was driving, given the time of the crashm he could be facing DUI charges.
The car crash is terrible news, but the friendly is good news. Denmark is a good choice for the US.
According to Grant Wahl, the USSF has been told that Davies was not driving. Wahl is also hearing that Davies broke his femur and tibia and suffered internal injuries.EDIT: The USSF has withdrawn the "possibly career threatening" language, but obviously a broken femur rules him out for much longer than the World Cup.
I had a friend who suffered a broken femur while skiing in January one year and was back in training camp for football in August. It's not an easy road, but it's possible.Of course, my friend never had surgery....it's possible Davies' injury is much, much worse.
I have had a broken femur and while my case was quite bad it was about six months before I could walk.scoobygang said:
