Bruno Jesus: I'm not sure what to make of this last statement of yours. Soccer isn't what I'd call manly, especially if you're going to compare it to other sports that are popular in the United States or in other places.
Snowboarding, hang gliding, parachutting, extreme snow skiing, rodeo, motorcycle racing, and other less known sports are all more manly than soccer.

As far as team sport go, I'd say Australian Rules Football puts soccer to shame in that regard. No substitutions, 30 minute quarters, tackling allowed, no pads, and free flowing action just like soccer. Soccer gets it's name from Association Football. I believe this type of football (Soccer) was created for the express reason to have the participants not risk injury as can happen in real football games, like Rugby, American, Canadian, or Australian rules games. The pads you speak of actually make the game more dangerous as it increases recklessness while providing protection to some parts of the body. There's not too many soccer players that can survive playing American Rules football except for the place kickers, which I might add are usually called lots of disparaging names on their own teams even though place kicking is one of the most important ways of scoring in football. They come in and kick the ball for field goals and kickoffs. That's it. No tackling, no special teams, no blocking, no rushing, nothing but place kicking. Even the punter's job is more dangerous. Let alone if we talk about the quarterback or a running back. And who hasn't seen a wide receiver go up for a pass knowing he was going to get hit hard by the free safety and a few other defenders and marvelled at his composure and ability to make the catch? And the linemen! What a pounding they take blocking the defense on pass plays or rushes. These guy all weigh 250 to 350 pounds. Because American Rules football has breaks in the action after every play and free substitution, it means that fresh players come in during each play and the carnage continues. And what about the coaches and the plays themselves? This is what's fun about watching a real football game. Seeing if you'd agree with the coach's decision. Knowing what down it is, what the game situation is, and how you'd call the play if it was your decision.
None of this exists in soccer. Arguing over a ref's call or lack there of, soccer has this in it as does just about every other sport.

Americans like to argue about what shoud've been done and how. We like to bet on the outcome of a sporting event too. This is probably the largest interest soccer even holds here. Betting on it.

I've been reading the posts of soccer here, in the newspapers, and on television. It seems everyone complains about the officials and that's about it. All sports have that aspect. It's been a baseball tradition for years. OF course the United States team sucks at soccer, all our real athletes are playing real games. America's chance of winning is like when the Hockey team won in the Olympics against the USSR. Bunch of amateurs somehow pulled it out. Even our basketball team when the professionals weren't allowed in the OLympics would win almost evey game. And look what has happened since the professionals have been allowed to compete? I liken soccer to ice skating. It's all on the referees and judges. When's the next scandal coming?

It'll be a sad day for me if the United States ever does well in soccer on the international sports scene. Then it will be put on the front page of the paper and be the lead report on television. As it is now soccer actually gets some press. The professional soccer league is still playing it's regular season too. Which, if covered by a newspaper,
has it way in the back of the sports section. Even the NFL's player draft gets more press coverage than soccer does in the United States. This cup championsip will be going on after the U.S. drops out and I bet the executives that run ABC television will be wondering why or how they got duped into paying for the rights to broadcast something that no one is watching. THough I think the NFL is crazy for trying to expand American rules football around the world, maybe they're onto something.

BIG BAD WOLF:It's good to see some underdogs making it thru a little bit further. Have to admit there have been a few upsets so far.

http://brainking.com/fi/ShowFellowship?fid=572
World cup 2006 fellowship

America should stick to their sissy sports and leave soccer for real countries with real men!

skipinnz: Hum.... I wonder what the odds are against Ghana making it to the next round is....

Pedro Martínez:It was meant that though they might qualify geographically, they are still improving and add to the flavour of the world cup. Look at Ghana, beating Czech I lost money on this game as I thought they would be top of their group

skipinnz: This is what I agree with. The fact that so many different football styles from so many different parts of the world clash at the World Cup is definitely good for the game in general. There is only one word I don't agree with (understand) in your previous post and it's the word 'but'.

Pedro Martínez:Pedro what you say is true but look at how it is improving the standard of the game world wide. A few years ago south korea and NZ were about the same, and look at how many aust players play in europe, it's got to be good for football.

Marfitalu: eheh, they are on lead for now... They will win with 3 draws and no losses... But no victories either...

Andre Faria: You only wish...LOL

Pedro Martínez: Than Greece for sure...

skipinnz: No, they're just the ones who qualified from their geographical zones. Or you want to claim that Saudi Arabia, Togo or Trinidad and Tobago are better than Denmark, Uruguay or Greece?

I bet on Argentina to win the World Cup... It´s the strongest team we have seen so far. And they are motivated with Maradona´s presence on the stadium... LOL

skipinnz: no problem :)

Marfitalu: Now you have said everything... Agreed 100%

Marfitalu: I wouldn't say it better, marfitalu!

Andre Faria:Please don't take offene but teams that made it thru to the world cup must have been the best on the day and deserve to be there. It is then up to the other sides to vanquish them.

Andre Faria: Hum... and it's doing until the moment...

Gabriel Almeida:

As long as Portugal do it better than USA, I´m happy... Isn´t that right Czuch?

Marfitalu: BKR in wich PORTUGUESE DO IT BETTER, right?

Pedro Martínez: Correct! I believe there are 4 or 5 better teams in South America, and 10-15 better teams in europe. And maybe some in Africa...

rednaz23: But you don't want to tell us that being 5th in the FIFA ranking means they are currently the 5th best team in the world, do you?

What you have to take into consideration when you look at these rankings is what are they based on. It's mostly the WC qualifiers and qualifiers to continental championships. Now there you see why Mexico is 4th and the USA 5th even though both of these teams are about as strong as an average European team (like Turkey, Romania, Norway, Greece). And when you play Panama, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Honduras or Jamaica in the qualifiers, it's not that hard to have great results.

Bruno Jesus: I think you are incorrect... The US team will be a major force in the future in the world of soccer. Not this year, maybe not even in 4 years. But give a few more cups and the US will do well. They were ranked 5th this year in the world... they have the talent, they don't have the experience. They will learn this, and will make themselves play other tournament proven teams before future cups.

Walter Montego wrote:
I see nothing wrong with hoping that the Oakland Athletics lose every game.

keep hoping !! they won their 9th in a row last night against your SoCal Dodgers in 17 innings....

The USA team can´t play soccer so they tackle to injure other players!I'm glad they are going home soon!They shouldn't be allowed to play in these kind of championships,because they can´t play at all!No technics no tactics nothing!They just come in to injure other players!
How embarassing...

Pedro Martínez: I think that an intentional hand ball to stop a goal should allow the goal to count, and it would be nice if there were some difference in the infractions. Maybe a red card without loss of next game and one with loss of next game and one with loss of whole tournament, or something like that!

Czuch Chuckers: That Mastroeni's slide hit directly the calf of the Italian player. I remember that when I saw that tackle, I thought to myself "Ouch,I hope he didn't break his leg". It's was an extremely dangerous play and it doesn't matter that he got the ball as as well.

You cannot compare fouls for which a red card is given. There are simply situations for which a player is sent out. Compare an intentional hand ball on the goal line and and intentional kick in the head, for instance. That's just uncomparable. Yet both situations require red cards.

Pedro Martínez: Wow, even the Italian commentator on the US broadcast said that he thought the second red card was a bad call..... But I dont follow the world cup enought o know myself, maybe they are trying to crack down on sliding tackles? The guy had no yellow card and did a slide where he got the ball and no real injury, a yellow at best in my book.

According to you, a guy who takes an intentional elbow to the head and requires stitches is treated the same as someone who is tackled witjout injury and even gets part of the ball.

Czuch Chuckers: I'm afraid all the 3 red cards in the ITA-USA game were deserved and the refs did extremely good job in comparison with other referees at the WC. Actually this referee and the one who umpired the other group-E game yesterday (and the very first game of the WC) are the only two refs who I have had no objections against so far.

Pedro Martínez: Well the US has a couple out on red cards as well, did you see that game, very poor officiating IMO. Sorry to say, I am now a fan of the Italians :(

Czuch Chuckers: You bet. Yesterday was a sad day for the Czech Republic. Now we have to win against the Italians, which is going to be a tough game, considering the fact Baroš and Koller are out because of injuries and Lokvenc received his second yellow card yesterday. It's hard to win games without forwards!!! Anyway, I'll be rooting for the US on Thursday!

I think Pedro must be hung over and very grumpy today?

Walter Montego: I like any sport that I have a bet on!

Mike UK: The English speak a different language than the Americans.

Two countries seperated by a common language. :)

Walter Montego: In the UK a score of 3-0 is almost always pronounced three-nil, hardly ever three-zero or three to nothing.

Czuch Chuckers: I've never heard anyone say nil when they mean zero when talking about a sports score. Who talks like that? 3-0. It's three-zero or three to nothing.

And what American would watch soccer anyway? Do you like soccer, Czuch?

Personally I dislike sports that breed nationalism. The Olympics are another sporting event that I avoid mainly because of this nationalism. Bring people together? It seems to divide and inflame people lots more than bring them together. Then there's a lot of politics, politicians, judges, and referee scandals.

That's what I like about Major League Baseball. If you're good enough to make the team, it doesn't matter where you come from. I either root for a player or a team, not a country, and I see nothing wrong with hoping that the Oakland Athletics lose every game. They're my team's rival in the division and that's how it is. Just like a Boston fan rooting for the Yankees to lose.

As for soccer in the United States, aside from where I live I doubt if it is even in the top 7 sports. Around here it's different because my city is over 70% Hispanic and over 50% recent immigrant. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, NASCAR, Formula 1, Surfing, Beach Volleyball, Pro Wrestling, Horseracing, well maybe not surfing, but I bet the rest of them outdraw soccer. Why people get so worked up about guys kicking a ball around over and over never ceases to amaze me. There's got to be more to it than the actual game itself. I guess most people have a nationalistic pride even though it's a team and not their country. Plus, you throw in the underdog angle and an upset or two and there you have it. This World Cup series seems really strange as to how it's organized. Why do teams from small countries play against teams with such large populations? This is fair? Are players only allowed to play on the team that they are citizens of for the World Cup series, or can they play on any team? How often does a team from a small country in population advance to the finals? How did Trinidad and Tobago make it this far? I heard that basketball in the 1950's was held this way amongst highschools in a midwestern state (Illinois or Indiana, I'm not sure) and one of the smallest schools won the championship once. This can't happen in California highschools as they seperate the schools by the amount of attendance and have divisions for each class size. Besides the World Cup soccer championship, are there other leagues besides national teams? Does the Madrid team play some of the English teams in an orgianized league, say? Can an English player play on a German team besides the national team in the World Cup? As you can see I am not too sure of how the various soccer leagues and teams are organized. Baseball has quite a few different leagues around the world and various championships too. The Major Leagues are just one part of it all. Maybe the best players in the world play in the Major Leagues, but there's plenty of other places where baseball is played. Baseball is a lot harder to play and organize than soccer is. That is obviously a deterent to it spreading as fast as a simple to play and organize as soccer. Perhaps it is this simplicity to soccer that creates so much of its appeal? Soccer looks easy to play, but it's not. Baseball looks complicated and it is. Football and Baseball are the major spectator team sports in the United States and fans of each will sometimes point out the supposed superiority of their favorite sport over the over. I like both of them, but think baseball is the better game of the two. Here's plenty of people around here that will disagree with me on that and have trouble believing anybody would watch baseball when there's a football game on. What do we know in Southern California? The NFL left here in 1994 and there's no professional football around. Plenty of college football teams and tradition though. Considering this area has the second largest population of it in the United States, that must mean something.

I'm just rambling on here, but "nil," where'd you get that? Where are you from? Nil is a bid to take zero tricks in a couple of cards games that I know how to play.

Did you hear our new chant...

We are the Yankees!
We are not afraid!
You beat us tonight!
Thursday we invade!

USA looked dominant until the officials got involved

awesome: pick the underdog - always fun to see someone who *should* win, lose.

BIG BAD WOLF:

what do you do if you want both teams to lose ?

Czuch Chuckers: I think it is beter to say something like "I would like to see Ghana win" rather then saying "I would like to see Czech Republic lose"....

... even though basicly every time you root for one team, in a way your are rooting for the other to lose.

Czuch Chuckers: I've always found it funny how sportscasters navigate the term "nil" in soccer scores in North America.I watched a sportscast the other night and they gave one score as 2-nil and the other as nothing-nothing.
Does nil become nothing when niether side score?

The USA won't pass to the next phase with such a poor team!They don't know how to play soccer anyway...

Is it poor educate during the world cup to root for a team to lose?

Czuch Chuckers: I watch McBride play every home match at fulham and he is an ace header of the ball but he had no crosses to feed on today.

cindsman: Poor coaching and lackluster play, looked like we hadnt played in a month!

Czuch Chuckers: why was Lewis playing at full back for? he should be up the pitch putting crosses in for McBride!

Andre Faria: Down 2 nill at half, 75 losses and 4 ties in world cup play :(

Looks like a bad start for me, and a good start for you!

We look terrible today!

2-0

Czuch Chuckers: I´m really sorry for that...