World Cup Brazil 2014

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

The answer would be the same number as England had it not been for a goal scored which wasn't one.

Rubbish, and we scored a fourth, so your argument is mute anyway

 

[Croak]

From what i saw at the recent Wembley game Croak Germany should be just fine, they played what amounted to a 3rd $tring team there and won 0-1. England were near enough full strength at that game so that says enough.
However england being england it would not surprise me if they somehow managed to sneak out of their group with a couple of draws and a win.

Here's hoping! I know I already vented on this before, but as a U.S. citizen I hate that monotonous, arrogant and boring chant "USA, USA, USA". I wish U.S. footy fans would come up with some singing for their team like the European clubs do.

 

[mhnessie]

I'm here, cheering for Germany all the way! My U.S. friends are sweating bullets. But at least one of them told me he can't wait to rub it in when the U.S. pulls off the upset. I told my friends that this will be an altogether different German team than that silly back up team that played the US this year. Those of us who were wearing Germany jerseys got ribbed pretty hard coming out of the stadium in D.C. So many were yelling "Germany sucks" and "USA, USA". My son kept asking them how many world cup trophies the U.S. had won.

That wont happen Croak
And what you and your son experienced is even harmless against what you usually experience when you travel to an away game of your team in the Bundesliga or EPL.
But I think thats not different from travelling with your team in the NFL.
Talking trash and a little provoking is part of the game but very smart reaction of your son

 

[mhnessie]

It is manageable I think, I think that is 3 pretty even teams. I'm hoping Italy will be cagey in the first game, looking not to lose. I think it's going to come down to how England cope with Suarez vs Uruguay, he's playing like the best player in the world at the minute.

The USA's group looks like the "group of death" I reckon. I'll be supporting Sunderland's Jozy Altidore in that one.

Indeed Germanys group with USA, Portugal and Ghana isnt easy but I expect us to win this group. To me Portugal is a surprise bag because Im not sure how strong they really are, beside of Ronaldo.
And Ghana and USA should be on the same level.
Agree with you that there might be a good chance to grab a draw in the first game against Italy but I do have my doubts that England is strong enough to beat Uruguay.
But assuming it would be another draw and finally a win over Costa Rica, this would be 5 points and could be enough to get through the group stage.
Unfortunately there will be no game between Germany and England before the final this time.

 

[PackerFan71]

Indeed Germanys group with USA, Portugal and Ghana isnt easy but I expect us to win this group. To me Portugal is a surprise bag because Im not sure how strong they really are, beside of Ronaldo.
And Ghana and USA should be on the same level.
Agree with you that there might be a good chance to grab a draw in the first game against Italy but I do have my doubts that England is strong enough to beat Uruguay.
But assuming it would be another draw and finally a win over Costa Rica, this would be 5 points and could be enough to get through the group stage.
Unfortunately there will be no game between Germany and England before the final this time.

Most definatley ''le groupe de Mort'' id pick Germany and Portugal to get out of it but who know the other two could spring a surprise. Englands only hope is for the usual very slow Italian tournament start and to ''scrape a draw'' the thing the Owlman does best.

 

[Croak]

That wont happen Croak
And what you and your son experienced is even harmless against what you usually experience when you travel to an away game of your team in the Bundesliga or EPL.
But I think thats not different from travelling with your team in the NFL.
Talking trash and a little provoking is part of the game but very smart reaction of your son

I don't want to be misunderstood. I think living in the U.S. is awesome. But a lot of our citizens haven't had a chance to travel overseas and find out that there are other great countries out there. This leads our people to what I see as a dangerous Nationalism. There's more to that chant than just trash talk. Sometimes it comes across as another type of "Deutschland über alles".

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

 

[Sandolf]

I don't want to be misunderstood. I think living in the U.S. is awesome. But a lot of our citizens haven't had a chance to travel overseas and find out that there are other great countries out there. This leads our people to what I see as a dangerous Nationalism. There's more to that chant than just trash talk. Sometimes it comes across as another type of "Deutschland über alles".

This is kind of a thorny issue. Recently I went to a Canada -USA friendly in Toronto. A scalper sold me a ticket in the US fan block... (which he of course did not mention). It was an interesting experience, but I did have to move even before the opening kick off. But over the years my stance towards the American fans has softened considerably. I admire their passion in supporting their team. Unfortunately they are desperately uninformed when it comes to the subtleties of the sport. I worked for a time on a program called Fox Soccer News. It was a good show but was killed off along with Fox Soccer Channel. It is very sad.

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(I'm in the middle).

 

[Croak]

This is kind of a thorny issue. Recently I went to a Canada -USA friendly in Toronto. A scalper sold me a ticket in the US fan block... (which he of course did not mention). It was an interesting experience, but I did have to move even before the opening kick off. But over the years my stance towards the American fans has softened considerably. I admire their passion in supporting their team. Unfortunately they are desperately uninformed when it comes to the subtleties of the sport. I worked for a time on a program called Fox Soccer News. It was a good show but was killed off along with Fox Soccer Channel. It is very sad.

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(I'm in the middle).

I used to watch the Fox Soccer Channel. It's gone now? I guess GolTV took over for the time being. But I read that Fox will begin broadcasting Bundesliga in a couple years.

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[Sandolf]

I used to watch the Fox Soccer Channel. It's gone now? I guess GolTV took over for the time being. But I read that Fox will begin broadcasting Bundesliga in a couple years.

Fox Soccer Channel has morphed into the more general use Fox Sports 1. When ESPN outbid them for the rights to the EPL, it forced them to rethink their strategy. My point is really that the Europeans have access to more specialized media coverage. It just makes for better educated fans. If you want to know about race cars... go talk to a F1 fan. If you want to know about beer, women and cowboy music... go talk to a NASCAR fan.

 

[mhnessie]

Fox Soccer Channel has morphed into the more general use Fox Sports 1. When ESPN outbid them for the rights to the EPL, it forced them to rethink their strategy. My point is really that the Europeans have access to more specialized media coverage. It just makes for better educated fans. If you want to know about race cars... go talk to a F1 fan. If you want to know about beer, women and cowboy music... go talk to a NASCAR fan.

O.K., beside of cowboy music - whats wrong with beer and women...?
But to be serious, I would agree that we absolutely have a different media coverage, this might be a result of our public broadcasting system ?
And does it sound rude if I say that I'm consistently surprised about the lack knowledge of US citizens whats going on in the world outside of the US.
I dont know if Canadiens are that much different but I always thought that its because your countries are that huge and thats why people are focused on their own country.
Its a long time ago now but when I took part in a high school exchange program I was asked if ****** has been the leader of West or East Germany. So they even didnt know the basics of world history, something I wont never forget. But it doesnt change my attitude towards North America and especially the USA and Canada. Still love to be there and to travel the country.

 

[Croak]

O.K., beside of cowboy music - whats wrong with beer and women...?
But to be serious, I would agree that we absolutely have a different media coverage, this might be a result of our public broadcasting system ?
And does it sound rude if I say that I'm consistently surprised about the lack knowledge of US citizens whats going on in the world outside of the US.
I dont know if Canadiens are that much different but I always thought that its because your countries are that huge and thats why people are focused on their own country.
Its a long time ago now but when I took part in a high school exchange program I was asked if ****** has been the leader of West or East Germany. So they even didnt know the basics of world history, something I wont never forget. But it doesnt change my attitude towards North America and especially the USA and Canada. Still love to be there and to travel the country.

That's part of the reason I got involved taking groups over to Germany in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some of them told me it was life changing to experience German culture. It got them out of their insulated world. Part of it is geography. We aren't surrounded by other close countries other than Canada and Mexico. Don't be surprised about U.S. citizens and their lack of history knowledge. I used to do educational presentations in Gettysburg and U.S. graduates would ask me which side of the civil war General Washington commanded. Some thought our civil war was between the U.S. and Canada.

 

[Croak]

I notice that the Germany v U.S. game will be near the end of June. Is that going to come close to the German Championship again this year?

 

[PackerFan71]

That's part of the reason I got involved taking groups over to Germany in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some of them told me it was life changing to experience German culture. It got them out of their insulated world. Part of it is geography. We aren't surrounded by other close countries other than Canada and Mexico. Don't be surprised about U.S. citizens and their lack of history knowledge. I used to do educational presentations in Gettysburg and U.S. graduates would ask me which side of the civil war General Washington commanded. Some thought our civil war was between the U.S. and Canada.

Don't be too ashamed about it just being a problem in the US Croak, when questioned a decent amount of school kids in the UK had no idea who historical people such as Churchill etc were. Society or certain parts of it seem to be getting Dumb and Dumber the world over.

 

[mhnessie]

I notice that the Germany v U.S. game will be near the end of June. Is that going to come close to the German Championship again this year?

Because of the World Cup Bundesliga starts two weeks later than usual Croak (August, 22)
So if we hopefully play the final there are still 6 weeks left until the start of the new season

 

[mhnessie]

Don't be too ashamed about it just being a problem in the US Croak, when questioned a decent amount of school kids in the UK had no idea who historical people such as Churchill etc were. Society or certain parts of it seem to be getting Dumb and Dumber the world over.

Indeed, our German kids were again only average in the latest Pisa global exam

 

[Sandolf]

Indeed, our German kids were again only average in the latest Pisa global exam

I blame it all on the rise of pop culture. Long ago I used to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the U.K. The questions were pretty challenging. The German version... (Nessie would know Guenter Jauch)... was very good too. In Luxembourg I gave the French version a go and was pleased if I could guess a few answers correct. But when I saw the American version... (nevermind Regis Philbin)... it was disgusting. The questions were like... "Who was the third girlfriend of rapper LL Cool J? Or... In the popular sitcom ____, who played____?

btw... Wheel of Fortune in Dutch is also quite hard.

 

[mhnessie]

I blame it all on the rise of pop culture. Long ago I used to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the U.K. The questions were pretty challenging. The German version... (Nessie would know Guenter Jauch)... was very good too. In Luxembourg I gave the French version a go and was pleased if I could guess a few answers correct. But when I saw the American version... (nevermind Regis Philbin)... it was disgusting. The questions were like... "Who was the third girlfriend of rapper LL Cool J? Or... In the popular sitcom ____, who played____?

btw... Wheel of Fortune in Dutch is also quite hard.

Agree and the rise of New Media didnt help too. The Facebook and Twitter generation will even get more stupid. Frightening when you see young people unable to articulate themselves or speaking in complete sentences.
Anyway - I wonder how you could understand Dutch ? Strange language

 

[Wolf Packer]

I blame it all on the rise of pop culture. Long ago I used to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the U.K. The questions were pretty challenging. The German version... (Nessie would know Guenter Jauch)... was very good too. In Luxembourg I gave the French version a go and was pleased if I could guess a few answers correct. But when I saw the American version... (nevermind Regis Philbin)... it was disgusting. The questions were like... "Who was the third girlfriend of rapper LL Cool J? Or... In the popular sitcom ____, who played____?

btw... Wheel of Fortune in Dutch is also quite hard.

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[Wolf Packer]

On Englands group, fairly tough. Italy have played over in Brazil earlier this summer in the Confed Cup, so will have a taste for what its about regarding heat and humidity etc, but they wouldn't have experienced Manaus, which will be tricky for both teams. I would expect us to beat Costa Rica. But for me, Uruguay are the runaway winners of Group D, with 2nd place to be contested between ourselves and Italy. I'm quietly confident, if we get it tactially correct against the Italians, we have to approach it like the Germans would - press high, and press often. Only problem with England is i see us always conceding goals.

 

[PackerFan71]

I blame it all on the rise of pop culture. Long ago I used to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the U.K. The questions were pretty challenging. The German version... (Nessie would know Guenter Jauch)... was very good too. In Luxembourg I gave the French version a go and was pleased if I could guess a few answers correct. But when I saw the American version... (nevermind Regis Philbin)... it was disgusting. The questions were like... "Who was the third girlfriend of rapper LL Cool J? Or... In the popular sitcom ____, who played____?

btw... Wheel of Fortune in Dutch is also quite hard.

I knew a Million pound answer on the UK version, the question was name President Theodore Roosevelt's political party. The answer was the ''Progressive or Bull Moose party'' by complete chance i watched a History channel show about him only a week or so before.

 

[PackerFan71]

On Englands group, fairly tough. Italy have played over in Brazil earlier this summer in the Confed Cup, so will have a taste for what its about regarding heat and humidity etc, but they wouldn't have experienced Manaus, which will be tricky for both teams. I would expect us to beat Costa Rica. But for me, Uruguay are the runaway winners of Group D, with 2nd place to be contested between ourselves and Italy. I'm quietly confident, if we get it tactially correct against the Italians, we have to approach it like the Germans would - press high, and press often. Only problem with England is i see us always conceding goals.

The problem with Italy is that they have a very strong defence, i cant see them letting too many in.

 

[mhnessie]

I knew a Million pound answer on the UK version, the question was name President Theodore Roosevelt's political party. The answer was the ''Progressive or Bull Moose party'' by complete chance i watched a History channel show about him only a week or so before.

Wow, TV educates, never heard before

 

[mhnessie]

The problem with Italy is that they have a very strong defence, i cant see them letting too many in.

Yepp, as usual and they have Balotelli. He is as daft as a brush but managed to score twice against us anyway.
Italy will be WC contenders again and I still think they will win the group.

 

[PackerFan71]

Wow, TV educates, never heard before

It certainly did nessie, and a heck of alot more useful than my useless high school History teacher ever was.

 

[PackerFan71]

Yepp, as usual and they have Balotelli. He is as daft as a brush but managed to score twice against us anyway.
Italy will be WC contenders again and I still think they will win the group.

I think its a group that Italy and Uruguay will qualify from the South Americans will be very difficult opponents and they will be used to the conditions.