Modern Vespa

OK, I'm a club guy(Liverpool) who really doesn't care about any national teams.......until the World Cup, when I get caught up in the excitement. And with less than three weeks to go, the excitement has caught up. Anyone else starting to salivate? Anybody got any crazy picks on who wins?? I can't stop thinking about the pubs I'll go to to watch the matches and going straight home from work, locking myself in my man cave with a fast food takeout and watching the day's three matches til I sleep, then starting all over the next day.

I'm really looking forward to it. Unfortunately both my club team (Leeds) and my national team (England) are useless.

I definitely think Argentina will win. With Messi and Aguero up top they will be unbeatable.

Salivate? Are you kidding? I am drooling already! My pick is Brasil which is a big surprise. They are crazy about soccer. I just recently heard that the Jules Rimet trophy was never returned after stolen for the last time in Brazil. They really should re-think that and return it to FIFA. Maybe they melt it. Nobody ever said that if you won the Cup three times you got to keep the trophy. I am still rooting for them though. Hopefully this time they will just be given a replica to raise for the photographs and of course touch. Nobody touches the World Cup except the winners then it goes back to an undisclosed location. Check my '10 Things to Know' thread here:

[NSR]Going to the Football World Cup-Things You Need to Know

We are rooting for tons of teams in my house. My wife's mom was raised in Brazil and her father was born in Italy. She roots for both!

I'm Mexican-American...emphasis on Mexico. My dad taught me everything about Futbol! So Mexican National Team for me.


Oh and Long Live ARSENAL FC and the 2014 FA CUP WINNING, ARSENAL FC!!!!

It's gonna be a great month for both the wife and me. We will be riding to the big Footie Pub here in Chicago and Maybe a couple of German Bars showing the Games....so excited.

Viva Mexico! Go Azzurri!! Go Selecao!!!

I'm thinking that Argentina will win it, the climate they're used to it, the quality of their players, relatively local support of travelling fans...

Well my beloved fulham were relegated this year 😥

I'll def be watching the World Cup, not overly excited right now but I'm sure I will be when it starts! Just hope England don't fail at the first hurdle!

well at least this year everyone is saying England haven't got a hope,

none of this 'football's coming home' crap

it's so much easier to accept defeat when it's a certainty

i predict a penalty shoot-out

Ah, Football, the beatiful game!

Somehow, this time around I'm not as excited as I would've been in the past. Mostly, due to the screwed up arrangement of pools, which is going to make
some group plays feel like the quarter/semis, while others, well, ahem, boring crap. No offence
So, there will be some boring/practice games in the second round, and hopefully, it'll get interesting toward the semis.

As always, my team is Brasil. I hope that they don't get the nerves and lose
at home, on the final, like last time

In my household, everyone is routing for Italia, my sons and my wife (who is 100% italian). To me, they've been my second/backup team , that is, in the recent past, when Brasil screws it up against little teams (France, Netherlands) .

For prediction, well, it's obvious. Brasil!
The question is, who will be against them on the final?

The kick-off times of the matches are causing a few problems in the UK (The real home of football )

***Clear throat with a snear*** Oh is that right?

Cambridge rules.... old boy.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Rules

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_association_football

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a friend of mine is going to follow Argentina thru 6000+ kms in a VB1 ( vespa 57) you can follow him in https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vespa-Tour-Brasil-2mil14/673379199402243

I've just had a quick look at that FB page !!!! very interesting - I'll be reading in full a bit later on....

Hmmm... Cambridge Rules. Very informative!

Normally, I'd be posting something snide about football minor (soccer) but I won't, uh-uh, not this time. Nope.
I do miss the rugby and Aussie rules football we used to get on cable. Now it's just highlights of a few games. It's really sad.
So, good luck to all and good sportsmanship.

You must not have the Fox sports network. It shows the AFL and NRL a few times every week. The first State of Origin match will be shown next week. You can also get the app on your ipad and watch that way(have to pay though). If you're in Mesquite, say hello to my sister who is a teacher at John Horn?? High School for me.

Arsenal for domestic pleasure, England for international pain.
I predict Argentina to lift the JR cup.

Interestingly enough that's 3 votes for Argentina ......all by UK football fans......it must tell you something ??

Keep up at the back Ash, Brazil won the Jules Rimet outright in 1970

Dunno what it's called now

I would predict one of Argentina, Brazil or Spain. Long shot - Portugal. Me, I'll be watching the Germany "B" team otherwise known as the US National Team. It will take me a great deal of time to get over the Julian Green bullshit -- 1 cap, no first team minutes ever and he goes to Brazil over Donovan, Edu, etc.

I'm no fan of the FIFA rules permitting players to make a one time "change" of nationality. Nor am I particularly enamored of players with dual citizenship who opt into a senior program because either: they aren't good enough for the senior team of their "other" country, or the senior program of their "other" country isn't good enough. For the US, examples of the first type are Jermaine Jones (Germany), of the second, Aron Johannsson (Iceland).

And two other times too. The new trophy is just called the World Cup and it only has place for two or three more winners to be engraved in the bottom. Then in 2030 it is unclear if they will redesign or find somewhere else to engrave the winners.

C'on guys. Argentina! Really? The rest of the world does not stand a chance against those "brasileiros."

I know Donovan was a class player(for the US-norm for the rest of world) but I trust Jurgen with his judgement. I'm not the biggest fan of Landon, and when he took his "sabbatical" I was wondering why would he do that now?? You need 23 players who will fight and that the manager can depend on. I guess Jurgen thinks he's not dependable. Personally, I think its a good call. One of our matches is against Germany, and lets face it, Donovan was pretty stinky in all the time he spent with German teams. Only did well with Everton and MLS career.

I don't have the slightest interest in club football (though I do seem to have at least a passing knowledge of who's doing what at any given time) but I do quite enjoy the world cup and will try and catch a few matches.

I used to like going to the pub to watch them but that was more to hang with friends. Now I'm less tolerant of loud and shouty twats I'll be more likely to stay at home and watch.

With the time difference this year.... I may watch less.

I understand that position, but it's hard to square the "sabbatical" issue with Timmy Chandler's Hamlet performance as to whether or not he would commit to the US Team. Which is worse? or does it matter? There were so many selections for this team that make no sense -- the only target forward is the completely out of form Altidore because Boyd was cut and EJ not even invited to camp. Given the group and roster, the US is going 3 and out and may not even score a goal. I fear this will be 1998 bad.

Well, the Altidore pick really surprised because he couldn't do s*it for Sunderland this year. I also feel a 1998 coming on, but at least its a tougher group than 98. It would be a miracle if we got out of the group even with Landon so why not blood some gifted youngsters and get them ready for 2018.

Inter Milan for club calcio
Valentino Rossi for MotoGP
Gli Azzurri for World Cup

Yes, not much collective wisdom

And what about Jermain Jones. The guys is mediocre at best, it didn't cut it
in his home country Germany (Schalke) and ended up in Betsikas, not what I call a great move upwards. Overall, not much top play this year. Yet, he makes the team? Oh, I forgot, he natively speaks german, that's it.
I don't have much issue with Donovan not going, or the others he cut (Edu etc), but the "replacements" seem weak and totally unproven.

I think that your forecast may turned out to be very accurate, unfortunately.

I'm excited that it's in a much closer time zone than the last. Although drinking at 6 AM while we watched the games was fun too. Already requested off work to watch England lose to Italy.

Technically I'm American, but I don't let that hold me back. Been an England supporter all my life. Don't ask me why... it's not like they've ever done me any favours.

Me too. But when you grow up with English friends and the US didn't give a rat's ass about footie back then, of course you're gonna support a nation that got you into the game. Remember the NASL and how Kyle Rote Jr. was gonna be great??? What happened?? Although I did have a favorite player and that was Tampa Bay Rowdie Rodney Marsh

It seems this one is gonna stick. I mean the thread. Carry on...

When I was a kid I grew up in a factory town. People literally from all over the world. The coach for under-10s Australian Footy had his favourites, sons of mates, etc) so a heap of kids didn't get a game, including me.
So, we all got together, found a local worker who had kids the right age, and before we all knew what was happening our town now had a football (soccer) team.


We had home and away match fixtures with teams twice. In our first series half "Dalmatinac" beat us 10-nil, "Athena"beat us 9-nil, "Windmills" beat us 10-nil, etc, etc. Our second round of matches "Dalmatinac" only won 2-1, we beat "Athena" 3-2, and "Windmills" only won 3-nil!

While all this was going on that winter, Australia had for the very first time qualified for the World Cup (1974 in Germany), and the hype here in the Great Red Land of Oz was pretty big. They even had some of the games on TV at 5am! WOW! Normally TV didn't even start until 9am with Play School for the little kids! LOL!

My first real memory of the World Cup was for watching Australia play West Germany, sitting in my coach's small 4m x 5m lounge room, surrounded by his workmates from all over the world, all their wives, all 16 of us 9 yr olds on the team, eating popcorn, pikelets, toast, and the yelling and sometimes swearing in that little room was deafening!!!
People shouting in Italian, Greek, Yugoslav, Spanish, Portugese, Scottish, I think there was even some English yelling going on, and all of us throwing popcorn all over the lounge room at the TV.

Very cool! It's what the World Cup is all about. 8)

US in the bracket of death with Ghana, Portugal, and Germany. Who the heck did we piss off to get that bracket?!?! Hoping we pull of the upset. If we make it out of the first round, it'll be a miracle, but....
if they make it through, man'o'man....could they go the distance?

Ok soccer fans, what are odds US makes it through their bracket?!?
...what are you? Optimistic, Cautiously Optimistic, up in the air, or no way in hell pessimist?

Posted this on the Donk thread. Seemed more appropriate here....

My clubs are West Ham and Real Salt Lake. I cheer for England, France and the US during the World Cup.

I found this cool Android app which seems to be really well thought out:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jalvasco.football.worldcup

I have no hopes that any of my teams will progress past the first stage so I am thinking Argentina or Brasil will pound out a win. France could if they have pulled together the team after the nonsense in South Africa. England always looks good on paper until they play together...too many millionaires. The US, with Germany and Portugal in their group, are not looking promising.

Still...That's why they play the game!

I have to.....
If they click like they are supposed to, that team can go very far....

#2 will be Spain for me.

if Argentina wins, it will be the biggest insult for Brazil.... They cannot stand them..

With the exception of Inter....in my house it's AC Milan....and ARSENAL!

I'm with you on this.

The wife's Italian/Brazilian.

Not on my house cable but I have satellite on my travel trailer and found "FOXSoccer+" and in between the soccerthey have molto rugby and AFL available. Of course, it's for a few bucks more a month but I have it now. Filling up the DVR with hours of games.
If I could meet and greet your sister without looking like a stalker i would but John Horn is on the other side of town from where I live.

England might have a chance this time around without Beckham!
Lot's of young blood....

You don't have to be mad to cheer for England. But it helps.