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Post by webm@ster on Jun 16, 2014 21:05:09 GMT -5
This comment in the Guardians sports blog after the Ghana game stood out for me....what does everyone else think?
318lightbowne 17 June 2014 2:15am
As a US-based Englishman, I have to say the sniping at the yanks (clearly by English fans) comes across as pretty feeble and desperate, when you bear in mind comparisons with England. Football is SUPPOSED to be England's national game (as it isn't in the US), and we put out teams made up of players who play at the highest level in the EPL and Europe, and what do we get, tournament after tournament? Teams that are embarrassingly less than the sum of their supposedly world class parts.
Yes, the US don't have the same level of player one-to-one, but hey, Americans hate to lose and they play out of their skins every time, and are consistently far more than the sum of their parts. England's overpaid "Superstars," time and again, bottle it. The English pride themselves on being "hard" but, in the end, they bottle it. Every sodding time, you can bank on it, they shit themselves, or at least the "senior" players do ( I give some credit to this team's fearless youngsters, thank Christ for them!).
And the African teams seem to have a similar problem. Clearly, Ghana, player-for-player, are vastly superior to the US. But what did they do? They took a leaf out of England's usual playbook. They fall asleep twice, and let two crucial goals in, leaving them a mountain to climb to get out of this other Group of Death. They ran and ran, and sent in final ball after final ball that failed to find a target, or that target man was wild in his efforts. Wild shots that time and time again were sliced or way wide. Like I said, they were like England in that respect.
Contrast the very best in the world at peaking just right, Germany. They are just about as tight and fluent as a team gets, and the confidence oozes out of them. And it IS confidence that makes the difference, a steeliness. Take the English-based Germans: Ozil is a fine player, as is Podolski, but do they really stick out as that much superior to the English players, week-in-week-out? I'd say not. They are among the best in the EPL, but there are English players that look as good and as dangerous on the pitches of England (most are IN the English team, some are even team-mates at Arsenal). But look what happens when they turn out for Germany? They are raring to go. Our senior players? Our "stars"? Always look like they are about to shit their shorts, to be honest.
So, we can acknowledge the US aint going to win the World Cup, and the talent they have is minimal. But they might be around in the round of 16? What's England's excuse for not being? If English football is genuinely up there with the other major powers, exit from the group stage, with a young team or not, is simply a disgrace--whatever Hodgson might say about "building for the future."
Germany never look to the future, even with a teams made up of largely young players. They ALWAYS look to the RIGHT NOW. And so do the other great footballing powers. Until England can muster up half the balls the US team manages to find, English fans should shut the fuck up. If England is so good at the "beautiful game," let what they do on the pitch do the talking on that one. You don't win World Cups with sarky remarks nor clever crowd songs, nor snide comments about Americans sticking to their own brand of "football."
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Post by tomlivesforever on Jun 17, 2014 11:52:44 GMT -5
He starts off by saying about England fans sniping at the USA team and then just snipes at England. The funny thing is I haven't seen a bad word said about the Americans in the media I read. Just that they are a decent but limited team.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2014 12:32:29 GMT -5
incoherent gibberish
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Post by theyknowwhatimean on Jun 17, 2014 16:03:12 GMT -5
Why is there a thread for this?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2014 17:27:05 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! Attachments:
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Post by webm@ster on Jun 17, 2014 18:13:54 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2014 2:15:54 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! Attachments:
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on Jun 18, 2014 10:10:39 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA +K
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Post by allingoodtime on Jun 18, 2014 18:22:58 GMT -5
Soccer?
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Post by globe on Jun 19, 2014 2:57:54 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! So if England meet USA in this tournament, England will win no problem then? See, to an outsider like me who's watched both teams, I'd say they were pretty evenly matched, there is a fag paper between them in terms of ability.
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Post by Elie De Beaufour 🐴 on Jun 19, 2014 3:13:48 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! Hate to tell you this but soccer=association football. League and Union are football too.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 9:42:47 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! Hate to tell you this but football=association football. League and Union are a different sport called rugby football though. Corrected that for you
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Post by webm@ster on Jun 19, 2014 12:10:55 GMT -5
The word soccer is an abbreviation of association (from assoc.) and first appeared in universities in the 1880s. An early usage can be found in an English 1892 periodical.The word is sometimes credited to Charles Wreford Brown, an Oxford University student
via wiki
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 13:04:00 GMT -5
The word soccer is an abbreviation of association (from assoc.) and first appeared in universities in the 1880s. An early usage can be found in an English 1892 periodical.The word is sometimes credited to Charles Wreford Brown, an Oxford University student via wiki Thanks for that...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2014 15:56:06 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! So if England meet USA in this tournament, England will win no problem then? See, to an outsider like me who's watched both teams, I'd say they were pretty evenly matched, there is a fag paper between them in terms of ability. i agree.
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Post by webm@ster on Jun 24, 2014 10:38:39 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! After comparing the games the two teams had so far I would have to say yes, the US is fielding a better squad (fitness, will and attitude) at this World Cup.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2014 10:47:21 GMT -5
First of all, its Football, not Soccer. America wins one game against fucking Ghana and suddenly they're better than England? Hahahaha! After comparing the games the two teams had so far I would have to say yes, the US is fielding a better squad (fitness, will and attitude) at this World Cup. Have to agree with you there, but we are still the superior team
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Post by webm@ster on Jun 24, 2014 13:06:57 GMT -5
Have to agree with you there, but we are still the superior team and happy our teams don't have a cannibal on our squad
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retrolego
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Post by retrolego on Jun 24, 2014 18:39:04 GMT -5
Football is gaining traction at a phenomenal pace in the US. Continuing to implement a decent modern coaching structure along side the sheer size of the US and how seriously they take sport, I think it won't be too long before they become a very good side.
Us in England have become too weighed down in tradition. This is why we continue to look down at the US side and haven't progressed ourselves, however this is finally beginning to change.
Also just the stereotypical commentary and the terminology Americans use which is still there (the term 'kick save' was used the other day on twitter by the us national team account) is partly why we are reluctant to take Americans seriously when it comes to football.
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