The World Cup Thread

[crimsonfloyd]

3rd place games are really unpredictable. They often have a lot of backups in there, so that the guys can say they played in a World Cup game. It’s basically a vestige from the old days when the World Cup tried to emulate the Olympics. They should get rid of it TBH.

 

[no country for old wainds]

FIFA is rampantly corrupt so while I get not liking corruption, from the outside this seems like a random example to pick on.

This makes no sense to me on two levels: 1. Where's the fun in supporting a known quantity that isn't your team rather than the underdog (maybe this is an american thing only?) and 2. If a team wins the world cup, then they are by definition winning caliber.

i mean, if there was such thing as a FIFA team i wouldn't support them either. i like the sport too much to outright quit it based on the corruption of those running it though (i am a boxing fanatic after all, and that sport's fucked up beyond belief).

supporting the underdog is a quintessentially british thing, i thought americans were the ones who didn't do that lol. i nearly always support the underdog personally, but if a poor team lucks their way to the championship too often it devalues the whole process - winning the world cup is such a hallowed thing precisely because only strong teams ever do it. and there's a lot of luck involved this year because the four best teams in the quarter finals were all on one side of the draw, meaning half the teams had a far more difficult route to the final than the other half. croatia arguably haven't met a single team in the top 8 in the world yet, things have just fallen their way - this would've been even more true of england, who didn't even win their group and yet stumbled on a relatively easy run to the semis.

and yeah i agree the 3rd place match should be scrapped, it's pointless. funnily enough it'll be the second game between england and belgium in this tournament where neither team really gives a shit about winning.

 

[rms]

supporting the underdog is a quintessentially british thing,

having a hard time on this one. where is the british underdog film cinema?!

 

[Dak]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...y-inferior-croatia-press-world-cup-semi-final

Josko Jelicic, Croatia’s self-styled answer to Gary Lineker, added: “They [England] have nothing to cry about – they were knocked out by the future world champions. We played a mature game, the English were unbelievably inferior.”

The Vecernji list newspaper went with the headline “We knocked the English down, Croatia are in the World Cup final!” with Zeljko Jankovic writing how Croatia and France will now decide “who plays the best football on the planet at the moment”. It turned out to be rhetorical as he answered it himself by adding: “It’s Croatia, don’t even doubt that!”

Vecernji’s website devoted an unusual amount of space to gloating over the fate of the losing team, with headlines such as “Football’s not coming home”, “The arrogance hit them back”, “The English are sore losers” and even published a photo gallery titled “Look how the English cry after losing to Croatia” with pictures of downbeat players and fans.

 

[no country for old wainds]

having a hard time on this one. where is the british underdog film cinema?!

how much british cinema have you even seen lol

the US doesn't tend to be too interested in sports they aren't good at in my experience (look at how the interest in boxing declined when the klitschkos started dominating at heavyweight), whereas we're typically shit at most of our country's favourite sports lol. we have a long tradition of loving failures and nearly men, henman being the quintessential example. i've heard it theorised that we as a culture are too self-deprecating to adore dominant sportsmen in the way the US seems to, we don't seem to have that same pride or killer instinct.

 

[rms]

american underdog cinema is global, what's british underdog cinema? bend it like beckham?

isnt british identity that we are the top and have been on the top for centuries? reason why brits try to speak so fancy and appear high class

while our underdog narrative starts from being the little guys on that continent to being the 'saviors' of WW2 and saver of the free world?

 

[Nephilim96]

I met Patrick Kluivert, Hope Solo, and Ray Hudson at an LAFC/BeinSports event

 

[Nephilim96]

England is out. Fuck yeah! I’m so tired of this “coming home” bullshit. The first time England don’t humiliate themselves in a major tournament since 2006 (OK, they were adequate in the 2012 Euros) and all their fans start acting as if the title is their birthright. Peace out. You won’t be missed.

I’d be cool with either France or Croatia winning the final, but am definitely rooting for Croatia. I’d love to see a country that small win the cup and some of those vets on that team like Modric, Mandzukic, and Rakitic would make worthy champions. France is the stronger side, but Croatia have a real grit to them.

It was self deprecating humor.

I hate when people (not you) root against England claiming colonialism, but then dont give a fuck about France, Portugal, and Spain

 

[crimsonfloyd]

It makes sense if their country was colonized by England, but otherwise you're right, it's a double-standard.

 

[Dak]

With few exceptions, England radically improved places they colonized despite the oppression of many of the indigenous peoples. They gave them soccer itself for that matter. The other powers were highly exploitative by comparison, and the export of the Catholic church continues the exploitation in former Spanish holdings even today.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

With few exceptions, England radically improved places they colonized despite the oppression of many of the indigenous peoples. They gave them soccer itself for that matter. The other powers were highly exploitative by comparison, and the export of the Catholic church continues the exploitation in former Spanish holdings even today.

Typical dumbass racist comment. Who cares that they dismantled their cultures and institutions, they gave them soccer! Sounds like a fair tradeoff to me...

 

[Dak]

Typical dumbass racist comment. Who cares that they dismantled their cultures and institutions, they gave them soccer! Sounds like a fair tradeoff to me...

They seem to like soccer well enough. And yeah, that's all they got .

Let me know when you practice true multiculturalism and celebrate paedophilia and female genital mutilation et al. Because culture! Institutions!

 

[crimsonfloyd]

They seem to like soccer well enough. And yeah, that's all they got .

You mentioned soccer as a reason colonization was a positive, not me. I would suggest you look at your own words and arguments, but I've argued with you enough times to know you won't acknowledge the stupid shit you say.

And of course they got more. However, colonization is not the only means through which ideas, knowledge, resources, and technologies have been exchanged, so pointing out that there were benefits (i.e. medical advancement) does not demonstrate that colonization was positive because those exchanges could have occurred through less oppressive means.

Let me know when you practice true multiculturalism and celebrate paedophilia and female genital mutilation et al. Because culture! Institutions!

I don't even know how to respond to this line of reasoning, it's so fucking convoluted. Are you implying that if I think colonization was wrong then I automatically condone every cultural practice in every colonized society? If so, that's some basic-ass thinking. I thought you said you went to grad school...

 

[Dak]

You mentioned soccer as a reason colonization was a positive, not me. I would suggest you look at your own words and arguments, but I've argued with you enough times to know you won't acknowledge the stupid shit you say.

And of course they got more. However, colonization is not the only means through which ideas, knowledge, resources, and technologies have been exchanged, so pointing out that there were benefits (i.e. medical advancement) does not demonstrate that colonization was positive because those exchanges could have occurred through less oppressive means.

We can play the could-have game all day long. I'll readily agree that voluntary trade is better/more ethical/etc than colonization, ceteris paribus. But I was merely pointing out that colonization is not a homogeneous suite from nation to nation, or even within respect to specific different colonies under the same colonizing force, and that it is possible for there to be net positives for a colony.

This the same argument surrounding the use of the atomic weapons against Japan. No serious thinker (to my knowledge) has said that using them was an absolute positive. The argument is surrounding the possibility of a net positive.

Although I'm not personally much of a fan of soccer (the professional sport anyway), providing sport to populations previously lacking something of the kind could dramatically improve quality of life through a variety of psychosocial mechanisms. Even in mere meat calculation, who knows how many lives soccer has saved?

I don't even know how to respond to this line of reasoning, it's so fucking convoluted. Are you implying that if I think colonization was wrong then I automatically condone every cultural practice in every colonized society? If so, that's some basic-ass thinking. I thought you said you went to grad school...

I didn't mean to give that impression. I'm implying that you lean on feel-good vagueness ("culture", "instutitions") that fall flat as soon as specifics are delineated.

 

[EspaDa]

I'm really curious how the French will do at the next world cup. They have so much depth in their squad that it's fucking unreal. And since they have such a great generation of young players, they can be unbeatable next time. I don't think there was a single better generation of players than the one France has now. How many classy forward do they have? It's unfathomable how immense their squad is. And when you add to that the future Ballon d'Or winner, it makes your jaw drop immediately.

 

[Dak]

I'm really curious how the French will do at the next world cup. They have so much depth in their squad that it's fucking unreal. And since they have such a great generation of young players, they can be unbeatable next time. I don't think there was a single better generation of players than the one France has now. How many classy forward do they have? It's unfathomable how immense their squad is. And when you add to that the future Ballon d'Or winner, it makes your jaw drop immediately.

Time for some country to start layin out the cash. Or open their borders or whatever.

 

[no country for old wainds]

lol so our group is:
england
USA
iran
(one out of) scotland/wales/ukraine

only thing that could've made it more banterful is australia being in there too.

 

[EspaDa]

Poland to win the WC, Ukraine will come second, England to drop out at the group stage level.

 

[no country for old wainds]

well, i could see the third thing happening...

 

[Bloopy]

lol so our group is:
england
USA
iran
(one out of) scotland/wales/ukraine

only thing that could've made it more banterful is australia being in there too.

Or Saudi Arabia given they're pretty much at war with Iran in Yemen. Just watched them handing a bad time to the Argies instead! Most of the games are a bit late in the night for me so I guess I'll keep watching these earlier ones while I have the chance.