Will you watch any of the World Cup?

The fact that the world cup is done so well, and only played every 4 years, makes it much easier to get excited for. Now that we actually might have a better showing than last time even, I'm stoked for it.

I will, if the US makes it to the Finals. If not, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Same as Christof... Only possibility of me watching is if the U.S. is in the Finals.

I heard on WFAN that America ranks second behind Germany in number of tickets purchased for the World Cup. I guess there is more interest in the U.S. for soccer than the public might perceive.

Team USA is actually ranked 5th globally right now by FIFA. Apparently though, most teams rarely have all of their best players playing international games, except for major events such as the World Cup. Most experts have Team USA not getting through the first round with due to having the Czech Republic and Italy in their Group.

There is also a lot more people in the U.S. than most places.

I had no idea there even was a World Cup coming up. My interest in a little less than zero. Probably a lot less than zero. Soccer is great for little kids to get their excercise running around in pointless circles, but I still can't figure out how it appeals to anyone older than 10 years old.

And, America has many wealthy citizens. However, my point was simply that there is some American interest in the World Cup.

Not only will I watch on tv, but I will be there for the last US match of first rd vs Ghana. There's a lot of interest, but probably not so much from the frequenters of this site. It's rare to find people fanatic about MBL, NFL AND soccer.

I absolutely *despise* soccer on a normal basis...however, i love the World Cup...i think theres alot of people that feel the same way

It should get interest from us all, it's a heck of a lot better than mid-season baseball and the WNBA

USA are 5th in the world because the only other competition you have in your Federation is Mexico, who are also right up the rankings. Frankly, the Caribbean islands are useless, let all your wins against them rack up lots of points to move you up the rankings. USA have a chance of getting out of their group, but after that they're stuffed. I probably miss the point in terms of "no. of people in the US"? I don't get that remark. Most competing nations get excited because of the history, the expectation of doing well. It is most of these places national games. Imagine the knockout stages as the NFL Playoffs, and the group stage as the NFL Season after 13 games have been missed due to a strike. Then you'll see that it can be filled full of tension, excitement. Also the fact that in the knockout games there can be a shoot-out, not extra-time after extra-time. USA has more history than England, you reached the Semis in the first one in 1930 (look in the Soccer section under World Cup). You beat England 1-0 in 1950, which was the first British participation in the event, at a time when it was thought that we were the best in the world. Despite this rambling I am not overly excited, I am not that much of a football (soccer) fan. But I know that everyone in the area is getting excited, they have flags up, e.g. I think part of the problem is that USA rarely compete internationally and have no idea of what it is to represent their country. Baseball, Hockey and American Football are hardly globalised, and as a result I don't think that Americans are so heavily caught up in the idea of international competition. Sorry to go on for so long...

I'm gonna watch it and I'm probably enjoy it, seeing as that's the only time I really watch soccer. Plus, the office pool makes it a little more interesting.

Intersting...I did not know the US reached the semi's of a world cup. Granted, it was 75 years ago.

Sorry, I just read the end of my previous comment. I said that Americans "have no idea of what it is to represent their country. I didn't mean that derogatively, I was just pointing out that you rarely compete internationally - you have different versions of the rest of the world's games, e.g. you put Field Hockey on Ice, you turned Cricket into Baseball, you turned Soccer and Rugby into American Football. As a result, USA does not figure in too many team events.

I'd rather watch mid-season baseball any day. Heck, I'd rather watch Spring Training. Heck, I'd rather watch AA baseball. I might watch part of the final match if the USA is in it, but barring that....."my" New England Revolution have done fairly well the past couple years and I've barely noticed.

I love that we turned Field hockey on Ice. Field hockey is for girls. They wear skirts!

Are you high? Seriously?

The girls do wear skirts... The men wear shorts. Men do play it (and have no reason to hang their head in shame because of it), but I suppose you are right, it is generally treated as a woman's sport. But back to the World Cup theme, barring a miracle, Brazil will win it. England and Argentina have a chance, but I think Brazil should win it.

I think the World Cup is kind of a novelty in America still...like the Kentucky Derby or Tour de France. Although most in the US don't watch horseracing or bicycling on a regular basis, we all tune in for those. World Cup is the same way I think, only bigger and less frequent. Most people I've talked to about soccer don't have a interest because there isn't that much offense, like what ice hockey was like pre-2006. I think it is a little odd that so many kids play it and then just quit it after a certain age. Or maybe there's only room for 3 or 4 major sports in the American psyche.

Yeah, I saw that [video] live the other night. Crouch is nearly 7ft, and scored a decent goal (that wasn't headed). It was to beat the might of... Hungary who have been rubbish since the 50s. The 27 seconds is just showing it repeated though...

Crouch is useless in the air - yet good on the floor - go Prince Will!!! Anyway, USA will finish bottom of their group (Italy, Czech Rep., Ghana) yet be everyones second favourite team. England will win the tournament, simply because everyone else is rubbish! Can you name a Brazilian defender? Come on England!!!

Big article today on the 'big 5' Brazilian scorers. The only one I know of is that snaggle-toothed guy Ronaldinho. I'm pretty sure he recently won the FIFA (i think) award for player of the year.

Where do all the best players in the world play? Spanish League? English Premiership? Is there a south american league where the Brazilian's all play, or do that also go to Europe?

Actually, I believe the Candaians put field hockey on ice. It was the Americans that made it profitable. I am interested in the world cup. I would watch when US is on other than that, I will probably just read about it here.

Europe. The best League's are Spain and England. Italy then (though on the brink of collapse), then Germany, then France. The best players go to Europe, because that is where most money is. Ronaldinho (Brazil) and Henry (France) are probably joint best in the world. FIFA got it wrong... The South American's have Leagues, e.g. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, but their players play in Europe. Most of the best players in the world play in Europe, which questions the advertising of "Major" League Soccer.

Crouch is useless in the air - yet good on the floor - go Prince Will!!! Anyway, USA will finish bottom of their group (Italy, Czech Rep., Ghana) yet be everyones second favourite team. England will win the tournament, simply because everyone else is rubbish! Can you name a Brazilian defender? Come on England!!! By the way, I am English!!! Obviously.

Enybo, true, it was the British Canadians when the Commonwealth (British Empire) was at its peak.

<a href=http://www.p...p18=whatsnew>soccer playing robots</a>

See! Soccer is so boring that even robots can't make it exciting.

Robots are awesome. That video is pretty amazing.

I take that back. Those robots suck. Goes to show you how far we are from having Terminator 2 style machines running around.

See, that's why I don't like soccer. The robots kinda suck, but they still can play soccer. Can a robot play baseball, football, hockey, or basketball? No. There's too much talent and skill involved. But can they play soccer? Sure, because it's mostly just running around in circles for 90 minutes.

didn't you ever play Baseball Simulator 3000 for Nintendo?

Alex...the comment about there being a lot of people in the U.S. was to explain why the U.S. ranked so high in ticket sales. There are so many more people that buy tickets than other countries but I would imagine the percentage of the population who bought tickets would not rank in the top. I have seen little to none in terms of excitement for the World Cup in the U.S.

That was a good game, but not as good as the other Baseball Simulator. I don't remember if it was 1000 or 2000...for Super Nintendo. It was the one where you could pick a special power for every player. So you had guys throwing 300 mph fastballs, guys hitting bombs (literally), and curveballs that could start out 20 feet outside the zone before coming back accross the plate. And it's the first game that I ever played that kept stats for you.

Oh, thanks Bball345.

Another reason for high ticket sales in US is the high amt of foreigners we have here. when US national teams play others on US turf, the visiting team usually has more fans attending than does US.

Alex, FIFA rankings may look subjective, but are weighted on like 5-6 tiers so saying that US is high based on region is suspicious, unless you can pt to anything to back it up. The way they did the seeds was different (taking into account peformance at past wcups, but rarely do players play in more than two, so I think that process is less legitimate). Anyway, with US, Czech and Italy all in same group, it will be tough for US to advance out of such a tough group.

It wasn't based too highly on statistical backing up... Pundits worldwide are saying the same thing. They are good, but 5th in the world? When Italy are below them? The fact that everybody thinks Italy are better than the USA, and USA will lose to them in the group, shows that people think that Italy are better. If you want to win, you'll have to beat them eventually, so I suppose it makes very little difference. English pundits were surprised when FIFA announced that England were 2nd behind Brazil in the seedings - we lost to Northern Ireland a few months earlier! (probably outside top 100). I question the FIFA Ranking Method.

fifa ranking procedures http://www.f...40,3,00.html

uefa region (italy) x1.00, conmebol (south america) x.99, concacaf (USA) x.94.

Italy didn't do as well as US in wcup '02 (lost to Korea in rd of 16, US made quaterfinals) and US has fared better in preliminaries etc.

I think 0.94 is too high for CONCACAF, after Mexico, there is nobody of any nore. Whereas EUFA has 15 (I think) in the World Cup, CONCACAF has 3. That shows that it is harder to win against a European side than a CONCACAF side. So your premliminaries are easier than ours. I think the multiplication facture is wrong, personally. Since sides around the world only play matches against each other in the World Cup, I think that only they should count toward a ranking, say for the previous three World Cups. Because most people think Czech Republic & Italy are better than the USA, irrespective of what the rankings say. But we'll see come the World Cup.

I have watched every world cup since 1994. It is a great sporting event. I just hate waking up so damn early to watch the games (or going to bed so damn late!)

The earliest games start at 1300 European Time, which is 0700 US Time. The latest games will finish about 2200 European Time, so that'll be 1600 US time! So not (too big) a problem for you this time. I hate that the Super Bowl starts at 2315, you're shattered by the time it finishes at 0230/0300. The NFL should start it earlier for the European audience. It's bad enough that most have no idea what's going on, but when they're half asleep it's even worse!

Well I can't disagree that people think that the EURO teams are better; I myself find it difficult to see the US getting out of the group; though I also find enough faults with Italy (match fixing scandal) and Czech (injuries to smicer, koller) to give hope. But to say your prelims are easier, that is up for debate. I mean Azerbijian, Wales and N. Ire are not exactly world beaters.

It's a global event, yet I do not think I will ever be a soccer fan.

True AF, but we have a lot of good countries in Europe. After England, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain, you have Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark. Then you have countries capable of qualifying, Russia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece etc. Whereas your competition is Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago. For our Azerbaijan, CONCACAF has Aruba.