The Colon Club

Yep... fair statement that Kiwi... and I have to agree some Aussies are a tad one-eyed when it comes to sport.You do have an awesome netball team by the way.Love watching the different ways some players celebrate after scoring a goal in the World Cup..but must admit I have no idea what the guy with the ball up his shirt while sucking his thumb was doing????
Karen.

lohidoc wrote:Van Persie's diving header after Daley Blind's pass was a thing of beauty. An old enemy destroyed, an ancient wrong made right.

And Maia, if we meet in the final, we'll have to figure out a way to watch it together.

Deal.
But I'm still patiently waiting for someone to get certain haircut, mister...
Now, I'm worried because you said "an old enemy destroyed..." and then immediately you mentioned me... why, Marc..? We share immunotherapy love, and Holland has an Argentinian queen now... we're like brother and sister, right...? Oh, maybe you have this in mind... 1978's WC final? But I was just 7, I only remember... celebrating!

Seriously, I'm not really a football (soccer) fan but one of those persons who only watch some games during the World Cup. Football, however, it is BIG deal down here, in Argentina (like hockey in Canada or 'football' in USA). But... I'll make a promise. I'll post a pic of myself here, if Argentina wins the next game.

I love soccer and rugby, where men are men and don't wear those sissy pads and do wear shorts and shirts that cling to their bodiies--0Oops getting carried away here. Go USA!
Pollo 65

pollo65 wrote:I love soccer and rugby, where men are men and don't wear those sissy pads and do wear shorts and shirts that cling to their bodiies--0Oops getting carried away here. Go USA!
Pollo 65

LOL. It's nice in a way to be "a certain age" where admiring is just "cute", isn't it?

C'mon Portugal, make a game of it!

Skypup - after being down now 3-0, I wonder what, if anything Portugal can do, particularly now that they are playing a man down.
Hey, I'm not upset about that red card....it means that Pepe will be unable to play against us next week. Ohhhhh.

Just watching the commercials now...I keep missing whose commercial the one is about the 'passion' of soccer/fans with all the new babies?? I do, however, absolutely LOVE the AT&T/Samsung commercials.

Halftime....time to eat breakfast before second half starts. Then off to run errands and get back by 3PM (my time) for the USA game..

GO USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

singingholly wrote:FORZA AZZURRI!!!

I second that!
Every world cup, we listen in extenso Azzuro from Adriano Celentano!
Charles

Maia wrote:

lohidoc wrote:Van Persie's diving header after Daley Blind's pass was a thing of beauty. An old enemy destroyed, an ancient wrong made right.

And Maia, if we meet in the final, we'll have to figure out a way to watch it together.

Deal.
But I'm still patiently waiting for someone to get certain haircut, mister...
Now, I'm worried because you said "an old enemy destroyed..." and then immediately you mentioned me... why, Marc..? We share immunotherapy love, and Holland has an Argentinian queen now... we're like brother and sister, right...? Oh, maybe you have this in mind... 1978's WC final? But I was just 7, I only remember... celebrating!

Seriously, I'm not really a football (soccer) fan but one of those persons who only watch some games during the World Cup. Football, however, it is BIG deal down here, in Argentina (like hockey in Canada or 'football' in USA). But... I'll make a promise. I'll post a pic of myself here, if Argentina wins the next game.

I was referring to the old enemy Spain. The Dutch fought an 80 year war of independence/religion against the Spanish oppressor in the 16th century. The memories are still fresh.

And I do remember the 1978 final - vividly. The democratic forces, in the form of Holland, against the right wing dictatorship of Videla, with, as I now know, a 7 year old Maia cheering on. Just kidding, a fair game but what a cauldron of passion. And how close Holland came....

Way to go



D-E-U-C-E

OMG! What a game....way to grind it out and get the win.
Congrats to John Brooks on a well deserved and perfectly placed header for the go ahead goal

Next game on my agenda should be good.
Brazil v Mexico.....gotta watch that one

I was so excited to see them win. I've been glued to the TV. It's like "March Madness" on steroids. The collisions are awesome. They are some of the most fit athletes and they totally sacrifice their bodies - Gladiators!

Okay, I am hooked. Makes me feel like I am lolling around in my fabulous new electric adjustable bed all day by choice.

But, my goodness, I never knew soccer/football is such a contact sport! All those young guys getting hurt... Ouch!

(Also, I am somewhat relieved to learn that the US is not the only nation crazy enough to pay athletes tens of millions of dollars a year.)

Btw, that was me that Maia posted the picture of.

Ah Skypup, unfortunately, our soccer players (save for a few) don't earn anywhere near that type of money.
Clint earns the most at, I believe, something like $6.6 million this year. Michael Bradley (plays for Toronto) earns the next.
There is a HUGE discrepancy between the DPs (Designated Players) who can and do earn more and the rest of the players.

http://www.mlsplayers.org/files/April%2 ... 20Club.pdf

Take a look at the salaries for players in the English Premier League.....totally different pay structure.
http://www.tsmplug.com/extra/top-riches ... e-2013-14/

Notice that their salaries are WEEKLY. For example, Rooney's salary of £300,000/wk, correlates to $508,833/wk OR over $26 MILLION/year!! Until the MLS raises their salary caps AND clubs can get the fan base to support these higher salaries, we will never be able to lure players (in their prime) to play over here. Fan bases are a huge problem for most teams. Attendance, compared with other professional teams is so much lower. Even the Seattle Sounders which has, by far the highest attendance record (every year) of any MLS team at an average of 40+K fans/game isn't anywhere near the fan bases in Europe....which run in the 58-60K.
http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/
Soccer specific stadiums hold less fans....fans bring in $$$. Soccer HAS been growing in this country and more so in certain areas of the country. The Pacific NW has historically been known to be 'soccer passionate' and has a huge fan base....which was evidenced by our 40K fans who showed up (I was there) to watch our USMNT defeat Panama a year ago in a WC qualifying match. Maybe someday soccer will 'catch on' with more people in this country but right now, it is refreshing to see so many people celebrating with our team and showing our American pride in our men!

BTW- the next game is starting but dang, that Mexico - Brazil game was one AWESOME game. I know we're supposed to align ourselves with our CONCACAF 'comrades' but honestly, I was rooting for BRAZIL all the way! Still, it was a fantastic game. The national anthems are playing for the Russia v S Korea game. Don't know much about either team ....so don't really care who wins...just want to keep watching some good soccer

The big European teams (ie the leading teams in UK, Spain, Germany and Italy) make a huge amount of money (but almost all are still run at a loss). The biggest source of income is not so much the fans watching the games, it is TV rights, merchandizing, doing well in the championship league (the deeper they go, the more money they get) and selling players at a profit.

Most journey man teams/players don't make anything like that kind of money.

But this is shaping up to be a great world cup, with a few sub plots already emerging. Great day ahead tomorrow. And to my Aussie mates: Holland have played Australia three times, in friendlies, in recent years. Two draws, and Australia won one game. So who knows?

Incidentally, lot of talk among you ladies about how "hot" some of the players are, and of course Maia's picture. Well, I was going to post a picture of me, in my underwear modelling days, but I don't know how to post pictures....

just make it your avatar, doc! dare ya!

Skypup wrote:just make it your avatar, doc! dare ya!

I tried, image size too small!