World Cup 2026
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
- Start date
I don’t follow?@Sbooker, are you prepared for today's beatdown?
Edit. Got it.
I don’t follow the soccer to be honest. Queensland is traditionally a rugby league state and I played it and rugby union until I was 21. I had the enviable combination of being small and slow.
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World Cup game today, accurately predicted by @jamesdeluxe
The game started at 5AM in sbooker's time zone.
I was at the gym. My neighbour is a Scotsman and has either a Scottish or Aussie flag flying off the front of his house depending on who is playing next.
Unhappy neighbor today! 0 for 2.
Wow, you're a lonely exception in the non-US world! Like many Americans, I:
- Love watching condensed 15-minute highlight reels but often find my patience stretched watching an entire match (however, I managed to stick around for most of the US matches and the one with England/Croatia).
- Am constantly trying to figure out unsolicited ways to "improve" the sport:
- Adjust the excitement-killing offside (good thing that there's now video review to reverse the many bad calls like in yesterday's US/AU match)
- The constant uncalled grabbing and pushing (similar to the NBA)
- Melodramatic on-field "injuries" with players grasping their lower legs in alleged pain (to be fair, this has decreased a bit in recent years)
- The Harry Kane stutter step on penalty kicks: goalkeepers already have a very small chance of making a save
- Tie matches: do not allow knockout-stage tournament games to be decided by penalty kicks; instead, have them go 5-on-5 for the overtime period!
- I have more recommendations but I'll stop there for the moment.
I know I’m a little bit strange. I don’t dislike soccer but perhaps because I didn’t play it I’ve never really got into it. I don’t watch tennis or any form of motor racing either. Again I don’t dislike those sports but I’m just not interested. Despite the fact that I play golf (poorly most of the time) I don’t watch a lot of golf either really. I don’t find ski racing that interesting either but I enjoy occasionally watching those free ride experts doing their thing.Wow, you're a lonely exception in the non-US world! Like many Americans, I:
- Love watching condensed 15-minute highlight reels but often find my patience stretched watching an entire match (however, I managed to stick around for most of the US matches and the one with England/Croatia).
- Am constantly trying to figure out unsolicited ways to "improve" the sport:
- Adjust the excitement-killing offside (good thing that there's now video review to reverse the many bad calls like in yesterday's US/AU match)
- The constant uncalled grabbing and pushing (similar to the NBA)
- Melodramatic on-field "injuries" with players grasping their lower legs in alleged pain (to be fair, this has decreased a bit in recent years)
- The Harry Kane stutter step on penalty kicks: goalkeepers already have a very small chance of making a save
- Tie matches: do not allow knockout-stage tournament games to be decided by penalty kicks; instead, have them go 5-on-5 for the overtime period!
- I have more recommendations but I'll stop there for the moment.
I only watch an hour or two of tellie a week and that is reserved for rugby league in winter and cricket in summer. I do watch extra TV if high level swimming competitions are being televised. (I was a decent swimmer as a kid). I’ll often watch the first 10 minutes of the national news. I don’t have any subscriptions like Fox or Kayo or Netflix. I only go to the cinema a couple of times a decade. I only watch movies on planes.
Of course I have watched a little bit of soccer in my time and I like every one of your recommendations. The 5 on 5 being a particularly great suggestion.
Sbooker can correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that soccer's place in the pecking order of popular spectator sports is similar in Australia as in the U.S. How many variants of "Aussie Rules" football are there in addition to rugby, which is THE sport in New Zealand?
In July 1997 we were on Heron Island (first place I ever scuba dived) a the time of the Bledisoe Cup. Heron is remote and rustic and there were no TV's. But this was a big deal so they set up some kind of satellite connection and showed the rugby game on a projection movie screen. The next week we were in New Zealand. The Doubtful Sound bus driver was merciless in needling the Aussies about the beatdown the All Blacks had just inflicted upon them, referring to Australia as the "West Island."
So when the US last hosted the World Cup in 1994, Adam was 9 years old and very interested. I took him to the US-Columbia game in the Rose Bowl, where he got sick because it was 107F with no shade in our seats. He was at camp on Catalina during the Finals, but my ex and I went to the Rose Bowl for the 3rd/4th place game and bought tickets on-site for $25, a quarter of face value.
I mention the above, because in that context it shocked me that group round games involving the US or prominent countries like Brazil, England, etc. were going for minimum $1,000+ and games between obscure teams are still $300+. That compares to reseller World Series prices in the $800-$1,000 range, though admittedly Madison Square Garden tickets for the recent NBA finals were far more expensive.
So I thought FIFA was being greedy and that close to game time prices would come down. Adam said no, soccer's position in the US now is far different than in 1994. Adam turned out to be right about that and I was wrong. Prices have held up in the general range that FIFA was charging. We will not be attending anything. SoFi Stadium is a magnificent facility (we saw Rams vs. Tom Brady's Bucs in 2021) but a logistical nightmare. We parked at an LAX remote garage two miles away for $14 because on site parking was $90 and I've heard it's $150 for the World Cup. We also met someone this morning who said it took and hour and a half to park and get through security into the stadium for the US-Paraguay game last week.
The Knicks situation was a perfect storm of demand. Very affluent and rabid fans. No title in 53 years. Basketball is THE sport in NYC because kids don't play as much baseball or football due to lack of space. Many NYC fans flew to San Antonio for the clincher, as was evident from crowd reactions during the game. Liz has paid little attention to the NBA since she moved here in 2013, but after living in NYC all those years she was very interested this time.
In July 1997 we were on Heron Island (first place I ever scuba dived) a the time of the Bledisoe Cup. Heron is remote and rustic and there were no TV's. But this was a big deal so they set up some kind of satellite connection and showed the rugby game on a projection movie screen. The next week we were in New Zealand. The Doubtful Sound bus driver was merciless in needling the Aussies about the beatdown the All Blacks had just inflicted upon them, referring to Australia as the "West Island."
I agree. To me it's just not on the level of last years World Series (yes, I'm biased on this one) or the recent Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals. This is somewhat weird because unlike most Americans of my generation, I played quite a bit of soccer in middle and high school. It was strictly a preppy sport then, before AYSO started in the 1970's and got a lot of kids playing. That included my son Adam for 10 years. I think soccer is a great participation sport but somewhat meh as a spectator sport.
So when the US last hosted the World Cup in 1994, Adam was 9 years old and very interested. I took him to the US-Columbia game in the Rose Bowl, where he got sick because it was 107F with no shade in our seats. He was at camp on Catalina during the Finals, but my ex and I went to the Rose Bowl for the 3rd/4th place game and bought tickets on-site for $25, a quarter of face value.
I mention the above, because in that context it shocked me that group round games involving the US or prominent countries like Brazil, England, etc. were going for minimum $1,000+ and games between obscure teams are still $300+. That compares to reseller World Series prices in the $800-$1,000 range, though admittedly Madison Square Garden tickets for the recent NBA finals were far more expensive.
So I thought FIFA was being greedy and that close to game time prices would come down. Adam said no, soccer's position in the US now is far different than in 1994. Adam turned out to be right about that and I was wrong. Prices have held up in the general range that FIFA was charging. We will not be attending anything. SoFi Stadium is a magnificent facility (we saw Rams vs. Tom Brady's Bucs in 2021) but a logistical nightmare. We parked at an LAX remote garage two miles away for $14 because on site parking was $90 and I've heard it's $150 for the World Cup. We also met someone this morning who said it took and hour and a half to park and get through security into the stadium for the US-Paraguay game last week.
The Knicks situation was a perfect storm of demand. Very affluent and rabid fans. No title in 53 years. Basketball is THE sport in NYC because kids don't play as much baseball or football due to lack of space. Many NYC fans flew to San Antonio for the clincher, as was evident from crowd reactions during the game. Liz has paid little attention to the NBA since she moved here in 2013, but after living in NYC all those years she was very interested this time.
I think offside was adjusted a while ago. IIRC offside used to be called if ANY offensive player is behind the last defender when the ball is passed into that territory. Now it is called only if the player receiving the ball is offside. When the offside call was made yesterday, my visual impression was that it would be upheld. In the replay there were two other US players offside, but Alex Freeman, who headed in that goal, was not one of them. Freeman FYI is the son of former NFL receiver Antonio Freeman, a scenario what would have been very unlikely 30 years ago.
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jasoncapecod
Well-known member
I find soccer on tv a big yawn. Live it’s a different story. A few yeas ago while in Madrid we went to a game. Boy it was a hoot.