OT: Euro 2016 England vs. Russia, 3:00pm EDT (happy?), ESPN
So, the English fans have been getting their swerve on for the past few days in Marseilles, alternately getting sunburnt, drunk, ambushed by Russian ultras, beating up "North African" local youth and teargassed by the French police.
Now the English side faces their first test in the European championship against Russia, whom I expect England to beat 1-0. This may be Wayne Rooney's international swan song.
Wales just went up 2-1 on Slovakia, 80'.
No offense, Vlad (and please don't sick SVR on me), but I hope England spanks Rodina.
Good one, Comrade.
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Kane
Sterling Alli vardy
Dier lallana
Rose Cahill stones walker
Hart
Forster backing up hart
Rasford wilshere sturidge clyne smalling they are young and talented.
rooney never accomplished anything on the international level.
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in England goal scorers.
Just for comparison sake.
Wayne Rooney 111 Caps 52 goals
Lionel Messi 105 Caps 53 goals
Neither one has won a major tournament.
Rooney's team couldn't even win a division with America in it and just scored his first World Cup goal last World Cup. Your argument is nonsense.
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It's not his fault he's English.
Interesting stat, Duda's goal vs Wales is the first in an Intl competition since Pele scored against them in 1958!
Honest question. How do people find soccer fun to watch?
I enjoy watching international teams play but can't stand to watch say Real Salt Lake vs. NYCFC. The top, top levels and the skill that goes with it is interesting to watch but I get bored watching much else
For me, it doesn't matter who is playing. I can only watch for 10 minutes before I turn it off.
There are IMO three main things that make sports viewing fun: 1) Having a vested interest in the outcome, i.e. actually caring who wins 2) having people around you socializing around the event, or having an easy way to connect around it 3) appreciating the talent and skill necessary to perform at high levels.
This isn't meant to be snobby, but for most Americans, none of these three things apply, just like none of these apply for cricket or sumo or rugby, because our parents didn't watch soccer when we were growing up, most of our friends probably don't talk about it much, etc. so we don't have #1 or #2.
I like watching the Tigers, but I can't watch a baseball game with any other teams unless it's the world series. It's not because I like the actual sport better when the Tigers are playing. I just care when they are playing.
You don't care about soccer, which is totally understandable. Some people do care. A lot of people around the world have all three of these things in spades about soccer. It's not to say it's a better or worse sport, it's just accessible such that so many countries rich and poor, play it and care about it and that's why it's fun to watch for so many of them.
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If I knew that soccer fans were this sensitive then I would not have posted my previous comment.
I do have interest in knowing how people can enjoy watching soccer. That way maybe I could take that advice and apply it to my viewing experience.
Here's my advice - grab a beer, chill, and watch the upcoming game. Try to not ball-watch, but rather watch the development of counter-attacks (see how the guys run to open space) or how players run without the ball on offensive build-ups. Yeah, there are a lot of histrionics, especially with the Mediterranean teams, but England and Russia will play hard and I expect a dogfight, with England prevailing.
Advice taken.
Your best bet is to literally make a bet on a game that you're watching. A bet large enough that you care about the money. Then you'll be into it. Otherwise, it'll be super boring for you.
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Don't ever let a troll or a gremlin get wet.
are somewhat sensitive when someone says, "I don't get how this thing that you care about and spend time with is fun." I mean, if some French guy posted in an (American) football thread the same thing, you'd get the same reaction or worse from football fans.
Also why does it bother people so much that others enjoy soccer? You might as well get over it now, the popularity of the sport is growing rapidly in this country. Probably has something to do with foreign influence, and the fact that it is the most widely played youth sport.
We rarely miss watching a friendly as well.
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There's something about soccer that triggers weird reactions in a lot of Americans and makes them feel threatened. I don't know if it's that they fear soccer will get too popular here (and thus cause American sports to decline), or if they just see it as too "international," like the metric system. It's an interesting social phenomenon.
It's all about politics, not the game of soccer itself.
People who can find very different sports in baseball, football, hockey, and basketball interesting are all of a sudden unable to see anything compelling at all about soccer?
That's because it's not really about soccer.
Xenophobia and racism
I don't know about racism. Many of the biggest names in the soccer world are white (Messi, Ronaldo). Xenophobia, perhaps.
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For the all the general snobbiness we get from Europe & Canada, it is interesting that they have this hooligan problem (hockey for Canada) that I don't ever recall American professional sports having
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But it goes beyond that. There are nasty rivalries between teams that aren't geographically close, too (like Real-Barça, PSG- Marseille, Bayern-Dortmund, etc.). And hooliganism is present in international matches, too.
One issue, especially at the club level, is that certain clubs have come to be viewed as representatives of certain political or religious groups. If you live in Glasgow, if you're Protestant you're "supposed" to support Rangers and if you're Catholic, Celtic. That kind of thing doesn't exist at all in North America. We've managed to establish pro teams based strictly on geographical loyalty.
About the only European-style case was in Montreal where one hockey team (the Canadiens) represented the francophones and the other (the Maroons) represented the anglophones. But the Maroons folded and the anglophones adopted the Canadiens as well.
...is that most clubs originated as truly that, clubs. People coming together to play soccer, and often they came together because of some common social factor--workers at a particular plant, members of a particular ethnic community or religious group.
If OSU were in Ypsi, I think their fans might actually be more normal. Having to actually interact with the "enemy" on a daily basis helps to keep things more civil. Compare them with Spartan fans (who might be obnoxious but generally don't go as far, behavior-wise).
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glad I'm not English. the international record, not so good despite being talented