The Football thread (saacaaar)

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

Alright, so I have to admit, I love football and always will--but I can't find a way to get my arms around a club team in the Premiership. I tried with Newcastle in the 90's (when I got one match a month whenever my Montanan tv channels were busy showing grouse hunting re-runs); I tried with Tottenham in the late Aughts (when students in India glommed on to trendier Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U)...but I just can't get riled up to follow one squad throughout a whole campaign.

 

Any suggestions? As a Twins fan, I'm thinking that choosing big markets and "on the verge" teams has been a mistake...I'll put up with long bouts of suffering and the risk of relegation, I can't just tune in every four years, it's too much fun.

[twinsnorth49]

Alright, so I have to admit, I love football and always will--but I can't find a way to get my arms around a club team in the Premiership. I tried with Newcastle in the 90's (when I got one match a month whenever my Montanan tv channels were busy showing grouse hunting re-runs); I tried with Tottenham in the late Aughts (when students in India glommed on to trendier Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U)...but I just can't get riled up to follow one squad throughout a whole campaign.

 

Any suggestions? As a Twins fan, I'm thinking that choosing big markets and "on the verge" teams has been a mistake...I'll put up with long bouts of suffering and the risk of relegation, I can't just tune in every four years, it's too much fun.

 

Everton, good squad, overshadowed by their more famous cross town rivals Liverpool and always seem to be on the outside looking in. They had a good run this year, almost grabbed a Champions League spot away from Arsenal but once again the bridesmaids. They're not rich, they're competitive and they'll always break your heart.

 

There is also nothing quite like a Merseyside Derby so even if they are low down the table you can always have a successful season by beating Liverpool.

[Easy 10]

Not much solace in that sadly, absolutely gutted by the meltdown at Selhurst, still in disbelief. Ah well, they've lived on the edge with that defense all year, not many expected them to be top of the table with one to play so at the end of the day a great year and still not over if either The Villa or Baggies can knock off City and Liverpool can go through against Newcastle.

 

Congrats on your Seagulls, 92 minute? thrilling stuff! Hope you can get up to the Premier League next.

 

Its a shame Liverpool imploded on the run-in, but they'd have taken 4th place and Champions League qualification before a ball had been kicked had it been offered, so it shouldn't totally detract from what has been a great season. As you say, nobody expected them to be challenging for the Title, but that leaky defence cost them.

 

As Liverpool started racking the goals up at Selhurst in an effort to close the gap on the goal difference, they were retrieving the ball from the Palace net and trotting back for the restart a little too quickly for Palace's liking, trying to humiliate them - hence the amazing rally from 0-3 to 3-3 in the last few minutes. I bloody hate Palace as well !

 

PeanutsFromHeaven - Brighton & Hove Albion (The Seagulls) play their 1st leg Playoff game tonight. If we get into the Premiership in the next couple of weeks then why not put your arms around us

 

We certainly wouldn't be challenging for the Title, but a battle against relegation can be every bit as enthralling just trying to stay up out of that dreaded bottom 3...come join us !

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

There is also nothing quite like a Merseyside Derby so even if they are low down the table you can always have a successful season by beating Liverpool.

 

A good rivalry sounds like the kind of thing to keep me engaged, I like keeping an eye on Americans abroad and while I cheered on Donavan's run, I think the chance to watch Timmy Howard should give me at least one individual to hold on to while I try to fall in love with the others.

 

Thank you!

[twinsnorth49]

A good rivalry sounds like the kind of thing to keep me engaged, I like keeping an eye on Americans abroad and while I cheered on Donavan's run, I think the chance to watch Timmy Howard should give me at least one individual to hold on to while I try to fall in love with the others.

 

Thank you!

 

That's a good reason, the Toffees have a lot of exciting players, Barkley, McCarthy, Mirallas and Baines. Would love to see them keep Lukaku from Chelsea but not likely, what a player.

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

A query to all the "footie" fans here.

 

I know we've mostly focused on league football, but in honor of the World Cup, I wanted to write a blog about how your favorite Twins player should influence your back up World Cup pick (assuming you cheer first for nation: US/England)--So I'm trying to think which player matches best with which country? (Any feedback you give would absolutely be given credit in the blog post:)

 

Initial thoughts:

Mauer = Germany (Consistent, efficient, not terribly glamorous, but definitely admired broadly)

Perkins = Spain (Great, not terribly flashy or egocentric, home grown, seems to wait to the last minute to do something)

Dozier = Belgium (Rising power, solid defense, funny accent)

Bert Blyleven = Holland (d'uh...also never took down the brass ring--World Cup or Cy Young)

Harmon Killebrew = England (Hard working, gritty, symbolic of the sport)

Buxton = Colombia (Young, exciting, a little banged up right now)

[steve]

As the World Cup looms, John Oliver tells us about FIFA.

 

[video=youtube_share;DlJEt2KU33I]

 

Why do players do this? Do they get paid? We can't get baseball players to show up for the baseball world tournament, and when they do, they don't really try.

 

If I owned a soccer team, I'd tell FIFA to get bent.

[gunnarthor]

So I sort get dragged into the World Cup b/c my co-worker is a huge fan of Mexico. And then I watch Brazil/Croatia and watch all the flopping and ****ty officiating and think, "Oh yeah, this really sucks."

[Squirrel]

Surprised you footballers aren't providing more World Cup dialog. This is for you nonetheless:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVhoeR9n6lU

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

Why do players do this? Do they get paid?

 

While a lot of players feel pressure to show up in order to prove themselves against the best in the world (and earn a transfer to a better team/prove they belong in historic conversation), they do get paid and rather well for little work. In addition to an appearance fee they get prize money depending on how far they get. Disputes about how much they get paid get acrimonious (see: Cameroon almost striking before the tournament, Ghana losing two players mid-tournament for hitting a national representative over poor pay). But it also ends well...Algeria gave all their prize money to charity, and they have fewer top played players than either Cameroon or Ghana. If "Dominican Baseball" offered cash...I think we'd never see another team win.

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

@gunnarthor and @ChiTownTwinsFan--yeah, admittedly the flopping is irritating, but this cup has been much better than prior years...usually it only happens if players feel like they can get a ref to give them calls.

 

I would say, as a Twins fan who loved Gomez's phantom "hit by pitch" in Game 163 (when at most a button was grazed)...I understand why at the top levels of competition you take what you can get when you can get it, in utterly irrelevant matches between bottom feeders though, that's an unpleasant business.

[gunnarthor]

6-0?

http://screamer.deadspin.com/here-is-j-r-jim-ross-calling-the-brazil-germany-firs-1601968953/+bubbaprog

 

I actually feel really bad for Brazil.

[twinsnorth49]

7-1 Germany over Brazil, simply stunning. A Brazilian player protest against the social injustices brought about by FIFA and the IOC? Rumours before the WC were some players had issues with Brazil as host.

 

Or

 

Germany was really good and Brazil desperately missed Silva and Neymar.

[BobAzar]

Baseball will always be my favorite sport, but soccer is up there too. I'm wondering if there is any other people out there that share these two sports passions. I mainly follow the English Premier League and my team is Tottenham. And with the EPL starting this weekend, I thought I'd see if there are any like minded people out there.

-Bob

[ericchri]

I've discovered that I love soccer thanks to this year's World Cup.  I have no idea why it took this year's version to do so because I've paid some attention during the last couple World Cups previously, but this one got me to actively watch soccer once it was over, unlike previous Cups.  Soccer has the most electrifying moment possible in any sport I pay any attention to.  No touchdown, basket, homerun, etc... can match the excitement of a goal in soccer, and the complete lack of commercial breaks is wonderful.

 

Being American, I'm trying to be supportive of MLS.  I've heard all the disparaging talk of the quality of the league, but honestly I think it's fairly entertaining.  It still has a ways to go, but it's got a lot more good players than I had been led to believe, and it's still in such a startup mentality trying to stabilize the league that I can only expect it to continue improving.  Living in Fargo, ND doesn't leave me a local team, unfortunately, so for now I've gone with Sporting Kansas City as the nearest team geographically.  I'm psychologically incapable of rooting for a team anywhere on the East coast, Chicago, Texas, or Los Angeles, and probably Canada, so SKC works out pretty well.  My wife is a Microsoft employee, so I sort of feel like I should be a Sounders guy, but I'm just not a Dempsey fan, something about him rubs me wrong.  SKC play a pretty decent possession-based offense as opposed to just bombing the ball down the field hoping a forward can hold it until everyone else gets there.  It's also nice that they have a couple current and one former USMNT players.

 

As for the EPL, I'm looking forward to the season, but being brand new to the soccer fandom, I'm not sure where I'm leaning.  Everton (Tim Howard) and Stoke City (Geoff Cameron and I suppose Brek Shea if he ever actually plays) will certainly be a somewhat sentimental pick, but I think I may actually choose Swansea City due to the fact I got to watch them play a match in person against Minnesota United from the NASL a month ago.  Starting to sound like Tottenham may pick up DeAndre Yedlin from the Seattle Sounders (and USMNT), though he'll apparently be loaned back to Seattle til the end of the MLS season, so I'll be interested in them as well.  I'm really hoping for one of Everton or Tottenham to break into the top 4, as none of Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, or Chelsea do anything for me, and I'm not sure who else will have much chance to.

[BobAzar]

I just moved back to MN from KC. I was there for 3 years, so I got to see the MLS ASG, 2 USMNT WCQ, and an MLS Cup victory. SKC will always be my MLS team, even if MN gets one. Tottenham is my team because I went to a game at White Hart Lane in 2013 when Dempsey and Bale were on the team. It was awesome.
I think there are some similarities between baseball and soccer, mainly neither game is the most fast-paced game, but there is a lot of strategy involved that can be missed by the uninitiated viewer.

[Squirrel]

drbob - I merged your thread with another thread, so youse saaaacer folks can chat it up.

[ericchri]

I hope Minnesota manages an MLS team, but I'm not sure it's a better option right now than Sacramento or San Antonio (and I'll ignore the possibility of Las Vegas, ugh).  The Twin Cities are just spread too thin with sports options for a market that size with the "big 4" sports already, and then the U of M (FB, BB, Hockey) on top of that.  Throw in the Lynx and a modicum of interest in the U women's BB and Hockey teams and it'll be rough to draw the support the other two markets will for soccer.  Selfishly I want Minnesota, but for the league I suspect someplace else might be a better option for now.  I think a team would do fine in Minnesota, but I think it'd do better in Sac or SA.

 

Very jealous, I'd love to be able to attend SKC games.  And seeing Tottenham in person when they had that roster would have been fabulous.  Bale at RM just seems weird.  Ireland has always been tops on my list of places I'd like to visit (for no specific reason that I can think of, just a weird urge), so seeing the USMNT playing a friendly in Dublin in November has me thinking ridiculous thoughts about somehow catching that and then also popping over to catch an EPL game somewhere as well.  Two kids in school makes that pretty much impossible, but it's fun to dream.

 

Definitely agree on the pace of game similarities.  Soccer pretty much didn't exist for me growing up, so I'm really just starting to get a grasp on it, but there's a lot of subtle little things I really enjoy.  I love the thumbs-up for great passes that somebody can't quite make a play on, and taking the risk of pulling up your defense to get an offsides call is weirdly entertaining for me (probably because when it fails it leads to a great goal chance).  My interest in basketball has tanked over the last few years, and (American) football is fading for me as well, so finding a new sport to follow along with baseball has been really fun.

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

I'm quite excited to be on point with writing and chatting with fellow sports fans throughout the promise of an entire season (even if I've dropped cable and so will only be able to follow through on-line recaps and--maybe--the occasional live stream).

 

It sounds like the general interest of this thread is the Premiership and particularly Tottenham and Everton (unless I'm missing something--and I must say, both seem very Twins-ish)--with some fondness reserved for Sporting KC and MN Utd (obviously)...are there any other fans lurking on this opening day? Some La Liga people frothing for a Classico? Someone who actually likes Serie A? People who latch on to a team from the family homeland (with family from Eastern Scotland, I'm keeping an eye on both Ross County and Hibernian).

 

Whatever you like and whatever you're into, I'm excited to hear more from this thread (especially as baseball winds down, and futbol/saacaar heats up).

[FattCrapps]

I'm the only Serie A fan apparently

 

Forza Juve!

[Riverbrian]

I'm going to try and get behind Swansea this year but wasn't feeling it yet. Watching the victory over Man U sure helped. I could get behind Swansea. 

 

Been looking for a replacement team since Portsmouth fell to their death. I was a big Portsmouth fan when Redknapp was coaching them.

 

I still check Portsmouth scores but you can't watch them on TV in League 2 and games against Dag and Red don't excite many. 

 

So... Swansea? Maybe? Go... Umm.... Swans? 

[twinsnorth49]

Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool....LIIIVVVEERRRRPOOOOOOL!!!

 

Go you Reds!

[PeanutsFromHeaven]

Realization: 2 goals in the first 3 minutes against your team makes you feel a little like watching Ricky Nolasco give up a pair of three run homers within the first six batters.

[ericchri]

So far, so good, go Swansea!  Showdown with Chelsea (the only two 3-game winners so far) in a couple weeks.  Swansea is probably 1/4 of the way to safely staying up in the Premier League with 35 games still to play.  And they didn't sell off Bony.  Hooray for random acts delivering a good pick for favorite team.

 

SKC forgot how to play defense somehow in the last few weeks though, ugh.

[twinsnorth49]

Liverpool back on track, nothing like clobbering a team from London......unless it's clobbering a certain team from Manchester not called City.