Soccer thread

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:32 pm

sfz_T-car wrote: It'll be interesting to see how this evolves. If Sportsguy starts dropping Dmitar Berbatov references and scams his editors into a trip to WHL, it'll be impressive. But it'll also be surprising. It's one of the deadest weeks on the sports calendar, and this was two pages of non-Sox copy. Soccer fans should enjoy the attention while it lasts.

It's 24/7 for 365 over here, matey

And surprisingly enough, Britain is one of the few countries without a dedicated football daily - in Italy, the Gazzetta della Sport is the highest readership of any daily paper over there.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:42 pm

What soccer mags do you read Dave?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:44 pm

JRod wrote:What soccer mags do you read Dave?

Silly boy, City fans can't read.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:23 am

I don't read any soccer mags - the ones over here tend to be relatively tedious. I rely upon the interweb for my unbiased and factual information.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:00 am

Brando70 wrote:Okay, so I watched the WC and have had kind of the same reaction as Simmons. I'd like to get more into the EPL. So what's the best way? Where are the games shown? (I've got DirectTV.) And would I forever be a jackass if I was partial to Newcastle because I love the beer? (Reason 2: I dig the kind of Cubs vibe they have going on.)

Is this really a topic for a different thread? I don't want to interupt serious football talk with soccer 101.

Gol TV has fantastic coverage of the Spanish and Italian leagues, plus a two-hour highlights show every Sunday night that shows just about every goal scored in the world of football in the past week. I get it thru Comcast Cable as part of the same $5 a month sports package that gets me Fox Soccer Channel.

Check out this goal by Lucas Matías Licht of Gimnasia La Plata that I first saw on Gol TV in February. Best goal of 2006 IMO, even with five months left.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vCRttzZmxU

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:06 am

Does Gol's Spanish & Italian package include the big clubs in those leagues (or what's left of them in Serie A)?i

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:10 am

Brando70 wrote:
Is this really a topic for a different thread? I don't want to interupt serious football talk with soccer 101.

We're always happy to help out, matey

I'm afraid that the US-based members of the board will have to help you with the TV/satellite options for viewing, however.

I'll just struggle on with my UK based network

- EPL..88 live games per season, plus highlights of all other games screened at 10pm on Sat as almost-live

- SPL...Rangers/Celtic TV through SETANTA, so 2 SPL games per weekend (both of which will be crap)

- Spain....2 live games every week through Sky, plus midweek highlights and analysis show

- Germany...1 live game per week plus midweek highlights

- Italy...2 live games per week plus weekend highlights/analysis show

- France...1 live game per week on Eurosport

I know, I'm just hard done to.

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:33 am

Mrs. Tyrrell must be thrilled

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:44 am

The gf and I don't live together.

However, I do spend large amounts of the weekend with her (*), while my PVR goes into overdrive (it can record two progs at once, and I can use my PC to record terrestrial TV).

* = except when City are at home, naturally.

Thank the Lord she doesn't read this site

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:21 am

davet010 wrote:
Thank the Lord she doesn't read this site

I think that should definitely be the unofficial motto of DSP!

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:38 pm

sfz_T-car wrote:Does Gol's Spanish & Italian package include the big clubs in those leagues (or what's left of them in Serie A)?i

Yeah, Gol TV had almost every single Real Madrid and Barcelona game on last season, and I watched all the games between Inter, Juve and Milan on Gol TV.

Post by **Jared** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:46 pm

More rumors about South Africa not hosting in 2010, with the next cup going to.....

the United States.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup ... 66,00.html

Fifa executives have voiced "serious" doubts about whether South Africa will be able to host the next World Cup in 2010 and have discussed a radical contingency plan that would see the United States stage the tournament instead, it was reported in Germany yesterday.

According to the German sports news agency SID, Fifa officials have privately raised worries over South Africa's continuing failure to prepare for the tournament and have also discussed the possibility of staging the tournament again in Germany.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:01 pm

since many cities have gone to football specific stadiums, I wonder if we have enough that are wide enough.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:58 am

I think that the political will within FIFA is massively strong towards keeping the Wc in Africa, particularly after it was felt that the 2006 one was 'stolen' from them (the award to Germany was a massive shock, I remember watching it on TV). Unfortunately, after the unqualified success of this WC, and of 2002, the bar in terms of infrastructure and facilities has now moved so high that any tournament in Africa is going to look underfunded and a little tatty - let's face it, they've got better things to be spending money on than underutilised stadiums.

There is a precedent, though - the 1986 WC was originally scheduled to be in Colombia.

I think that SA will get until about mid 2009 to get itself together, because a switch to somewhere like the US wouldn't involve much in the way of new builds.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:49 am

IIRC, Germany got the 2006 WC after New Zealand's FIFA representative changed his vote away from South Africa at the last minute. The guy got tons of crap for that on New Zealand sports radio.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 12:41 pm

Our sports infrastructure while not perfect for soccer is the best in the world. With most of the NFL stadiums having seating for 60k and much more that blows a lot of soccer countries' infrastructure away. I think the US will be a stand-by for many tournaments to come. Its ironic to think that the NFL helps America's chances of getting the WC.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:16 pm

Couple of points

- the US has masses of stadia of 60,000 plus, but in a way that's too big for most of them...if you've been to a dedicated soccer stadium, you'll know that the best ones are the ones without running tracks, where the crowd is close to the action. That's difficult to achieve in a 60,000 arena.

- the other thing which may mitigate against the US is that it is still perceived to lack a true football infrastructure of its own...and I don't mean 12 franchises with nothing underneath. Because the US has its own sports, soccer still appears to be a sideshow, and one which despite holding the WC in 94, does not appear to have massively progressed. Until soccer ousts one of the traditional US sports, that is how FIFA will always see it.

As for alternative venues, almost every western European nation has hosted the WC, European Championships or Olympics in the last 16 years, all without incident, and with a much longer soccer tradition and purpose built stadia.

I'd be surprised to see the US host another WC before 2022.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:39 pm

What about South America?

South American teams, even if the next WC wasn't held on their continent, probably would object to another WC in Europe.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 3:45 pm

davet010 wrote:Couple of points

- the US has masses of stadia of 60,000 plus, but in a way that's too big for most of them...if you've been to a dedicated soccer stadium, you'll know that the best ones are the ones without running tracks, where the crowd is close to the action. That's difficult to achieve in a 60,000 arena.

- the other thing which may mitigate against the US is that it is still perceived to lack a true football infrastructure of its own...and I don't mean 12 franchises with nothing underneath. Because the US has its own sports, soccer still appears to be a sideshow, and one which despite holding the WC in 94, does not appear to have massively progressed. Until soccer ousts one of the traditional US sports, that is how FIFA will always see it.

As for alternative venues, almost every western European nation has hosted the WC, European Championships or Olympics in the last 16 years, all without incident, and with a much longer soccer tradition and purpose built stadia.

I'd be surprised to see the US host another WC before 2022.

Dave, I was talking as a WC stand by. Oh we are terrible for our domestic league but you can't tell me that FIFA wouldn't love to have 60k to 100k stadiums filled with soccer fans. We could house more fans in a more stadiums than Europe.

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:12 pm

Jrod makes a good point. Most of the Euro 2008 stadiums are barely 30,000 capacity. When you factor in the media, federation and sponsor freebies, there aren't nearly enough tickets to go around. You can say what you want about atmosphere but soccer is fueled by money.

The US has the advantage in that their large stadiums are already built. The current publicity about South Africa is timed to encourage/threaten authorities into approving funding for the WC10 infrastructure. A decision to pull the games won't happen until later, probably too late for most other countries to build/renovate stadiums to World Cup standards. He11, look how long it's taking for New Wembley.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:15 pm

the other thing which may mitigate against the US is that it is still perceived to lack a true football infrastructure of its own...and I don't mean 12 franchises with nothing underneath. Because the US has its own sports, soccer still appears to be a sideshow, and one which despite holding the WC in 94, does not appear to have massively progressed. Until soccer ousts one of the traditional US sports, that is how FIFA will always see it.

1994 World Cup is still the highest grossing WC to date. You say FIFA is about money, well, I think your argument is moot then!

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:34 pm

I think it's a bit odd to worry about how many NFL stadia are too big for soccer matches, when Germany had quite a few stadia with running tracks around them. Didn't seem to hurt the atmosphere in the many games played in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:16 pm

wco81 wrote:What about South America?

South American teams, even if the next WC wasn't held on their continent, probably would object to another WC in Europe.

Colombia has put a strong bid to host the next WC, although if it's going to SA most likely Brazil will get the nod to host the Cup.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:39 am

Damien Duff off to Newcastle from Chelsea for £5m.

Good business for Newcastle, but I'm sure that Tottenham offered a fair bit more than that...

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:16 am

Rochester has a very nice little stadium for their team up there. I'm impressed.