Guest BooBoo Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Its nearly a year since the World Cup in Germany began. I think what a lot of people suspected at the time, has proved to be true- it was a pretty unremarkable tournament. Sure we had that goal by Argentina against Serbia and of course Zidane in the final but overall, a hell of a lot of it has been erased from memory. Ask yourself which players made thier name in the tournament, and which moments really will stand the test of time (other than the few i've mentioned)? Brazil proved to be hugely overhyped and flopped badly. Englands campaign was one long bore (although the days out watching them were good). Italy, despite an epic semi final against Germany, seemed to win almost be default. I cant even remember who were in their group. There was no real surprise package. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 International football is not where it's at anymore. Simple as that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Aye, it was pants looking back. Still, they fill in the summers on even years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest smoggeordie Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 First summer since 03 that we've had nowt to do but wait for signings... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I love the summer tournaments and the atmosphere in Newcastle, the day of the Paraguay game, was brilliant. Its just a shame the crack in the pubs was ten times better than the games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Spectrum Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Its nearly a year since the World Cup in Germany began. I think what a lot of people suspected at the time, has proved to be true- it was a pretty unremarkable tournament. Sure we had that goal by Argentina against Serbia and of course Zidane in the final but overall, a hell of a lot of it has been erased from memory. Ask yourself which players made thier name in the tournament, and which moments really will stand the test of time (other than the few i've mentioned)? Brazil proved to be hugely overhyped and flopped badly. Englands campaign was one long bore (although the days out watching them were good). Italy, despite an epic semi final against Germany, seemed to win almost be default. I cant even remember who were in their group. There was no real surprise package. USA, Ghana, Czech Republic! I'm still wondering whats happened to all the Ivory Coast players. They were my outstanding memory of the tournament, I thought they were awesome. And there was that Holland-Portugal game with a bajillion cards that everyone made a fuss over, even though when I was watching the game I thought most of them were justified. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest helios_centric Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 It's tragic to see that brilliant stage set, all the anticipation, hard work by the hosts and boat loads of cash spent by the fans all pushed aside by players who clearly couldn't really be arsed. I love international football and some of my best memories of watching football on TV stem from former World Cups, but if the players have no desire to play any more then what can you do? I know all of the players seem to trot out the old "We all give 100% in every game we play for our contries" but the evidence we see on our screens never seems to back that up and if the next World Cup is just as dull then I think the public interest in the tournament will begin to wane. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fugazi Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Its nearly a year since the World Cup in Germany began. I think what a lot of people suspected at the time, has proved to be true- it was a pretty unremarkable tournament. Sure we had that goal by Argentina against Serbia and of course Zidane in the final but overall, a hell of a lot of it has been erased from memory. Ask yourself which players made thier name in the tournament, and which moments really will stand the test of time (other than the few i've mentioned)? Brazil proved to be hugely overhyped and flopped badly. Englands campaign was one long bore (although the days out watching them were good). Italy, despite an epic semi final against Germany, seemed to win almost be default. I cant even remember who were in their group. There was no real surprise package. I was hoping Messi would have been the star of the tournament, but the injury problems he had meant he didn't play every game. If he had been brought on against Germany things might have been different though, can't believe Cruz was brought on instead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrette Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I loved Croatia vs Australia. Favourite game of the tournament. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Plus as soon as there is anything to play for (once they got to the knockout stages) all the cheats and divers come roaring out. Making it annoying to watch most of the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 It didnt help the tournament that the best footballing sides in the competition, Argentina and Spain were sent home before the semi finals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gggg Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Portugal V Holland was a classic mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M4 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 ^ It wasn't though, it was pathetic. If they are going to have a fight, have a proper one. Football players are just embarrassing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 The things that I can remember are: Those shirts all the African nations had that were made out of plastic bags. The German left back. Lahm? Also, that Grosso for Italy. Suddenly everyone wanted to buy them. The first tournament in HD, and supposedly looked fucking unreal. Could see the stitching on the ball on replays etc. The future. I watched loads of games at work on that portable freeview telly I bought. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Ivory Coast were unlucky IMO. Harsh group. Enjoyed Ghana also. Pretty pants world cup though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummie Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 The next best thing to a really exciting game is a really violent, fighty one, so for that reason I enjoyed Portugal - Holland as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Bah Humbug. It was great and the German team and German football in general is still benefiting from it in terms of the change in football culture. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouldy_uk Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Pretty rubbish World Cup overall. I mainly remember it for the endless Rooney foot speculation and taking Walcott and Sven being too scared to use him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 ...in Newcastle, the day of the [insert club] game, was brilliant. Its just a shame the crack in the pubs was ten times better than the games. SAME AS EVERY NEWCASTLE GAME TBH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Knightrider Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 International football tournaments are a mess because: 1: By the time the big competitions come around the world's top players are fatigued and mentally drained after long and hard campaigns with their clubs often fighting it out on all fronts for the top honours. 2: The seeding prevents progress in minor nations meaning the WC will always be won by a superpower. 3: The world's best managers work in club football and not international football meaning. 4: Variation and unique styles are being lost due to the one glove fits all standardisation of global football. For example the Brazilan team gets less Brazilian and more European with every year, this is down to their best players playing in Europe and being de-coached out of the Brazilian way if you like. The best example of this would be Ronaldinho. This is happening across the board. 5: Creativity has been replaced by speed, power, stamina and athleticism in football as the key components of a footballer. The true playmakers of the game often lose out to those who are more powerful, quicker and have better stamina lkevels, this goes for teams too. 6: New stadiums aren't conducive to creating a carnival atmosphere meaning most games become just another game being played. As a result the big competitions have lost their meaning as a festival or carnival of football. 7: The fear of losing has replaced the joy of perfoming and it shows in many performances as teams go into a match not looking to win, but to not lose. When this mentality effects the likes of Brazil you know something is wrong. 8: The EC and WC is now one big shopping window and as such players from lesser nations hoping to win big deals with big clubs are scared to make a mistake or push the boat, preffering instead to play a safe game. 9: Too many awful teams get through such as Saudi Arabia who were beaten 8-0 once by Germany, no team who gets such a beaten should ever be allowed to take part in the World Cup. 10: The hype that surrounds big competitions is so overwhelming no team or player could possibly ever live up to the high expectations placed on them. The biggest example of how damaging this can be is England. I prepose the following: 1: The powers that be need to do away with seeds and group stages and leave the tournaments 100% to fate and sudden death, truly 100% knock out competitions. If you've qualified for it you deserve to have the same chance of progression as any other team. Once past the qualifying stage it should be a clean slate for all instead of the current walled garden setup. 2: 80% of tickets need to go to fans to help create better atmospheres. Prices also need to be reduced significantly so more and more new fans can get to experience these events. 3: Enforce a transfer window during the big competitions. 4: Encourage more club managers to get into football by making the job a part-time one across the board. 5: Do away with pointless friendlies to ease fixture congestions and create international get together weeks. Also give international managers a pre-season with their players before all major competitions. This will require that all domestic seasons start late end early during international tournament seasons. 6: Make it law for each national team to contain at least 7 players in their squads who play their football in their own country to add unique to them and varied styles to teams. 7: Do away with the 3rd generation family links that allows teams like Scotland to play Yorkshiremen whose great great great grandad was half Scottish. This will force nations to start producing their own talent or using their own players meaning giving people a chance. 8: Even up qualifying groups so that the competitions aren't dominated by the big nations or samey samey teams. 9: Any player cheating to get sent home from such competitions and for their football associations to be fined. 10: Improve standard of refereeing and introduce technology to the sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 the point was, especially early on, that there were 2 or 3 games on every day and it meant absolute shite on TV like eastenders had to take a back seat. it was fucking class in my mates massive back garden getting a BBQ on the go, bringing the TV outside and necking a shit load of alcohol, cos lets remember, the supermarkets brought out their "world cup offers" on crates! alas, apart from that, the rest of the tournament was pretty dire. I was hoping teams like Angola were going to be similar to Zaire (although I wasn't alive then) and not understand the rules and give us a few laughs. Summers without football really are crap in my opinion :'(, as I am forced to scour every website on the net looking for who we are going to sign or switching my loyalties to the mighty Durham Dynamo's who are going from strength to strenth in the FP trophy.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 The World Cup should never have increased from 24 to 32 teams. 24 was pushing it a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 3: Enforce a transfer window during the big competitions. ? ? ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley17 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Ah last Summer. The massive hype for the World Cup that was ultimately shite. Highlights were Baddiel & Skinner's podcasts which were great, and 3 games a day during the group stages was great. Don't normally care about England games but I got really bothered in the quarters, Ronaldo getting Rooney sent off made me genuinely angry but once we'd inevitably lost on pens that was it out of my mind. I usually dwell on a defeat and think about what might have been but this time I just didn't. I suppose that summed it up really though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Summers without football really are crap in my opinion :'( i know, i don't know what to do, i'm so bored, looking through websites, sick as fuck. bring back football, have it everyday of the week Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now