Since there is nothing happening right now and

1vagamecock · Sunday at 1:06 PM

The whole world (except parts of the USA) will be watching, who do you have as a favorite to win the world cup?
France probably has the edge, with Spain and Portugal right there with them. You can never count out Germany, and then there is England and the South American countries.
I was all state in SC in the early 80's so I have a little knowledge
and I enjoy watching the world cup.
As much as I hate to say it France probably does have the edge.

Lurker123 · Sunday at 1:13 PM

1vagamecock said:
The whole world (except parts of the USA) will be watching, who do you have as a favorite to win the world cup?
France probably has the edge, with Spain and Portugal right there with them. You can never count out Germany, and then there is England and the South American countries.
I was all state in SC in the early 80's so I have a little knowledge
and I enjoy watching the world cup.
As much as I hate to say it France probably does have the edge.

We just played a competitive game against Germany in a friendly. Don't know how much that translates though.

I was under the impression we got a good draw in our pool. So I will be cheering for the miracle.

1vagamecock · Sunday at 3:20 PM

Lurker123 said:
We just played a competitive game against Germany in a friendly. Don't know how much that translates though.

I was under the impression we got a good draw in our pool. So I will be cheering for the miracle.

I will as well if we get a win outside of our group that will be a step in the right direction.

JohnnySolo · Sunday at 5:24 PM

Have we ever made it past game 1 of knock out round?

Lurker123 · Sunday at 5:54 PM

I did enjoy the one commercial for our team where they are at a bar talking about "what if" we would win. Showed lots of celebrations, etc. Then it ends with one guy blowing off the idea, only to have an older guy at the bar (Mike Eruzione) say "what, you don't believe in miracles"?

Go Gamecocks · Sunday at 6:38 PM

How hard can it possibly be to win a world cup? Recruit talent, instill discipline and let them play the game.

bayrooster · Sunday at 8:29 PM

Lurker123 said:
I did enjoy the one commercial for our team where they are at a bar talking about "what if" we would win. Showed lots of celebrations, etc. Then it ends with one guy blowing off the idea, only to have an older guy at the bar (Mike Eruzione) say "what, you don't believe in miracles"?

Sounds like us talking about our football team.

Yes, I believe in miracles!

1vagamecock · Monday at 7:29 PM

JohnnySolo said:
Have we ever made it past game 1 of knock out round?

Yes in 2002 we beat Mexico and then lost to Germany in the round of 16, 1-0

18IsTheMan · Tuesday at 5:53 AM

I'm still licking my wounds from 1994. That was the last time I bought the hype over US soccer in the World Cup. Tony Meola, Earnie Stewart, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas. I really got into it that year.

I guess it says something pretty remarkable that we even make the World Cup, since it's not a sport we try very hard at (relative to baseball, basketball and football).

1vagamecock · Tuesday at 6:17 AM

18IsTheMan said:
I'm still licking my wounds from 1994. That was the last time I bought the hype over US soccer in the World Cup. Tony Meola, Earnie Stewart, Tab Ramos, Eric Wynalda, Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas. I really got into it that year.

I guess it says something pretty remarkable that we even make the World Cup, since it's not a sport we try very hard at (relative to baseball, basketball and football).

I haven't looked it up but I would guess more kids play soccer in the USA than Basketball and maybe football. Little league and softball probably have the most still I would think.

18IsTheMan · Tuesday at 6:52 AM

1vagamecock said:
I haven't looked it up but I would guess more kids play soccer in the USA than Basketball and maybe football. Little league and softball probably have the most still I would think.

Youth soccer is extremely popular in my area, but kids age out of it and the major sports take over by middle school/high school.

ScWildthing61 · Tuesday at 8:38 AM

1vagamecock said:
Yes in 2002 we beat Mexico and then lost to Germany in the round of 16, 1-0

I still remember the Saturday night live skit with Salma Hayek. They had an Irish themed drinking game where somebody tells you something to piss you off and you destroy things in the bar. The first two guys went and then the thing that set Hayek off was being reminded the U.S. beat Mexico in the World Cup that year, she tore the whole damn bar up!

Lurker123 · Tuesday at 9:16 AM

18IsTheMan said:
Youth soccer is extremely popular in my area, but kids age out of it and the major sports take over by middle school/high school.

I was reminded of a comment another parent made to me, so I looked it up. It wasnt number of players, but how people rank their favorite sports. And soccer has taken over third place recently, delegating baseball to fourth.

Imo, its one of those things where youth soccer is way more popular than even 10 years ago, but it started WAY behind, and has a long way to go to catch up.

1vagamecock · Tuesday at 6:24 PM

Lurker123 said:
I was reminded of a comment another parent made to me, so I looked it up. It wasnt number of players, but how people rank their favorite sports. And soccer has taken over third place recently, delegating baseball to fourth.

Imo, its one of those things where youth soccer is way more popular than even 10 years ago, but it started WAY behind, and has a long way to go to catch up.

I dont think soccer will ever catch Football in America but I could see it passing Basketball and Baseball.
When I was growing up in the early 70's Baseball was no1 then the NFL last was NBA. Now I follow NFL then soccer then MLB. I also follow the NHL but I don't follow the NBA anymore.
Of course if the Gamecocks are playing that's what I'm watching.

Lurker123 · Tuesday at 8:15 PM

1vagamecock said:
I dont think soccer will ever catch Football in America but I could see it passing Basketball and Baseball.
When I was growing up in the early 70's Baseball was no1 then the NFL last was NBA. Now I follow NFL then soccer then MLB. I also follow the NHL but I don't follow the NBA anymore.
Of course if the Gamecocks are playing that's what I'm watching.

I can see it passing baseball, but I wonder about basketball.

I went and looked it up, we have Paraguay, Australia and Turkey in our pool. Let's just say I'll be disappointed if we cant win that pool.

1vagamecock · Wednesday at 8:13 AM

Lurker123 said:
I can see it passing baseball, but I wonder about basketball.

I went and looked it up, we have Paraguay, Australia and Turkey in our pool. Let's just say I'll be disappointed if we cant win that pool.

Turkey is the only one I'm really worried about. They are talented enough to win the group, but we should make it out, especially with the expanded field.

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 8:39 AM

18IsTheMan said:
I guess it says something pretty remarkable that we even make the World Cup, since it's not a sport we try very hard at (relative to baseball, basketball and football).

Well, as a host country, we were going to make this year's World Cup either way. lol

But even though soccer is not king in the US, our population is like 4, 5, even 10 times the population of most of the soccer powers around the globe. You'd think we could cobble together a team that could get past the round of 16.

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 8:46 AM

Lurker123 said:
Imo, its one of those things where youth soccer is way more popular than even 10 years ago, but it started WAY behind, and has a long way to go to catch up.

It is kind of ironic that one of the reasons soccer is so popular around the globe is that it's so easy to play, regardless of financial resources - all you need is a ball, a flat open area, and like 6 or more kids - but in the US, it seems it's known mostly as a middle-class-and-up sport.

Piscis · Wednesday at 8:48 AM

Uscg1984 said:
It is kind of ironic that one of the reasons soccer is so popular around the globe is that it's so easy to play, regardless of financial resources - all you need is a ball, a flat open area, and like 6 or more kids - but in the US, it seems it's known mostly as a middle-class-and-up sport.

Commie kickball

Lurker123 · Wednesday at 9:10 AM

Uscg1984 said:
It is kind of ironic that one of the reasons soccer is so popular around the globe is that it's so easy to play, regardless of financial resources - all you need is a ball, a flat open area, and like 6 or more kids - but in the US, it seems it's known mostly as a middle-class-and-up sport.

Anecdotal, so take it fwiw. But I talked with a few guys from outside the states about this, and the thought was our "pay to play" model.

Its relatively cheap to play rec ball, but can get expensive when you move into competitive leagues. The clubs charge for everything. Its not always the best kids moving up, but the best kids that can afford it.

The opposing idea was that clubs in other countries provide a bunch of stuff and are looking for the best players as a priority. Not necessarily how much they can make.

Over simplistic, maybe. But added to the fact that soccer is 3rd at best in interest for youth in America, and 1st for most other countries, and i can see why we struggle.

bayrooster · Wednesday at 9:57 AM

Piscis said:
Commie kickball

VATball

18IsTheMan · Wednesday at 9:58 AM

Uscg1984 said:
But even though soccer is not king in the US, our population is like 4, 5, even 10 times the population of most of the soccer powers around the globe. You'd think we could cobble together a team that could get past the round of 16.

Well, that's a very good point. We absolutely dwarf most other countries population-wise.

Data Of Statistics (@dataofstats) on Threads

FIFA World Cup Teams Ranked by Population 🏆 1. 🇺🇸 United States 342.6M 2. 🇧🇷 Brazil 222.6M 3. 🇲🇽 Mexico 132.8M 4. 🇨🇩 Congo DR 122.8M 5. 🇯🇵 Japan 122.1M 6. 🇪🇬 Egypt 114.4M 7. 🇮🇷 Iran 88.8M 8. 🇹🇷 Türkiye 85.1M 9. 🇩🇪 Germany 83.9M 10. 🇫🇷 France 68.7M 11. 🇿🇦 South Africa 61.7M 12...

www.threads.com

I guess it's kind of embarrassing that we can't put together a stronger team.

18IsTheMan · Wednesday at 10:00 AM

Lurker123 said:
I was reminded of a comment another parent made to me, so I looked it up. It wasnt number of players, but how people rank their favorite sports. And soccer has taken over third place recently, delegating baseball to fourth.

Imo, its one of those things where youth soccer is way more popular than even 10 years ago, but it started WAY behind, and has a long way to go to catch up.

Yeah, there was a survey out in the Economist recently. No idea how robust the survey was.

This happens, like clockwork, every four years though. It's an established pattern. As the WC rolls around, there's lots of press about how popular soccer is becoming in America. Once we're out of the WC, it's really the last we hear about soccer until the WC rolls around again.

Soccer still trails far behind football, basketball and baseball in terms of viewership.

Gamecock Jacque · Wednesday at 11:06 AM

Uscg1984 said:
Well, as a host country, we were going to make this year's World Cup either way. lol

But even though soccer is not king in the US, our population is like 4, 5, even 10 times the population of most of the soccer powers around the globe. You'd think we could cobble together a team that could get past the round of 16.

We could if as a country we cared about soccer.

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 11:19 AM

Lurker123 said:
Anecdotal, so take it fwiw. But I talked with a few guys from outside the states about this, and the thought was our "pay to play" model.

Its relatively cheap to play rec ball, but can get expensive when you move into competitive leagues. The clubs charge for everything. Its not always the best kids moving up, but the best kids that can afford it.

The opposing idea was that clubs in other countries provide a bunch of stuff and are looking for the best players as a priority. Not necessarily how much they can make.

Over simplistic, maybe. But added to the fact that soccer is 3rd at best in interest for youth in America, and 1st for most other countries, and i can see why we struggle.

For sure, the biggest number of our best athletes are growing up playing basketball and football. I don't know anything about the "pay to play" model, but I assume if it's like travel ball in the other sports, it's expensive. Still, don't most high schools in the country offer soccer as a sport? The same cost factors don't seem to prevent our high school leagues from sending world-class athletes to college basketball and football programs. It just seems like the gap should be closing faster between US soccer players and the rest of the world.

I know American kids grow up watching a ridiculously small number of pro athletes make millions in the more "visible" major league sports and that probably has a lot of influence over them. But, statistically, I assume there are tons more pro-athletes playing soccer for a living around the world than in the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. I guess it'll be interesting to see if this world cup causes any up-tick in US interest for the sport.

Full disclosure, I'm not a soccer fan. But I also don't have anything against it and figure as long as we're fielding a US world cup team, we might as well be competitive.

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 11:23 AM

Gamecock Jacque said:
We could if as a country we cared about soccer.

It would certainly help if it was as much fun to watch on TV as the other sports. lol

I played it as a kid (40+ years ago) and I remember it being mostly as much fun to play as the other sports. But watching it is a different story altogether. I don't think Americans are ever going to warm up to 0 - 0 draws or 3 - 0 "blowouts."

bayrooster · Wednesday at 11:43 AM

Uscg1984 said:
It would certainly help if it was as much fun to watch on TV as the other sports. lol

I played it as a kid (40+ years ago) and I remember it being mostly as much fun to play as the other sports. But watching it is a different story altogether. I don't think Americans are ever going to warm up to 0 - 0 draws or 3 - 0 "blowouts."

A team that plays good defense while getting very few shots on goal feels like watching a bunch of kids tossing some poor sap's hat around in a game of "keep away."

Lurker123 · Wednesday at 12:02 PM

bayrooster said:
A team that plays good defense while getting very few shots on goal feels like watching a bunch of kids tossing some poor sap's hat around in a game of "keep away."

Just watched the League Championship last week. I heard someone call what Arsenal did as "parking the bus"? They scored just 5 minutes in and then proceeded to play defense the whole game long.

Its a different type of tension than American football. Slow and constant instead of highs and lows. I dont know, ots definitely very different.

I could never watch baseball or soccer. Having a child play a LOT of soccer changed that a little.

18IsTheMan · Wednesday at 12:04 PM

Uscg1984 said:
It would certainly help if it was as much fun to watch on TV as the other sports. lol

I played it as a kid (40+ years ago) and I remember it being mostly as much fun to play as the other sports. But watching it is a different story altogether. I don't think Americans are ever going to warm up to 0 - 0 draws or 3 - 0 "blowouts."

You're probably right. For as much action as there is in soccer, a 1-0 final score feels boring. Baseball has low scores, but it's a slow game, so it doesn't seem out of whack.

1vagamecock · Wednesday at 1:10 PM

It's also important to remember in other (mostly European countries) that there is a relegation and promotion process. I think that also makes it way more interesting than some NBA or MLB games. In the US if you field a awful baseball team for years (white sox) or NBA team (Wizards) there are no consequences for that and the fans are stuck with no real recourse. However in the soccer leagues outside the US if you stink you get relegated to a lower level league and you lose all your better players as well as millions and millions of dollars. It definitely keeps owners from just cashing a paycheck without caring and makes every end of the season compelling. When my Reds are 30 games back of Milwaukee again thus year why would I watch?

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 8:34 PM

18IsTheMan said:
You're probably right. For as much action as there is in soccer, a 1-0 final score feels boring. Baseball has low scores, but it's a slow game, so it doesn't seem out of whack.

Additionally, a 1-0 baseball game is very much in doubt until the last pitch of the game. In many cases, the trailing team can win the game on the very next pitch. During the game, there is potential with every single pitch to score. Even a 1-0 game has tension throughout.

One of soccer's big disadvantages to football, baseball, and basketball is that it doesn't really have the equivalent of a buzzer-beater or walk-off win. I don't know the percentages, but a large portion of football games involve a score in the last minute, plenty of baseball games end with a walk-off hit, and it often feels like there's no point even watching a basketball game until the last minute of the game. American audiences have gotten used to those exciting finishes and it doesn't seem like soccer offers that very often. Heck, most of the time, we don't even know with any precision how much time is left in the game- er, match.

Uscg1984 · Wednesday at 8:40 PM

1vagamecock said:
It's also important to remember in other (mostly European countries) that there is a relegation and promotion process. I think that also makes it way more interesting than some NBA or MLB games. In the US if you field a awful baseball team for years (white sox) or NBA team (Wizards) there are no consequences for that and the fans are stuck with no real recourse. However in the soccer leagues outside the US if you stink you get relegated to a lower level league and you lose all your better players as well as millions and millions of dollars. It definitely keeps owners from just cashing a paycheck without caring and makes every end of the season compelling. When my Reds are 30 games back of Milwaukee again thus year why would I watch?

I agree. The concept of relegation and promotion is pure genius and does make the games more exciting. I went to my first (and probably only) premier league match (West Ham United vs Everton) in April in London just because I wanted to see how hard West Ham fans cheered for their team on the brink of relegation. The 62,000 seat stadium was sold out and the fans were 100% into the game (did you know you can be removed from the stadium if you cheer for the visiting team?). It's nothing like an SEC football game, but it was enlightening and entertaining.

atl-cock · Wednesday at 9:02 PM

Lurker123 said:
I was reminded of a comment another parent made to me, so I looked it up. It wasnt number of players, but how people rank their favorite sports. And soccer has taken over third place recently, delegating baseball to fourth.

Imo, its one of those things where youth soccer is way more popular than even 10 years ago, but it started WAY behind, and has a long way to go to catch up.

I would enjoy baseball even more if they did away with interleague play and Fox would cut out all the hype and drama. Play ball.

atl-cock · Wednesday at 9:03 PM

Lurker123 said:
Anecdotal, so take it fwiw. But I talked with a few guys from outside the states about this, and the thought was our "pay to play" model.

Its relatively cheap to play rec ball, but can get expensive when you move into competitive leagues. The clubs charge for everything. Its not always the best kids moving up, but the best kids that can afford it.

The opposing idea was that clubs in other countries provide a bunch of stuff and are looking for the best players as a priority. Not necessarily how much they can make.

Over simplistic, maybe. But added to the fact that soccer is 3rd at best in interest for youth in America, and 1st for most other countries, and i can see why we struggle.

What about Canada? Just curious.

1vagamecock · Wednesday at 9:08 PM

Uscg1984 said:
I agree. The concept of relegation and promotion is pure genius and does make the games more exciting. I went to my first (and probably only) premier league match (West Ham United vs Everton) in April in London just because I wanted to see how hard West Ham fans cheered for their team on the brink of relegation. The 62,000 seat stadium was sold out and the fans were 100% into the game (did you know you can be removed from the stadium if you cheer for the visiting team?). It's nothing like an SEC football game, but it was enlightening and entertaining.

I'm envious. I've been trying to get to a Everton match for years.
My wife's health has been a concern so I have not made it yet but planning on it next year.
COYB!!

Lurker123 · Thursday at 5:23 AM

atl-cock said:
What about Canada? Just curious.

I have no clue how Canada handles it.

Piscis · Thursday at 8:21 AM

atl-cock said:
What about Canada? Just curious.

Hockey rules in Canada.

Gamecock Jacque · Thursday at 9:21 AM

Piscis said:
Hockey rules in Canada.

The OFFICIAL national sport of Canada is lacrosse. Hockey is very much like lacrosse on ice, being able to play behind the goal.

atl-cock · Thursday at 11:57 AM

Piscis said:
Hockey rules in Canada.

Absolutely. You can sign your kids up for youth hockey camp in June and July.

If I was up there, I would think I would prefer to get out and enjoy the warm(er weather).

I was wandering how engaged in soccer is Canada as a whole?

Piscis · Thursday at 12:40 PM

atl-cock said:
Absolutely. You can sign your kids up for youth hockey camp in June and July.

If I was up there, I would think I would prefer to get out and enjoy the warm(er weather).

I was wandering how engaged in soccer is Canada as a whole?

I've only personally known a handful of Canadians. None of them voiced any interest in soccer. They all agreed hockey was the big sport they followed. They follow hockey from little league to the NFL like we follow football.

Since there is nothing happening right now and

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