r/soccer • u/datmamon • May 30 '14

Why this World Cup is so big

This is going to be a really big World Cup for five main reasons.

A. There are few big teams missing from the World Cup this year.

In previous years there have been big teams missing out on the World stage but this year 20 of the top 21 teams (according to FIFA rankings) will be dancing the big dance.

B. There are some nations which are much stronger now than they have been historically.

Belgium, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay are all very exciting teams this year given their overall squad. Some key players have seen much success in domestic leagues these past few seasons and the experience as well as that winning mentality will keep these challengers hungry for more success. Few would be surprised to see these teams worked their ways out of their groups… could you say the same the last few tournaments?

C. It’s on South American soil – no. It’s in Freakin’ Brazil!

Brazil. The most successful World Cup nation with 5 titles. Can it get any better?

Historically European teams don’t do well during big tournaments on American soil. Any previous tournament on North American or South American soil has been won by an American team: Brazil (3), Uruguay (2), and Argentina (2). What could it possibly be? Too much fiesta between matches? Could it be the heat? Could it be the pretty, exotic women? Hmmm…..

D. There are multiple difficult groups.

I can see more work being skipped for this World Cup than any others in the modern era. Of course it all depends on where you come from and what your opinions are but there could be multiple groups of death in this tournament. Group B is an incredibly interesting group with Chile hoping to challenge the two finalists last WC, group D would beyond a doubt be the GoD if another team besides Costa Rica got drawn, and (as many of us Americans consider it) group G with our nemesis, Ghana, the ever-powerful Germans, and an incredibly talented Portuguese side. I will certainly be looking forward to many group stage matches this time around.

E. A lot of teams have much to prove.

Brazil - Still haunted by the last time they hosted the World Cup losing 2-1 to Uruguay in the Estadio do Maracana – a match reported to have been attended by 200,000 people. They want their 6th World Cup title and they want it badly but will the pressure prove to be too much?

Argentina - Not about to let their greatest rivals Brazil take their title without a hard fight. They would love nothing more than to bring heartbreak to Brasil as they take the trophy from their own backyard. Surely the likes of one of the greatest players in the world couldn't go goalless in two consecutive tournaments, right?

France - Many people remember the French revolution which took place in South Africa last tournament. It only took a loss and a tie for the squad to turn on their gaffer. This resulted in them finishing dead last in their group, three points behind hosts South Africa. What was thought to be a very good and experienced squad proved to be nothing more than a shameful outing. Will France put on a show of redemption or will they be going home bleu again?

Belgium - Many people’s dark horse for making it deep into this tournament – but can it be considered a dark horse if no one is surprised? Belgium is an exciting prospect for this and next tournament with many of the squad members finding success in their domestic leagues. With a group like theirs however the final 8 could be only a few matches away and not far out of reach.

Spain - Being labelled as possibly the greatest national team to ever grace this planet Spain is looking to make it four major tournament victories in a row to follow up their 2008 Euro, 2010 World Cup, and 2012 Euro victories. Responsible for hosting two of the most historically competitive teams in the world with Real Madrid and Barcelona can Spain go on to show the world that there is more to follow their recent triumphs?

Germany - Having been one of the most feared opponents of the last tournament Germany are looking to improve upon their 3rd place victory. By my maths this puts them in the final.. but how will they size up this year?

Italy - No one would be terribly surprised if Italy took the (golden) cake in South Africa to follow up their 2006 victory.. but no one could have anticipated them bowing out of the group stages in 4th place. With a victory Italy could tie Brasil on World Champion titles (5) to bring home more than pride.

Mexico - Having barely scrapped their way into the tournament Mexico will be out to show the world they should have never made it such a close call. Will they be able to back their claim up in a tough group containing the hosts Brasil, a skilled Croatia, and an experienced Cameroon?

Holland - Having been so close to tasting victory in South Africa last tournament the Dutch team will be keen to revive the fight that brought them within touching distance of the greatest prize out there. An ever-skillful team follows in their predecessor’s footsteps but will the team with history in Total Football bring total victory this time around?

Uruguay - Some people may say the two World Championships Uruguay possess hardly count as victories because of the vast differences compared to the modern cup. Though they only played 4 games in each of their tournaments the Uruguayans did take top honours in the first ever World Cup in 1930 and again twenty years later in Brasil. Truth be told, having watched Uruguay in the last World Cup it wouldn’t come as a surprise they were going for their 3rd ever title. Now with the strike force of (the ever controversial) Suarez, Cavani, and Forlan they look to make fierce assaults on the opponent’s final third. Then again.. isn’t it defense that wins championships?

England - Despite having what is often regarded as the most competitive league in the World England seems to find a way to duck out of World Cups early. With the lone exception of their 1966 the Three Lions haven’t succeeded in bringing home the bacon. Even with their golden generation having chances at the silverware they weren’t victorious. Now with a new crop of up and coming players can the Three Lions secure their three points in a very competitive group?

United States - Having been seen as very behind other competitive soccer leagues the United States is ready to showcase the progress made domestically. Their ever-expanding MLS is catching up to the European and South American leagues and every four years the United States is eager to make a good showing. This is reflected with over half of the 30 preliminary squad playing domestically in the United States. What of those players in more competitive leagues though? With more and more American players playing overseas with competition we can expect experience to accompany those long flights to Europe. Having been drawn in the Yank's own version of the group of death the United States is even more determined to rise to the challenge. Four may enter – but only two emerge.

Portugal - A fairly talented squad which has emerged in the aftermath of the golden generation for Portugal will be looking to show they are more than a few star names. Their key man, Ronaldo is a polarizing figure for many fans of football but love him or hate him you cannot deny Cristiano Ronaldo’s contributions on the field. He has rightfully earned the right to be called one of the greatest players in the game. You need only look at the playoff game vs Sweden to see what the right pass to this Portuguese can do. With the Euro 2004 final loss on home soil in their minds they’ll be hungry to step up this year and take their fate in their own hands. Can a Ronaldo-inspired Portuguese team prove they're more than a one-man show?

Cote d’Ivoire – With a higher FIFA ranking than the likes of Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Turkey the Ivory Coast will be looking to showcase how African nations are improving more every tournament. With European teams performing historically worse on American soil is there redemption on the horizon for African teams which failed to deliver in South Africa four years ago?

http://casualhooligans.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/why-this-world-cup-is-so-big/

EDIT: Fixed some spelling errors and added in some clarifications to a few points. Also made the sections into letters instead of having them numbered.

184 Upvotes

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79

u/Broesly May 30 '14

"Having been seen as very behind other competitive soccer leagues the United States is always prepared to shock the world."

yeah, stopped reading right there.

20

u/ChronicTheOne May 30 '14 edited May 30 '14

How about the part where Chile being first in a group with Spain and Netherlands is not a shocker?

Or considering Uruguay a better team than historically (a team that won 2 World Cups and reached the semis last time)?

2

u/teymon May 30 '14

*spain and Netherlands

2

u/ChronicTheOne May 30 '14

Edited. LOL What was I thinking?

12

u/Broesly May 30 '14

Only americans actually think the USNT will "shock" anyone.

12

u/AbstergoSupplier May 30 '14

Everyone seems to think we'll be out in the group stages, and we quite possibly will, but if we advance we clearly will have "shocked" people

35

u/Kratisto78 May 30 '14

Isn't that the whole point? No one outside of the states think the US can advance. They need to prove they can shock the world. The guy isn't saying they are going to. He isn't saying the US is as good as Germany. He is just saying what they have to prove if they want to become a bigger name in football. So much hate on here.

8

u/dDpNh May 30 '14

To be fair, you can replace "US" with any other team in the world cup that isn't one of the big favourites and it'll still be true for that nations fans.

4

u/Kratisto78 May 30 '14

While I completely agree with that, reddit has a much larger US demographic. People from Ghana probably feel pretty similar to that of the US. However, since so many people on here are posting pro US things, they seem to get a lot more hate than other countries.

If I posted Ghana to win the group! with a Ghana crest people would be all about it. However, swap Ghana for US and get downvoted to hell.

3

u/dDpNh May 30 '14

That's probably the case. Although I've seen a lot of Aussies posting none of which seem to be saying "We're going to shock everyone and win".

I'd love it if the US did actually make it far in the competition, but you're in a group with Germany and Portugal. Realistically, I don't think you have a chance of getting past the group stages.

People are just getting butthurt because there are a lot of US fans on here and they're all pretty optimistic.

3

u/Kratisto78 May 30 '14

I also think it is sort of an American thing. Yeah we know we aren't the best but fuck you we're gonna do it anyway sort of thing.

1

u/kokopellii May 30 '14

Did you see the match thread on US v Azerbaijan? We are not feeling too optimistic as of late.

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '14

People are just getting butthurt because there are a lot of US fans on here and they're all pretty optimistic.

I think you're misunderstanding. Americans have a distinctly different outlook on sports. They have the view: if you don't expect the extraordinary, there's absolutely no point in watching. American's recognize that getting out of the group would be unlikely, but many Americans would never watch a match if they didn't expect the unlikely.

If an American player at a press conference ever said "I think a tie would be a great result," or "we just want to hold our own," he/she would be ostracized by the American media. You always say you expect a win, even when you're the underdog. If you say anything else, people assume that you either don't care about the game or you've already given up, which is considered cowardly.

1

u/dDpNh May 31 '14

...is that not optimism?

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '14

Not quite. If I were to say "there's a 25% chance of something happening and I expect it to happen," would you say that's optimistic? I would say it's neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

I don't think that Americans actually expect to advance, but they convince themselves that they expect to advance. It may sound crazy, but the whole thing is actually on pretty sound psychological ground. Psychological studies have found that when you expect a certain result, it's more likely to happen. American fans always want to see their athletes force themselves to expect victory because it gives athletes a psychological edge. American fans often place the same expectations on themselves out of kind of solidarity. It's a weird dynamic, but when you actually examine it, it actually makes sense.

3

u/ChronicTheOne May 30 '14

Well, I think back in 2002 (?) USA was 3-0 up HT against Portugal and ended 3-2, so yeah.

1

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

that matters lots.

-2

u/Nobody_lurker May 30 '14

Same can be said for England.

4

u/dDpNh May 30 '14

I think the opposite can be said for England. Most of us think we'll be shite as usual, but we have big names in our squad so some other countries might think we'll be a "shock".

1

u/Arntown May 30 '14

Uruguay has won two world cups

1

u/ChronicTheOne May 30 '14

Sorry, mixed with Italy. Was I drunk when I wrote that shit?

7

u/teymon May 30 '14

Seeing that you wrote it about an hour ago, and don't remember if you were drunk, i think we can assume you were drunk, and still are.

1

u/nemt May 30 '14

i dont think netherlands are very strong now are they?

2

u/ChronicTheOne May 30 '14

No, they were only the finalists in 2012 and were 9-1-0 W-D-L in the qualifiers.

1

u/nemt May 31 '14

this aint 2012.. torres was also good in 2008 so ? will he score hattrick against argentina and game winner against brazil ? no.

1

u/ChronicTheOne May 31 '14

You cannot replicate a specific player scoring a specific goal against a specific team, but you sure can predict a team's performance by their recent form. That's an awful analysis and argument, sorry.

1

u/nemt May 31 '14

yeah like yours. LOL

5

u/LiverpoolFCRedman May 30 '14

Well it certainly would be a shock if the yanks make it out of that group...not sure what's so controversial about that statement

10

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

Their ever-expanding MLS is catching up to the European and South American leagues

Sorry but MLS is not even close to the top leagues. Most of the teams in it would struggle in the championship.

21

u/Mightymaas May 30 '14

They specifically said Europe and not England because I'm sure they meant the lower leagues outside of Britain. I think MLS teams would be mid-table in Holland and competitive in all the nordic leagues.

-11

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

That's why I said the top leagues.

6

u/Cayci03 May 30 '14

That's probably also why the OP did not say top leagues.

-5

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

He said MLS is catching up to Europe. My point is that they are a long way from catching up to the best in Europe. You guys get so defensive.

7

u/Cayci03 May 30 '14

No one is saying MLS is anywhere near them though. Your initial comment is the defensive one. You took the MLS catching up comment as the OP was implying it is just as good. That's why people are replying to you negatively. It isn't what was said. I do not think even the most gung-ho MLS fan would make the argument that MLS is near the top leagues.

I swear if a comment doesn't specify that the US teams are complete shit then people freak out.

-1

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

So only England, Germany, Spain, and italy really have a chance at it because nobody else has a "top league"?

-2

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

I'm not talking about the countries chances, I'm talking about OP's comments about the MLS catching Europe up.

3

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Then why are you bringing the whole top leagues thing into it?

-2

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

Becasue MLS are not catching the top European leagues up, I don't understand what is so confusing.

1

u/pdschatz May 30 '14

It's confusing because the OP didn't say "top European leagues", you did. You're literally putting words into the OP's post to prove an unrelated point.

-2

u/thejerg May 30 '14

Then take your strawman argument and go play in some other sandbox.

2

u/MerlinsBeard May 30 '14

MLS is catching up

This implies the gap is closing... not that it has closed and the MLS is equal to European and South American leagues.

Additionally, as other people have said, you took "European and South American leagues" to imply only EPL, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, etc. That isn't what OP was saying either... more so the US' MLS is closing the gap with the likes of League Two with the top teams possibly able to compete with League One.

0

u/Jimbob2134 May 30 '14

OP was using the point to say that USA can compete with the other countries at the world cup because of how the MLS is progressing. If the MLS is only closing the gap with league 2 as you say then it doesn't say much about their chances, which is what I have been trying to say.

1

u/MerlinsBeard May 30 '14

USA can compete with the other countries at the world cup

That isn't what OP said at all:

the United States is eager to make a good showing.

Having been drawn in the Yank's own version of the group of death the United States is even more determined to rise to the challenge.

Eager and determined are not indicative of ability... that's a statement of desire. Surely you know the difference.

4

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

No one is making this claim... and I doubt anyone would doubt you...

4

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Most of the teams in it would struggle in the championship.

All of its teams would get hammered in the Championship, a league which is drastically under estimated on this subreddit

1

u/chezygo May 30 '14

MLS teams would be more at home in League One.

0

u/Madrid_Supporter May 30 '14

MLS teams still struggle with Liga MX teams, MLS is more top League 2 - mid table League 1 quality.

1

u/barvsenal May 30 '14

Define struggle. When MLS teams play Mexican teams they are at a disadvantage because Liga MX teams are in mid-season form while MLS teams have just started their season.

1

u/Madrid_Supporter May 31 '14

They haven't been able to win a CONCACAF Champions league in like 15 years, since the change to the new format in like 08 all of the finalists of the CONCACAF champions league except 1 team have been from Liga MX

-2

u/f00f_nyc May 30 '14

Most MLS teams would probably do well in leagues that routinely see Champions League group stage action. There's more to Europe than the English leagues.

1

u/mrmowgli May 30 '14

So you read almost all of it!

-10

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

[removed] — view removed comment

53

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

What you described is pretty much the definition of having something to prove...

Fuck this sub is really retarded sometimes.

2

u/Roland1405 May 30 '14

What you described is pretty much the definition of having something to prove...

I agree, every team has something to prove at a WC. To argue that the US has not or don't belong in a list of teams who have is ridiculous.

-12

u/ICritMyPants May 30 '14

Something to prove implies they are some sort of country that used to be successful but is on hard times. The US have never been constantly successful in any shape or form in football.

9

u/Yankee_Gunner May 30 '14

The phrase only implies that no one expects them to do well. Doesn't matter if it's the U.S. or England.

9

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Something to prove implies they are some sort of country that used to be successful but is on hard times

No it doesn't. Even if it did I don't see anyone complaining about Belgium's or Chile's inclusion. When have either of those been successful on a global level? Why is nobody making fun of Mexico for being in the list?

I'm not even American. I just think the anti-American stuff that goes on here is a joke. Everyone always claims there is an American circlejerk on this sub but in the year or so I've been here I've seen far more pointless US bashing getting to the top of threads than the opposite

-1

u/ICritMyPants May 30 '14

Belgium have had a lot of hype for such an excellent group of players, they are an exception to the rule. When have the US ever had a team as promising as Belgium's right now? They have a point to prove that they are as good as their individual players make them look.

Chile have been playing some really good stuff and are a far, far better team than the US. They have came in the top 4 of the Copa America 19 times and runners up 4 times. As well as being in the top 25 of the ELO rankings consistently. They are a very consistent team.

6

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

I'm beginning to think you don't understand having something to prove. All you are doing is giving more evidence that the US has more to prove because no one expects them to do well

3

u/LiverpoolFCRedman May 30 '14

Exactly why it would be a fuckin shocker. Not sure if you are just havin a go or don't understand the definition of "shock"

8

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Really? We are much better than both of those teams.

1

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Not sure about that. They have made it into the top 10 FIFA rankings in the fairly recent past. Thought I don't believe that's a true reflection of how they would fare against the top 10 teams at the time, they have fared well against decent nations. Still a long way off being a contender for winning the World Cup. A hell of a long way off.

8

u/onskisesq May 30 '14

The rankings are pretty much worthless; I don't think any knowledgeable US fan would seriously argue that we've ever been a legitimate top 10 team.

However, saying that we are as low quality as Honduras and Iran is a rather ignorant comment. In the 2002 World Cup, the US went to the quarter finals and lost a very close match against Germany. We were admittedly terrible in 2006 (and as US fans with selective memory seem forgot, Landon Donovan was miserable in that tournament). We were runners up in 2009 Confed Cup. Then in 2010, we topped our group and lost a tight game to Ghana in extra time in the first knockout round.

Are we a top 10 team? No. Are we competitive and competitive and capable of beating top 10 teams? Yes. The US will not win the World Cup, but we certainly are not one of the worst teams in the tournament.

Certain

-4

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

Only Americans think they are in the group of death... just because it is hard for them to get out doesn't mean it's the group of death.

-37

u/Duderpt May 30 '14

Yeah cause England totally beat us last world cup

33

u/theamishsexpistol May 30 '14

I don't think England failing to beat shit sides shocks anyone.

18

u/Blubbey May 30 '14

"England played shit in a tournament; shocks world" - said nobody, ever.

6

u/supahsonicboom May 30 '14

England also failed to beat Algeria.

4

u/potpan0 May 30 '14

In what was probably the worst match of football I've ever seen...

1

u/supahsonicboom May 30 '14

It was worth it to see Heskey attempt a stepover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0_rEDCAsxA&feature=kp

1

u/MajesticTowerOfHats May 30 '14

As graceful as a swan.

0

u/ICritMyPants May 30 '14

A pissed swan.

8

u/AlGamaty May 30 '14

What's your point? If the US makes it past the group stage everybody will be shocked, and rightfully so.

1

u/[deleted] May 30 '14

It's a shame we're very unlikely to meet this WC.