FIFA World Cup 2014

[RT1969]

Wohoo for sure! Watched the last minutes after coming back from a family visit. The swiss players looked as if they could not believe it at the end! 

Yeah the end of that game was great!  I actually let out a yell when Switzerland scored, that was a great bit of playing!  I might have to watch a bit more of this tournament.  Would have probably watched the next game as well but the Mets were on and Grandma wanted to watch the ballgame. 

You lucky smurf! Some of the games start at 3:00am our time  The earliest ones are 6:00 pm.
So maybe the game at 6 (if Sweety let's me) and the one at 9, but then it's bed time before the other two start...
I hope it becomes more manageable in the finals!

[kkokkolis]

Except of course, lots of dutch people refer to their country as Holland.

We call it Holland too, Ολλανδία to be exact. Dutch is unknown and Netherlands= Κάτω Χώρες (Pays Bas) refers to both Holland and Belgium, not just Holland.

In a similar manner we say Germans (Γερμανοί) but our anchestors also said Alemagne (Αλαμανοί) but not any more.

And we call ourselves Hellenes (Έλληνες) and our country Hellas (Ελλάς) and not Greeks, which were a minor tribe in the ancient times that the Romans encountered first and named all the country from them.

It's the same for Albania (call by it's people Skiperia) and many other countries. We also call the Switzerland Helvetia (Ελβετία), France Gallia (Γαλλία), England Anglia (Αγγλία) or even Albione (Αλβιόνα). I say all that because in Greek and Latin you find the origins of the names usually.

I like the diversity of many cultures, languages and people on earth and would like to be preserved. That's the main reason I like the World Cup, Olympics etc. I think that people have the right to call themselves whatever they like, we others like it or not. But sometimes it is difficult. There's not a word for Switzerland in my language and I have to use English to call them as they'd wish. 

So, from now on, I'm going to use the term Holland too.

[PTRSAK]

[Etherealicer]

Except of course, lots of dutch people refer to their country as Holland.

We call it Holland too, Ολλανδία to be exact. Dutch is unknown and Netherlands= Κάτω Χώρες (Pays Bas) refers to both Holland and Belgium, not just Holland.

In a similar manner we say Germans (Γερμανοί) but our anchestors also said Alemagne (Αλαμανοί) but not any more.

And we call ourselves Hellenes (Έλληνες) and our country Hellas (Ελλάς) and not Greeks, which were a minor tribe in the ancient times that the Romans encountered first and named all the country from them.

It's the same for Albania (call by it's people Skiperia) and many other countries. We also call the Switzerland Helvetia (Ελβετία), France Gallia (Γαλλία), England Anglia (Αγγλία) or even Albione (Αλβιόνα). I say all that because in Greek and Latin you find the origins of the names usually.

I like the diversity of many cultures, languages and people on earth and would like to be preserved. That's the main reason I like the World Cup, Olympics etc. I think that people have the right to call themselves whatever they like, we others like it or not. But sometimes it is difficult. There's not a word for Switzerland in my language and I have to use English to call them as they'd wish. 

So, from now on, I'm going to use the term Holland too.

There is no problem with calling Switzerland Helvetia*, after all our country code is CH: Confoederatio Helvetica. We also do call ourselves Schweizer or Eidgenossen "Oath-comrades"

* We label our coins like this. Also that lovely lady is the personification of Switzerland.


Back to soccer, too bad Bosnia-Herzegovina didn't win. Argentina was very bad, and 18%* of the B-H are Swiss
*Starting formation

[kkokkolis]

* We label our coins like this. Also that lovely lady is the personification of Switzerland.
(Image removed from quote.)

It is very similar with personalizations of Albion and Borussia. It all started here because these militarized ladies are inspired from goddess Athena= Αθηνά (Romans called her also Minerva), the local goddess and personalization of the city of Athens. That's why she is wearing Greek clothes and not Swiss. She would catch flu with these clothes in your mountains. 

Athena of the Greek Academy


Back to soccer again.
France was very good. They have potential for the trophy also.

[enki_ck]

Back to soccer, too bad Bosnia-Herzegovina didn't win. Argentina was very bad, and 18%* of the B-H are Swiss
*Starting formation

We only have one Swiss born in our team.

Aussies on the other hand have half a dozen Croats on theirs. Used to be even more.

[Etherealicer]

Back to soccer, too bad Bosnia-Herzegovina didn't win. Argentina was very bad, and 18%* of the B-H are Swiss
*Starting formation

We only have one Swiss born in our team.

Aussies on the other hand have half a dozen Croats on theirs. Used to be even more.

Think about it, If Switzerland plays Croatia there are 12 Swiss and 12 Croatian players* on the field
*Drmić has double Nationality.

I think the Swiss team has 3 or 4 players with Croatian roots but only with Drmić I know he has dual citizenship.

[enki_ck]

Back to soccer, too bad Bosnia-Herzegovina didn't win. Argentina was very bad, and 18%* of the B-H are Swiss
*Starting formation

We only have one Swiss born in our team.

Aussies on the other hand have half a dozen Croats on theirs. Used to be even more.

Think about it, If Switzerland plays Croatia there are 12 Swiss and 12 Croatian players* on the field
*Drmić has double Nationality.

I think the Swiss team has 3 or 4 players with Croatian roots but only with Drmić I know he has dual citizenship.

I think there was some talk some time ago in Drmić and Gavranović will play for Croatia or Switzerland.

Yeah, we're all over the world. There's also a certain Swede striker that could have played for us.

Even out former team captain and current team manager was born and raised in Berlin.

[styx]

Wasn't Rakitić in that position too?

[enki_ck]

Wasn't Rakitić in that position too?

Yes, luckily for us, he chose Croatia.

[kkokkolis]

Croatia uses a nice outfit btw. Second only to celeste and blancoceleste.

[Top-Gear-24]

@ PTRSAK

 Nice comparison, here's another one

[Top-Gear-24]

By the way, this whole Holland vs The Netherlands thing reminded me of this ... 

[enki_ck]

Some strange decisions again.

Not sure if that was a straight red.

[kkokkolis]

Germany - Portugal 4-0!!! Did C. Ronaldo change sides?
I missed that game, I was working. 
It is going to be an interesting World Cup. And it is more offensive than the last ones (all after 1970) or am I wrong?

[styx]

The last few were dominated by copies of Mourinho's more defensive slow pace tactic. But many people found a way to counter it. So now they are playing a bit more open and aggressive

[jerseydevil]

Wow!  We actually won a World Cup game? 

[dmanuel]

Wow!  We actually won a World Cup game? 

Lol we don't exactly have a crap team. Overall we actually have a pretty decent team when you look at all the countries. Give use a little more time and I'm sure we will be in contention for a championship.

[kkokkolis]

USA has a very nice team fro at least the last 20 years (and an even better female team I believe). It is normal. Not only it is a great country with lots of people and money, but people with soccer culture live there by the millions, descending from British, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and South American grandparents, among others. They participated in the first world cups, so it isn't something new. If only they had one place densely affected by this culture (say Texas or even just New York city) they would be able to have a very competitive team. After all these places are larger than many whole countries with good tradition, like Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Uruguay and Portugal. I believe that you could make a team with just Mexicans for example and this could be of very high level.

[enki_ck]

The Dutch come back from being 1:2 behind to win 3:2 against the Aussies.

[ToolJoe]

   Russia vs. South Korea was exciting to watch for the 20 minutes I watched it last night. Happened to be the time when all the scoring took place as well.

[Whoey]

Yikes... Spain has abdicated

sent from my Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft

[enki_ck]

Yikes... Spain has abdicated

sent from my Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft

Quite a few surprises this year.

[enki_ck]

And here we go again.

[kkokkolis]

It is the third world champion in a row that couldn't pass to the 16 (France, Italy).

[enki_ck]

We're one up, but I don't like the way we're playing. Not aggressive enough, retreating instead of attacking and bypassing the midfield.

And I don't understand what came over Song. I always tought well of him and now he pulls a stunt like that.

At least we now have one player more.

[jerseydevil]

   Russia vs. South Korea was exciting to watch for the 20 minutes I watched it last night. Happened to be the time when all the scoring took place as well.

I must have been watching the same 20 minutes of that. 

We're one up, but I don't like the way we're playing. Not aggressive enough, retreating instead of attacking and bypassing the midfield.

And I don't understand what came over Song. I always tought well of him and now he pulls a stunt like that.

At least we now have one player more.

I'm going to have to take your word on that.  I know the basics, but don't have a firm enough grasp on the game to tell if a team's playing well or not.    My brother texted me immediately after the red card with, "Soccer equiv of game misconduct".  Comparing it to hockey helps some, though on Sunday at one point I know I referred to the Swiss forecheck.    Not quite.......

[kkokkolis]

Croatia-Cameroon 4-0
Cameroon may be a shadow of it's past self but still Enki must be smiling understandably.

[styx]

enki is probably still drunk from last night. he was spot on about us not using the midfield and on a number of occasions even in the second half they were giving up a lot of space and not checking long slow passes trough wide open areas. that thing won't fly against Mexico

[RT1969]

It has been some years since I watched football.
This world cup I am quite shocked by the difference in play styles. But shocked in a positive way.

I really like the more agile, cooperating teams 'deconstructing' those big names of the past. I have a feeling the teams with some famous players have a tendency to play more as "star players + supporting actors" than as a tight-knit team.

I really like the play styles of today, compared to 10-20 years ago!