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Here we go! Euro 2012. (Americans tolerated)

Discussion in 'Colosseum' started by Merlanni, Dec 2, 2011.

  1. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    The US blatantly do care about football. Not as much as the gridiron, ice hockey, baseball etc... but they do care. Hence getting 24 million viewing figures for international games, and selling out arenas. This is despite international football being incredibly ruuuuubbish! The most boring type of football out there.
     
  2. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    24 million? Maybe for the World Cup and other big international matches, but I seriously doubt 24 million Americans watched the US beat Italy. Heck, World Series viewership is typically around 30-something million. (Although admittedly, that depends a lot on who is in the World Series - if it's the Red Sox or Yankees, the number is bigger.) Nothing beats the Super Bowl though - generally about 40% of Americans watch, so that viewership figure is well north of 100 million.
     
  3. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Tune into the English Premiership, or failing that, the UEFA Champions League. That's the kind of football that gets you addicted - not the international football yawnfests.
     
  4. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    You're assuming they are televised here without a special subscription added to your sports package. I'm sure you get matches all the time on whatever the ESPN equivalent is in Britain, but you hardly ever see it on a regular cable channel over here.
     
  5. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    atdhenet is your friend :)
     
  6. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    And couldn't even beat New Zealand at the World Cup. Go the All Whites.
     
  7. The Shaman Gems: 28/31
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    The US team has also been quite good more often than not. USA is iirc one of the big players in its region, and I think has cleared the group phase in most recent World Cup series. They might not have big accomplishments, but if it's their I'd say they have a chance against any team.
     
  8. Smiling Imp Gems: 2/31
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    [​IMG]
    It took them nearly eighty years, but I think they finally have us on the run! :geezer:
     
  9. Merlanni

    Merlanni Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Al those immigrants.
     
  10. Smiling Imp Gems: 2/31
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    You mean on Italy? Things have just started getting that way for us, unlike France, Germany and Holland who have been doing that for decades. I guess modernization is finally reaching them, no matter how much they resist.
     
  11. hannibal555 Gems: 9/31
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    Hey, no posts here since the games are running? ^^

    I am looking forward to a classic on wednesday: Holland vs Germany. Plus Holland is forced to win after they lost to Denmark in the first match.
     
  12. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Been busy watching. Good games.
     
  13. Mesmero

    Mesmero How'd an old elf get the blues?

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    I've just been busy :p Only seen two matches so far:

    Poland-Greece was pretty messy. A few nice actions, but mediocre football from both teams.

    Holland-Denmark was a major bummer. Holland played pretty good at times, but failed to put the ball between the poles. Denmark made better use of their chances (unfortunately :p)

    A lot of Dutch have already lost faith in the team. I have my doubts as well, fearing that losing against Denmark might have given the team a huge mental blow. They may get really sloppy now that they are forced to win from Germany. But we'll see what happens Wednesday :)
     
  14. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    They had this on at the place where I was eating lunch. It was Ukraine v. Sweden. I think the Ukraine team was in the yellow uniforms and, to this untrained eye, they looked like they were completely dominating the other guys. It didn't even look close in terms of aggression and skill (from what I could tell). That being said, it was still a big 0-0 when I left.

    That begs the question - if I am right in the imbalance of talent between the two teams, isn't it a might perplexing and, may I say, boring, that a team that is so far superior to the other group still can't manage to score? If it winds up 0-0 at the end, as many of these things seem to do, and if I were a fan of the Ukraine team, that would seriously tick me off. (I guess you could say that the Swedish fans would be proud of their plucky underdog guys for keeping the other guys from scoring.)

    I think that is what annoys me the most about this game . . .


    Edit: Just went on ESPN.com and it seems both teams scored goals within a couple of minutes of each other. I didn't see it, so I have no idea how that happened, but I guess my view of the relative strengths of the teams was faulty (or the Swedes got wildly lucky, which I tend to doubt based on what I have read about high level soccer on these boards an other places).
     
  15. Mesmero

    Mesmero How'd an old elf get the blues?

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    I didn't see a really big dominance in the first halve of either team (first half ended in 0-0). The second halve Ukraine (in yellow) seemed dominant (they won). I would say that Sweden should have the better team, but that Ukraine benefited from their underdog position and home game advantage. But yeah, it sucks if your team loses from the underdog. It's great if another team loses from the underdog (but I guess that's the same in every sport :)). But a 0-0 is not something to celebrate, no matter how much of an underdog you are; sometimes it is the maximum thing achievable, but I doubt anybody would see it as a victory.

    Oh, and I counted the number of games in the European Championship of 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 (the games played thus far) and the games in the World Championships of 2002, 2006 and 2010: there were 293 games played in total. There wasn't a single goal in 26 of those 293 games. So, not "as many of these things seem to do", but "as some of these things seem to do" :p
     
  16. Déise

    Déise Both happy and miserable, without the happy part!

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    The unpredictability of football is one of its greatest appeals. Because it's so low scoring a few moments of luck can decide the match and it is feasible to spend your whole time defending without conceding. The better team certainly does normally win but it gives the underdog something to aim at and for neutrals to look at. 0-0 against one of the big teams can be great for a smaller nation and in the group stages it can be an important stepping stone. You don't need to win every match. There certainly wouldn't be any point in Ireland showing up if the better team always won.

    Speaking of which, we were stuffed. We were lucky to get to the Euros and are simply out of our depth at this stage. Croatia didn't even look that impressive but brushed us aside. Spain and Italy both looked great in the earlier match and I don't see us getting any points off them. Spain could do with giving up one of their 6 central midfielders though. Italy were unrecognisable from the team we played 3 years ago in the world cup qualifiers.
     
  17. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Like I said, my eye is definitely untrained, so if you guys think it was a balanced half, I cannot disagree given that the score was 0-0. That being said, it sure looked like the guys in the yellow shirts were putting a heck of a lot more pressure on the other side in the first half.

    Mesmero - a 9% scoreless tie rate is, to me, is way too many . . . :p
     
  18. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Ukraine did dominate the first half and was the better team so nothing wrong with your eye. Turning domination into actual goals is a whole other issue. One they managed in the second half but on this level no team will just roll over another team (well the Russians kinda did with the Czechs). Anything can happen and on paper I guess as someone said that Sweden has a better team but I said before the tournament that every point we get should be seen as a bonus.
     
  19. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    If a team is totally dominant and still can't score, they need to look at how they play and find a better way to break down the opposition. They can't have been that much better if they can't score. On the flip side, if a team is inferior to the opposition yet manage to keep them from scoring, then that's a great defensive effort on their part and should be applauded. The sport isn't all about the attacking side. Some teams actually prefer to be on the back foot, and deliberately invite pressure, because they might have great defenders and so-so strikers. Chelsea are a good example, and they are European champions! Italian sides are often like this.

    A game doesn't need loads of goals to be entertaining. I enjoy seen many great 0-0 games or tight 1-0 games.
     
  20. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    See, and I went into this thread with the thought "I will not get into it with Barmy on why soccer blows and 0-0 ties are the work of the devil."

    So much for that. :p
     
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