WORLD CUP

First topic message reminder :

Should I support Italy or England ?

V 

ghiro wrote:I need help here.  Do England need to build a team for the World Cup in Brazil - or build a stadium?  

Help! Far too clever for me Ghiro...

stevegwmonkseaton wrote:

ghiro wrote:I need help here.  Do England need to build a team for the World Cup in Brazil - or build a stadium?  

Help! Far too clever for me Ghiro...

Me? Clever? Tush Steve!  It's all about being ready: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2043899-world-cup-2014-latest-controversies-and-stadium-updates

Ah you mean build a stadium in Brazil to play on... Well know as the pleb football fan that goes to these games matters little... However if I was FIFA I would take the next World Cup away from Russia now!

Perhaps Russia is planning to use the stadiums (stadia?) in Ukraine Steve?    

Ghiro !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LUV it !!   

V

Cant agree Steve, Italy is only the place to watch if Italy win.  If they lose or get knocked out as they did in 2002(?) the whole event disappears from the schedules as it if had never existed.  Its like watching the olympics - close up on Italian runner and no idea where they come in the field unless they win,when you have to watch it interminably.  Id rather have the Beeb for all sporting events by law.

Ok thanks Modi, I'm off back to the UK to watch it....

ghiro wrote:Perhaps Russia is planning to use the stadiums (stadia?) in Ukraine Steve?    

What as some type of (summer) camp....  

Watching the Netherlands vs. Spain tonight.  Our village has turned orange! Street banners and flags everywhere 

¡Viva España! ¡Venceremos! 

Gala Placidia wrote:¡Viva España! ¡Venceremos! 

Hmmmmm.  Drowning your sorrows tonight Gala?

Vicino wrote:Should I support Italy or England ?V 

it's a personal choice for you, as another poster said, whoever you feel closest to.

being Italian born there's only one team for me -ITALIA!

Totally distraught, ghiro. Where is the prosecco?    I should have got some "cava". In any case, wait and see. We also started on the wrong foot in South Africa....

Gala Placidia wrote:Don't worry! Spain will win... again  

Revenge is a dish best served cold   We so deserved to win  

May have to take a nap before tonight's kick off at midnight!

Good Luck England and Italy  may the best team win

I must confess that the Netherlands played a much better game than Spain, this time, but may I also remind you that Spain also lost its first match agains Switzerland   back in 2010... so anything may happen.
I guess that many are leaking their wounds after Saturday's results...
Currently in the South of France and having to watch France-Honduras! Very noisy around me...Oh! France is winning!

Gala.  I hope your team will find this link helpful: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Flights-g187514-o303506-Rio_De_Janeiro_to_Madrid.html      

Yes, I know ghiro! What a disaster! They should all be retired from active duty (without a pension, of course) and bring in a new generation. Not a nice present for our new king!  

They obviously had the wrong Coach, maybe they should appoint the young Tom Daly, he probably suits their style of play....

If that what happens when you’re out of the WC, Prince Charles could be king tomorrow. 

Flip wrote:They obviously had the wrong Coach, maybe they should appoint the young Tom Daly, he probably suits their style of play....

Nothing wrong with the Marquis del Bosque. The players seemed to be on very high Valium doses. In any case VERY disapointing. They did not seem to be the same players we know, particularly Iker Casillas and all the defense. In any case, del Bosque will possibly retire... I feel sorry for him as he has been a great player and coach.

They should perhaps get Speedo to make their new kit Gala, then they could get a few Penalties.
 

I am certain that there will be plenty of "penalties" when they come back. They are lucky that the brilliance of the new King's accession and the public support that he is getting will overshadow their poor performance. They will get no welcoming party, that's for sure  

Watching the WC here in England, one thing is immediately apparent: the relative absence of nationalist hysteria. In the past, the World Cup was an opportunity for the English (not Scots or Welsh, mind you) to give 'Johnny Foreigner' a good beating. This has been especially evident in proletarian venues (pubs) and media ('the Sun' especially). Recent footballing disasters have chastened the English proletariat and they are much more circumspect. In part, this may be due to a realisation, from watching the Premier League week in and week out, that foreigners are actually quite good at football and should not be lampooned for having silly foreign names and not speaking English.

I've seen very few cars (even white vans), houses or pubs sporting the Cross of St. George - though this is not something I have an issue with per se, it is reflective of a more tempered, muted acceptance that to be born English is not necessarily the greatest gift which God can bestow upon a man.

Or perhaps extreme nationalism is loosing ground? And I am not only talking about the UK. It would be nice to say that we are all becoming more "civilized", or mature... or is it wishful thinking? Let's hope so  

Just look eastwards Neil and Gala.  Ukraine and a few other countries are hotbeds of extreme nationalism.  In most English cities, football nationalism (as practiced by the proletariat (and their social betters - two well known princes?!) is a long way away from what is sometime described as jingoism, or even xenophobia; its just a bit of harmless tribalism. Crosses get painted on faces in England, Scotland, and Wales, and for that matter all over Europe; then at full-time the beer cans are put in the bin and the crosses are washed off.