F O U R T H E Y E

It's just around the corner, and all real fans of the beautiful game are excited as fuck.

I'll kick off the conversation: As most of us here are Aussies and Yanks, how do you rate your team's chances?

I think Australia will be pleasantly surprised by the Socceroos. I'm happy assuming that they will make the Round of 16, and I'd probably bet on it.

America always brings out a decent game, despite the fact that no American will admit that they enjoy the sport. Round of 16 is all but guaranteed for them.

Here's a cute little gallery of the best in the world. A bit sad that Cahill wasn't given a mention, but that's to be expected from an American website.

Keep shit-talking firmly out of this thread.

Australia won't win a single game.

Not Tyson wrote:Australia won't win a single game.

In Ange we trust.

Seriously, if Taggart and Cahill start each and every game, we have an excellent chance.

I'm still rather concerned about our defence, though. I think not selecting The Og Monster was a bit of an oversight.

I'm not Ange, though, so I'll reserve judgement for when we take on South Africa (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn) soon . . .

I'm looking forward to catching a few games, care to post when the Aussie games are for the lazy (ie: me).

hellboy wrote:I'm looking forward to catching a few games, care to post when the Aussie games are for the lazy (ie: me).

I'm happy to.

I'd strongly suggest catching the South Africa game on Monday night. In theory, that should be a team that Ange uses to absolutely show what a force Australia can be in the World Cup. There will be no punches pulled, and I'd go so far as to say that we may be in danger of wearing some injuries. It won't be experimental - it'll be the team playing as if they're playing Brazil or Italy.

I'd expect no goals against us, with around three or four for. Then again, it might be a chance for Ange to break in a few younger players, so who knows.

Croatia just before the World Cup will be a different story. I'd expect a game heavy on the defence, with a more conservative outlook. I'd be surprised for it not to be a draw.

Chile is the game we'll definitely win (if at all). Our attitude is very typically Australian: That is, we play well against teams we don't have a chance of beating, while being fucking lazy against teams we assume we'll beat. The difference there is the fucking Dutch. I hate that country, and our track record looks pretty good against them. Don't be surprised if we obliterate them.

We won't beat Spain. That's not even a topic of conversation. Don't be surprised if we score a goal against them, though.

Nothing about the team screams winner or loser to me. We'll know more after South Africa. I respect Ange's football intellect, so I'm pretty confident.

All the Aussies raggin' on the Socceroos are just so fucking typical of Australia's mindset, it makes me embarrassed. Given the choice, I'd never live in Australia again. The people fucking suck.

No secret what team I'll be watching.

But, the logical side of me says Brazil takes it and the Amazon is set ablaze, destroying the rain forest, forever altering the ecosystem of our planet,
slowly suffocating us in a sweltering blanket of hot air...or setting off another ice age if you're one of those freaks. Either way, we all gonna die motherfuckers
so we might as well get our freak on, baby! OW!

ilikecheese wrote:No secret what team I'll be watching.

But, the logical side of me says Brazil takes it and the Amazon is set ablaze, destroying the rain forest, forever altering the ecosystem of our planet,
slowly suffocating us in a sweltering blanket of hot air...or setting off another ice age if you're one of those freaks. Either way, we all gonna die motherfuckers
so we might as well get our freak on, baby! OW!

That was dark, even for me.

I'd love for an African team to win it for once, but I'm pretty sure either Spain or Brazil will take it.

I expect the home team will be hard to beat, but looking forward to my once every 4 years fill of soccer.

hellboy wrote:I expect the home team will be hard to beat, but looking forward to my once every 4 years fill of soccer.

That's the spirit!

And even though we're Aussies, it's still OK to rag on Jedinak. I don't care how he's performed at Crystal Palace, he fucking sucks.

If he gets the captaincy today, I'll fucking lose it.

Don't count out Ze Germans, or the Italians. Germany has injury problems, but they always have a deep bench and find a way to win.

This is the most experienced and talented squad USA is bringing to the cup. Rough group draw but nothing is impossible.

As much as I would like the Aussies to advance, I am a little more realistic and doubt they will even win a game. With that said it is a game, and any team can win any given day.

It's a fucking wild time in Brasil. Protests are happening nearly everyday, and rightfully so, I have to agree with their argument, though they should only be non violent protests. Brazilian police are fucking brutal, and I just hope the violence can stay at a minimum .

It's fucking on, I can't wait. The times suck, but fuck it's only once every four years.

BlackHole83 wrote:Don't count out Ze Germans, or the Italians. Germany has injury problems, but they always have a deep bench and find a way to win.

This is the most experienced and talented squad USA is bringing to the cup. Rough group draw but nothing is impossible.

As much as I would like the Aussies to advance, I am a little more realistic and doubt they will even win a game. With that said it is a game, and any team can win any given day.

It's a fucking wild time in Brasil. Protests are happening nearly everyday, and rightfully so, I have to agree with their argument, though they should only be non violent protests. Brazilian police are fucking brutal, and I just hope the violence can stay at a minimum .

It's fucking on, I can't wait. The times suck, but fuck it's only once every four years.

Great post, and thanks for contributing.

As you've said, any team can win on any day. That's what makes football so compelling for people like me.

You could be right about Australia, and you could be wrong. From what I've measured, I think you'll be surprised. Time will tell.

I am very much looking forward to watching some games. I was shooting the shit with some guys who follow MLS much more closely than I do, and they seemed hopeful that the US team is fielding some decent talent. Still, I don't hold out much hope with the match ups we drew.

Glad you opened the thread, Crow.

Kittaan wrote:I am very much looking forward to watching some games. I was shooting the shit with some guys who follow MLS much more closely than I do, and they seemed hopeful that the US team is fielding some decent talent. Still, I don't hold out much hope with the match ups we drew.

Glad you opened the thread, Crow.

Thanks, brother.

Last World Cup I was in Korea surrounded by Americans. None of them had even mentioned football until the World Cup. Suddenly, everyone was the biggest fan of the game ever.

It honestly creeped me out. It made me feel as though they were brainwashed.

Regardless, America has always fielded a decent team. I think you should bet on them doing well this year. The fight every American team has is something to behold. I dig it, even if I can't stand their fair-weather fans.

The best thing about the world cup is America is guaranteed not to win, take you baseball 'world series' and shove it up your arse you smug cunts.

Not Tyson wrote:The best thing about the world cup is America is guaranteed not to win, take you baseball 'world series' and shove it up your arse you smug cunts.

Literal LOL.

Seriously man, World Cup talk only.

Though I do find the concept of incredibly poorer countries consistently winning the Cup before America absolutely hilarious.

The main thing I like about the World Cup is that it is truly one of the worlds only competitions with strong teams all over the world. Nothing else really comes close in this regard.

That's enough to get me over my usual disinterest in soccer for a couple of weeks.

hellboy wrote:The main thing I like about the World Cup is that it is truly one of the worlds only competitions with strong teams all over the world. Nothing else really comes close in this regard.

That's enough to get me over my usual disinterest in soccer for a couple of weeks.

You're right.

I adore football, because it's easily the most simple game on the planet. Use your feet, run, kick that sphere into that side of the park. Done.

It's so easy, and yet so difficult to master. That's why the World Cup is a showcase of the best the world literally has to offer.

It's fucking great. I love it.

The Boss wrote:

hellboy wrote:The main thing I like about the World Cup is that it is truly one of the worlds only competitions with strong teams all over the world. Nothing else really comes close in this regard.

That's enough to get me over my usual disinterest in soccer for a couple of weeks.

You're right.

I adore football, because it's easily the most simple game on the planet. Use your feet, run, kick that sphere into that side of the park. Done.

It's so easy, and yet so difficult to master. That's why the World Cup is a showcase of the best the world literally has to offer.

It's fucking great. I love it.

There are many reasons why I love the World Cup, but the main reason I love it is because football is simply the greatest game on this planet. That's a no brainer.

With baseball a close second, and NFL/NBA third.

I'm excited to catch some games if possible. I dont pay for TV so its hard for me to catch anything thats not broadcasted OTA. Anyone know where they may be streaming games online? I may be able to catch some games via ESPN 3 on my xbox.

Umadbrah? wrote:I'm excited to catch some games if possible. I dont pay for TV so its hard for me to catch anything thats not broadcasted OTA. Anyone know where they may be streaming games online? I may be able to catch some games via ESPN 3 on my xbox.

I've been catching A League, Socceroos, and Mexican games for years online in random countries.

I'll wait for Hellboi to give us the OK before I share my usual link. It's usually a stolen stream from somewhere/something classy, so I'm not sure of the legality of blurting it out here.

I've shared it here before, but I respect Hellboi, so I don't want to take advantage of that shit.

If you cant post it for everyone, and he's okay with it. I'd love a PM of it. I have considered paying for a month or 2 of cable TV just to catch some games, but i dont want to crossover to the dark side. I've never paid for TV (unless you count netflix), and I have no desire to start.

Umadbrah? wrote:If you cant post it for everyone, and he's okay with it. I'd love a PM of it. I have considered paying for a month or 2 of cable TV just to catch some games, but i dont want to crossover to the dark side. I've never paid for TV (unless you count netflix), and I have no desire to start.

Damn, brother, I haven't paid for TV for years. I had no problem until they started shaving minutes off of programs all to promote blatantly political shit.

Not sure if there's a game up soonish that you need to watch, but I'll give you "haha" and let you follow it up with "sport".

Throw the ol' ".com" on the end and grab the popcorn.

That's for everything. EVERY SPORT EVER.

Go nuts.

Should have signed it with

BMB

I am very much looking forward to this.

I also am excited. Starts on my birthday too

And yeah I'm a bandwagon USA World Cup fan, no point in acting like I follow soccer/football all the time cause ... Well I don't. It pretty awesome when you watch guys run around for hours, have ungodly bad flops, the game goes to stoppage time, which is determined pretty much at random by a ref, jut to have the game finish 1-0.... How exciting!!! Yeah bash me all you want, but id rather see lebron slam dunk over a guy, and have the game finish 120-119 when he buries a 3 at the buzzer.