English! What if US wins June 12?

[Coito ergo sum]

[Feck]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

yeah not Pride in their team or national pride or pride in their jobs ....just Money

I would have thought $50 each if they don't try to pick up the ball and run with it would have made more sense ...The players do know that they can't wear helmets and body armour don't they ? Look on the bright side ..at football they may be able to beat NK or Afghanistan

[Clinton Huxley]

[Clinton Huxley]

Canadian, American, whatever. Any excuse for an In Bruges clip (top film).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okh9pXz5 ... re=related[/youtube]

[Coito ergo sum]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

yeah not Pride in their team or national pride or pride in their jobs ....just Money

Not "just" money. Money too.

I would have thought $50 each if they don't try to pick up the ball and run with it would have made more sense

LOL - for most Americans, that would be helpful!

Americans tend to find soccer comical. Although they load the world cup coverage on the cable sports stations (e.g. ESPN) with soccer gurus so it doesn't happen too much, on typical sports news coverage we still get snarky comments from the sports newscaster mocking the sport, implying that its boring and silly. There is also a prevailing notion that soccer is not about winning in the sport, and is some sort of social experiment designed to make everyone "equal," along with a suspicion that one need not be good at soccer to play soccer. There's the thought that one weak player in soccer makes no difference.

I think these ideas come from how soccer is played among young children in the United States. It seems the hen-pecking soccer moms get their protective claws into the sport and suck the masculinity out of it (no offense, ladies). Kids' soccer in America is broken up into four quarters, not two halfs, and only lasts an hour, not 90 minutes. With young kids they often either don't keep score, or stop keeping score after a while. That kind of thing.

...The players do know that they can't wear helmets and body armour don't they ?

Well, if you've ever played American football and been keyed up and hit by a 200 pound kid who can run the 40 in 5 seconds, and been driven into the ground so hard you can feel your bones crack, you'll know why they wear pads in American football.

I love soccer. I've played it since I was a kid. But, I also love American football. And, if they hit like they do in American football without pads, people would be debilitatingly injured quite often. The reason being is that American football is full of "set plays" and the hits are targeted, full body hits.

Look on the bright side ..at football they may be able to beat NK or Afghanistan

US were 7-1 in qualifying, and have qualified for the last 6 World Cups, which is more than most countries can say. There are 202 or so countries in the world, only 32 make the first round of the World Cup. The US defeated Mexico in qualifying and has beaten Mexico in their last 11 games on US soil. In 2009, the US defeated the number 1 team in the world, Spain (who were on a 35 game unbeaten streak). They also, in 2009, played to 3-2 against Brazil (after leading Brazil 2-0 at half). We've recently beaten teams like Canada, Australia, Panama, and many other countries, and we're hanging in there with some of the big dogs, sometimes at least.

And, remember - the last time the US and England faced each other in World Cup competition the US won, and we won with a bunch of semi-pros.

We heard the same stuff about hockey from the Canadians.....it took us a while, but we own that sport now. Enjoy your smack talk while you can....

[Feck]

Don't need pads to play sport CES I played Rugby ......you big girls blouse .

[Coito ergo sum]

Don't need pads to play sport CES I played Rugby ......you big girls blouse .

Once again, they're different sports. And, if you played American football without pads you'd be near killed. I've played rugby too. There is no comparison.

One, American football players are hitting their tackling targets at about twice the force of a rugby tackle. There are some reasons for this. American football is more of a set-play sport, and rugby is more fluid and players must keep going. So, American football players need not have the same long-distance running endurance fitness that rugby players have. This allows them to be much bigger and stronger. They also can "tee up" players and put all their force and energy into smashing the shit out of their target.

Two, the purposes are different. In American football it doesn't matter how you take the ball carrier down -- once he is down the play stops and everyone pauses for a breather. In rugby you must continue to play -- don't control the runner once he is down and he just gets up and keeps going. The tackler make sure the runner stays down, and then must be ready to get to his feet and poach the ball or ruck. So you can't commit 100% to the hit -- that is just handing points to the opposition. In American football, you CAN commit 100% to the hit, and that's part of the whole point.

[RuleBritannia]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

Pretty much sums up football in the US. English players get paid nothing, not even "regular pay" as all their wages go to charity, they play for the pride of playing for their country, that's it.

[Pappa]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

Pretty much sums up football in the US. English players get paid nothing, not even "regular pay" as all their wages go to charity, they play for the pride of playing for their country, that's it.

[Coito ergo sum]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

Pretty much sums up football in the US. English players get paid nothing, not even "regular pay" as all their wages go to charity, they play for the pride of playing for their country, that's it.

English Premiere League Average salary is about $2,000,000 American dollars. Top 20 World Soccer Players make $14,000,000 at bottom to about $18,000,000 at top.

Average American Major League Soccer salary is about $60,000 a year, not counting Beckham. LOL - top "American" player in the US is Beckham who makes about $6.5 million a year.

For US players like Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley ($60,000 base salary with MLS in 2009, not including incentives and other guarantees) and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein ($90,000), a World Cup roster slot is pretty damn lucrative, and compared to most World Soccer players, the match fees are a great sweetener to their comparatively small salaries. And, the World Cup win bonus would be like hitting the lottery. Under the CBA guidelines reached five years ago, each player on the 2006 squad received: $37,500 for being named to the final roster. $3,750 for every Cup match played by the team. $3,000 for each friendly leading to the Cup. I don't know what the 2010 amounts are. But, I wouldn't blame Bornstein and Findley for wanting to keep them, would you? It would be a more than 50% raise for them. For the English players it'll be about 0.5% to 1% of their annual pay.

So, we can talk about who does what for money. But, note that it's not as if only the US team isn't donating all their match fees. And, it's the first time that anyone's made such a donation in World Cup history - it's not as if they always do it. In 2006, I suppose, they didn't play for pride in country because they kept their match fees?

The Spanish players have been promised a bonus of about $750,000 each if they win. So, I guess that "pretty much sums it up for football in Spain," too eh?

[Clinton Huxley]

England haven't prepared at all for their match, they've been too busy in the Transvaal building an orphanage for disabled children. And kittens.

[RuleBritannia]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

Pretty much sums up football in the US. English players get paid nothing, not even "regular pay" as all their wages go to charity, they play for the pride of playing for their country, that's it.

English Premiere League Average salary is about $2,000,000 American dollars. Top 20 World Soccer Players make $14,000,000 at bottom to about $18,000,000 at top.

Average American Major League Soccer salary is about $60,000 a year, not counting Beckham. LOL - top "American" player in the US is Beckham who makes about $6.5 million a year.

For US players like Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley ($60,000 base salary with MLS in 2009, not including incentives and other guarantees) and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein ($90,000), a World Cup roster slot is pretty damn lucrative, and compared to most World Soccer players, the match fees are a great sweetener to their comparatively small salaries. And, the World Cup win bonus would be like hitting the lottery. Under the CBA guidelines reached five years ago, each player on the 2006 squad received: $37,500 for being named to the final roster. $3,750 for every Cup match played by the team. $3,000 for each friendly leading to the Cup. I don't know what the 2010 amounts are. But, I wouldn't blame Bornstein and Findley for wanting to keep them, would you? It would be a more than 50% raise for them. For the English players it'll be about 0.5% to 1% of their annual pay.

So, we can talk about who does what for money. But, note that it's not as if only the US team isn't donating all their match fees. And, it's the first time that anyone's made such a donation in World Cup history - it's not as if they always do it. In 2006, I suppose, they didn't play for pride in country because they kept their match fees?

The Spanish players have been promised a bonus of about $750,000 each if they win. So, I guess that "pretty much sums it up for football in Spain," too eh?

Now I feel bad, you went to all the effort of writing that and I don't really care.

[Coito ergo sum]

Fuck! I've just drawn USA in the work sweepstake.

Well, they're offering each US player $1,000,000 cash if they bring home the Cup, in addition to their regular pay. So, there is no shortage of motivation.

Pretty much sums up football in the US. English players get paid nothing, not even "regular pay" as all their wages go to charity, they play for the pride of playing for their country, that's it.

English Premiere League Average salary is about $2,000,000 American dollars. Top 20 World Soccer Players make $14,000,000 at bottom to about $18,000,000 at top.

Average American Major League Soccer salary is about $60,000 a year, not counting Beckham. LOL - top "American" player in the US is Beckham who makes about $6.5 million a year.

For US players like Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley ($60,000 base salary with MLS in 2009, not including incentives and other guarantees) and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein ($90,000), a World Cup roster slot is pretty damn lucrative, and compared to most World Soccer players, the match fees are a great sweetener to their comparatively small salaries. And, the World Cup win bonus would be like hitting the lottery. Under the CBA guidelines reached five years ago, each player on the 2006 squad received: $37,500 for being named to the final roster. $3,750 for every Cup match played by the team. $3,000 for each friendly leading to the Cup. I don't know what the 2010 amounts are. But, I wouldn't blame Bornstein and Findley for wanting to keep them, would you? It would be a more than 50% raise for them. For the English players it'll be about 0.5% to 1% of their annual pay.

So, we can talk about who does what for money. But, note that it's not as if only the US team isn't donating all their match fees. And, it's the first time that anyone's made such a donation in World Cup history - it's not as if they always do it. In 2006, I suppose, they didn't play for pride in country because they kept their match fees?

The Spanish players have been promised a bonus of about $750,000 each if they win. So, I guess that "pretty much sums it up for football in Spain," too eh?

Now I feel bad, you went to all the effort of writing that and I don't really care.

That's o.k. I don't do it for you.

[Coito ergo sum]

England haven't prepared at all for their match, they've been too busy in the Transvaal building an orphanage for disabled children. And kittens.

Maybe they'll give away another 1/2 of a percent of their annual salary to charity.

[Feck]

Shit CES I hope the US footballers are nicer people than the UK ones because many of them are scum