English! What if US wins June 12?

[Coito ergo sum]

I mean, the pressure is all on England. The US is expected to lose, because, well, typically the US just isn't very good overall. We're at least good enough to make it into the 32 team World Cup competition regularly, but the US just isn't even close to as good as the top dogs, like Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and even England. However, some say the US is fielding its "deepest" team ever. Nobody is saying we're as good as England, but could an over-confident England be upset in the first game by a hungry U.S. team?

I am not suggesting that the US in any way SHOULD win -- but, have you Limeys given any thought to whether they are anything to worry about? And, just what would your reaction be, if injury time runs out....and you see the score....1 to nil, for the US.... I imagine it would be a national shaming....like another piece of the Empire just....going away...

The history of the US team is not pretty. Let's do some recounting.

The US went to the knockout round in 1930, and then made its next appearance in 1994. We backed in, though, beating Colombia 2-1 due that own goal where the Colombian guy went back home and was murdered for it. We lost to Romania and tied Switzerland 1-1. Then, of course, we went on to draw Brazil in the knockout round, and of course lost.

From about 1950 to 1990, the US was was in soccer no-man's-land. It was considered a dream to qualify for the World Cup. Since 1990, however, the US is generally expected to qualify every time. By that measure alone, the team has improved.

But, improved doesn't mean that we can win. In 1990 and 1998, we lost all of our group matches.

In 2002, the United States had its best performance since 1930, when the U.S. team reached the quarterfinals. The knockout stage was reached through a 3–2 win over Portugal and a 1–1 tie with South Korea. The US then beat Mexico impressively, 2-0, and then of course faced Germany and lost.

In 2006, the US drew the "group of death", and got blown out 3-0 by the Czech Republic, but then amazingly drew a 1-1 tie to Italy. But, the US got knocked out by losing to Ghana.

So what do we have this year:

The U.S. won seven of eight matches against Barbados, Cuba, Guatemala, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Second and Third Rounds of qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This qualified the United States for the Fourth Round, or Hexagonal, against Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago. The U.S. began the Fourth Round by defeating Mexico 2–0, a win that extended the United States' unbeaten streak against Mexico on U.S. soil to 11 matches. Six weeks later, in the second match of the Fourth Round, the United States made a late rally to earn a 2–2 draw away to El Salvador. Four days later, Jozy Altidore became the youngest U.S. player to score a hat-trick, and lead the United States to a 3–0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. Following another six week break from qualifying, the U.S. travelled to Costa Rica, where they were soundly defeated 3–1. The United States rebounded three days later when they defeated Honduras 2–1. When qualifying resumed near the end of the summer of 2009, the United States suffered a 2–1 loss to Mexico at Estadio Azteca. A few weeks later, the United States came from behind to defeat El Salvador 2–1 at home after being down 1-0. The next week, the U.S. beat Trinidad and Tobago 1-0. On October 10, 2009, the United States secured qualification to the World Cup with a 3-2 win over Honduras. Four days later, the U.S. secured first place in the Fourth Round with a dramatic 2–2 draw against Costa Rica.

The US just beat Australia 3-1 in a friendly.

So....thoughts on the upcoming match? Is the US team something to sneeze at?

[Wumbologist]

That's the game where they kick the ball around, right?

[Bella Fortuna]

That's the game where they kick the ball around, right?

[Horwood Beer-Master]

English! What if US wins June 12?

The space-time continuum implodes.

That's the game where they kick the ball around, right?

Yes. Hence 'foot-ball', as opposed to the American sport of Hand-egg.

[Coito ergo sum]

That's the game where they kick the ball around, right?

When talking to an Englander, they'll remind you that it is, "proper" football.

As an aside, though, many Englanders (and/or other sundry Brits and non-Brits subjected to Brit rule) are surprised to learn that the term they loathe, "soccer," was actually invented in England. It was a term created to distinguish between rugby football or "rugger" and "association football" or "soccer" (the soc being drawn from association, quite literally because if you take the first three letters of association and add and -er, well, only a small percentage of the population will want to play it....).

So, rugby football later just became rugby, and soccer football just became football. In the US, however, rugby football had already become popular and evolved more and more into the something like the modern American football we see today. Soccer football never was huge in the US, and the rugby football evolved into football in the US, but soccer football kept the soccer name.

There you have it - the thumbnail etymology of the names for the game where they kick the ball around.

My darling Marina always puts it far more eloquently than I can, however:

[rachelbean]

We can't win, they have Rik Mayall on their side:

[Wumbologist]

So how do you win at this game? Does the ball go into a little hole in the ground? A net? Is the net on the ground, or is it a little one, high up in the air? Are there horses?

[Coito ergo sum]

So how do you win at this game? Does the ball go into a little hole in the ground? A net? Is the net on the ground, or is it a little one, high up in the air? Are there horses?

Well, from the English Premier League games I've watched, two teams slog onto a wet field and play soccer for a period of time, on average about 40 minutes, until one of them scores a goal by kicking the ball into the net of the opposing team. The team that scores the goal, then puts all 11 of its players into defensive roles and the ball is traded back and forth among players for the remaining 50 minutes or so. The game ends 1-0, absent extraordinary circumstances.

[Wumbologist]

So how do you win at this game? Does the ball go into a little hole in the ground? A net? Is the net on the ground, or is it a little one, high up in the air? Are there horses?

Well, from the English Premier League games I've watched, two teams slog onto a wet field and play soccer for a period of time, on average about 40 minutes, until one of them scores a goal by kicking the ball into the net of the opposing team. The team that scores the goal, then puts all 11 of its players into defensive roles and the ball is traded back and forth among players for the remaining 50 minutes or so. The game ends 1-0, absent extraordinary circumstances.

Yup. You've just confirmed to me that I still have absolutely zero interest in sports.

So, how many people watch this thing going on?

[Bella Fortuna]

So how do you win at this game? Does the ball go into a little hole in the ground? A net? Is the net on the ground, or is it a little one, high up in the air? Are there horses?

Well, from the English Premier League games I've watched, two teams slog onto a wet field and play soccer for a period of time, on average about 40 minutes, until one of them scores a goal by kicking the ball into the net of the opposing team. The team that scores the goal, then puts all 11 of its players into defensive roles and the ball is traded back and forth among players for the remaining 50 minutes or so. The game ends 1-0, absent extraordinary circumstances.

Yup. You've just confirmed to me that I still have absolutely zero interest in sports.

So, how many people watch this thing going on?

Aren't there any car bumpers to observe rust-progression on instead?

[FBM]

Touchdown_Thumbnail.gif (5.45 KiB) Viewed 2390 times

[Wumbologist]

Aren't there any car bumpers to observe rust-progression on instead?

Mine, for one. It's got a nice spot on the front that I haven't gotten around to sanding and spraypainting.

[Wumbologist]

Touchdown_Thumbnail.gif

I love it.

[RuleBritannia]

We're at least good enough to make it into the 32 team World Cup competition regularly...

Because you get to play the likes of Aruba, Guatemala and Haiti during qualifying. Meanwhile European teams have to pretty much play all the best teams in the world just to get to the World Cup.

[Coito ergo sum]

So how do you win at this game? Does the ball go into a little hole in the ground? A net? Is the net on the ground, or is it a little one, high up in the air? Are there horses?

Well, from the English Premier League games I've watched, two teams slog onto a wet field and play soccer for a period of time, on average about 40 minutes, until one of them scores a goal by kicking the ball into the net of the opposing team. The team that scores the goal, then puts all 11 of its players into defensive roles and the ball is traded back and forth among players for the remaining 50 minutes or so. The game ends 1-0, absent extraordinary circumstances.

Yup. You've just confirmed to me that I still have absolutely zero interest in sports.

So, how many people watch this thing going on?

About 715 million people watched the World Cup Final in 2006. By comparison, the NFL Football Superbowl that year had about 90 million viewers.