The World Cup....

[A_Northern_Soul]

...kicks off tomorrow and I'm weirdly not that excited about it...

Although I'm sure i'll get into it as the tournament goes on. It's probably a combination of weird (for me) kick off times, general malaise with the US and the fact there are so many teams.. with so many going through to the next round from the initial stage - maybe a lack of jeopardy?

Anyway - who are we supporting? (would love to hear some of the hopes from board members from smaller nations hoping to cause a shock!). Who do we think is winning it? Who will cause an upset?

Winner: France

Runner Up: Germany

Golden Boot: Harry Kane

Biggest disappointment: Argentina

Biggest surprise Morocco

Wildcard moment Trump will do/ say something mental during the final

[Mexicola]

Never cared less about a World Cup than I do about this one. FIFA have been selling it down the river for years, (when was the last great World Cup? France 98?), but this one hits new lows. 50+ teams? 180,000 unsold tickets? $25k for final tickets? 20 min+ 'drinks breaks' so they can play in quarters not halves to keep advertiser's happy? Bonefife referees denied entry, along with various fans, not to mention Iran having to play in Mexico or Canada. Of course, the great Orange Nonce-in-chief will have his slimy paws all over it too. Berlin Olympics in 36 comes to mind.

But worst of all.... a half-time show at the final.... Curated by CHRIS MARTIN?!?

Do one.

[QuequePan]

World cups doesn't hold the same excitement that they had before for me (maybe it's bcuz my country didn't get in lol), but I think that either Portugal or France will get as winners or semis at most.

Biggest disappointment: Argentina

And I'm curious about your insight here, can you elaborate?

Also almost everyone here is mostly raving about the stamp album, so there's a lot of stamp exchange meetings EVERYWHERE. I don't know if it's going the same way in other parts of the world, though.

[A_Northern_Soul]

World cups doesn't hold the same excitement that they had before for me (maybe it's bcuz my country didn't get in lol), but I think that either Portugal or France will get as winners or semis at most.

Biggest disappointment: Argentina

And I'm curious about your insight here, can you elaborate?

Also almost everyone here is mostly raving about the stamp album, so there's a lot of stamp exchange meetings EVERYWHERE. I don't know if it's going the same way in other parts of the world, though.

Absolutely no insight here - just a feeling.

[A_Northern_Soul]

Never cared less about a World Cup than I do about this one. FIFA have been selling it down the river for years, (when was the last great World Cup? France 98?), but this one hits new lows. 50+ teams? 180,000 unsold tickets? $25k for final tickets? 20 min+ 'drinks breaks' so they can play in quarters not halves to keep advertiser's happy? Bonefife referees denied entry, along with various fans, not to mention Iran having to play in Mexico or Canada. Of course, the great Orange Nonce-in-chief will have his slimy paws all over it too. Berlin Olympics in 36 comes to mind.

But worst of all.... a half-time show at the final.... Curated by CHRIS MARTIN?!?

Do one.

Yeah - I know what you mean; I've hardly had any enthusiasm for it so far - and it hasn't really felt hyped up on eg TV? The kids are really excited for it, which I think is carrying me along a little - they're football obsessed and at 12 & 14 probably the ideal age (plus Scotland have qualified). France '98 was probably my favourite along with Italia '90 (I still want one of the little promotional Coca Cola footballs). 2002 was a fun one - partly because it involved a lot of day drinking. I used to work round the corner from Pacific in Newcastle and discovered when trying to book a table that I shared a full name with the manager of the place... which he found funny so made sure I had a good table and some free drinks. Which was nice.

[Samplehunter]

I was determined to watch as many matches as possible, then I saw the schedule.

Well, one match per day would be good.

[Mexicola]

Mexico 86 and / or Spain 82 for me. Football commentary overseas should ALWAYS be delivered down a ropey landline. It just should.

Oh and the Adidas Tango ball remains a work of art.

[Waterbagel]

not stoked that we, ourselves, are hosting .. at this particular moment in history... but i'll try to watch a few games for sure! still fun, and i'm hoping (all signs point to doing so in futility) that this kicks off a wave of football love throughout the US

[Negamuse]

Mexico 86

Sticker albums from your childhood.

[Mexicola]

Mexico 86

Sticker albums from your childhood.

Can still smell them!

[Aesthetics]

Mexico 86

Sticker albums from your childhood.

Can still smell them!

And taste em!

At first I did look a bit forward to it, nothing special or super enthusiastic. But the other week, I noticed when I was in the supermarket that it was once again decked out with all sorts of orange merchandise and savings schemes, and that suddenly brought the old school feeling back. A sort of sense of happiness came over me, and I wondered why I was actually feeling that way. Suddenly it hit me: it gave me a sense of togetherness, a memory to all the previous ECs & WCs and many people in my surrounding talking about it. Something that’s becoming increasingly rare in today’s society because we’re all increasingly trapped in our own algorithmic worlds.

I always try to view as many as possible matches but I sure will miss a few.

[Josh]

I don't know much about soccer/football, but I know FIFA is crooked as hell and that living even sort of near a host city (Boston in my case) is making going anywhere a problem. I guess it's good for local businesses, but man, it really highlights how awful the U.S. is at mass transit.

[portiss]

I will try my best and have some fun with this World Cup, but it wont be as special as other years due to, well, everybody knows.
Just hope The Netherlands have a fun tourny again, we were so close a few times!

[Cupz]

Never really gotten the whole staring at people running after a ball and when they catch it they kick it away thing. But if it makes happy I'm happy.

[Samplehunter]

Never really gotten the whole staring at people running after a ball and when they catch it they kick it away thing. But if it makes happy I'm happy.

Strange that someone called CUPZ will probably not watch World CUP.

Spoiler: show

/bad joke

[Aesthetics]

And if he was to see previous, he'd been watching World CUPZ.

Spoiler: show

/badder joke

[A_Northern_Soul]

Never really gotten the whole staring at people running after a ball and when they catch it they kick it away thing. But if it makes happy I'm happy.

Working class ballet, innit….


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[Samplehunter]

Following World Cup as much as possible while the weather is quite summerish and after having listen a lot of BoC and similiar stuff recently, Germany winning a match with a score of 7-1. Is it 2014 again?

[fujee]

The vibes are definitely pretty shit at this WC, an event I have loved to follow since my first (France '98). Still watching what I can. Morroco looked tasty in the first 25 mins against Brazil. They are my dark horse.

[Widmerpool]

Beautiful to see soccer fans still around in a place like this, so unexpectedly. A beautiful sport, even if much degraded by political interference and the sickness inherent to our times.

I still find athletic efforts and achievements one of our peaks as a species, contrary to the whole intelectualist, panem et circenses campaign.

Not rooting for anyone on this WC. Just enjoying the games so far.