Email Chain

LOLZ

http://screamer.deadspin.com/the-hater-s-guide-to-the-2014-world-cup-1588867715/all

 

I got columbia in my work pool lets goooooooo cokeheads!!

that Croatia goalie was terrible.  after every brazil goal the announcers said some something along the lines of "umm how did he not save that" or "what kind of effort was that."

i've actually been watching a lot of the world cup since i was off work for 2 weeks and then i was on vaca, and i have def been enjoying it, however its hard for me to comment on any of it since i can probably name no more than 10 players and i don't have much of an idea as far as strategy goes in soccer.  in the Netherlands/mexico game mexico was winning for 88 minutes and then one rebound goal followed by an apparent dive in the box for a PK and mexico lost and is now done.  that's soccer for you i guess.  from what i have watched/read here is your 1 month of watching soccer expert analysis from the teams who have impressed me:

1. Columbia.  they have this James dude who is leading the tourney in scoring and they always dance after every goal which would be heavily fined if it were the NFL.  from what I am hearing they might be the best team to upset brazil who is currently the favorite.

2. Germany.  every game they have a nice goal and one of the best defenses in the cup.  They play France next who also has been playing really well which is obviously going to be a huge game.

3. Netherlands.  Until the mexico game they have dominated every game including killing spain and they have this robin dude and another guy (van persi i think) who score every game.  plus i like their orange unis.  they're going to be tough to beat.

4. brazil.  neymar has been one of the best players this tourney and has been fun to watch but they have apparently struggled against lesser teams (namely mexico and chile who took them to the final PK).  still they are the favorites and are home so they're going to be tough to beat.

5. Argentina.  messi is just amazing.  every time he has the ball you think he might score and i think he has every game.  crazy to think he might be the most popular athlete in the world and is like 5'7.

as for the US, i am def pulling for them but not sure if they can beat these better teams with more scoring power.  USA doesn't have a player like neymar or messi who can create on their own and score at any point so they have to work harder on that end, and when they play these tougher teams (like germany) they focus more on D and then can't score.  apparently this Belgium goalie is one of the best in the world so maybe with josy altidoure (spell check) coming back that will add more fire power and we can escape with a 2-1 win or something like that.  as for winning it all, gotta hope some of these bigger name teams get upset and we have some good match ups.  LET'S GO USA!

ive got colombia in my work pool so im loving the hype. i wont get too excited until they play brazil on saturday. easily the best game of the tournament so far, and maybe the best possible matchup remaining.

id put netherlands 2 but splitting hairs.

i think the USAs chances are either fat of slim, neither of which are good. my work does close at 330 today so thanks for that USA!


suarez is a complete idiot. its his 3rd time biting someone and now youre on the world stage. its not like they were eliminated that game. he tried to say it was an accident and they way he came down made him close his mouth and the dudes shoulder just happened to be there. HAHA its your 3rd offense thats like josh gordon blaming second hand smoke for a contact high.

also I just found out tim howard went to my rival HS (he went to north Brunswick I went to South).  I actually heard about this a few years ago but he is 7-8 years older than me which is why I didn't realize and forgot.  Apparently he wasn't even a goalie when he played in HS, he was a star midfielder and was later changed to goalie when he went pro.  Also, the internet made some pretty good meme's of him yesterday:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2117025-internet-comes-up-big-with-tim-howard-memes-after-usmnt-loss-to-belgium 

See ya'll in another 4 years.

haha im not gonna deny it. but its only bigger than the superbowl because its a world event. the super bowl is the #2 INTERNATIONAL sporting event and it only includes american players.

im not belittling the magnitude of the world cup. i understand people are obsessed with the game and wait 4 years at a time to take part in it, watch it, cheer for it and hope their team wins it all. a lot of these countries are so bad that they NEED soccer as a release from how terrible their living conditions are.

BUT in the USA the world cup is a forced event. you cant tell me that you enjoyed watching the "action" of the game. to sit there for 115 minutes without a single thing to cheer for was painful. we go to the bar and make it a good time but americans dont give a flying F about the sport. we want to change the timing rules, change the OT rules, change the shootout rules, change the flopping rules, etc. all because we are the USA and we run **** so do it our way even thou its been one way for hundreds of years.

if yesterday was a football sunday and the world cup started at 1pm or 4pm, do you think the WC championship or a normal football sunday wins the ratings? i can almost guarentee its the NFL even if its regular season games. dont even get me started on the playoffs, or god forbid the super bowl.

i enjoy the idea of the world cup esp during an american sport downtime but you will never convince me that you enjoy watching schweinsteiger roll around on the ground and people get called offsides for 2 hours.

just imo.

WC did a 9.7 rating yesterday in the US.  The numbers might be off a little since as you will see below DC was the highest rated market in the US and I know for a fact many of those residents were asleep during the game.

The 1-0 victory that brought Germany its fourth World Cup got a 9.7 rating in metered market results. That’s the best of any game of this year’s tournament and the third best that any World Cup game ever has done Stateside. Only the 1994 final between Brazil and Italy with its 12.8 and the Round of 16 match between the USA and Brazil (10.4) that same year have ever done better than yesterday afternoon’s game, which was broadcast on ABC. The 1994 World Cup was held in the United States, by the way. Coverage for yesterday’s game played in Rio peaked in the extra time of the game around 2:15 – 2:30 PM PT with a 14.2 rating. The top local market for ABC/ESPN was Washington D.C. which had a 15.4 metered market result. We’ll update with more ratings from yesterday’s match when we get them. Overall 64 games of the 2014 World Cup, ESPN, ESPN 2 and ABC had a 3.1 metered market average rating result – a 29% increase over the last World Cup four years ago from South Africa.

An estimated 26.5 million people in the U.S. watched Germany's extra-time win on Sunday afternoon, the Nielsen company said. The game had 17.3 million viewers on ABC and another 9.2 million on the Spanish-language Univision. In addition, just over 750,000 people were watching the game during a typical minute online through services provided by each network.

 

http://www.espnfc.us/fifa-world-cup/story/1950567/world-cup-final-most-watched-soccer-game-in-us-historymore-than-26m-viewers