The Americans arrive to much fanfare [Soccer World Cup]

MercuryNews.com ^ | Jun. 03, 2006 | Filip Bondy

[wolf78]

The Americans arrive to much fanfare

BY FILIP BONDY New York Daily News

HAMBURG - Bugenhagenstrasse, the narrow, cobbled road behind the Park Hyatt, was blockaded at both ends on Friday afternoon, with 20 policemen standing guard to protect the precious cargo inside the hotel.

That would be the U.S. national soccer team, with its special security needs and its modest World Cup expectations. "Second round or bust," is the unspoken motivational motto around here, at least until further notice. The players landed Friday morning at 6:03 a.m., were mobbed by German media, and soon discovered this isn't Korea anymore.

In Korea four years ago, a handful of American reporters held private ballroom chats with coach Bruce Arena and his team. Here in Germany, the masses await, for as long as it takes. Nobody escapes the soccer microscope. And so the questions from 50 local reporters came fast and injurious at the jet-lagged Arena. It won't be until Saturday morning's papers are on the newsstand until we know how Long Island sarcasm plays in this gorgeous port city.

How could he allow the players' wives and families to stay with the team? Why headquarter the team in hectic Hamburg, instead of a rural haven? Why send his side off immediately to a training session - by noisy police escort to the distant northern suburbs - when players just arrived and clearly required rest?

"I thought it was an interesting concept to practice, but perhaps I'm wrong," Arena said. "We were told we were stupid, crazy and ignorant in Korea as well, so we'll just go ahead and be dumb Americans."

[wolf78]

I also found a short video, although the language's German.

http://sport.ard.de/wm2006/wm/vorort/ndr/news06/02/video_060602_usa_hamburg_ndr.jhtml

(Requires RealPlayer, just select "Modem/ISDN" (narrow bandwidth) or "DSL" (broadband), then click "Start")

[LoudRepublicangirl]

It would be soooo sweet if we did better than the world expects. I hope we kick major ass!

[PeteB570]

I hope their focus is a bit better then that "top" skier we sent to the Winter Olympics.

[wolf78]

Yeah!

Personally I really hope for a USA-Germany final in Berlin on July, 9th. Not likely, but hey, one can always dream ;-).

President Bush already said (in an interview with a German tabloid) that he might come, if the US team makes it to the final, so let's hope he has a reason to do so.

I know, with Italy and the Czech Republic (plus Ghana), Group E is also called the "group of death", but so far Italy's performance, for example, during their world cup preparation matches has been surpisingly lackluster (Italy-Ukraine 0:0).

More info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup

[kjo]

Real "football" starts pretty soon, hand in there.

[kjo]

hand=hang (need more coffee)

[PeteB570]

No problem. I took it as "get the hand in shape for the remote".
:-)

[SoCal Pubbie]

Ha! The ancient Greeks and Romans were playing tackle football long before the British came up with "Association" football.

[wolf78]

"Real "football" starts pretty soon, hang in there."

You mean "that rugby variant also known as American football" ? ;-) (Just kidding. )

But joking aside: I think that American football is a great sport. We also have some pretty decent teams over here in Germany, e.g. Frankfurt Galaxy ( http://www.frankfurt-galaxy.de/ ). However, for the most part, American football is limited to the US, where it enjoys a huge fanbase.

Association football / soccer is more of an international event, with a World cup game averaging around 350 million TV viewers (2002 world cup), or a cumulative total of 20 billion TV viewers for the whole world cup.

Both are great sports. And there' nothing wrong with the US having a competitive team.

[Shqipo]

Ah.., the infamous "Group of Death." It would not be a true World Cup w/out one.

[kjo]

I don't doubt that soccer or "football" has its adherents. And, many, many here play it, especially in childhood. It just doesn't seem to transfer to adults becoming fans.

Don't know why.

[1rudeboy]

Are you ready for some football?

[n230099]

"t just doesn't seem to transfer to adults becoming fans. Don't know why." Maybe the award cerimonies

[wolf78]

"I don't doubt that soccer or "football" has its adherents. And, many, many here play it, especially in childhood. It just doesn't seem to transfer to adults becoming fans.

Don't know why."

I think it's also a cultural thing.

In the US American football forms part of the "holy trifecta" of beer, barbecue and watching sports. In Germany or Great Britain, soccer plays the same role.

Among adults being a fan of the respectively other sport is often used to show that you're different. As far as I know, there are quite a number of british-style pubs in the US that show soccer games on TV. Here in Germany American football, on the other hand, is always a big all-American show event, where the cheerleaders and other side events are often more important than the game itself. As far as I know, Frankfurt Galaxy games are a popular family pastime among American soldiers stationed in Germany, nonetheless.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Please note, tackle football was played long before "that variant known as soccer" was invented.

"The game bore striking similarities to rugby and the players had to get the ball over the opposing line to 'score'. "

Harpastum

[wolf78]

From left: Bobby Convey, DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and Oguchi Onyewu

[IslandJeff]

Galaxy had a good season - love teams that run the ball - but Amsterdam would have run the table had Gibran Hamdan (he of my Seattle Seahawks) not broken his ankle.

NFL Europe is great - it's wonderful to wake up on a spring Saturday morning and watch Germans slowly getting into things like face-painting, booing, whistling, banging drums, etc.

Looks like they might be expanding by two more teams within a few years. Leipzig is apparently interested, but I'd also like to see Poland get a team.

In the meantime, let's hope for a great Copa del Mundial.

[JNL]

Not that easy and I know I'm being a pain LOL:


The English language word football is also applied to Rugby football (Rugby union and Rugby league), American football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football and Canadian football.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football

Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest organized activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Han Dynasty in about 2nd century BC....It describes a practice known as cuju ..which involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30 foot poles.


So I guess that blows out the Roman / Greek thing.


Myself I've got a HDTV and I'm recording The wife and I are going to drink beers from each country that plays. Fun fun fun.

[IslandJeff]

Hey, Freepmail me when you come across beers from the Ivory Coast or Angola.

Love the World Cup.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Except that the Romans got the game from the Greeks, who called it Episkyros and played the game as far back as the Chinese played their game. Episkyros allowed the use of the hands, which shows it was closer to rugby.

The Romans actually brought their games to the British Isles in 43 AD, whereas Chinese culture had little influence on the West until the time of Marco Polo. There actually are records of a Harpastum match played between the Romans and the British natives, who played "less-sophisticated kicking games".

In Renaissance Italy they played Calcio Fiorentino, which allowed just about every kind of violent contact. Ceremonial matches are still played there today.

Furthermore, Rugby style games was more popular in England than Association football until some time the Nineteenth Century. Mob football involved whole towns and outlawed only murder in the rules. The earliest football clubs in great Britain, The Barnes Club and Guy's Hospital Football Club, both favored Rugby.

The London Football Association formally divided football into Ruby and Soccer in 1863. It did not create one from the other. My point is not that Soccer is not football, however to call it "real football' is to ignore its historical roots.