The Swamp

first phase of Tickets go on sale August 20th. Anyone thinking of a trip?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dc ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wlu_lax6 wrote:first phase of Tickets go on sale August 20th. Anyone thinking of a trip?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dc ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Barring any catastrophes between now and then I should be down there for almost the whole month.

Catastrophes...you mean like not being able to host the games?
No Brazil-England friendly this weekend and the Confederation Cup sounds at risk too.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/14645 ... ty?cc=5901" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wlu_lax6 wrote:Catastrophes...you mean like not being able to host the games?
No Brazil-England friendly this weekend and the Confederation Cup sounds at risk too.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/14645 ... ty?cc=5901" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sounds like we might be buying tickets for the World Cup in the US

brian wrote:Sounds like we might be buying tickets for the World Cup in the US

Hmmm. Which raises this question. Let's say that happens. What happens to Brazil the soccer team? They're out of luck? As a host they didn't have to qualify. Impossible to qualify now. Or would FIFA move the goalposts and change USA to a host spot and give Brazil a freebie in the vacated USA CONCACAF spot. I can think of a couple of CONCACAF countries that wouldn't exactly be in love with that.

That link has been updated. Thankfully the Brazilian government found a missing safety compliance report which clears the stadium for use. How fortunate.

Scottie wrote:

brian wrote:Sounds like we might be buying tickets for the World Cup in the US

Hmmm. Which raises this question. Let's say that happens. What happens to Brazil the soccer team? They're out of luck? As a host they didn't have to qualify. Impossible to qualify now. Or would FIFA move the goalposts and change USA to a host spot and give Brazil a freebie in the vacated USA CONCACAF spot. I can think of a couple of CONCACAF countries that wouldn't exactly be in love with that.

Yeah, in the unlikely event something like that happened, I doubt FIFA would mess with any qualification stuff. Brazil would still probably be considered the host and the US would be considered to be hosting the games on Brazil's behalf. Like when lower level college football teams sell their home games against bigger schools to play in the bigger school's stadium. Paradoxically enough, the "road" team is actually considered the "home" team.

I didn't think that while reading the article earlier, but as soon as I saw your comment I knew exactly what your link was pointing to.

I noticed it last week too.

Chillaxing in Jamaica with his wife?

(BTW, PK gave a shout out to a brewery in my home town in this week's MMQB, so we are copacetic right now)

The Guardian has updates on the stadiums going up in Brazil.

Note that in a few cities, there will be 45,000+ stadiums that cost hundreds of millions of dollars that after the World Cup will be used by teams that draw as few as 47 fans per game. What is the Portuguese phrase for "White Elephant?"

javier mascherano is red carded for kicking the guy driving his mascherano's stretcher off the pitch in their qualifier in ecuador. almost starts a riot on the field!

conmebol. its fantastic!

eta: wrong confederation

Bump!

whoops didn't see this thread, ignore my thread from earlier today.

bump!

So with the teams qualified the draw on Dec 6 should be straightforward right? France is the lowest ranked European team so they would go into Pot 3 with the Africans right?

Pot 1: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland
Pot 2: Holland, Italy, England, Russia, Bosnia, Greece, Portugal, Croatia
Pot 3: France, Chile, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon
Pot 4: USA, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Japan, Korea, Iran, Australia

France must go into the group of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia or Uruguay
Chile and Ecuador must into the group of Spain, Germany, Belgium or Switzerland

A partial collapse of the stadium that will host the WC2014 opener has killed three people.


ETA: I heard this report on status of the stadium construction around the country the other morning

rass wrote:A partial collapse of the stadium that will host the WC2014 opener has killed three people.


ETA: I heard this report on status of the stadium construction around the country the other morning

US to host next two World Cups?

Stadium in Manaus WAAAAY behind schedule:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25095153

I saw the video... it doesn't look good.

But with no pitch, no seats and no roof, this gamble to use the World Cup as a beacon for development may have backfired.

Local officials have now admitted to the BBC that they will not make the deadline.

"We should be finished between the 15th and 20th of January," says Mauricio Guimaraes, the local official in charge of the stadium. He then, almost casually adds: "There won't be enough hotel rooms for the fans, but the city will manage."

From what I saw in Cuiaba, there is going to be a struggle to get the stadium ready before February or March at the earliest.

Looks like I'll never go to another World Cup unless they move one back to the States.

I went to USA 94 in Dallas and had a blast. I really regret not going to Korea/Japan.

No way I was going to South Africa or will go to Brazil, Russia or Qatar and who knows where else. At this rate the FIFA World Cup will be on the moon.

The Sybian wrote: US to host next two World Cups?

Part of the ridiculous greed inherent in the selection process is the promise of new stadiums - some of which, like the one in Manaus or several in South Africa, will never be used regularly after the three or four word cup games.

But as long as there are developing countries desperate to appear developed there will never be a shortage of suckers bidding for the right to flush billions of dollars down a very large toilet.

In a sensible world, the World Cup would be held in countries that already have the stadiums and the infrastructure needed to hold such an event. The US, Japan, Germany, England and other European nations could have the tournament organized within a couple of months.

I can see going to developing countries to improve infrastructure (and the fill the pockets of FIFA). But not 4 in a row.

The problem is that every FAs vote in FIFA is equal. So England's vote is the equal to Zimbabwe's vote. Since there are more third world countries in the world the FIFA president needs to cater to them in order to stay in power.

The IOC under Jacques Rogue has really cleaned up it's act. Olympics in Vancouver and London followed by Sochi and Rio followed by Korea and Japan. At least there is a balance there between developed and developing.

FIFA has totally gone for the money. Even in Brazil the league is essentially in 4 cities. To build new stadiums in 11 cities, 7 of them will be idle after the tournament.

The 2030 World Cup will probably be in Argentina/Uruguay to celebrate the centeniarry of the World Cup. So that leaves 2026 for maybe a US or European country?

I'm watching the live press conference from Brazil.

The Pots have been allocated. Platini has his hands all over it. Instead of France being the worst European team and going into the African pot, one of the 9 non-seeded Europeans will be drawn and moved into the African Pot. So essentially France is now on equal footing with Holland.

I have no idea why Brazil would agree to this, now it is possible to have tough European team be moved to "Pot 2" and 25% chance of going into Brazil's group.

Can have a group like this.

Brazil
Italy
Holland
USA

degenerasian wrote:I'm watching the live press conference from Brazil.

The Pots have been allocated. Platini has his hands all over it. Instead of France being the worst European team and going into the African pot, one of the 9 non-seeded Europeans will be drawn and moved into the African Pot. So essentially France is now on equal footing with Holland.

I have no idea why Brazil would agree to this, now it is possible to have tough European team be moved to "Pot 2" and 25% chance of going into Brazil's group.

Can have a group like this.

Brazil
Italy
Holland
USA

A mega Group of Death gets press and excitement, distracting from the story of Brazil being woefully unprepared and the insane logistics and travel arrangements.

degenerasian wrote:The 2030 World Cup will probably be in Argentina/Uruguay to celebrate the centeniarry of the World Cup. So that leaves 2026 for maybe a US or European country?

I have to believe there's been some kind of a back room deal to give the US the 2026 after getting fucked for 2018 and 2022. Surely, FIFA can't be stupid enough to put it in some third-world hellhole after Russia and Qatar.

Pot 2 being drawn. US and pot 3 next! So nervous, you guys!

Come on Group E, Swiss and Ecuador!

Fuck, Hondo gets it. Fuckity Fuck Fuck

50% chance Ghana. Fuck Ghana.

Germany, Ghana and another Euro team to follow. Really hope Netherlands goes early. USA was almost guaranteed a really tough group, as we are probably the best in our pot, and most of the weakest teams are in our pot.


ETA: Netherlands and Spain, Group B. Rematch of last cup's finals. Sorry, Chile and Australia. Spain and the Dutch have to be huge favorites to advance.

Vengeance for 2006! And 2010!

ETA: I forgot 2010 for a moment. Algeria covered up a lot of dark memories of that Ghana game.

oh boy

Germany, Portugal, Ghana and USA in Group G.. the HOTTEST group in the tournament too, 1pm kickoffs in the NW of Brazil.

howard wrote:Vengeance for 2006! And 2010!

And 2010. Portugal rounds out the Group. Cristiano, all the Fucking German superstars, and Ghana is solid. Best hope is Cristiano getting hurt.

So, which group looks tougher, ours (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) or England (Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica)?

Ours

howard wrote:So, which group looks tougher, ours (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) or England (Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica)?

I have to say our group is tougher. England, IMO, aren't nearly as good as you'd think they would be. We all know the names because the EPL is by far the most prominent league in the US, and the English players are paid way more than foreign born players of comparable value, and they are given much more media attention than they probably deserve in most cases. I don't think Italy are particularly strong by their standards, but they are still Italy, and will always be dangerous. Uruguay have some players, Suarez is as good of form as anyone in the world, but they aren't Germany. Costa Rica could surprise some people, but they aren't as good or deep as the US.

howard wrote:So, which group looks tougher, ours (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) or England (Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica)?

America's group is the toughest. Hands down. Hardly comparable.

Each of C & E could be called the Group Of Not So Much (or some such derogative) so weak they appear on pixels. The Argentines must be thrilled. And Group H isn't exactly overwhelming.

Scottie wrote:

howard wrote:So, which group looks tougher, ours (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) or England (Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica)?

America's group is the toughest. Hands down. Hardly comparable.

Each of C & E could be called the Group Of Not So Much (or some such derogative) so weak they appear on pixels. The Argentines must be thrilled. And Group H isn't exactly overwhelming.

E has to be the weakest group. H, other than Belgium, who I think should be one of the best teams this Cup.

Interesting bit of narrative that just dawned on me. The Boateng brothers are drawn into the same group. Jerome for Germany and Kevin-Prince for Ghana.

gotta start beating the good teams at some point. might as well be on landon, clint, and tim's last run.

The Sybian wrote:

Scottie wrote:

howard wrote:So, which group looks tougher, ours (Germany, Portugal, Ghana) or England (Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica)?

America's group is the toughest. Hands down. Hardly comparable.

Each of C & E could be called the Group Of Not So Much (or some such derogative) so weak they appear on pixels. The Argentines must be thrilled. And Group H isn't exactly overwhelming.

E has to be the weakest group. H, other than Belgium, who I think should be one of the best teams this Cup.

Interesting bit of narrative that just dawned on me. The Boateng brothers are drawn into the same group. Jerome for Germany and Kevin-Prince for Ghana.

Yup, they played against each other in the 2010 World Cup as well.

As the excitement wears off, I think the draw could have been much worse for the US. Brazil and Spain would have been tougher than Germany. Netherlands would have been an atrocious draw, a hell of a lot worse than Portugal. I really don't know much about the quality of the African and Asian teams this cycle, but I have to think Ghana is one of the best teams in that pot. I'd say Australia got the biggest shaft in the draw.

Anyone know what our travel schedule looks like? The British media seems extremely concerned with travel, as some teams get much worse schedules than others. For some reason, they didn't keep groups in the same region, like they do in most cups in large countries.

The Snaggletooths micro-analyze everything. Is travel really such a concern for a country the size of the USA? Two USA games are quite close together (Natal, Recife) and the other (middle game) is "out west" in Manaus. Ingerland has a very similar path, BH, Manaus, Sao P.

Given that Brazil is only slightly smaller than the USA, it's like what? Game one in Boston, game two in Houston, game three in New York. That's a vague somethinglike. MLS teams travel guhzillions more miles than EPL teams. By our standards, London to Manchester is nothing. Not seeing travel as an issue.

ETA: Besides . . . how do you fly halfway around the world and then complain about a two or three hour flight somewhere?

ETAA: per Expedia, Manaus to Sao Paulo is exactly a two-hour flight. And that's about as big a stretch as there will be in the Cup.

ETAA(fucking)A: Dammit, forgot that Brazil has more than one time zone. So Manaus to Sao Paulo is a three-hour flight.