Nor do Spain or Italy, and it hasn't done either of them any harm in recent years.
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The 2011-2012 Football Thread
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Exactly. I think takao brought up a good point when he said that national stadia work best when a nation has one large urban area that is the infrastructural focal point of the entire country. Mexico fits this descritption, and their Azteca stadium is one of the great national stadia.
Looks like Blackburn are claiming a "potential club record deal" as they complete their sale of Phil Jones to United. That would peg Jones' price at over £17 million.
Welcome to the thread. I have the honor to inform you that I am a Liverpool supporter when it comes to english football, just to let you know you're starting off on the wrong foot with me.
Germany is a good example - nobody would question their passion for the beautiful game, but they do not have a national stadium.
You know what's ridiculously contradictory...I like Liverpool too...again I don't have the benefit of heated rivalries here
but my mother is from liverpool, so I'm constantly reminded I have to root for them as well. I was gutted when Torres was sold to Chelsea. Maybe they'll sell him on soon.
It's really odd when there's no real inclination to any team...and you end up looking at them all.. I find tha while I have favorites in matches, I care more about how individual players I like are perfuming...of course, I still have a team I want to win
but it's less important than player performance..probably due to the other sports I follow (tennis, mma, boxing) I'm stuck in that mind set!
You know what's ridiculously contradictory...I like Liverpool too...again I don't have the benefit of heated rivalries here
Two parents, one supporting Liverpool and one Man U? Sounds like a combative environment...
I was disappointed to see him leave. But he wanted to go, and Chelsea paid handsomely for him. There could be no other outcome. It's too early to say if Carroll will be worth what we paid, but the early signs are that Liverpool have spent the Torres money wisely. I wish El Nino luck at Chelsea, I hope he returns to form there.
h00ligan said:
Being a neutral is the best way to watch football match.
Sounds like the set up for a sitcom to me.
Meanwhile, the rumour doing the rounds at the moment is that Cardiff City are looking to appoint Princess Shearer as their new manager. This could be most amusing.
Sounds like the set up for a sitcom to me.
They'd have to have really thick local accents.
Touché. But using two venues twice since 1932 hardly counts as having a designated national stadium, now does it?
I'm not sure if having hosted the 1994 World Cup championship game would give the Rose Bowl a leg up on hosting it again or not. So many stadia have been built in the US since then. If it's a matter of a huge stadium with lots of glitz, then the new Dallas Cowboys stadium would be the most obvious choice.
I think that if the US does get to host again, it will still end up in the big football stadiums instead of the soccer-specific venues. No way would they pass on the extra ticket sales for the sake of better sight lines and more intimate crowds.
In other news, Ronaldo just said he was given two choices: Real or Barcelona, and he chose Real Madrid.
I wonder what would have happened to Barcelona if he had gone there, the entire concept of collective play would have gone downhill and comparisons/protagonism with Messi would never end. That would have been a fun thing to watch.
Some other rumor suggested M. City offered 140mi EUR for Ronaldo. If this is true, add a gift wrap and off he goes! Come here, Bale; Sergio Aguero; Wilshere...
I wonder what would have happened to Barcelona if he had gone there, the entire concept of collective play would have gone downhill and comparisons/protagonism with Messi would never end. That would have been a fun thing to watch.
Some other rumor suggested M. City offered 140mi EUR for Ronaldo. If this is true, add a gift wrap and off he goes! Come here, Bale; Sergio Aguero; Wilshere...
If/when the World Cup returns to the US in the forseeable future, I imagine the final will take place in the largest, newest stadium we have, wherever that may be. The Rosebowl, like many large college stadums, has the advantage of having a super-sized capacity, but the newest NFL stadiums are flashier, have better concessions & hospitality suites etc.
I agree - but as I said, as MLS grows, new stadia with larger capacities may appear, so I can see them ending up hosting group stage matches or even some of the knockout matches some day. As it stands though, the NFL stadia are the obvious choice for World Cup matches.
While the MLS is growing, especially with European football stars heading over there to spend their "golden years," I think it is doing so at a very slow pace. The 2010 World Cup helped to promote football's image and a lot of people who didn't care much for it in the past have recently shown more interest. In the US though, there are three giants to compete against, in order I believe: Basketball, Rugby and Baseball.
That is the result of the previous failure of the NASL and the perception that professional soccer can't succeed in the US. MLS has taken a very cautious approach to growing the game, and so far it has worked. A more aggressive strategy might have grown the league faster, but also risked losing everything again. As it stands, MLS is still not a permanent institution like, say, hockey. But if MLS manages to grow at this rate for another 15 years, it may find itself in a much stronger position. It doesn't have to compete directly with MLB, NFL and the NBA; there's plenty of room to grow.
FIFA has quite stringent requirements for World Cup stadia, mind – and buildings designed for American Football or other sports may fall short of their demands, requiring alterations before they could host matches. Stadium owners might feel that expensive work to stage a couple of matches isn't worthwhile.
As a case in point, I was told on reasonably good authority that out of all the stadia England put forward as part of the 2018 bid – all of them dedicated football grounds, of course – only one was at that point in time 100% compliant with all of FIFA's regulations. All the others would require at least minor alterations to comply.
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Good point. I'm sure all of the NFL stadia would require modifications of some sort. In terms of safety and accessiblity I'd put them up there with any stadium, but they are likely to require significant "soccer specific" modifications to make sure the playing surface is up to scratch, for starters.
Currently all of the soccer-only stadia in the US are under 30,000 capacity, and many aren't much more than half that. So for the forseeable future NFL/College football stdia and possibly large atheltics stadia are the only options for a US World Cup.
Currently all of the soccer-only stadia in the US are under 30,000 capacity, and many aren't much more than half that. So for the forseeable future NFL/College football stdia and possibly large atheltics stadia are the only options for a US World Cup.
Many are fine venues, to be sure. But if the likes of Wembley and Old Trafford needed a bit of work to tick all of FIFA's boxes, it's a cert that NFL stadia would too. And given the suspicion that seems to exist amongst fans of American Football towards its Association cousin, I suspect that public support for modifying a ground for a couple of soccerball matches might not be overwhelming.
Yep – 2018/2022's requirements demanded 40,000 minimum for Group matches, building up to 80,000 for the Final – so stadia would have to be 'borrowed' from other sports. Although the MLS has been doing some good work in recent years building its profile, the US is in no way ready for 'soccer-specific' stadia of that size.
Many are fine venues, to be sure. But if the likes of Wembley and Old Trafford needed a bit of work to tick all of FIFA's boxes, it's a cert that NFL stadia would too. And given the suspicion that seems to exist amongst fans of American Football towards its Association cousin, I suspect that public support for modifying a ground for a couple of soccerball matches might not be overwhelming.
It's hard to say. In some cases FIFA's demands are probably arbitrary and bordering on the ridiculous (the prescribed length of the buffets in Sepp's hospitality suite, to use a totally made-up and possibly libellous but likely example
), in others they are probably totally warranted.I think most NFL stadia are flexible enough to accommodate the necessary changes, and the prospect of bringing a World Cup to town is lucrative enough to smooth the ruffled brows of even the most die-hard gridiron football executive. Money in the bank is money in the bank.
I do wonder though if FIFA would pry as much cash from the US World Cup as it did from South Africa's. Somehow I don't see FIFA being able to strongarm the US government the way they have done in many other places (such as the "FIFA courts" in South Africa). In that sense ambivalence towards soccer on the part of much of our citizenry is a positive thing with respect to our dealings with FIFA. We aren't so addicted to the sport (or so badly in need of money) that we will bend over for them (or pay them off) as willingly as some.
Again, hard to say. I think whoever hosts the tournament would have to make certain concessions, although politicians have to be careful of not appearing to be giving into demands easily.
An example would be the British Government's agreement to waive the tax rules for the Champions League Final - players on any foreign teams would have had to have paid a chunk of their prize money and bonuses to HMRC as they would be 'providing their services' in this country for the duration of the Final. It was all sorted out, though, and when Messi and company rolled into town they did so safe in the knowledge that HMRC wouldn't be demanding a cut.
Intersting. I have to confess I have no idea what FIFA would want from the US. I'm sure they would send Big Chuck Blazer over with a huge manifesto. I can guess there would be massive merchandizing deals, and FIFA would demand a big chunk (or all) of the profits from concessions and whatnot, while also expecting the host nation to sort out all the infrastructure on its own.
They'd have to have really thick local accents.
My mum went to elocution school to remove the scouse prior to stage managing the RSC, some would call her a traitor!
I'd never realized why they divorced...it must be this!
An example would be the British Government's agreement to waive the tax rules for the Champions League Final - players on any foreign teams would have had to have paid a chunk of their prize money and bonuses to HMRC as they would be 'providing their services' in this country for the duration of the Final. It was all sorted out, though, and when Messi and company rolled into town they did so safe in the knowledge that HMRC wouldn't be demanding a cut.
Very interesting, hadn't heard about that! Thanks for sharing.
USA 1-0 Guadeloupe.
I don't think I've ever been this depressed after a win before. Victory was assured from the first minute, and this was our chance to put up a big scoreline to match Mexico's sparkling results.
So. Many. Missed. Chances. I can't emphasize enough, in total seriousness, that we should have won this match 6-0. No joke. We created chance after chance after chance, only to miss repeatedly in the most shocking manner, either by farting around in front of the net when we should be shooting, or simple wayward finishing. Donovan was again not involved enough, Wolondowski is out of his depth (good positioning but too slow and poor finishing), Altidore was better but still too slow to shoot. Clint Dempsey looks tired. Despite working hard and creating often, he has lost he sharpness in front of goal. He missed an absolute sitter and should have had a hat trick today but came up empty-handed. I can only conclude that he's simply running out of steam coming off a full season in the Premier league plus a smattering of previous international commitments.
Our defense was shuffled, with Tim Ream being benched, Bocanegra moving into the vacant center back spot and Aston Villa's Eric Lichaj coming it at left back. The new-look defense looked pretty assured but against Guadeloupe we can learn nothing about how they will fare against stiffer opposition. Goodson got burned badly once or twice, I still worry about him.
The number one lesson that other teams are going to take from USA's last two matches is that we are incredibly slow and indecisive in front of goal, even though we create many chances. Opponents now know that their defensive errors will not be swiftly punished. Worse still, USA looked tired and lethargic in the second half, at a time when we should have been pummeling Guadeloupe for those extra goals.
One little shout out for Jozy Altidore, who unleashed a fierce 30-yard strike in the 7th minute for the game's only goal. If only it had been a foreshadowing of more offensive ruthlessness to come rather than the highlight of the match.
I want to rant on and on but I'll spare you further whining. Panama beat Canada today and that means we finish second in our group and face Jamaica this weekend in the quarterfinals. We must improve or we will be knocked out.
I don't think I've ever been this depressed after a win before. Victory was assured from the first minute, and this was our chance to put up a big scoreline to match Mexico's sparkling results.
So. Many. Missed. Chances. I can't emphasize enough, in total seriousness, that we should have won this match 6-0. No joke. We created chance after chance after chance, only to miss repeatedly in the most shocking manner, either by farting around in front of the net when we should be shooting, or simple wayward finishing. Donovan was again not involved enough, Wolondowski is out of his depth (good positioning but too slow and poor finishing), Altidore was better but still too slow to shoot. Clint Dempsey looks tired. Despite working hard and creating often, he has lost he sharpness in front of goal. He missed an absolute sitter and should have had a hat trick today but came up empty-handed. I can only conclude that he's simply running out of steam coming off a full season in the Premier league plus a smattering of previous international commitments.
Our defense was shuffled, with Tim Ream being benched, Bocanegra moving into the vacant center back spot and Aston Villa's Eric Lichaj coming it at left back. The new-look defense looked pretty assured but against Guadeloupe we can learn nothing about how they will fare against stiffer opposition. Goodson got burned badly once or twice, I still worry about him.
The number one lesson that other teams are going to take from USA's last two matches is that we are incredibly slow and indecisive in front of goal, even though we create many chances. Opponents now know that their defensive errors will not be swiftly punished. Worse still, USA looked tired and lethargic in the second half, at a time when we should have been pummeling Guadeloupe for those extra goals.
One little shout out for Jozy Altidore, who unleashed a fierce 30-yard strike in the 7th minute for the game's only goal. If only it had been a foreshadowing of more offensive ruthlessness to come rather than the highlight of the match.
I want to rant on and on but I'll spare you further whining. Panama beat Canada today and that means we finish second in our group and face Jamaica this weekend in the quarterfinals. We must improve or we will be knocked out.
Thank goodness for small blessings eh?
Welcome to the thread!
I didn't know that either. Wonder what they had for lunch?An example would be the British Government's agreement to waive the tax rules for the Champions League Final - players on any foreign teams would have had to have paid a chunk of their prize money and bonuses to HMRC as they would be 'providing their services' in this country for the duration of the Final. It was all sorted out, though, and when Messi and company rolled into town they did so safe in the knowledge that HMRC wouldn't be demanding a cut.
Latest update is that Shearer was unsuccessful in his talks with Cardiff. Perhaps the BBC pay better?
My money's on Di Matteo but we'll see...
An example would be the British Government's agreement to waive the tax rules for the Champions League Final - players on any foreign teams would have had to have paid a chunk of their prize money and bonuses to HMRC as they would be 'providing their services' in this country for the duration of the Final. It was all sorted out, though, and when Messi and company rolled into town they did so safe in the knowledge that HMRC wouldn't be demanding a cut.
This issue is giving problems to British organisers trying to organise big names to appear here. I believe Usain Bolt refuses to run in Britian as a result. Here it is explained by Huggie from The Scotsman newspaper (golf columnist but same rules apply.)
So if Nike give you £10m per year, you have to pay 50% tax on 1/52th (i.e. £96,153) just to attend a non-exempt event in Britian regarless of how much you win. Now I'm not going to say 'poor little sportsman' but can understand why they will prefer to stay in more tax efficient countries.
Presumably this must play quite a large role in events like Wimbledon, where they are competing for 2 weeks a year, and the earnings of Nadal, Federer are huge? Crazy.
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