The World Cup

It’s fast approaching. On Thursday June 12th hosts Brazil will kick off against Croatia.

I’m a huge football fan and have a season ticket for my own club. I’m always depressed at the end of the season but not this year, the greatest players in the world will grace our TV screens and for those of you lucky enough to be there I am insanely jealous.

Being Scottish my country don’t get to participate in many tournaments so I have to support another team and for some reason I am drawn to Italy. Probably because I am also a Fiorentina Fan. My youngest child’s middle name is Gabriel, named after the angel of the same name and my favourite Fiorentina striker (The Angel Gabriel) Gabriel Batistuta. Then there is Luca Toni for Fiorentina and Italy (simply brilliant). Now Osvaldo, Ballotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy will lead the way.

Italy squad to be announced at some point today.

Who will you be supporting?

Baza

 

England and Spain. Because I am half English and half Spanish.

 

My Club (Celtic FC) Goalkeeper was named in the English squad.

Baza

 

Fraser has done himself and Celtic proud. He is a fine keeper and England should use him as he is a big presence to get past in the box, and he is pretty agile to.

 

I'm supporting Argentina. I've always loved Argentinian attackers and this year they seem to have the best offensive line up the world has ever seen.

Messi, Di Maria and Aguero playing together is like cheating lol. Especially as Di Maria and Aguero are in amazing form and Messi is Messi regardless.

Germany seems to have the strongest line up overall and I have that feeling where only Argentina will be able to beat them.

Anyway, I'm going all out this world cup. I've bought a new big screen tv just for this and the WC finals will signify the end of my weed-smoking days, so I'm getting enough of it to kill me and if I survive I'll quit forever haha

 

Yeah mate he has been a star for us and had a much better season than Joe Hart.

I thought you were from Netherlands. Who am i thinking of?

Baza

 

Van Zandt maybe?

 

I am.

But I rarely support them. I like players who ooze a desire to win, but Dutch players aren't like that at all. Overall, I'm just not a big fan of the Dutch mentality. I'm not actually Dutch though, so it's no real surprise. My brother doesn't agree with me, but he was born here so maybe it's different for him.

When my home country plays I feel a strange desire to root for them, but they suck unfortunately.

 

Fraser has his barnet a lot better fastened on that Artur Boruc (the next Polish Pope - bit of an in joke for anyone outside of Scotland), and as a consequence; very, very few howlers which Artur was sometimes prone to.

Virgil probably is still to junior to get into the Dutch team.

I am working in Holland right now. I was here in 1978 and watched Archie score vs Holland - the trainspotting goal - in a bar in Enschede on the German border.

I will not be supporting Holland as their current team is rubbish. I will be supporting Brazil as i have Brazilian friends here and they play football as it should be played - full of invention, flair and creativity.

 

Yeah the Holy Goalie (Legendary status to this day). Are you a Fan of the hoops?

The exception being Neymar who seems to fall over a blade of grass.

Baza

 

Yerp, I have green and white hoops through me from head to toe.

The SPL is becoming extremely dull without our beloved Bunz brethren, and could get a lot worse without the Jambos and the Trainspotting Hibzters.

Once Sally's mob were banished to play at Stenhousemuir etc, the 2 horse race became a very dull 1-horse race. I was kind of hoping that it would become a 1.5 horse race with everyone else competing a bit more, but 'twas not to be.

Not clear whether there will a Bungerz team at all in the near future - £70k+ in debt.

Glad Lennon is distancing himself from all the silly West of Scotland/N. Ireland stuff - we need to concentrate on boxing above our welter-weight with the big Euro teams - we cannot do this with idiotic chanting, players getting caught up in pub fights.

We could do with a creative Nakaumra, Larsson or Moravcik right now. Johannsen may have some of it as he is young.

 

The SPFL has been very good this year. Particualrly if you are a supporter of Aberdeen, Motherwell or the magnificent St. Johnstone (Great Euro exploits). very exciting end to the season with Hibs and Kilmarnock game.

In all honesty i don't miss The Rangers International Football Club PLC 2012. When i hear the hate spouted at the recent Scottish Cup semi final it reminds why i'm glad they are not on our radar. This doesn't belong here though but Sammy in the Greek squad does, i don't know why but i'm gonna miss him.

Apparently Alfreo Finnabogson isn't renewing his contract with Heerenveen so we may be able to put in a cheeky bid. Top goalscorer in Holland this year.

Baza

 

Well I'li be supporting England, although I know we haven't a cat in hell's chance of winning it. I'd be satisfied if we get to the quarters.

My gut feeling is that Argentina will win it, because they just seem to have so much quality, and they always seem to have bit more steel and resiliance than Brazil. Brazil winning it at home would be nice though.

I'd be surprised if a European team won it outside Europe for the first time. I suppose if anyone was going to do it then it would probably be Spain or Italy. Spain seem a wee bit predictable though. Everyone knows what they can do to you so they just 'park the bus' and let the Spanish pass it in front of them for ninety minutes. Italy on the other hand are always a good outside bet, and so are Germany, although the heat will be a factor that plays against all the northern European countries.

 

A good summary Johnno.

 

Obviously I'll be supporting England. No real expectations for them to achieve anything. I'm glad Hodgson's been bold in selecting young players. We were never going to win anyway, so laying the groundwork now for the team for the next 4 or 5 tournaments is a sensible decision, and has a chance of us winning Euro 2020. Stuart Pearce complained bitterly that the players who were on the cusp of the senior team were missing out on going to the under 21 tournaments which was hampering the senior team at tournaments. Hopefully this will go some way to resolving that.

 

Overall, I really like the squad that Hodgson has picked. Two or three selections I disagree with, but there are enough exciting new names in there to make me feel quite excited about how we might try to play in June. I just hope that the likes of Lallana and Barkley don't spend too much time warming the bench while tired old flops like Lampard lollop aimlessly around the pitch.

 

I just like seeing a good match, I'm not bothered who it is. The World Cup is like any big sporting event, it's the best of the best.

During big events I do like to tell the locals that I am following Sweden though, just a bit of fun, y'know. (Big rivalry between countries in the Nordics). But they're not in it.

Edit: I should mention that I am not a huge football fan and I only watch the bigger games and events. But don't worry, my girlfriend explains the game to me and who is in what colour shirt. I still don't get the off side rule though, even though she has explained it to me.

 

Champions League is much higher level, but the World Cup is grander in scale so most non-football fans think it's the pinnacle of the sport.

It's definitely more difficult to win the WC though, despite how contrary that sounds to my earlier statement.

 

the u.s.a., greece and italy. i've always had a soft spot for italian football since i was a child because of '82 and i follow serie a very closely--lazio and juventus specifically.

my parents are from greece. i admire the football team very much. nothing pretty about greece, but they get the job done. i really like this group also; could be one of the more interesting group outcomes in the entire tournament.

but i was born in the states, and i have season tickets to my local club: the chicago fire. i'm actually really excited about the u.s.a.'s chances, even considering germany and portugal in our group.