Soccer/Football
Related: About this forumWho are your first and second favorite teams?
I was thinking it might be fun to talk a little bit about our favorite teams. Which team's song do you know by heart? Why do you like that team so much? Who do you especially like seeing your team beat? If everyone employed by your team suddenly decided they'd all rather be accountants than footballers, is there a second team that you'd like to cheer for?
My team of course is FC Bayern Munchen. I got hooked on the lot after watching several of them finish 3rd with Germany in the last World Cup, and I really appreciate how they all just seem to work with such precision, determination, and understanding on the pitch together. None of them (apart from Arjen Robben, who will likely be going away this summer) take on a diva-ish persona either, which is nice given some of the personalities in the game. Teams that are especially fun to see my boys beat include Schalke 04, Dortmund, Chelsea, and Barca!
If all the guys at Bayern decided to go help Uli Hoeness with his tax problems, though, I would support Norwich City. They need a little help up front, but on the whole they play a pretty clean, attitude-free game. They are majority owned by a woman, which is awesome IMO, and they hired a coach last summer who is more or less a socialist.
oldironside
(1,248 posts)One club, one country. That's all you should get. In answer to the first, WHTID.
In answer to the second, I have the misfortune to be associated with this bunch of congenital losers.
Some things in life you just have no choice over.
As for the rest, clubs and countries are ranked in descending order of detestation, starting with Spurs, then Man City, Millwall, on down to the nothing clubs I have no strong opinion on but still would never support. So, if Spurs play Arsenal, I want Arsenal to win, but not because of any affection for the Gooners. I just dislike them less. However, if Spurs play Man City or Liverpool, I hope they both lose. The manager can make a difference. I admired Revie's Leeds (not a popular opinion, I have to admit), have a lot of respect for Arsene Wenger, but really didn't like Mancini.
Same with international teams. Argentina are top of that particular list (not known for their charm or likeability), followed by Scotland and Germany (I'm of the generation that remembers Klinsmann diving his way to a World Cup winner's medal).
Football on one level at least should be a healthy sort of tribalism, a chance to blow off steam with irrational emotions. As for Bayern, they are the German Man Utd - too full of themselves to be admired.
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)...FC Santa Claus!
Best football team name ever, that!
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)The Silverbacks are basically the only local pro-soccer team in my area. They are also #1 in the NASL table right now. Team USA I've been a supporter of since 1994.
Aquavit
(488 posts)and also new players in place of Josy Altidore and Michael Bradley. The players give the team a bad name IMO, and Klinnsman is a terrible coach. Other than those three, I am pretty neutral about Team USA.
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)They had a draw at Azteca for the first time EVER and they beat Jamaica at Kingston.
Aquavit
(488 posts)Only just a few players who are divers/cheap. And, again, their coach is awful. Shame on him for nearly selling Thomas Mueller when he was at the helm for FC Bayern Munich!
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Altidore and Bradley have been the two best players on the team over the last few qualifiers. Klinsmann's managed the team to the top of the CONCACAF hex table. You post makes zero sense to me...
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)I've a complicated international background with relatives in (reading from left to right), the US, Iceland, the UK, Holland, Germany, & Italy and grow up and lived in different countries (military family) myself, though I've now lived in the US for well over 30 years now.
I actually only became a football fan late in life while living in Holland in the seventies and getting caught up in the fever of the '74 World Cup. I had season tickets for the local club, FC Twente of Enschede from '74 through '79. Incredibly cheap at the time because if was for the terracing (standing section) in a corner of the stadium. At that time, Twente were a decent side but by no means a great one. Still, they usually played in the UEFA every year and I saw some great European sides play there.
I suppose you could say the Dutch national team and Twente were my first teams, though my feelings have cooled somewhat since. After moving to the US, I almost got out of football altogether because it was almost impossible to keep up with it at that time, though I managed to never miss a World Cup.
I was able to get access to English first division games through an Arsenal-supporting mate who worked in the audio-visual department at my workplace, and who had access to international satellites. We'd support them together and I continued supporting them after he died. This was when Arsenal played terrible, dull unimaginative football under George Graham, but hey, when they won the league with that final kick of the ball against Liverpool at Anfield... Well... That was magic...
As with love, you can't pick your club, your club picks you
Other than that, I have number of clubs I like and dislike to various degrees in the EPL as with international sides.
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)Mainly due to the fact that I'm a Derek & Clive fan, devout anti-facist and Clint Dempsey plays for them.
I kind of like Tottenham, too. Hopefully Bale stays!
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...
Aquavit
(488 posts)Would you support it? I mean, that'd be like Frank Lampard going to Arsenal wouldn't it?
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)..but essentially I'd still think he was a shit footballer even though he was wearing the correct shirt...
many a good man
(5,998 posts)May your time in relegation be brief!
Mallorca, Mallorca, tot Mallorca està amb tu; i sempre direm com el Mallorca no hi ha ningú.
Mallorca, Mallorca,...
Cap amunt, cap amunt! sempre amunt, sempre amunt! el Mallorca guanyarà.
Cap amunt, cap amunt! sempre amunt, sempre amunt! el Mallorca triomfarà.
Mallorca!!, Mallorca!! Mallorca!!, Mallorca!! Mallorca, Mallorca tot Mallorca...
Guanyarem, guanyarem! triomfarem, triomfarem! el Mallorca és superior!!
Guanyarem, guanyarem!! triomfarem, triomfarem!! El Mallorca és superior!!
Then FC Barcelona.
T_i_B
(14,804 posts)Why? Because I was born & raised in Sheffield. It's that simple. Never had much time for the Blunts and even after all the crap we have been through in recent times I'm still a proud Wednesdayite.
Don't do 2nd teams, although I may have a slight soft spot for Colchester United due to my time living in that neck of the woods.
I have England as my national team, although it's difficult to summon up much enthusiasm for the national side at the moment.
oldironside
(1,248 posts)... I usually watch a bit of this. Perfect satire, from the trip to the sports science institute, via Tonka in the bath, to the improvised team talk. There will never be a better football movie.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2014, 07:11 PM - Edit history (1)
Favorite men's club teams:
1. Portland Timbers FC
2. Manchester City
Favorite men's national teams:
1. USMNT
2. Spain (I luvs me some tiki taka)
Favorite women's club teams:
1. Portland Thorns FC
2. Arsenal
Favorite women's national teams:
1. USWNT
2. Canada (Christine Sinclair!)
Aquavit
(488 posts)Mario Gomez is going to own Serie A, I just know it!
sensenig
(2 posts)I like La Liga Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Most Premier League clubs are like.
Did not particularly like, each club has its own characteristics.
Sky Masterson
(5,240 posts)Chelsea is number 1 and The US Womens National team.
Big fan of Megan Rapinoe.
And this!! She kicked it in the damn net from a corner and not one person touched it.
http://futbolpulse.com/2012/08/09/bend-it-like-megan-rapinoe/
Bend It Like Megan Rapinoe
About 10-15 percent of goals in football are scored following a corner kick. In a very rare occasion, the goal is scored directly from the corner. Megan Rapinoe, a midfielder in the US Womens National Football Team, did just that in their semifinal game with Canada during the Olympics. With the team down at 1-0, Rapinoe was getting ready to take a corner kick. On the 54th minute, she kicked the ball, which started curving toward the goal and causing confusion among the Canadians. The ball just squeezed past the left post and flew into the net, hitting a few defenders already inside the goal.
This rare occurence in football is called a Gol Olimpico (Olympic Goal) in Latin America. This name was first used on the 2nd of October in 1924, after Cesáreo Onzari of Argentina scored a corner kick goal against Uruguay (1924 Olympic Champions). It is very hard to score directly from a corner kick.
Generally, there are three distinct ways to score an Olimpico:
a certain amount of spin is applied to the kick
the ball is kicked from the part of the corner arc farthest from the goal
a strong wind in the goalward direction changes the trajectory of the ball
or any combination of the three factors
ornotna
(11,075 posts)YNWA
Oddly enough my second team is Arsenal. Yeah, I haven't figured it out either.
Aquavit
(488 posts)ornotna
(11,075 posts)Luis Suarez won't be going anywhere, yet. He was on the field before the start of the match and up in the stands with his family during.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/liverpool-luis-suarezs-feud-brendan-2183624
anakie
(1,027 posts)Everton and whoever is playing Liverpool. NSNO.
PlanetaryOrbit
(155 posts)When it comes to the World Cup, I would support the United States and England.
Aquavit
(488 posts)Are going to be awesome for the next couple years with Ozil on board. What a great pickup for your team. That said...
BKH70041
(961 posts)Go Baggies!!
Aquavit
(488 posts)[image] [/image]
JonLP24
(29,352 posts)If forced to choose it would either by Seattle or Colorado but holding out until Arizona gets a MLS team, if they ever get one.
regnaD kciN
(26,599 posts)ceron
(1 post)This word. I think I choose to be in Bayern Munich. His performance has been in reason. Have no what can be picky. I want to see his progress. Instead of his achievements.This is Bayern Munich:http://www.wysjg.com/bayern-munich-c-1_2/ .
[url=http://www.wysjg.com/bayern-munich-c-1_2/][img][/img][/url]