Reasons why I like the world cup:
If England win, their fans drink and fight. If England loose, they drink and fight. I find this an amusing aspect of the English character, especially when compared to their usual reserve. As a side note, tonight the BBC said they would no longer show matches live to outdoor audiences on 7 giant screens positioned around the UK. This is because in London fights broke out during the England - Paraguay match with 16 arrests, while in Liverpool the fans were throwing beer bottles and beer cans at each other.

I love the play acting, players falling to the ground as if poleaxed. No-one knows how to create a drama as well as a football player that wants the ref to award a free kick, a penalty or to book the other guy. One minute being carted off the field on a stretcher, the next charging half the length of the field and scoring a glorious goal (as in the Italy - Ghana match tonight).

Drama of penalty shootouts.

The different styles adopted by the various countries - the Argentinians like to cheat, the Italians like to score in the first 10 minutes then sit back and absorb pressure for 80 minutes, watching the Germans is like watching an industrial machine at work, the Brazilians like to attack, the English are often left struggling to cope with their Manager's weird substitutions. The African nations have a style all their own, best summed up as adventurous.

The occasional triumph of the under-dog. Trinidad's nin-nil draw with Sweden while playing with only 10 men for half the match - a great result. Tough on Sweden though.

Then there is the idea of football as a substitute for war, either WW2 or war in general. England doesn't mind if they don't win the World Cup, just as long as they beat Germany. France has to win the World Cup because it never wins a war, Argentina and England are still fighting the Falklands war and Holland wants Germany to return all the bicycles the Germans took from the Dutch in WW2.

The second best thing about the World cup is that the competition always seems to take place with a fantastic spirit of friendliness and good humour between the competing nations. The shots of the Ghana and Italy squads having a laugh and a joke with each other just minutes before walking out on the pitch for a hard fought match, with the little 5 and 6 year old mascots looking on wide eyed, are moments to savour in a strife ridden world.

The best thing is 90 minutes of TV with no adverts.

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This post has been edited by mik: Jun 13 2006, 12:11 AM

Yes I like the World Cup myself for similar reasons as what you have said. And speaking of the underdog what about Australia's win against Japan !!!!. I'm from Australia and the last 10 minute comeback is some of the best football I have ever seen. Come on Aussie, come on !!!!

Lol, I did not know that. Its really funny.

The main reason why I like the world cup, is the emotion in it. It is really exciting to see your team fight for the championship. It really is like a war, you have to use strategy, intelligence, speed and strength. Though its a different type of war, fought with your legs and a ball instead of weapons. Australias game was amazing!! Keep it up!

What I like about Mexico is that they keep you suffering until the last minute. Their games are very random, they never win as easily as Brasil, Germany or any of those other teams. They are very tough games.

So far, I think this World Cup is doing great, one of the best so far.

Yes, for an Aussie fan, that must have been fantastically exciting stuff, well done the Aussies!
I am supposedly an England fan (well, I live in the UK), as long as they don't screw up.
But I often find myself rooting for different teams on the spur of the moment.
Japan look so neat as long as they kept the ball on the ground, anything in the air, they were wildly inaccurate and hopeless. Plus they lack killer instinct.
All the UK TV pundits were downgrading Italy before their match because they said the team was old and there were all the problems of match fixing scandals back in Italy that must be weighing heavily on their minds, but for me thay were the most together team in the competition so far. Shows how much pundits know.

It is an interesting event, i love the world cup, i wish they would make it every two years.. i think 4 years is to long..but it's fun watching players cry and getting knocked around... and the part i like the most is that the most powerful nations in the world are the weakest...

The aussies did very well at the world cup.

they defnitely made a few people regard them as a serious football team.

pity they got stooged by the italians. unfortunate way to exit the comp.

it has been alot of fun watching all the games. It is really a shame that it is ending in a few days. I will really miss all the excitment. I wish that it came around sooner than every 4 years.

The world cup may be over, but the drama for Italy continues.

There has been a massive match fixing scandal that has gripped all of Italy, that was unfolding prior to the world cup. Just as the scandal was reaching a climax, the world cup loomed, and everything was effectively put on hold. Now that world cup is over, an annoncement is to be made tonight by the Italian Football Assoc. after the stock market has closed as to the fate of the four top Italian clubs that are implicated in the match fixing fraud.

The four clubs involved, Juventus, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, should find out whether they have been relegated from the Italian Serie A competition which is the equilavent of the English Premier Division.

Thirteen players in Italy's World Cup-winning squad are currently under contract with the clubs involved in the match fixing trial. And eight of the players, five of them Italian and the other three French, who played in the Berlin final are with Juventus. None of these players can be sure where they will be playing next season. The biggest clubs in Europe are poised to swoop with juicy contracts should any or all of the four Italian clubs be demoted from Italy's top division.

And for clubs themselves, the future might turn out to be anything but bright as demotion would mean the loss of lucrative TV contracts.

I like the world cup (this last one at least) because of Zidane. What a great headbutt. And it spawned so many animated gifs! Check these out:

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/8925/zidane9ry.gif (classic)
http://content.ytmnd.com/content/b/d/d/bdd...00bdd81a17a.gif (Pokémon)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9098/zidanefly4yo.gif (Counter-attack)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5623/zidanegun4px.gif (sniper)
http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/984/zidanerpg0ul.gif (RPG)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7948/zidanesf9ee3od.gif
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5072/zidanespace0xi.gif (Death Star)
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5799/zidanexplos1ss.gif
http://gifdump.com/uploads/Zinedine%20Zida...per%20Mario.gif (Mario)

This post has been edited by beeseven: Jul 16 2006, 12:40 AM