Football is about players...Undoubtedly, football is also about pride, but it's also about all those other things. Winning the World Cup is never a fluke. Luck gets you through a moment, but hard work and skill and teamwork and mental something gets you through the other 89 moments.
Football is about scoring goals that ultimately win matches.
[F]ootball is about very, very, very, very fine margins.
Football is about mistakes.
Football is about winning trophies.
...football is about money.
Football is about skill and chance, and it's no fun when football executives do their best to stifle either.
International football is about keeping the ball.
...football is about more than just pretty patterns.
...football is about dreams and if you work hard enough, you can achieve them.
... football is about price and ego inflation brought about by the wiles of the clubs that represent the game.
Football is about to lose itself
... football is about confidence and believing in yourself.
Football is about beating your opponent...
...football is about mental strength...
...football is about defending.
...football is about the whims of managers.
...football is about performance.
Football is about attacking and defending.
Football is about more than goals and glory. It is about community and a sense of belonging.
Football is about tribal loyalties, and totally irrational loves and hates.
Football is about winning games!
and
football is about to begin...
"I know that the Uruguayans are the designated villains, but don't the names of the entire Dutch team sound like those of villains from gothic novels?" [...] "Vampires: Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Robin van Persie, Demy de Zeeuw. Werewolves: Dirk Kuyt, Wesley Sneijder, Mark van Bommel, Arjen Robben. Mad scientists: Maarten Stekelenburg, John Heitinga, Joris Mathijsen. And to top it all, Khalid Boulahrouz is already called The Cannibal."Thanks, "Karl".
STAT SPECIAL with Kári Tulinius, doing my job so I don't have to:Yes, yes we do.
"Since Brazil defended its title in 1962," he writes, "the World Cup has alternated between Europe and South America, but this time it will pass from one European team to another. This will also be the first time since West Germany won in 1954 that Europe will have more World Cup titles than South America. If Spain wins tonight, this final will be the first time two teams that have never won the World Cup play each other since 1978. Also, of course, the first time a European team wins the title outside of Europe." You get the feeling he should be doing this?
Sydney, July 10: Harry, a 700-kg crocodile living in a Darwin crocodile park Saturday backed Paul the octopus in picking Spain to win the World Cup.[source] Apparently this is real, and not a spoof. Also, Chinese time-traveler predicted the Holland-Spain final, saying Sneijder will score in a 2-1 Dutch win.
The crocodile took less than a minute to decide and launch itself out of the water to eat a chicken dangling under a Spanish flag rather than one hanging from a Dutch flag.
Mick Burns, owner of Crocosaurus Cove, told the Northern Territory News he got the idea from watching Paul, an octopus in Germany that has successfully picked the result of every German game in the World Cup.
Paul also predicted Spain to beat the Netherlands in Sunday's final.
But Harry's betting style is different. The crocodile thrashed around for some time to wrest the chicken from the line bearing the Spanish flag.
"That means it's going to be a close and aggressive game with a 1-0 result for Spain," Burns said.
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For me, its Argentina FTW; they have played the most beautiful football and even beat Greece and their anti-football-all-11-men-in-their-own-half. Brazil look good, but are not the Brazil of old. Sorry to see Chili go out, I like Bielsa (anyone fancy starting a Bielsa for England Campaign with me?)
posted by marienbad at 3:56 AM on July 2, 2010 [2 favorites]