Congrats on Ukraine... I wouldnt say Brazil plays like a girl.... they are a finess team...

Hopefully you get an easy group... qualifying is easy, its doing something in the WC that is hard... Argentina qualified a few months ago, they have a long wat to go to prepare for WC...

One day there will be a time when the US will win a World Cup. Entire countries will be riled up for weeks and months in support of their team to represent their honor and glory in the international sport that they all worship. And there our guys will be with the championship trophy, with less than ten percent of our population paying close attention... and much fewer than that will have been cheering on the US team before the World Cup qualifying games.

I remember the last time we upset Mexico and knocked them out of the world cup. Children crying in the street, masses of villages in mourning for their pathetic excuse for a soccer team getting beat by a country where soccer is at most the 4th most popular sport.

I once had a friend in high school who lived in England the first 9 years of his life. He was always trying to explain this crappy game to me and how much better it was than all the other American sports. It's so funny how Europeans and other countries love that sport so goddamn much.

That's what I meant, a finess team, not a physical team. Physical teams are England, Germany, Danemark, Sweden, etc. So if you want to say a team plays like a girl - the closest thing is the southern technical style. I'd say teams like Argentina and France are a mix and utilize both, like Netherlands and Italy, etc. Then you got your African teams which just dominate you speed and endurance wise...

And yeah, carlos, I douldn't say qualifying is very easy in Europe. We had Danemark, Turkey and Greece in our group alone (we also had some shitty ass teams) which are all pretty known soccer powers in the World. Ukraine also almost qualified the last two years but lost in the play-offs to Croatia in 1998 (they finished 3rd in the WC that year) and they lost to Germany in 2000 (they finsihed 2nd in WC that year). So we've been really close, just could never overcome the last *huge* bump. This time we got the first place in group, not the usual 2nd and don't have to through the play-offs. I'm pretty stocked... hopefully they won't choke.

The US is a melting pot of styles, really. I find that appropriate.

I'd love to piss in Europe's oatmeal this year.

I really thought we'd do it about 10 years ago when Lalas and co were playing...

Our players still have a ways to go to compete without alot of luck... We need to be twice as good as lalas and those teams just to compete...

I understand that now, but back then I was 17 and there was actually some PR behind our team...

i thought this was a court verdict over vick

There is absolutely no comparison between now and then. We are light years ahead of where we were back then. We have vastly more talent, depth, and experience, even with -- no, especially with -- the 20-23 year olds, than that pool of players could have ever imagined.

It's nowhere near the 4th most popular sport in the US. I can name at least 8 sports that are more popular in the US than soccer. Not necessarily in order:
1. Football
2. Baseball
3. Basketball
4. NASCAR
5. Boxing
6. Golf
7. Hockey
8. Tennis