World Cup Fever!!!

[Salgueiros]

You have to be patient. Developing talent takes time and i believe there hasn't been a lot of attention or resources devoted to football in Canada. That presence in the World Cup in the 80's was a stroke of luck (combined with the fact that US was still not too into football which helped a lot). And after that i don't think anything was done.

Besides, some of potential canadian players chose to play for other countries. I am remembering Owen Hargreaves who played for England. The lack of clubs up until very recently also hampers a LOT the development of a stable amount of local talent. I believe it is changing, but you have to wait until the kids reach adult age.

Curiously there is a portuguese now responsible for the management and development of football in Canada (Tony Fonseca). He surely knows about football. He played in the top level league in Portugal and also in the Champions League (at the time it was called European Cup). Besides he comes from a school that has proven to be competent. I think the portuguese managers are probably better than the average since they seem to suceed everywhere they go (we export as much managers as players).

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Salgueiros

So Bilbo, you are English, right?

From my experience english fans are the most fascinating fans i talk to. They can go from blind faith to pure defeatism in the same phrase. It is always a lot of fun talking to them.

Where on earth could you find a TV channel where they spend an hour with a program selecting the worst England team of all time? And joking about it the whole time. I like the sportsmanship .

Yes, I'm English. That phrase you use about "blind faith to pure defeatism" is perfect. I personally swing from really truly believing that we will be knocked out at the group stage to being optimistic that we could get to the semi final and from there, who knows?

Mind you, the players don't help themselves. I watched England's last warmup game and it seemed to me that they weren't even listening to the excellent advice I was screaming at the television

[Salgueiros]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Yes, I'm English. That phrase you use about "blind faith to pure defeatism" is perfect. I personally swing from really truly believing that we will be knocked out at the group stage to being optimistic that we could get to the semi final and from there, who knows?

Mind you, the players don't help themselves. I watched England's last warmup game and it seemed to me that they weren't even listening to the excellent advice I was screaming at the television

I understand your feeling. We have that thing in common, i do mental when we (Portugal) do one of the things we do best: missing open goal opportunities or doing great against big teams and then losing, or dragging our feet when playing with small teams. I truly go bananas with that.

[Salgueiros]

and here is my prediction. I could not go away from the fact i think Brazil has too much in their favour not to win.

[kindlekitten]

Any one else just a little concerned about the location?

[Salgueiros]

What is wrong with the location?

[kindlekitten]

not Brazil itself but the stadium as there have been so many reports of the graft and sub standard construction that went into it

[Salgueiros]

The World Cup will be played in 12 (twelve) stadiums all across Brazil. Which one are you talking about?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Salgueiros

The World Cup will be played in 12 (twelve) stadiums all across Brazil. Which one are you talking about?

there are all sorts of issues;

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2...ld-cup/100755/

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/w...preview-120513

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ime-in-brazil/

and many many more

[HomeInMyShoes]

It's not much different than trying to go from Mendoza to Mar del Plata in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

Canada would have similar issues in trying to host the World Cup. As much as I laugh at it, ther are reasonably serious in pursuing the 2026 World Cup. Air travel in Canada is expensive and we're talking a huge country. It's probable that Montreal and Vancouver would be cities for a tournament. So let's look at your options for return trips between the two cities:

Plane: $807CDN (it's a seven hour flight)
Train: $1,644CDN(it'll take four complete days of travel time one way)
Automobile: 4,909km (two complete days if you never really stop and you have to drive through the United States for that short a route)

“Since there are no highways to the city, those who aren’t willing to spend days traveling up the Amazon by boat will rely on Brazil’s overstretched air transportation system, taking a four-hour flight that costs about $400 from Rio de Janeiro. One recent trip by air from Manaus to the coastal city of Natal, another World Cup city, required three stops and took more than 10 hours.”

The logistics of travel in Brazil are not that bad.

Regina could also be a potential host city since they will have the newest FIFA-ready stadium (2017 opening) with no passenger train service and a metro area of 200,000 people. There are also not enough hotels here for the amount of tourists that would come.

[Salgueiros]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

there are all sorts of issues;

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2...ld-cup/100755/

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/w...preview-120513

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ime-in-brazil/

and many many more

I did not see anything related with the stadiums, only the normal issues that are natural when having such a huge event in a continental size country.

Brazil is a fascinating country. I, as a football fan visiting Brazil for the World Cup would rather spend one day in a boat going up the Amazon river than a couple of hours in an american Interstate highway.

[Salgueiros]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

It's not much different than trying to go from Mendoza to Mar del Plata in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

Canada would have similar issues in trying to host the World Cup. As much as I laugh at it, ther are reasonably serious in pursuing the 2026 World Cup. Air travel in Canada is expensive and we're talking a huge country. It's probable that Montreal and Vancouver would be cities for a tournament. So let's look at your options for return trips between the two cities:

Plane: $807CDN (it's a seven hour flight)
Train: $1,644CDN(it'll take four complete days of travel time one way)
Automobile: 4,909km (two complete days if you never really stop and you have to drive through the United States for that short a route)

“Since there are no highways to the city, those who aren’t willing to spend days traveling up the Amazon by boat will rely on Brazil’s overstretched air transportation system, taking a four-hour flight that costs about $400 from Rio de Janeiro. One recent trip by air from Manaus to the coastal city of Natal, another World Cup city, required three stops and took more than 10 hours.”

The logistics of travel in Brazil are not that bad.

Regina could also be a potential host city since they will have the newest FIFA-ready stadium (2017 opening) with no passenger train service and a metro area of 200,000 people. There are also not enough hotels here for the amount of tourists that would come.

I travel frequently between Vancouver and Ottawa or Calgary and sometimes I wish sooooo much that Canada had a High Speed Train like in Europe.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Salgueiros

I did not see anything related with the stadiums, only the normal issues that are natural when having such a huge event in a continental size country.

Brazil is a fascinating country. I, as a football fan visiting Brazil for the World Cup would rather spend one day in a boat going up the Amazon river than a couple of hours in an american Interstate highway.

then you didn't read for content. there was a great deal about shoddy construction, graft, bribery, issues with policing pending service strikes and overall citizen discontent

[Salgueiros]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

then you didn't read for content. there was a great deal about shoddy construction, graft, bribery, issues with policing pending service strikes and overall citizen discontent

Pretty much standard in most events of this type.

[HomeInMyShoes]

High speed of say 300km/h would stilll probably take 16 hours with minimal stops in between to get from Vancouver to Toronto.

Anyway. Back to the World Cup. Who has the best-looking kits?

Going back and this is subject to change, I have the following quarterfinals based on shirts I'd wear.

Quarterfinals
Japan over Mexico
Argentina over Germany
Colombia over Spain
B&H over Belgium

SemiFinals
Argentina over Japan
Colombia over B&H

Finals
Argentina over Colombia