[Echognome]

I wonder if there were odds on betfair for any (or all) of Josh's events.

[jdonn]

gwnn, on Jun 25 2009, 12:17 PM, said:

I think qualifying from the group after the first two rounds was way less likely than either two because as far as I know the first one is absolutely unprecedented whereas there have been similar upsets, especially in Confed Cup.

I don't know, US beating Egypt 3-0 combined with Brazil beating anyone 3-0 (or equivalent combination) seems more likely to me than US beating the top ranked team in the world on a 35 game streak 2-0.

[Aberlour10]

Team Brasil did not show by far it best performance, but one fantastic shooted free kick by Alves was enough to get to the final. Well done team SA!

[Fluffy]

jdonn, on Jun 25 2009, 08:47 PM, said:

gwnn, on Jun 25 2009, 12:17 PM, said:

I think qualifying from the group after the first two rounds was way less likely than either two because as far as I know the first one is absolutely unprecedented whereas there have been similar upsets, especially in Confed Cup.

I don't know, US beating Egypt 3-0 combined with Brazil beating anyone 3-0 (or equivalent combination) seems more likely to me than US beating the top ranked team in the world on a 35 game streak 2-0.

Egypt is stronger than you think.

[mike777]

Media article quoted stats company that gave USA a 21% chance to beat Brazil.

[gwnn]

Egypt beat Italy and could have held Brazil to a tie except for a random penalty decision on 93 minutes. USA showed some glimmer of football skills against Italy but a 3-0 against Egypt, wow

[Aberlour10]

mike777, on Jun 27 2009, 06:43 PM, said:

Media article quoted stats company that gave USA a 21% chance to beat Brazil.

German state bookmaker pays €6 for 1 ( if USA will win after 90 mins), €3,55 for a tie game, €1,30 if Brasil will win..

[Aberlour10]

Team USA dances samba with Brazilians, 2-0 after 30mins

[Hanoi5]

They won for 64', that's a lot. Brazil's class has come out anyway, so it'll be hard to beat them.

[Aberlour10]

Hanoi5, on Jun 28 2009, 03:12 PM, said:

They won for 64', that's a lot. Brazil's class has come out anyway, so it'll be hard to beat them.

yeah, I hoped they save the tie till the overtime, but the pressure was too big.

[PassedOut]

Brazil 3-2 U.S.
Good comeback by a very strong team. Fun game for us watching.

[gwnn]

Were people in general talking about the tournament in America?

[Mbodell]

gwnn, on Jun 28 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

Were people in general talking about the tournament in America?

No. Very brief mention only of the US making the finals as a lower importance sports event in sports coverage (like after the baseball scores and after the tennis results).

The main talking points in the US are Michael Jackson's death and the SC goven'r's "Appalachian hiking trip" to South America to be with his mistress.

[Aberlour10]

and what about the US youth? Does the soccer become significant growth in the high schools and colleges or is still far, far behind traditional US-sports?

[jjbrr]

Aberlour10, on Jun 28 2009, 07:03 PM, said:

and what about the US youth? Does the soccer become significant growth in the high schools and colleges or is still far, far behind traditional US-sports?

I played 4 years of soccer in high school, then when I got to college I coached some teams of younger kids. I like giving back to the community and such.

In my experience, soccer is still very far behind American football in terms of popularity. Football games are generally played on Friday nights, and they have very high attendance. Basketball is probably the next popular. That's true of the region I lived in, anyway. I'm sure there are regional differences, as we didnt play hockey and varsity lacrosse was still in its infancy.

I have noticed, however, that the progress of soccer is also regional. For example where I came from (East Tennessee) we had many nationally ranked high school teams. It seems every year I was in high school one or the other local high schools was ranked in the top 5 nationally, and some others were close behind. So East TN is a soccer "hot spot." Other such regions include Florida, North Carolina, California, and New England. Generally speaking, the competitiveness of the high school teams in these areas is higher than in other regions.

Despite such high rankings and high quality of play, the stands were still filled almost entirely with family of players. Attendance from students was generally very low. Again I can't speak for other regions, but it was not a very popular sport for students to watch for us.

That said, I think the soccer programs are growing some fine talent, and while it doesn't seem likely we'll be a perennial world power anytime in the next few generations, I think we have potential. Will it be as popular as football or basketball? Probably not.

[Mbodell]

Aberlour10, on Jun 28 2009, 04:03 PM, said:

and what about the US youth? Does the soccer become significant growth in the high schools and colleges or is still far, far behind traditional US-sports?

A ton of us kids play soccer at some level when young. But by high school soccer is not one of the main sports, generally.

[mike777]

The last two posts really sum up Soccer in the USA very well.
1) We have the population to be great.
2) We have the GDP(correlation) to be great.
3) We lack the passion.


Many more of us have played soccer than ever played football with helmets and fullpads..yet.....I can only surmise the utter violence of American football draws many more in.

[mike777]

Side note so many paying customers show up late and leave early when it comes to American Football and American baseball. Soccer is much quicker game, if you do not count all the pregame..aftergame stuff.

Of course perhaps many fans may think the before and after stuff is the best part of worldwide Football.

[TimG]

Mbodell, on Jun 28 2009, 06:28 PM, said:

gwnn, on Jun 28 2009, 02:51 PM, said:

Were people in general talking about the tournament in America?

No. Very brief mention only of the US making the finals as a lower importance sports event in sports coverage (like after the baseball scores and after the tennis results).

The main talking points in the US are Michael Jackson's death and the SC goven'r's "Appalachian hiking trip" to South America to be with his mistress.

I think this understates the coverage by a fair bit. The win over Spain was covered in the first few minutes of SportCenter (on ESPN). The NBA draft was on Thursday (the day after the US beat Spain), but even then soccer had a part in SportsCenter. Any mild sports fan would have to have been living in a cave not to know that the championship match was being held Sunday afternoon. I even made a point to watch it and the last time I watched a soccer game was during the last World Cup.

Michael Jackson's death has been huge news despite his irrelevance the last few years.

I don't know when the governor of South Carolina went on his hiking trip to South America, but the first I heard of it was yesterday morning (from a friend, I still haven't read or seen any news report on this matter).

[Rossoneri]

I feel sad now that I didn't watch the finals, sounds like a cracking game from the report!

For those who are too lazy to check: USA led 2-0 at half-time, lost 2-3 in the end.

Sidenote: BBC gave really great coverage of the event, including free webcast if you are in the UK, which was how I watched some of the earlier matches.