All Things FIFA World Cup

[lawlifelgbt]

I just wanted to start a thread on everything to do with the soccer World Cup! (Or football as it's called outside the US). I am American-born and raised, but went on frequent trips to Germany. Ever since being there on a student trip for most of the Cup when Germany hosted in 2006, I have been interested in soccer and thrown my support behind the German national team each time. I sobbed when they finally won last time (when they won in 1990, I was only 3 months old!), since I was so happy. My favorite players are Thomas Mueller (damn, no umlauts on FJ that I can see, so I'll have to make do), Mario Goetze, and Sami Khedira.

I thought of this topic because it's a pipe dream of mine to get an authentic German jersey of either Goetze or Mueller. Not even to wear, just to frame! But I know they're dead expensive, plus there's the exchange rate too (replicas are going for about $145 US). But, my obsessive wanting aside, who here at FJ also follows soccer?

Which teams and players do you like? Can you recommend a good soccer club for me to follow easily from the US during non-Cup years? Anyone ever been to a Cup game? What do you all think of Russia hosting the next one? (Frankly, I'm pissed because of their "gay propaganda" law- if your country's not safe for 10% of the population, you shouldn't get rewarded with big events). And Qatar for after that?

Also, any soccer fans of any type of team in the US? What do you think about following it here, since in my experience it's certainly less popular than it is elsewhere- how do you still get non-Cup games and so on?

ETA: Mods, move this if you like; it's sports, technically, so maybe it should go under hobbies, but the Cup is a "worldly" event, so...

[DaffyDill]

So this is for umlauts, not the World Cup specifically but...I'm on a Macbook, and type the letter u, and hold the key down and a little box appears with umlautes and accents etc so I can type Müller

Actually, here ya go @lawlifelgbt - for PCs

To type umlaute using the US International Keyboard layout, type a quotation mark (") and then the letter over which you would like the umlaut to appear, i.e. a, A, o, O, u, or U. Nothing will appear on your screen when you type the quotation mark; once you type the a, o or u, the umlauted ä, ö or ü will appear.

I really only follow the Aussies progress in the World Cup. 

A few years ago, when they did really well, considering our size, practically the whole country got up in the middle of the night to watch - it was pretty awesome really. Once, I was awake in the wee small hours for the World Cup, and glanced out the front window to see all the neighbours lights coming on as well

I should get my sons to join FJ to talk World Cup with you. They're mad football fans and know all the players, follow the English Premier league avidly. One follows Aresnal, and the other Chelsea. They'd talk your leg off.

[lawlifelgbt]

So this is for umlauts, not the World Cup specifically but...I'm on a Macbook, and type the letter u, and hold the key down and a little box appears with umlautes and accents etc so I can type Müller

Actually, here ya go @lawlifelgbt - for PCs

I really only follow the Aussies progress in the World Cup. 

A few years ago, when they did really well, considering our size, practically the whole country got up in the middle of the night to watch - it was pretty awesome really. Once, I was awake in the wee small hours for the World Cup, and glanced out the front window to see all the neighbours lights coming on as well

I should get my sons to join FJ to talk World Cup with you. They're mad football fans and know all the players, follow the English Premier league avidly. One follows Aresnal, and the other Chelsea. They'd talk your leg off.

Thanks for the tip! I've just tried it, and umlauts worked. I was also surprised by Australia's progress that time!

I'd also like to talk to people who know more soccer than I do, since as I said I didn't get into it until I was 16, and it's harder to follow soccer in the US. I don't think I'll ever back English leagues though, since I can speak fluent German and it seems such a waste not to use it by following and watching German leagues.

[DaffyDill]

Thanks for the tip! I've just tried it, and umlauts worked. I was also surprised by Australia's progress that time!

I'd also like to talk to people who know more soccer than I do, since as I said I didn't get into it until I was 16, and it's harder to follow soccer in the US. I don't think I'll ever back English leagues though, since I can speak fluent German and it seems such a waste not to use it by following and watching German leagues.

Yeah unfortunately I'm not a huge fan. I do know a bit about the rules etc from when my boys played (soccer parents, now there's a frightening thing!) but I don't follow it enough to really be much help. I'm more of an F1 and WEC racing gal, myself

[Lillybee]

I did follow the USA women's team during their world cup run.One of the women played in my daughter's league.

[lawlifelgbt]

I really should get into following women's teams as well, since of course lesbians like me are supposed to be good feminists, right? 

[mausi]

On 21 November 2015 at 1:17 AM, DaffyDill said:

I should get my sons to join FJ to talk World Cup with you. They're mad football fans and know all the players, follow the English Premier league avidly. One follows Aresnal, and the other Chelsea. They'd talk your leg off.

Tough year to be a Chelsea fan lol. They drew up scoreless against Man U last match, the disappointment was palpable from both sides. 

On 21 November 2015 at 10:36 PM, lawlifelgbt said:

Which teams and players do you like? Can you recommend a good soccer club for me to follow easily from the US during non-Cup years? Anyone ever been to a Cup game? What do you all think of Russia hosting the next one? (Frankly, I'm pissed because of their "gay propaganda" law- if your country's not safe for 10% of the population, you shouldn't get rewarded with big events). And Qatar for after that?

Do you mean a national team to follow or a club team? Since you said you like the German team in international play, the easiest Bundesliga club to follow from outside of Germany is probably FC Bayern. My grandparents lived in Munich back in the day and the family was Bayern/Kurt Landauer fans, so I was grandfathered in as a Bayern supporter even before I moved to Munich myself. Although I get why other teams love to hate Bayern, lol...

As for Russia, I think it is ridiculous but what do we expect from FIFA? Or international sport commissions more generally, see: Sochi Olympics. There is their stance on LGBT rights, but also their involvement in Ukraine, recent killing of political opponents, etc. But you know -- have money, preferably with some of it being transferred under the table, and football will play there. Qatar is even more ridiculous however, because the actual playing conditions (temperature) have been deemed unsafe for the players.

[lawlifelgbt]

2 minutes ago, mausi said:

Tough year to be a Chelsea fan lol. They drew up scoreless against Man U last match, the disappointment was palpable from both sides. 

Do you mean a national team to follow or a club team? Since you said you like the German team in international play, the easiest Bundesliga club to follow from outside of Germany is probably FC Bayern. My grandparents lived in Munich back in the day and the family was Bayern/Kurt Landauer fans, so I was grandfathered in as a Bayern supporter even before I moved to Munich myself. Although I get why other teams love to hate Bayern, lol...

As for Russia, I think it is ridiculous but what do we expect from FIFA? Or international sport commissions more generally, see: Sochi Olympics. There is their stance on LGBT rights, but also their involvement in Ukraine, recent killing of political opponents, etc. But you know -- have money, preferably with some of it being transferred under the table, and football will play there. Qatar is even more ridiculous however, because the actual playing conditions (temperature) have been deemed unsafe for the players.

I was thinking that Bayern is the team to follow for me, because it's not hard to keep up on, and some national players, IIRC, came from that league.

I agree about Qatar as well. In order to make it safe for the players, they're either going to have to air-condition the stadium (thus wasting huge amounts of money and energy, and probably changing the nature of the game), play the cup in winter/at night (making it harder to watch worldwide), or risk players dropping dead.

Is it horrible of me to hope that some player(s) might come out right before or during the cup in Russia? Because it's not like Russia could then go after them for "gay propaganda..." at that point. What a crock of shit. Existing does NOT mean propagandizing. Even in the US, people say I am "pushing" my gayness or the LGBTQ agenda, but I just live here and don't lie or obfuscate who I am or who I am in a relationship with.