***Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Thread***

[DJCandle]

I'm not knowledgeable about soccer....can someone explain why African teams can never compete? is it just economic resources?

In all honesty, it's the lack of mental stamina, and discipline. What they expel in bullish physical attributes, simply does not dictate for 90 mins against a team with the same physicality's, but with sharper precision passing, and a bit of cheekiness. This is why they never make it to the finals of the World Cup because they lack in the final phase of the match.

 

[Nzinga]

In all honesty, it's the lack of mental stamina, and discipline. What they expel in bullish physical attributes, simply does not dictate for 90 mins against a team with the same physicality's, but with sharper precision passing, and a bit of cheekiness. This is why they never make it to the finals of the World Cup because they lack in the final phase of the match.

Everything he said is bullshit. The first reason is this. Of the 32 teams in the World Cup, 14 are from Europe, and 6 are from South America. Before 1990, Africa was allowed 1 team. In 1986, this was increased to 2, and then in 1990 it was increased to 4 on the strength of the run Cameroon had, beating the defending Champions Argentina, Colombia and Russia. They were on the way to the semi finals, leading 2-0, against England, when some dubious calls were made that awarded England 2 penalties in the last 10 minutes. In 1994, Nigeria were on the way to the Semi finals, when defensive midfielder Sunday Oliseh decided to show up the Italians by playin the ball in the backfield. The Italians took the ball from him, and scored with 2 minutes to go.

As you can see, we are numerically disadvantaged. Our history is also bare because, we as independent countries are about 45 years old on average and did not participate in the first 35 years of the world cup. In 1970, they gave us our first place. Ten years later, Algeria did well, was supposed to go to the next round, but was forked out by a gentleman's agreement betweent the two Nazi countries, Germany and Austria..

In 2002, Senegal defeated defending champion France, against lost in the semi-finals, have become afflicted with a mysterious fatigue.

Africa has talent on par, if not better, up to the under 20 level. Ever since the junior tournaments were incepted Africa has made a statement, if not winning then coming up runner up, in most of them.

The differentiation occurs at the the senior level. At that point, the Europeans who have money to continue training their players in the pro levels, gain an advantage. Africans simply are unable to compete at the national team and club levels due to our meager resources. This is the main reason why they beat us. However, they will be the first ones to tell you that even with the odds stacked against them, we still give them a hard time.

The bullshit about mental toughness and stamina is ignorant bullshit from someone who knows nothing about football. The day an American is among the first 10 people in a marathon, come back and talk to me about stamina.

 

[rzarector2]

^ YH its got to do with Mentality, look at South America, most them countries are just as poor and have the same youth funds as African countires. All you need is a ball and a pitch with two goals. Thats all the resources you need. After that its up to You to put in the work. You do that you'll have scouts from France checking on you, then if you play good there, you'll make it to bigger leagues like in England or Spain. Thats how things go.

Ivory Coast have a real good chance, I didnt know they had Keita as well. Along with the 2 Toure's, Eboue, Kalou and Drogba.. I would say their match against Portugal will be the biggest game in all of the Group games IMO. il say its 55/45 to Portugal on odds but thats gonna be one big match.

Also, I could swear that there was never 3 games in 1 day before, is this the first time this has happened. I cant remember, most of the times theres just 2 << in the group games. :/

 

[Nzinga]

^ YH its got to do with Mentality, look at South America, most them countries are just as poor and have the same youth funds as African countires. All you need is a ball and a pitch with two goals. Thats all the resources you need. After that its up to You to put in the work. You do that you'll have scouts from France checking on you, then if you play good there, you'll make it to bigger leagues like in England or Spain. Thats how things go.

Ivory Coast have a real good chance, I didnt know they had Keita as well. Along with the 2 Toure's, Eboue, Kalou and Drogba.. I would say their match against Portugal will be the biggest game in all of the Group games IMO. il say its 55/45 to Portugal on odds but thats gonna be one big match.

Also, I could swear that there was never 3 games in 1 day before, is this the first time this has happened. I cant remember, most of the times theres just 2 << in the group games. :/

South Americans are not as poor as Africans. South America countries are on average 5 times richer per person than Africans are. Furthermore, there are only two countries in South America that are better than Africa in the world cup. These are Brazil and Argentina. The world cup wins of Uruguay in 1930 and 1950 do not count. The first was boycotted by most countries, the other one was so far ago it does not represent the reality of modern football.


Furthermore, many South America coutries have been around for 3 or 4 hundred years, where as African countries are 45 years old, and were not allowed to participate in the world cup before 1970. For the next 16 years, only one place was given to Africa...

And what has America done in the world cup, they are usually the worst team in the field..Are they not mentally tough?

 

[rzarector2]

^ well we'll see this summer how they do, i dont see any excuses this time. And Europe have aroaund 14 teams in it, cos they are more or less the best in the world at football (along with bra/arg).

ru saying countires that came second in their groups like france and portugal shouldnt play so teams that didnt make it out of the group qual in africa shoud play when the quality in difference is there to see.

 

[bigvince06]

South Americans are not as poor as Africans. South America countries are on average 5 times richer per person than Africans are. Furthermore, there are only two countries in South America that are better than Africa in the world cup. These are Brazil and Argentina. The world cup wins of Uruguay in 1930 and 1950 do not count. The first was boycotted by most countries, the other one was so far ago it does not represent the reality of modern football.


Furthermore, many South America coutries have been around for 3 or 4 hundred years, where as African countries are 45 years old, and were not allowed to participate in the world cup before 1970. For the next 16 years, only one place was given to Africa...

And what has America done in the world cup, they are usually the worst team in the field..Are they not mentally tough?

You live in America right? You do realize that unlike in damn near every other country in the world, including African countries, football is at the bottom of the sports hierarchy. Further, while Cameroon, Cote d'ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria et al, have legitimate international superstars on their rosters, the US is made up of BS players. Given that the Africa is football mad and produces legitimate football superstars, the question of why African countries don't progress is indeed fair. I mean the US has progressed as far as any African country has in the world cup...

 

[Chiyo]

South Americans are not as poor as Africans. South America countries are on average 5 times richer per person than Africans are. Furthermore, there are only two countries in South America that are better than Africa in the world cup. These are Brazil and Argentina. The world cup wins of Uruguay in 1930 and 1950 do not count. The first was boycotted by most countries, the other one was so far ago it does not represent the reality of modern football.


Furthermore, many South America coutries have been around for 3 or 4 hundred years, where as African countries are 45 years old, and were not allowed to participate in the world cup before 1970. For the next 16 years, only one place was given to Africa...

And what has America done in the world cup, they are usually the worst team in the field..Are they not mentally tough?

Nope.

US lacks the patience to build up effective offense. The amount of Africans they are putting on the field makes me want to cheer for them, but I cant seem to bring myself to do so

 

[Nzinga]

You live in America right? You do realize that unlike in damn near every other country in the world, including African countries, football is at the bottom of the sports hierarchy. Further, while Cameroon, Cote d'ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria et al, have legitimate international superstars on their rosters, the US is made up of BS players. Given that the Africa is football mad and produces legitimate football superstars, the question of why African countries don't progress is indeed fair. I mean the US has progressed as far as any African country has in the world cup...

The question arises because Americans hate to hear that they are not a top country, so they go dissing Africans, since misery loves company. Africans, Europeans and South Americans are the only ones ever to win the World Cup at various age levels, and the Olmpics. Africans have won the Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20. They have also won several Olympics gold medals.. These are the next highest thing to the World Cup... The other regions, Asia, North America, the Middle East, Oceania, etc have never won anything at all.


Africans are the 3rd continent in football...

 

[slam]

 

[Nzinga]

Nope.

US lacks the patience to build up effective offense. The amount of Africans they are putting on the field makes me want to cheer for them, but I cant seem to bring myself to do so

Americans lack talent. That has always been their problem. Africans come with too many mental issues... In 2002 Cameroon refused to get on their plane in Sweden, and then when they reached Thailand, the got off and would not get on again, until their allowances were assured. Their performance in Korea/ Japan was indicative of their lack of mental focus. Fuck them.

 

[Nzinga]

^ well we'll see this summer :

It is not summer in South Africa this time of the year, it is heading towards winter. June and July are the coldest months of the year in the Southern hemisphere..

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

The question arises because Americans hate to hear that they are not a top country, so they go dissing Africans, since misery loves company. Africans, Europeans and South Americans are the only ones ever to win the World Cup at various age levels, and the Olmpics. Africans have won the Under 16, Under 18 and Under 20. They have also won several Olympics gold medals.. These are the next highest thing to the World Cup... The other regions, Asia, North America, the Middle East, Oceania, etc have never won anything at all.


Africans are the 3rd continent in football...

listen. its about athletes. america isnt the top in soccer because the athletes don't want to play soccer. our best athletes dominate the world, they just choose to play baseball basketball and football. think about some of the athletic capabilities some of these guys have, the coordination and the strength speed power etc. now imagine instead of putting their natural abilities since birth to use in one of the 3 sports they put it into soccer what kind of monsters would we have running for team usa now?
you see the only reason people are even optimistic is because team usa has some color on the squad. some kids finally filtered through and got on the squad.

imagine if john wall, a.i., shaq (as a goal keeper), lebron, kobe, adrian peterson, randy moss, chris johnson, reves cromartie (as defenders) etc given their freakish natural abilities devoted their lives to playing soccer instead of their respective sports, how good would they be?

 

[Chiyo]

listen. its about athletes. america isnt the top in soccer because the athletes don't want to play soccer. our best athletes dominate the world, they just choose to play baseball basketball and football. think about some of the athletic capabilities some of these guys have, the coordination and the strength speed power etc. now imagine instead of putting their natural abilities since birth to use in one of the 3 sports they put it into soccer what kind of monsters would we have running for team usa now?
you see the only reason people are even optimistic is because team usa has some color on the squad. some kids finally filtered through and got on the squad.

imagine if john wall, a.i., shaq (as a goal keeper), lebron, kobe, adrian peterson, randy moss, chris johnson, reves cromartie (as defenders) etc given their freakish natural abilities devoted their lives to playing soccer instead of their respective sports, how good would they be?

Come on fam you know that aint true.

Americans are the only people who play football...so thats a given. Basketballl was dominated in 2008 because of a renewed interest in it after a poor showing in 2004.

Baseball.... Japanese has made the world their bitches during the World baseball championships.

What world game are american athletes dominating?

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

Come on fam you know that aint true.

Americans are the only people who play football...so thats a given. Basketballl was dominated in 2008 because of a renewed interest in it after a poor showing in 2004.
Baseball.... Japanese has made the world their bitches during the World baseball championships.

What world game are american athletes dominating?

thanks for making my point we didnt send our best and we got beat. we sent our best and nobdoy was even close. doesnt that sum it up?

unfortunately not a lot of african americans play baseball anymore. i dont know why but they dont.

the best athletes in america are african americans. and the sports they choose to play for the most part are basketball and football. so tell me what other country in the world could even compete with us in these sports that we primarily put our stock into? you just said renewed interest in basketball, which means we sent some people and got beat but when we sent the a squad aka our top athletes in the sport it wasnt even close....

now go to the last part of my post. if those freakishly talented athletes that i mentioned devoted their lives to soccer like they did to football or basketball, how good would our usa team be..

 

[slam]

now go to the last part of my post. if those freakishly talented athletes that i mentioned devoted their lives to soccer like they did to football or basketball, how good would our usa team be..

i too believe this...all things being equal...

if there were no other sport here but soccer....

i dont know....would be interesting....

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

i too believe this...all things being equal...

if there were no other sport here but soccer....

i dont know....would be interesting....

exactly, america is just now becoming fake interested in soccer. we dont even have a viable league here. the kids growing up still gravitate towards football and basketball. but rewind to the 70's and 80's and there is no basketball there is no football there is only soccer, and shaq, kobe, lebron, a.i., ap, randy moss, nmadi, cromartie, reves, anthony, chris johnson, vick, t.o., brandon marshall, dwight howard, dwayne wade, and the list goes on, only had soccer to aspire to do athletically.
how good would our team be

 

[Chiyo]

thanks for making my point we didnt send our best and we got beat. we sent our best and nobdoy was even close. doesnt that sum it up?

unfortunately not a lot of african americans play baseball anymore. i dont know why but they dont.

the best athletes in america are african americans. and the sports they choose to play for the most part are basketball and football. so tell me what other country in the world could even compete with us in these sports that we primarily put our stock into? you just said renewed interest in basketball, which means we sent some people and got beat but when we sent the a squad aka our top athletes in the sport it wasnt even close....

now go to the last part of my post. if those freakishly talented athletes that i mentioned devoted their lives to soccer like they did to football or basketball, how good would our usa team be..

They would be better than the crap you all are putting out there now, but still wont be touching brazil

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

They would be better than the crap you all are putting out there now, but still wont be touching brazil

GTFOH
ONCE AGAIN if americas best athletes had even a remote interest in soccer it would be another sport that everyone in the world hates us for. this is the only thing the world has, and its because we dont care. i root for usa cause its my country BUT i know it isnt the best country in soccer because full effort hasnt been put into making it that way.

but wouldnt be touching brazil comical. read my list imagine if they at 2 or 3 years old said " i want to play soccer" and used the same determination and preparation that they used to play their respective sports into soccer, it wouldnt even be close. they're athletically superior they just dont have the skills because obviously they never even attempted to do it.

you can see it happening in our other sports as well. in the 60's and 70's kids were growing up wanting to be boxers so as a result you saw in the 70's and 80's early 90's boxing talent that was crazy, best boxers in the world easy. NOW fast forward and basketball and football took over and there are only a handful of boxers even worth mentioning left.

 

[keone]

Re: >>> OFFICIAL WORLD CUP THREAD <<< ...Discuss....

Where was Ghana playing yesterday? Are you sure you are not talking about Cameroon?

nah ghana played against the netherlands
cameroon against portugal. cameroon could have won that game if eto didnt got a redcard

Interesting that you mention this. A guy who works at my bank is from Ivory Coast. I brought up the subject of the Elephants, but he admonished me to quell my euphoria, pointing that previous hope placed in the team had usually been dashed by their disappointing performance... It is sad but true that each of the African teams that made noise in the World Cup was led by an inspired young European coach who was on a mission to make a name for himself. Westerhof was the man for Nigeria in 1994 who gave us Amokachi, Yekini and co, the Serb gave us Essien and Appiah in 2006, I do not remember who gave us Poupa Diop in 2002 for Senegal.... Of course Roger Milla was the coach on the field who performed Miracles for Cameroon in 1990

yep true. but as far as ghana goes its all politics now. the coach cant even select his own players that will play the match. i hope that he dont give a fuck when the wc starts because if he do ghana has no biz there

 

[Nzinga]

listen. its about athletes. america isnt the top in soccer because the athletes don't want to play soccer. our best athletes dominate the world, they just choose to play baseball basketball and football. think about some of the athletic capabilities some of these guys have, the coordination and the strength speed power etc. now imagine instead of putting their natural abilities since birth to use in one of the 3 sports they put it into soccer what kind of monsters would we have running for team usa now?
you see the only reason people are even optimistic is because team usa has some color on the squad. some kids finally filtered through and got on the squad.

imagine if john wall, a.i., shaq (as a goal keeper), lebron, kobe, adrian peterson, randy moss, chris johnson, reves cromartie (as defenders) etc given their freakish natural abilities devoted their lives to playing soccer instead of their respective sports, how good would they be?

In what sport do Americans dominate the world? Basketball has become and even affair with the Europeans; Baseball is dominated by the Chinks, Ice hockey by the Canadians.. name one world wide sport Americans participate in that they dominate... Sprinting is a Jamaican sport...in long distance running you do not even appear on the radar screen..

 

[Nzinga]

GTFOH
ONCE AGAIN if americas best athletes had even a remote interest in soccer it would be another sport that everyone in the world hates us for. this is the only thing the world has, and its because we dont care. i root for usa cause its my country BUT i know it isnt the best country in soccer because full effort hasnt been put into making it that way.

but wouldnt be touching brazil comical. read my list imagine if they at 2 or 3 years old said " i want to play soccer" and used the same determination and preparation that they used to play their respective sports into soccer, it wouldnt even be close. they're athletically superior they just dont have the skills because obviously they never even attempted to do it.

you can see it happening in our other sports as well. in the 60's and 70's kids were growing up wanting to be boxers so as a result you saw in the 70's and 80's early 90's boxing talent that was crazy, best boxers in the world easy. NOW fast forward and basketball and football took over and there are only a handful of boxers even worth mentioning left.

What other sport does the world hate you at? Name one sport Americans dominate..

 

[Nzinga]

Re: >>> OFFICIAL WORLD CUP THREAD <<< ...Discuss....

nah ghana played against the netherlands
cameroon against portugal. cameroon could have won that game if eto didnt got a redcard


yep true. but as far as ghana goes its all politics now. the coach cant even select his own players that will play the match. i hope that he dont give a fuck when the wc starts because if he do ghana has no biz there

I did not see the first half... what did Eto'o get a red card for? If politics have entered Ghanaian football, we are fucked also.

 

[Nzinga]

i too believe this...all things being equal...

if there were no other sport here but soccer....

i dont know....would be interesting....

Well maybe the Americans need to focus one sport because they are being beaten at everything.

 

[Nzinga]

thanks for making my point we didnt send our best and we got beat. we sent our best and nobdoy was even close. doesnt that sum it up?

unfortunately not a lot of african americans play baseball anymore. i dont know why but they dont.

the best athletes in america are african americans. and the sports they choose to play for the most part are basketball and football. so tell me what other country in the world could even compete with us in these sports that we primarily put our stock into? you just said renewed interest in basketball, which means we sent some people and got beat but when we sent the a squad aka our top athletes in the sport it wasnt even close....

now go to the last part of my post. if those freakishly talented athletes that i mentioned devoted their lives to soccer like they did to football or basketball, how good would our usa team be..

That is bullshit. You sent your Olympics team, they were beaten. You sent another team, they did better even though the final game was a fight. You are slightly better than the Europeans in basketball at this point, but when they can make their 3s, they seem to beat you with ease...


If football was about athleticism only, Kenya would play every world cup final against Ethiopia, because the main requirement of the football is endurance. However, you can be the best athlete, but if you can not carry a round ball on foot, and do something useful with it, you are fucked. To acquire the skills of Ronaldinho or Edmilson, you have to practise with the ball day and night. Being the fastest or the fittest is not make able to stop the ball on a dime, dribble it behind your own leg, scoop it over the outretched leg of a defender and deliver a pinpoint pass to the leg or head of striker 40 yards downfield who is surrounded by two bigger defenders. More likely, you would end up like Oguchi Onyewu who thinks he can bully other people with his size and ends up giving penlaties to Ghana at crucial moments.. The game is about finesse and skill, not brute force like the NFL. In American sports, you hold the ball in your hands, and that is why it is easy to dominate if you are more athletic..In football, speed without skill, usually means you going one way, and them taking the ball from you and going in the other way.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

In what sport do Americans dominate the world? Basketball has become and even affair with the Europeans; Baseball is dominated by the Chinks, Ice hockey by the Canadians.. name one world wide sport Americans participate in that they dominate... Sprinting is a Jamaican sport...in long distance running you do not even appear on the radar screen..

basketball is in no way shape or form even in any way. when america put its best athletes against the rest of the world in this past olympics and in the previous world games it was not even close. you cannot dispute that.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

That is bullshit. You sent your Olympics team, they were beaten. You sent another team, they did better even though the final game was a fight. You are slightly better than the Europeans in basketball at this point, but when they can make their 3s, they seem to beat you with ease...
If football was about athleticism only, Kenya would play every world cup final against Ethiopia, because the main requirement of the football is endurance. However, you can be the best athlete, but if you can not carry a round ball on foot, and do something useful with it, you are fucked. To acquire the skills of Ronaldinho or Edmilson, you have to practise with the ball day and night. Being the fastest or the fittest is not make able to stop the ball on a dime, dribble it behind your own leg, scoop it over the outretched leg of a defender and deliver a pinpoint pass to the leg or head of striker 40 yards downfield who is surrounded by two bigger defenders. More likely, you would end up like Oguchi Onyewu who thinks he can bully other people with his size and ends up giving penlaties to Ghana at crucial moments.. The game is about finesse and skill, not brute force like the NFL. In American sports, you hold the ball in your hands, and that is why it is easy to dominate if you are more athletic..In football, speed without skill, usually means you going one way, and them taking the ball from you and going in the other way.

your jaded view of america is making you look really stupid right now. we sent our top tier athletes none of them playing anywhere close to the minutes they play in the nba and we destroyed the rest of the world. that cannot be disputed. when our best basketball players went out it was not a fight. being within 10 points mean it was a fight?



and you skip over my whole point to cover a smaller issue. look i know more about soccer than you think i do. you wrote this whole paragraph about the skill it takes to be a soccer player and i agree with that, never did i say that if you put them on the field right now they would dominate i did not say it so don't try and ad that to my post. i said if they started out at a young age like they did the respective sports that they play in professionally now, how good would they be.


more jaded bullshit from you, i expect nothing less at this point. its cool

 

[Nzinga]

basketball is in no way shape or form even in any way. when america put its best athletes against the rest of the world in this past olympics and in the previous world games it was not even close. you cannot dispute that.

I can dispute it... what was the final score in the last game of the last Oylmpic games? Fiba basketball is 3 point shooting contest, and the Europeans are better at shooting 3 than Americans are. The Americans are not much better than the Europeans at Fiba basketball...

 

[Black Limey]

http://www.zshare.net/video/76815136cab3db6d/

 

[Nzinga]

your jaded view of america is making you look really stupid right now. we sent our top tier athletes none of them playing anywhere close to the minutes they play in the nba and we destroyed the rest of the world. that cannot be disputed. when our best basketball players went out it was not a fight. being within 10 points mean it was a fight?



and you skip over my whole point to cover a smaller issue. look i know more about soccer than you think i do. you wrote this whole paragraph about the skill it takes to be a soccer player and i agree with that, never did i say that if you put them on the field right now they would dominate i did not say it so don't try and ad that to my post. i said if they started out at a young age like they did the respective sports that they play in professionally now, how good would they be.


more jaded bullshit from you, i expect nothing less at this point. its cool

Other than basketball, what other sport do you win? The Jamaicans are cleaning up in the sprints. You do not know how to run a distance 800m+ ; ice hockey is Canadian, Rugby Boer, Aussie and English; Cricket Pakistani/Indian/ Bangladeshi; cycling European; Golf European (they win the Ryder cup;... tell me what international sport do American men dominate???

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

I can dispute it... what was the final score in the last game of the last Oylmpic games? Fiba basketball is 3 point shooting contest, and the Europeans are better at shooting 3 than Americans are. The Americans are not much better than the Europeans at Fiba basketball...

your basketball knowledge is laughable. europeans are better at shooting 3's and shooting 3's is all it takes to play basketball right? the best europeans that get the chance to play in the nba, arent the best players in the nba so what does that tell you. and the americans that can't even get a look at a team in the nba can have 10-15 year careers in european leagues with fiba rules again what does that tell you? dont argue basketball with me cause you lose. now back to soccer.

the only team im really rooting for other than usa is the ivory coast. im a big drogba fan and i hope he does well.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

Other than basketball, what other sport do you win? The Jamaicans are cleaning up in the sprints. You do not know how to run a distance 800m+ ; ice hockey is Canadian, Rugby Boer, Aussie and English; Cricket Pakistani/Indian/ Bangladeshi; cycling European; Golf European (they win the Ryder cup;... tell me what international sport do American men dominate???

you keep saying other than basketball, but fail to see that basketball is the sport our best athletes play

 

[Charlemagne]

Everything he said is bullshit. The first reason is this. Of the 32 teams in the World Cup, 14 are from Europe, and 6 are from South America. Before 1990, Africa was allowed 1 team. In 1986, this was increased to 2, and then in 1990 it was increased to 4 on the strength of the run Cameroon had, beating the defending Champions Argentina, Colombia and Russia. They were on the way to the semi finals, leading 2-0, against England, when some dubious calls were made that awarded England 2 penalties in the last 10 minutes. In 1994, Nigeria were on the way to the Semi finals, when defensive midfielder Sunday Oliseh decided to show up the Italians by playin the ball in the backfield. The Italians took the ball from him, and scored with 2 minutes to go.

As you can see, we are numerically disadvantaged. Our history is also bare because, we as independent countries are about 45 years old on average and did not participate in the first 35 years of the world cup. In 1970, they gave us our first place. Ten years later, Algeria did well, was supposed to go to the next round, but was forked out by a gentleman's agreement betweent the two Nazi countries, Germany and Austria..

In 2002, Senegal defeated defending champion France, against lost in the semi-finals, have become afflicted with a mysterious fatigue.

Africa has talent on par, if not better, up to the under 20 level. Ever since the junior tournaments were incepted Africa has made a statement, if not winning then coming up runner up, in most of them.

The differentiation occurs at the the senior level. At that point, the Europeans who have money to continue training their players in the pro levels, gain an advantage. Africans simply are unable to compete at the national team and club levels due to our meager resources. This is the main reason why they beat us. However, they will be the first ones to tell you that even with the odds stacked against them, we still give them a hard time.

The bullshit about mental toughness and stamina is ignorant bullshit from someone who knows nothing about football. The day an American is among the first 10 people in a marathon, come back and talk to me about stamina.

Damn. That was well said.

 

[Nzinga]

your basketball knowledge is laughable. europeans are better at shooting 3's and shooting 3's is all it takes to play basketball right? the best europeans that get the chance to play in the nba, arent the best players in the nba so what does that tell you. and the americans that can't even get a look at a team in the nba can have 10-15 year careers in european leagues with fiba rules again what does that tell you? dont argue basketball with me cause you lose. now back to soccer.

the only team im really rooting for other than usa is the ivory coast. im a big drogba fan and i hope he does well.

International basket ball is a bullshit sport based on shooting 3s. It is different from the NBA. That is why when Italy beat the US in the Olympics of 2004, 66 of its 99 point were from 3s. Your ignorance is exhibited by the fact that when you think of the international game, you have the NBA in mind. The two games are different. The US allowed FIBA to establish rules for its game, and the US sometimes pays the price... Check the record.

 

[largebillsonlyplease]

International basket ball is a bullshit sport based on shooting 3s. It is different from the NBA. That is why when Italy beat the US in the Olympics of 2004, 66 of its 99 point were from 3s. Your ignorance is exhibited by the fact that when you think of the international game, you have the NBA in mind. The two games are different. The US allowed FIBA to establish rules for its game, and the US sometimes pays the price... Check the record.

stop with the high and mighty talk, i really dislike when people do this especially when they don't know anything about the other individual. i actually edited my post to take out the fact that the fiba game was totally different from the nba game. that was an argument in my favor, that the nba players who grew up playing nba style and nba rules could go to a totally different type of game where these europeans have grown up on and beat them at their own shit. i took it out because i assumed that it was a given that this was the case, and as someone trying to have a decent discussion a little credit could have been given on both sides to assume that the two people talking would know the difference. but that's not the hype you're on and not the type of individual you are it seems.

i dont need to check the record anytime the americans have sent their best to play basketball in the olympics, they won PERIOD. and if you want to go historical then you have to take into account that pre 92 usa didnt send nba players to the olympics, we sent collegiate athletes and still competed. check that record. check the record where usa sent its top talented players. and the team that lost in the 2004 olympics as well as the championships WAS NOT its top talent.

 

[Nzinga]

I see you do not like people talking to you the way you talk to them.

The Fiba game is not an argument in your favour because it leaves you saying that Americans are the best at the (NBA) game which only they play. The only way to determine things is to judge by the games everyone plays and Americans are not dominating anyone at anything.

Damn, even the heavyweight champion of boxing is a Russian...