The World Series of Soccer
February 5, 2010 5:01 AM Subscribe
Traditional folkways of FIFA World Cup (Soccer|Football) and recommendations for US viewing.
One of my kids is a little interested in sports. Long story deleted: We want to watch soccer. The World Cup is this summer.
I'm interested in two things:
1) How do people usually follow the Cup? For instance, do they follow their team(s) only or do they follow the whole thing? Do they watch the games live or record/download them? (Live seems obvious, but the schedule doesn't seem to admit that for a lot of these games.)
2) Unless there's a better idea, I'd like to follow it with a bracket chart, but this one is small and not printable. Can I get one somewhere else? Or will they be made available when we get closer?
2a) A few years ago, we caught some games on Telemundo. I don't know if we even have that channel anymore. If we don't, where can we get the games? Does anyone torrent them?
One of my kids is a little interested in sports. Long story deleted: We want to watch soccer. The World Cup is this summer.
I'm interested in two things:
1) How do people usually follow the Cup? For instance, do they follow their team(s) only or do they follow the whole thing? Do they watch the games live or record/download them? (Live seems obvious, but the schedule doesn't seem to admit that for a lot of these games.)
2) Unless there's a better idea, I'd like to follow it with a bracket chart, but this one is small and not printable. Can I get one somewhere else? Or will they be made available when we get closer?
2a) A few years ago, we caught some games on Telemundo. I don't know if we even have that channel anymore. If we don't, where can we get the games? Does anyone torrent them?
1) Generally the quality is high and a football fan would enjoy it all (or as much as possible) live, but it's your choice.
2) Every newspaper in the UK will have pull-out planners, you may find some in US papers. If not, purchase a football magazine nearer the time.
2a) They will be torrented. There are also an array of dubious streaming sites - iraqgoals, atdhe etc.
posted by fire&wings at 5:08 AM on February 5, 2010
2) Every newspaper in the UK will have pull-out planners, you may find some in US papers. If not, purchase a football magazine nearer the time.
2a) They will be torrented. There are also an array of dubious streaming sites - iraqgoals, atdhe etc.
posted by fire&wings at 5:08 AM on February 5, 2010
Oops correct that. You found the fifa site! Also, by big league I meant world famous countries, i.e. England, France, etc.....
It will be a lot harder to get a torrent for the little guys such as ghana vs Rustenborg.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 5:09 AM on February 5, 2010
It will be a lot harder to get a torrent for the little guys such as ghana vs Rustenborg.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 5:09 AM on February 5, 2010
ESPN has US rights to the World Cup this year, and is planning a pretty heavy coverage schedule - all 64 matches will be broadcast live, in HD, on either ESPN, ESPN2, or ABC.
posted by pupdog at 5:14 AM on February 5, 2010
posted by pupdog at 5:14 AM on February 5, 2010
Meant to include this as well: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/ should pretty much have all the info you could want.
posted by pupdog at 5:20 AM on February 5, 2010
posted by pupdog at 5:20 AM on February 5, 2010
Yup, ESPN has been getting much better about its coverage. They show a Premier league game at least once a week, with good British commentators for the match portion.
For me, the joy of the world cup is not only following my own team, but watching high quality teams play generally high quality soccer in a whole variety of styles. Rooting for "underdogs" is also a ton of fun (especially if your own home team perennially disappoints ...cough ...England ...cough).
Torrents? I'd imagine so. This is the biggest sporting event in the whole world. People riot if they or do not make it to the finals.
posted by idb at 5:33 AM on February 5, 2010
For me, the joy of the world cup is not only following my own team, but watching high quality teams play generally high quality soccer in a whole variety of styles. Rooting for "underdogs" is also a ton of fun (especially if your own home team perennially disappoints ...cough ...England ...cough).
Torrents? I'd imagine so. This is the biggest sporting event in the whole world. People riot if they or do not make it to the finals.
posted by idb at 5:33 AM on February 5, 2010
1) I try and watch every match wherever possible (hey, it's only once every four years). If you're picking and choosing, I'd try and watch as many group matches as possible involving the seeds (with the exception of hosts South Africa), as they're obviously the teams likely to get through to the later stages, so you'll be better placed to enjoy those games. If you need to pick and choose even more, than prioritise whoever you support plus Brazil and Spain as Tier 1; Germany, England, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and France (probably in that order) as Tier 2.
2) I'm don't know what's it like in the US; in Europe you won't be able to move for charts come the tournament. I'm sure somewhere online will have one closer to the date.
posted by Hartster at 5:47 AM on February 5, 2010
2) I'm don't know what's it like in the US; in Europe you won't be able to move for charts come the tournament. I'm sure somewhere online will have one closer to the date.
posted by Hartster at 5:47 AM on February 5, 2010
Response by poster: This is all exactly what I wanted to know, thanks!
(As a further demonstration of the woefullity of my ignorance, I thought the WC was every 2 years.)
posted by DU at 6:15 AM on February 5, 2010
(As a further demonstration of the woefullity of my ignorance, I thought the WC was every 2 years.)
posted by DU at 6:15 AM on February 5, 2010
The World Cup is wonderful. The build-up and qualifying start more or less two years before the actual finals. There is a load of agony about even getting to the finals. It's ubiquitous and would be easy to come to that conclusion.
posted by idb at 6:19 AM on February 5, 2010
posted by idb at 6:19 AM on February 5, 2010
I try to watch live soccer as much as possible, but end up watching on DVR b/c of the scheduling a lot of the time.
Some sites have already done a run through of all the qualifying teams, giving general info and their chances in a small writeup. (Unprofessional Foul comes to mind, though it was a while back; gotta do some searching to find it.) I'd be shocked if there weren't (a lot) more of these types of write-ups as we get closer to the real thing. I'd read through those, and see if there's an underdog or two you want to try to get behind, in addition to cheering for your own country (assuming they've made it).
I'm so excited, I'm babbling. And it's still many months away....
posted by inigo2 at 6:47 AM on February 5, 2010
Some sites have already done a run through of all the qualifying teams, giving general info and their chances in a small writeup. (Unprofessional Foul comes to mind, though it was a while back; gotta do some searching to find it.) I'd be shocked if there weren't (a lot) more of these types of write-ups as we get closer to the real thing. I'd read through those, and see if there's an underdog or two you want to try to get behind, in addition to cheering for your own country (assuming they've made it).
I'm so excited, I'm babbling. And it's still many months away....
posted by inigo2 at 6:47 AM on February 5, 2010
The MLS season starts again in March before the world cup as well...
posted by PenDevil at 6:48 AM on February 5, 2010
posted by PenDevil at 6:48 AM on February 5, 2010
This is a pretty cool leveraging of their networks-- "ESPN Classic will reair all 64 FIFA World Cup matches. Each matchday, between at 6 p.m. and 12 a.m., the network will present all the matches played earlier that day."
posted by haveanicesummer at 7:59 AM on February 5, 2010
posted by haveanicesummer at 7:59 AM on February 5, 2010
Best answer: I think it's more fun when you pick a team or two to follow. When I was younger I picked teams for really silly reasons but now I mainly follow Brazil. Let your kids pick teams that appeal to them. You could even make it a big family competition or something and make flags and food appropriate to the country.
posted by wallaby at 8:45 AM on February 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by wallaby at 8:45 AM on February 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you can't watch a game but want to follow it live anyway, The Guardian's Football section does really entertaining minute-by-minute reports and a great podcast as well. And if you want to be barraged with information, Football Filter is a really good football news aggregator (also, it's run by MeFite swisspotter).
posted by Kattullus at 9:17 AM on February 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Kattullus at 9:17 AM on February 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Let your kids pick teams that appeal to them. You could even make it a big family competition or something and make flags and food appropriate to the country.
OK, this is awesome. Our area probably doesn't have all the crazy ingredia we'd need for every potential foreign food, but we can take a stab at it. And the fantasy footie aspect is really great even without the food.
posted by DU at 9:36 AM on February 5, 2010
OK, this is awesome. Our area probably doesn't have all the crazy ingredia we'd need for every potential foreign food, but we can take a stab at it. And the fantasy footie aspect is really great even without the food.
posted by DU at 9:36 AM on February 5, 2010
How do people usually follow the Cup? For instance, do they follow their team(s) only or do they follow the whole thing?
I'm not a soccer fan, but I've lived among them since I was born. From my experience, usually you follow your own country's team (or closest ally if your national side isn't competing), while also paying close attention to the other matches going on in your group in the initial stages.
Indeed, you may find yourselves glued to a clash between two teams you don't have any specific interest in solely because the outcome will determine the fate of 'your' team -- and if they're doing well, then the other groups become more interesting too as your side will be mixing it up with their winners in the later stages.
That's part of the fun of tournaments like this, IMHO.
posted by macdara at 3:16 AM on February 6, 2010
I'm not a soccer fan, but I've lived among them since I was born. From my experience, usually you follow your own country's team (or closest ally if your national side isn't competing), while also paying close attention to the other matches going on in your group in the initial stages.
Indeed, you may find yourselves glued to a clash between two teams you don't have any specific interest in solely because the outcome will determine the fate of 'your' team -- and if they're doing well, then the other groups become more interesting too as your side will be mixing it up with their winners in the later stages.
That's part of the fun of tournaments like this, IMHO.
posted by macdara at 3:16 AM on February 6, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
2. Things will pick in Springtime and you will endless resources for brackets etc. I also believe there is a FIFA 2010 website that will have most of this information. I prefer to use the newspapers online to keep up. The Times Online (UK) Sports coverage is extremely good. ESPN has now also started offering decent football updates.
2a. You should be able to find a torrent for any match without hassle.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 5:06 AM on February 5, 2010