World Cup appreciation thread - games are on NOW! (2 Viewers)

[CharlesD]

I love the Univision coverage even if (because?) I can't understand a word they are saying (except for "GOOOx10000...OOOOL!!!") Unfortunately I was out of town and only had a chance to see part of the Germany v. Saudi Arabia game
(edited for bad typing)

 

[Mohsen Sadeghi]

I think Saudi Arabia is a disgrace to Asian football. It is almost a given that China will suck too. Let's hope Japan or Korea do better otherwise FIFA might be thinking about reducing the number of teams from Asia.

 

[Jay H]

Anybody else notice how the video seems delayed from the audio commentary?? It seems when I watch some of the games on ABC/ESPN, the shots on goal is commentated before the person scores or misses. Kind of weird to watch, makes you feel like you're in some kind of timewarp.

Jay

 

[MickeS]

That would answer my question above about the crappy picture quality on ABC. I hope they don't pay full price for that feed...
I guess I'll be watching Univision with the sound from ESPN.
/Mike

 

[John Stockton]

You got that right. Saudi Arabia is learning that they cannot bribe their way in the World Cup like they did in the qualifications. It is crystal clear that Iran should have been there instead. Saudi Arabia bribed Bahrain into losing their last game to them at home 4-0, thus giving the Saudi's 3 easy points as well as a nice goal difference and paving their way for qualification. I am so glad that they are now humiliated in front of the whole world. In the last World Cup, Iran played against (a stronger than present) Germany and lost honorably 2-0. Now Saudi Arabia gets shafted 8-0 by the Germans. Clearly any team that loses by that margin does not deserve and should never have qualified for the World Cup. Now the world will realize the corruption involved.

By the way it is not over yet. Now that Cameroon and Ireland have tied each other, they will competing against each other to score the most amount of goals in front of Saudi Arabia(since this group will eventually be settled by goal difference). For comparison's sake I would like to note that Iran played 2 games in the playoffs against Ireland last November. In the first match Iran lost 2-0 in Ireland, but won the second game 1-0 in Iran, thus losing 2-1 on aggerate and their chance to qualify. The match between Ireland and Saudi Arabia should further prove the injustice done to Iran.


As far as China is concerned, Lets just say that the strongest team they faced for Qualification was UAE which was also trashed 3-0 by Iran in their own home last October. They will be eaten alive by Brazil and Turkey and most likely lose to Costa Rica as well.

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

On that note, did you see the African players that Saudi Arabia OBVIOUSLY paid to become Saudi Arabian citizens? I mean it was only KIND of noticeable that you had black guys on the team Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have more money than almost ANY country except the US, you would think they would just invest BILLIONS into training facilities and coaches. I KNOW you can buy a quality system, apparantly you can't buy a quality team.

 

[Yoshi Sugawara]

My brother and I are going to stay up til 2 AM to watch the Japan vs. Belgium match - take a guess as to who we're rooting for
Thank heavens for Univision! I'm glad they recognize that the World Cup is an international event, and that they show all the matches - very cool!
The networks should cut out all the sentimental crap and show the sports, and OTHER nations - NBC and the Olympics, anyone?

 

[Aaron Schmitt]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Brazil-Turkey match yet. That was a really entertaining match, unfortunately for the Turks a bad penalty kick call might have cost them the tie (I say might because you never know what would have happened). I'm sure the Turkish tv commentators and the like are going crazy about the officiating at the end.

I'm not taping anything tonight, I just think it's a good night to rest the vcr. Wednesday night though, I'll be taping everything that's shown (unfortunately I don't have Univision, just ESPN/ESPN2 but they do show most things live). I'm somewhat glad they're tape delaying a match, but not happy it's going to be on ESPN Classic, as I don't have that network.

Aaron

 

[Dave_P]

I've been following the World Cup closely. The Eng/Swe game was very good. David Beckham is magical with his right foot. What a beautiful touch that guy has to his play. Too bad England cannot beat Sweden.

I watched Brazil/Turkey yesterday. I believe Turkey was wronged in that game. The ref awarded a penalty kick on a foul clearly outside the penalty area. And what was up with the acting by Rivaldo on that corner kick play. He should be fined or given an oscar for that performance. The ball wasn't even close to his face and he goes down like he took a bullet in the brain. After that penalty shot goal, Turkey lost control of their emotions. They now have a bench short two players from the red cards they received.

How about that Italy/Ecuador game? Totti to Vieri = GOOOAAALLLL!!! Man, those two have some great chemistry it seems. Vieri can put the ball in the back of the net.
All in all a great start and some fine soccer/futbol in the opening round.

btw, anyone notice how much the ball they are using nuckles when it is kicked? That ball zigs and zags all over the place. That is very difficult for a keeper to read.

 

[Peter Kim]

Does anyone know when/if Univision might rebroadcast today's games? I'm kinda interested in one game in particular...

 

[MickeS]

Peter, here are the schedules for the games on Univision, Telefutura and Galavison: http://www.univision.com/content/cha...=328&secid=367
The reruns are on Telefutura in the middle of the day, except the "game of the day" which is rerun in primetime on Galavision. The "game of the day" is decided after the games have been played.
/Mike

 

[Yoshi Sugawara]

I only slept three hours this morning, after watching the Japan-Belgium match. The first half was mostly uneventful, but the second half was pretty damn exciting. It ended up being a 2-2 tie, but it was a blast to watch. The bicycle kick by that Belgian guy was cool and depressing at the same time, but I was glad to see Japan come back - we even had the lead, if only for 10 minutes, ah well. My brother and I were yelling and jumping on each Japan goal at 3 in the morning - I hope the neighbors didn't notice
Peter, I assume you're interested in the Korea-Poland match Congrats for Korea's first World Cup win!

 

[Peter Kim]

Congrats for Korea's first World Cup win!

My wife is Japanese, so both of us are very excited about the World Cup and the 2 home teams. Congrats to you, too Yoshi - if I'm not incorrect, this was Japan's first WC point. I think Japan is very strong and can be quite consistent.

The Korea win caught me off guard. I hope they can carry this momentum forward. I'm not an emotional person, but after watching both highlights this morning, my wife and I were jumping up and down, too! Almost got choked up seeing the home crowds for the Japan and Korea match going beserk with delight. I hope these home crowds pull us through future matches.

MikeS...many thanks for your help. I have absolutely no Spanish fluency. What does 'Grabado' mean in the Telefutura and Galavision columns (and what do these columns mean themselves - are they separate channels from Univision)? God, I never imagined I would get so excited over the WC! And my favorite team is Italy! Forza Italia!

 

[MickeS]

"En Vivo" means that the game is shown live, "Grabado" means that the game is a re-run, the columns indicate which channel the game is showing on. They have three channels, Univision, Telefutura and Galavision, my cable system (Comcast) only carries Univision and Galavision though, so check which channels you have.
/Mik

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

It appears to me that ESPN has fixed their feed, because the colors in the games yesterday were consistent between the two, which was pleasant as I enjoy play by play (Soccer sometimes has its dead spots). Yesterdays Belgium-Japan game was AWESOME, I couldn't force myself to stay up for Poland-Korea, was it as one sided as the score sounds?

 

[Peter Kim]

They have three channels, Univision, Telefutura and Galavision, my cable system (Comcast) only carries Univision and Galavision though, so check which channels you have.

Arghhh!!!...sigh, I only have Univision, not the other two. How do the ESPN rebroadcasts work? I know that the Korea/Portugal match will be rerun tomorrow on ESPN Classic, but I see no mention of the Japan/Belgium match rerun at all on the ESPN networks. Why no love for the best match of today?

After Larry and Yoshi's rave about this match, my wife and I need to see this match badly.

 

[MickeS]

Well, I hate to say this, but I just watched the last 30 minutes of this game on Galavision and it was great! What energy, skill, technique and fighting spirit these teams displayed, especially the Japanese. That guy with the blonde hair, don't know his name, was an excellent player. I'm looking forward to following this Japanese team in the rest of the tournament.

/Mike

 

[Peter Kim]

Well, after watching the first 15 minutes of the Russia vs. Tunisia match, I can definitively say the following about the broadcast from Univision vs. ESPN2:

1. The ESPN2 was on a 10 sec delay - Booo!
2. Univision's broadcast, much like everyone else's observation, was startlingly better than ESPN2. Simply, the difference made it appear as though the weather in Korea was muggy and overcast on ESPN2 compared to really bright and clear conditions on Univision.

This is really unpardonable. I'm really not speaking out of arrogance when I ask, WTF?!! Don't we live in America, the richest country in the world? Why are we treated as second class citizens when it comes to the treatment of this world class sport?

This is viscious cycle - as long as the US broadcasters relegate American viewers to subpar presentation, it does nothing to trigger interest and growth of this sport in the US. And as long as the US displays relative apathy when it comes to football, the WC broadcasts will be treated with less focus and care. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Dunno, but I have a feeling that football will never, yes, never, be treated with the same respect that it commands worldwide.

I'll be really curious to see how the ESPN networks treat the US games. MikeS...I had to laugh when you talked about watching the Univision feed, but listening to the ESPN broadcast. Have you noticed that they aren't in sync? Anyway, thanks for the insight on Univision. Overnight, you taught me the Univision station hierarchy programming. I would've never imagined...

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Peter-The ESPN feed is obviously a rebroadcast of the Univision feed, thus it will look worse. That also leads to the 10 second delay.

The reason that Univision isn't delayed as well is that the Univision broadcaster are IN Korea, I have heard that the ESPN guys are in the US looking at the game and then announcing.

WHATEVER the reason while the Japan/Belgium game looked OK (Dome game I think) the Tunisia/Russia game is the SAME story. Univision looks GREAT and has MUCH better resolution than the ESPN feed. There is NO compression which you get with Cable, so when they pan over the goal, I can see the threading in the twine. That is awesome. It's not HD, but it's better looking than most TV. The COLOR on Univision is SO crisp!

Anyway. I want to bone the Copa Mundial chick on Univison. GRRRRROWL. Im VERY VERY psyched to see the US win tonight!

 

[Peter Kim]

What could be...

Larry, you're absolutely right. As I switch between ESPN2 and Univision, I'm wowed by the picture on Univision. I've never seen an HD feed, but I'm constantly reminded of the crap I get through ATT. The picture is so damn good on my crap tv, I realize that it's really not my tv all along. It's been crappy cable broadcast.

Anyone who watches the WC will do themselves injustice by watching the feeds on ESPN. Despite the language barrier, the picture on Univision well makes up for it. It's exponentially better, so much so that it's laughable.

This experience forces me to examine whether I need to pick up some Spanish. I'm always scanning Univision for the gorgeous, full figured women who aren't afraid to flaunt their sexuality. I might as well learn the language.

Anyway...I don't see how you guys do it. Stay awake all night long to catch the games. 3:55 am CST for the US game...real fans, I tell ya.