Colombian Football

[Micky]

Tonight Colombia played Argentina in Copa America,  the result being 0 - 0.  I think that in the last four years it was the best game the national team has played.  With only two of three games played in the group stage Colombia is leading group A with 4 pts..  Anything can happen,  but I really like what I am seeing with this group.
 
Micky

[robert angel]

It's a shame that most North Americans are pretty clueless about how great 'football' in Latin America really is--or how difficult it is to get to the highest levels there. It's suprising, given our mindsets, that most N Americans don't even realize that like some Formula One race cars drivers, the most elite football players are the highest paid athletes in the world and if not treated like Gods--they're certainly given rock star like status--even long after they retire.

 
My 14 y/o son plays, and he has a Microsoft, X Box 360 attention span, yet I have been delighted to come home and see him watching Euro and L.A. football games, instead playing  Black Ops, Modern Warfare and all that junk for hours. He watches and tries to learn--to watch how they spread out, move in and out and pass the ball.. Unlike most of his 'peers' --really most N. Americans, period, he doesn't think a game that ended scoreless was anything near boring--he appreciates the sacrifice--the toughness of the defense and just how fine tuned those guys really are.

 
Beckham and all, I just don't think we're ever really going to 'get it' up here, although a lot of cool kids do play from a young age and up through college. We tend to want lots of points, home runs, blood and more, as fast as can be delivered, with frequent enough breaks so that we can still grab some more nachos, another beer and take a piss too and not miss anything brutal.

[benjio]

First of all, Micki, I watched that game also and you are absolutely right. Easily one of the best I've seen in my life!!!! The best thing about soccer is the drama. So many goals that allllmost go in....but no enchilada.
 
Robert,
 
That mind frame, at least in the United States, is rapidly changing. I was not a soccer fan until I met one of my best friends from Grenada in high school. He was a soccer player back on the island and continued to play when his family moved to Houston. He got a scholarship to play at the college we went to, and when I was hard up for money he convinced me to take 2 Day class and become a soccer referee. After learning the rules of the game and working around it for two years I absolutely fell in love with it. I hear similar stories from people all over the country all the time. I was a bleeding heart fan long before my first trip to Colombia. The Barranquilla Junior were just a bonus during my visits.
 
Here in Houston, after the Dynamo have played for years at U of H's Football Stadium, the city is now building the team a stadium of their own. It's still just a big hole in the ground now, but from the models and pictures I've seen the place is really going to be nice. A couple of years ago when the MLA played their All Star game in Reliant Stadium, they sold the place out in a few days. That's something the Houston Texans can't even do on a consistent basis...and us Texans LOVE our football. It's a simple fact, Latinos have a lot of kids. And as the Latino population grows in the United States, the amount of soccer fans will increase exponentially. I think Brazil is going to make such a huge spectacle of the World Cup in 2014, it's going to change the face of soccer in North America forever. And believe me, I WILL BE THERE SCREAMING MY ASS OFF FOR THOSE BLOODY ENGLISH!!!!! Canadians will never let go of their hockey, but I predict that Soccer will take the place of hockey as the 4th most popular sport in the United States within the next 10 years, and will eventually surpass baseball.

[mudd]

sorry but most Americans think "fútbol " is a game of whiners, fakers and actors who slightly get hit or pushed  on  some part of the body, roll on the ground like somebody came up with a lead pipe and took a swing at their knee cap, only to get up moments later and look completely fine and go running down the field.   


until that changes, Americans will never care much for the sport, and i play indoor fútbol .

[dennislevy]

I watched the game, as well.....Colombia somehow managed to contain  Messi and that is very hard to do and it was EXCITING...


Iive become an international futebol fan....as aresult of watching soi much futebol on TV here.


My first exposure to futebol was to Cosmos soccer, in nYC if I remember 77 and I saw Pele play one game, he was old, but still had flashes of brilliance and I  felt his chaarisma clear up in the cheap seats where I was sitting.


There was alot of passion and drama, a lot fo South Americans at the game...but the cops were there and it was nothing like the craziness that I expereinced at the two matches I went to Bogota and Medellin.

[benjio]

sorry but most Americans think "fútbol " is a game of whiners, fakers and actors who slightly get hit or pushed  on  some part of the body, roll on the ground like somebody came up with a lead pipe and took a swing at their knee cap, only to get up moments later and look completely fine and go running down the field.   


until that changes, Americans will never care much for the sport, and i play indoor fútbol .

That's cold Mudd....freezing cold. The game still has some appeal. I do prefer college ball over the pros these days because of exactly what you just wrote. May not even have to worry about it this Fall.

[robert angel]

Benjio,
 
I  hope you're right! In my own city--we have leagues that take 4 y/o kids in and diff leagues and our warm weather, allow year round play. Both my sons play or played, but started too late to get much playing time. There are several affluent islands along the ocean where I live--all connected by roads to the main city and THOSE kids totally dominate, some go undefeated or maybe lose one or two close games in a year. 
 

The Mexicans here are die hard fans, but often have little money left from working 2, 3 jobs and even their kids don't get a fair shot here. I sometimes go to the Mexican restaurant buffets as much so I can park my butt a while, eat OK AND watch the games they somehow get piped in from back home.
 

I don't understand 5% of what all the Mexicans in there with me are hooting and hollering about-'saying', but it makes the whole experience more electric, for sure. Plus, with all their noise, I know when they get loud, to get my nose up and outta my enchiladas!
 

Where there are cities with big latino populations, espec w/  those who have better jobs like in Miami and opportunties for all--rich and poor alike, to 'get in the game'--yea, I can see it catching fire and staying-there's $$$ to be made.
 
It's too bad, coz I have lived in and traveled to places that were dirt poor and watched kids, using bits of rags from ancient clothes beyond any other use, they tied up into some sad looking ball and playing their hearts out on 'fields' that no grass could ever grow, USED that 'ball'.
 
Now with a little 'jingle' in my pocket, one of  the last things I always try and do before flying out is to buy the little ruffians some REAL 'futballs', basket and volleyballs.  Man, talk about some dusty little kids with shyt eating grins! Plus, I figure maybe it makes them realize not all us gringo are there just so they can serve, entertain and amuse us. I'd rather GIVE a skinny kid 5 pesos than make him dive into some sewer water to come back up with a peso in his teeth so some a holes can take pictures of kids they probably view more as monkeys than people any way.
 
I might be wrong, but I'd like to think that unlike in many cases, that hopefully once I turn my back and walk away, they don't spit and say "&*#@ gringo!"" and maybe we're all a little better off for it.
 
 
I was reading about some overseas clubs and was amazed at how many football clubs are valued at more than a billion--some closer to two--in US dollars and thought with all the geeed we have here--it's amazing they haven't made it work. I dunno if Los Angeles, w/ the somewhat disapointing Beckham, is going to last any longer than the Cosmos--with PELE, did in NY.And in NY--they did a helluva a job promoting the whole shebang.
 

Sadly, as USA kids are fatter than ever before and some states don't even require P.E.(Gym) class here anymore, I think it's crying shame that'll it'll be a long time at best, IF they catch the fever, espec.  in places like nebraska, iowa, and plenty more states--other than up to college level ball for a few kids, who's parents probably took away their Microsoft X Boxes and Nintendo Wiis and kicked them outside, like my parents did.
 

I've never played a sport that had me sucking for more air than football, it ain't no powder puff contest, despite most NORTH American's mindsets, as Mudd pointed out...
 

[Tanuki]

sorry but most Americans think "fútbol " is a game of whiners, fakers and actors who slightly get hit or pushed  on  some part of the body, roll on the ground like somebody came up with a lead pipe and took a swing at their knee cap, only to get up moments later and look completely fine and go running down the field.

The NBA has pretty much started to embrace this tactic.

[mudd]

The NBA has pretty much started to embrace this tactic.

yeah, i noticed that this year also, its getting pretty bad in the NBA also. beginning to look like futbol     

That's cold Mudd....freezing cold. The game still has some appeal. I do prefer college ball over the pros these days because of exactly what you just wrote. May not even have to worry about it this Fall.

cold, but true. actually i prefer to watch the women's futbol over the mens. the mens during the regular season is like watching a bunch of " b" movie actors when they get hit, almost comical

[whitey]

sorry but most Americans think "fútbol " is a game of whiners, fakers and actors who slightly get hit or pushed  on  some part of the body, roll on the ground like somebody came up with a lead pipe and took a swing at their knee cap, only to get up moments later and look completely fine and go running down the field.   


until that changes, Americans will never care much for the sport, and i play indoor fútbol .

Exactly!

Now hockey ... there's a sport for MEN! 

[robert angel]

Yea--Hockey is about as brutal a sport you'll find in most nations, aside from the locked caged, mixed martial arts matches that are gaining popularity more and more. I played as a right wing on some hockey  teams and rarely wore a helmet and I'm starting to think that might be the reason for some of the wackier things I do sometimes.
 
The ancient Romans used to have tens of thousands turn out to watch people get thrown to the lions--ocasionally a few managed to choke and kill the lion and survive. I bet that sort of thing would go over really big here, these days. Maybe slate it in to show after CSI Miami, Dexter, or big time 'wrestling'?
 
Former US President Gerald Ford was said to have played some mean football matches sans helmet prior to his University of Michigan years and look where he ended up! No, he won't go down in history as one of our greatest presidents, but hey, they pulled him off the bench to replace president Nixon, and by that time, no Republican player could have done much better. Unlike Ronald Reagan, who at least on silver screen, shined as a football player (anyone here "Remember the Gipper?") at least Ford wasn't known for falling asleep in cabinet meetings, while eating jelly beans, but then again, Reagan really had a more effective 'take charge' group in his cabinet, and they 'ran the ball' pretty good, while the "Great communicator" was catching some Zzzzzzzzs....Maybe if Reagan had a few Dick Cheneys, the Chinese might still be doing our laundry, instead of cleaning up on our Treasury Bonds.....
 
In what I can only describe as a classic, common sensical, if misguided example of  the 'Filipino Thought Process' was after watching a few very brutal foot ball games, commenting.:
 
""Maybe they wouldn't get so mad and fight over that football so much if they gave them TWO of those footballs instead of just one""

[Micky]

On to the knock out stage.  Colombia did finish with the best record.  Actually tied with Chile at 7 points,  but would get the nod with a better goal differential.  The two VERY improved teams,  Venezuela and Peru.  Last time I saw them they were both dog crap,  now both playing really good ball.  You have your favorites,  but really any team still in it could win,  can't say that often.  Anyway Colombia vs Paraguay this Saturday.  One more thing,  Colombia is the ONLY team that did not give up a goal!!!!!  Viva Colombia!!!!!!
 

Micky

[Traveler]

Micky,
 
Actually, Colombia will be playing Peru, rather than Paraguay.  They play better than usual, but they miss 99% of opportunities.  I can't see how playing this way they can actually win the tournament, but hopefully they improve in that regard.  I am for Colombia obviously!
 
BTW, the other quarter final, Argentina vs Uruguay, should be great given their rivalry.  Can't wait!  I actually remember watching Argentina vs Uruguay in 1986 when Maradona beat singlehandedly (singleleggedly?) what looked like the entire Uruguayan team.

[Micky]

Traveler -
 
Right you are,  thanks for the correction.  I have oldtimers.  Uruguay and Argentina should be a hot contest,  although,  I thought that of the better teams,  Uruguay looked the sloppiest in the group games.  All of that is out the window now.  Colombia looks like their playing with a lot more hustle and heart than the last few years.  I think the coaching change had something to do with that.  Not over-the-hill,  but Colombia might have one of the older teams in the copa,  but I do think that they are the strongest.  You are absolutely right about missed opportunities,  Dayro's miss against Argentina was frigin ugly. 
 
Like you 86' was the first time I saw Maradona,  what a player!  He is quite the jerk,  living legend idiot,  but what a player,  he could,  and did,  carry teams.
 
All the games are interesting,  I read that the rest of the games will be live in the U.S. via Univision.  Mateo and I will be hijacking Mom's flatscreen this weekend,  with the Colombian flag flying over our terraza.  Enjoy.
 
Micky

[utopiacowboy]

We have Chile vs Venezuela, Brazil vs Paraguay, Colombia vs Peru and Argentina vs Uruguay. I'm picking Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina to advance.

[Gato4Astrid]

We have Chile vs Venezuela, Brazil vs Paraguay, Colombia vs Peru and Argentina vs Uruguay. I'm picking Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina to advance.

Argentina v.  Uruguay is the match to watch in the QF

[Gato4Astrid]

Do not forget that Uruguay's population is only 3 million which is probably would have been the best team in the world.
Uruguay has so much history with football.  Won World Cup twice - 1930 and 1950, and also won Olympic Games Gold in 1924 and 1928.
Uruguay had host 7 or 8 times (World Cup, Copa America) and won every time they had hosted!!
Uruguay has 2 world class players at the moment, Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez.
 
ARGENTINA v. URUGUAY will be an interesting match, and I predict a win for Argentina though...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[utopiacowboy]

Do not forget that Uruguay's population is only 3 million which is probably would have been the best team in the world.
Uruguay has so much history with football.  Won World Cup twice - 1930 and 1950, and also won Olympic Games Gold in 1924 and 1928.
Uruguay had host 7 or 8 times (World Cup, Copa America) and won every time they had hosted!!
Uruguay has 2 world class players at the moment, Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez.
 
ARGENTINA v. URUGUAY will be an interesting match, and I predict a win for Argentina though...

Actually Uruguay has more than 2 world class players although the two you mentioned are outstanding. Vicente Sanchez, who plays for Mexico's Club America, is a helluva player and scored in last night's friendly against Atlas in Carson, California. He played for Uruguay in the 2007 Copa America and has made 31 appearances with 5 goals for the national team. I love the way the guy plays - Mr. Hustle.

[Gato4Astrid]

Actually Uruguay has more than 2 world class players although the two you mentioned are outstanding. Vicente Sanchez, who plays for Mexico's Club America, is a helluva player and scored in last night's friendly against Atlas in Carson, California. He played for Uruguay in the 2007 Copa America and has made 31 appearances with 5 goals for the national team. I love the way the guy plays - Mr. Hustle.

Yes, but Vicente Sanchez isn't in the Copa America squad in this year's.
I can name few greastest Uruguay footballers including Enzo Francescoli  - do you remember him?  very big eyes!!
 
 
 

[utopiacowboy]

Yes, but Vicente Sanchez isn't in the Copa America squad in this year's.
I can name few greastest Uruguay footballers including Enzo Francescoli  - do you remember him?  very big eyes!!

If it had been me, I would have put him on the team. He used to play for Schalke in Germany. But who can figure out coaches?

[Gato4Astrid]

If it had been me, I would have put him on the team. He used to play for Schalke in Germany. But who can figure out coaches?

Yes, but he did not do well when he played for Schalke 04, scoring only 3 goals in 50 matches.   He plays well in Mexico

[utopiacowboy]

Yes, but he did not do well when he played for Schalke 04, scoring only 3 goals in 50 matches.   He plays well in Mexico

He's not really the kind of player who scores goals though - in fact his goal last night was a little unusual. He sets up the goal with his hustle and determination. I'll take a player like him any day.

[Gato4Astrid]

Do not forget that Uruguay's population is only 3 million which is probably would have been the best team in the world.
Uruguay has so much history with football.  Won World Cup twice - 1930 and 1950, and also won Olympic Games Gold in 1924 and 1928.
Uruguay had host 7 or 8 times (World Cup, Copa America) and won every time they had hosted!!
Uruguay has 2 world class players at the moment, Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez.
 
ARGENTINA v. URUGUAY will be an interesting match, and I predict a win for Argentina though...

 

[Micky]

At the half in Barranquilla
 
Colombia 1 - Argentina 0
 
Micky