Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

If anything is clear its that the Euro teams are woefully overrated. The constant chirping about how those teams rule, other teams not named Brazil suck, blah blah blah clearly isn't remotely close to accurate. The African teams are obviously unlucky to not have a better record, the South American teams are rolling. The international soccer scene is changing. The 2002 WC semifinals had Korea, Brazil, Turkey and a very very lucky German team. Bah. The Euros could've gone 0-4 in terms of claiming semifinal spots. Heck, they only went 2-8 claiming quarterfinal spots, exactly as many as CONCACAF. Say it with me now: "O-ver-Ra-ted (clap) (clap) (clap clap clap).

The refs have been just awful in their support of those teams also, see Portugul and Italy yesterday for examples. Plus, the Euro teams flop more than any other side.

Basically, if there's a European team playing, I'm rooting for the other side, and if it's too Euros, then I choose the lesser of two evils.

Go World!

BTW, is there anything more fun than rooting for the African and East Asian teams? I love those squads.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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BTW, is there anything more fun than rooting for the African and East Asian teams? I love those squads.

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yeah i root for the u.s myself so funny to watch [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Actually, I really like the Czechs and don't think they are guilty of most of the European-type behavior you are pinpointing. Of course, I have to root against them now, but I like the way they play. Pretty much nobody else from that continent, though.

-Michael

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

I don't get what you oppose? Alot of euro teams are over-rated, agree 100%, but what is the 'evil' you are talking about?

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Go Netherlands!

(yes I'm dutch [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img])

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe. If ignore the fact that South Korea were at least as lucky as Germany in getting to the final. If you ignore the fact that that WC was held in conditions that worked against the European teams. If you ingore the fact that on current form over half of the group qualifyers stand to be from Europe. If yuo ignore all of that then yes Europe is overrated.

The African teams have 4 pts between them. The CONFAC teams have 1 point between them. Bascially we're seeing European domination with Brazil and Argenitina as the two big contendors from outside, exactly as predicited before the event. The only difference is that England/Germany/Italy/France/Portugal are only winning by small margins rather than destroying teams.

All that aside, all this inter continental rivalry is just bizarre. The last thing I want is Germany winning the world cup. If England can't win it I'd want Argentina, because they seem the play the best football. I'd mcuh rather the US/Costa Rica/Togo won the world cup than any of my fellow European teams. Everyone roots for the underdog in any match they are nuteral in, its just more fun

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe.

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I knew someone would point this out. In reality, no one really thinks of Turkey as a European team.

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If ignore the fact that South Korea were at least as lucky as Germany in getting to the final.


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Still 2 to 2 Euros to CONCACAF.


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If you ignore the fact that that WC was held in conditions that worked against the European teams.

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And not against anyone else not from Korea? C'mon. I'll grant you that Korea had a wicked home field advantage, but no way will I concede that it worked more against the Euros than Brazil, for example.

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If you ingore the fact that on current form over half of the group qualifyers stand to be from Europe.

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My point above was that despite the results so far, its pretty clear that the gap between Africa, for example, and Europe is far far smaller than what is reflected in the current standings.


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All that aside, all this inter continental rivalry is just bizarre. The last thing I want is Germany winning the world cup. If England can't win it I'd want Argentina, because they seem the play the best football. I'd mcuh rather the US/Costa Rica/Togo won the world cup than any of my fellow European teams.

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Well, I admit that I would almost under no circumstances root for Mexico. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

My current [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] teams:

USA
USA
USA
Argentina
USA
Ivory Coast
Ecuador
USA
Brazil
Australia
USA
USA
England

EDIT: oops, forgot Ecuador. The goalie with the flag painted on his face absolutely kills me.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Basically the heat hurts European teams (esp England,Germany,Sweden,Norway,etc) more than their South American rivals.

Anyway no one ever said that Europe would crush the rest of the world the simple fact is Europe=ROW but ROW is much bigger, therefore team for team Europe is much stronger. I'd still be very suprised if Europe + Brazil + Argentina didn't dominate in the later stages. As it stands only Equador, Mexico and South Korea are likely to even make the second round outside the big powers.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Hey clark you know that Turkey is part of Europe right....I haven't read the rest of your post btw.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

I'm American, and feel like the current system actually works against European teams. It's the hardest region to qualify from - as I said in another thread, more "good" European teams are left home than from any other region.

re: the last World Cup, Spain and Italy were both [censored] jobbed by South Korea and the refs. the final four really should have been Turkey, German, Italy/Spain, and Brazil. 3 European teams.

now, I do think that the best 2 teams in the world are Argentina and Brazil. But after that, there is a huge drop-off. After Italy and England in Europe, you have Spain, Holland, Czech, Portugal, France, Germany, and Sweden, plus solid teams like Denmark and Greece who didn't qualify.

basically, no other region has as many Top 20 teams. I'd say at least 12 of the top 20 teams in the world are in Europe, which is pretty impressive considering how much bigger the world is than Europe.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Wahh I kept reading, you do know that Turkey is part of the EU, I'd say that makes them somewhat European, or perhaps soon the world will just be USA and Europe and China.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Wahh I kept reading, you do know that Turkey is part of the EU, I'd say that makes them somewhat European, or perhaps soon the world will just be USA and Europe and China.

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Perhaps. I'd be pretty shocked of blokes from England and Ireland considered the Turks to be their "European brethren". [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] They aren't really middle eastern either. I'd consider them more like the 8th and tiniest continent. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Hey clark you know that Turkey is part of Europe right....

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Turkey is not part of the EU and probably won't be for another decade, if ever. They have a small part of their country in Europe but the majority is in Asia. This has little relevance to the OP but I wanted to point it out.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe.

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Add to this that Korea wouldn't been there if it wasn't for two horrible calls by the referees in the quarterfinal against Spain. So it really should have been 3-1 Europe.

Of course Turkey is European.

Go Sweden!

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Hey clark you know that Turkey is part of Europe right....

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Turkey is not part of the EU and probably won't be for another decade, if ever. They have a small part of their country in Europe but the majority is in Asia. This has little relevance to the OP but I wanted to point it out.

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Sorry don't know why I thought that, was there some consideration or something I'm sure whilst paying 10% attention the news at some point in the last 2yrs I heard "join EU.....Turkey....".

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Hey clark you know that Turkey is part of Europe right....

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Turkey is not part of the EU and probably won't be for another decade, if ever. They have a small part of their country in Europe but the majority is in Asia. This has little relevance to the OP but I wanted to point it out.

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Sorry don't know why I thought that, was there some consideration or something I'm sure whilst paying 10% attention the news at some point in the last 2yrs I heard "join EU.....Turkey....".

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meh, it's basically too close to argue. Turkey is not in the EU, but is in the Council of Europe.

more importantly for this discussion, the soccer team qualifies through UEFA, making them clearly part of the European soccer community.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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I knew someone would point this out. In reality, no one really thinks of Turkey as a European team.

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Well, I do and I'm sure most Europeans do. Actually, I suspect only *you* don't consider them a European team.

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Still 2 to 2 Euros to CONCACAF.

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OK, here are the quarter finalists from 2002:

England
Brazil
Senegal
Turkey
Korea
Germany
USA
Spain

Are you saying Turkey is a CONCACAF team and one of England/Germany/Spain isn't?

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And not against anyone else not from Korea? C'mon. I'll grant you that Korea had a wicked home field advantage, but no way will I concede that it worked more against the Euros than Brazil, for example.

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Trying to figure out when Brazil played Korea ... hmmm, they never did. Here are the teams Korea faced in round 2:

Italy
Spain
Germany
Turkey

all UEFA.

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My point above was that despite the results so far, its pretty clear that the gap between Africa, for example, and Europe is far far smaller than what is reflected in the current standings.

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Everyone recognizes the gains African teams gave made in the last 20 years, so I don't see your point. They're still clearly behind Europe though. The biggest thing the last 2 WCs have shown is that the second teir African teams have caught up with Nireria, Cameroon, etc. so they now have maybe 8 counties that could compete against European teams. But you're fooling you think they've caught up with Europe's top teir.

CONCACAF and Asia are much further behind and are only just approaching where Africa was 20 years ago.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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The refs have been just awful in their support of those teams also,

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Pure girly hysteria.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe.

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Add to this that Korea wouldn't been there if it wasn't for two horrible calls by the referees in the quarterfinal against Spain. So it really should have been 3-1 Europe.

Of course Turkey is European.

Go Sweden!

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Whoops, I forgot about Spain.

Turkey still not European though. But if you all really think that, maybe I need to root against them too.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

nobody cares who you root for and your argument is retarded.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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nobody cares who you root for and your argument is retarded.

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Another whiny Euro apparently.

Go back to arguing that racist slurs are acceptable.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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If anything is clear its that the Euro teams are woefully overrated. The constant chirping about how those teams rule, other teams not named Brazil suck, blah blah blah clearly isn't remotely close to accurate. The African teams are obviously unlucky to not have a better record, the South American teams are rolling. The international soccer scene is changing. The 2002 WC semifinals had Korea, Brazil, Turkey and a very very lucky German team. Bah. The Euros could've gone 0-4 in terms of claiming semifinal spots. Heck, they only went 2-8 claiming quarterfinal spots, exactly as many as CONCACAF. Say it with me now: "O-ver-Ra-ted (clap) (clap) (clap clap clap).

The refs have been just awful in their support of those teams also, see Portugul and Italy yesterday for examples. Plus, the Euro teams flop more than any other side.

Basically, if there's a European team playing, I'm rooting for the other side, and if it's too Euros, then I choose the lesser of two evils.

Go World!

BTW, is there anything more fun than rooting for the African and East Asian teams? I love those squads.

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Great post, I totally agree. People could argue endlessly about the reffing and who benefitted from it, everyone has a reason to complain, but none of that changes the fact that europe and most of their teams are overrated. And that the italians are giant pussies. Man am I happy I'm not italian.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe.

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Add to this that Korea wouldn't been there if it wasn't for two horrible calls by the referees in the quarterfinal against Spain. So it really should have been 3-1 Europe.

Of course Turkey is European.

Go Sweden!

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Whoops, I forgot about Spain.

Turkey still not European though. But if you all really think that, maybe I need to root against them too.

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Its a shame that some feel the need to undermine the heroic performance of the USA team last night with this sort of purely bitter hysterical bile.

Of course European sides are highly regarded they have pedigree in this event and the majority of them have won it at some point. What happened at the last WC was an exception but not the establishment of a new rule as results in this WC are allready close to affirming. If anything the African sides seem to have regressed slightly.

Edited to Add:

You are aware that every "European" that wasnt Italian or had money on it was rooting for USA last night. I hope that illustrates just how small minded you are being. When USA scored (the one that was disallowed) I fisted the air and jumped out of my seat. Reading your post has made me regret doing that.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Its a shame that some feel the need to undermine the heroic performance of the USA team last night with this sort of purely bitter hysterical bile.

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Yeah, me rooting against European teams clearly undermines the US effort yesterday. Please, no one let the team know about this! [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Its a shame that some feel the need to undermine the heroic performance of the USA team last night with this sort of purely bitter hysterical bile.

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Yeah, me rooting against European teams clearly undermines the US effort yesterday. Please, no one let the team know about this! [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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It undermines it becasue their heroic efforts had a massively positive impact on the neurtral where as your bitter small mindedness has the opposite effect.

As I said above (in edit) every "european" who wasnt Italian was cheering on the USA last night. I even fisted the air when they scored the dis-allowed goal. Hopefully your bitter and small minded reaction to losing to one particular european team and drawing with an other isnt indicative of your fellow countrymen.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Well if you ignore the fact that Turkey is in UEFA and therefore clearly part of the European football community so it was actually 2-2 Europe/Non Europe.

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Add to this that Korea wouldn't been there if it wasn't for two horrible calls by the referees in the quarterfinal against Spain. So it really should have been 3-1 Europe.

Of course Turkey is European.

Go Sweden!

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Whoops, I forgot about Spain.

Turkey still not European though. But if you all really think that, maybe I need to root against them too.

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You are just being ridiculous here. They qualified through the European qualifying. Part of the freaking country is in Europe. Not sure what other evidence you need.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Random thoughts I have while reading this thread:

(1) Everyone should settle down. Obviously Clarkmeister used strong words in his post but I think you all are overreacting. He loves to stir the pot and you need to understand that.

(2) I have nothing against any of the European teams except for Italy. Italy's fans are cocky, obnoxious and I can't stand being around them. I've experienced the opposite regarding every other group of European fans (save the really big groups of England fans). They are competitive and cheer loudly but their stance is much more of, "We Rule" rather than "You Suck", if that makes sense. I have a lot of respect for their loyalty and I hope the US can someday have fans like you Europeans do.

(3 Despite my affinity for their fans, I don't like watching the European teams play. They play a slow, laborious brand of soccer and it's frustrating to watch. The African, South American and Asian sides all play much faster and keep attacking. I always root for these countries to win and I will continue to do so.

(4) I don't know how you can dismiss the biased officiating claim as pure girly hysteria. You never once felt that the US was getting the short end of the sitck yesterday, that every 50/50 call was going for Italy? I'm not even referring to the big plays but it seemed, from the stands at least, that Italy was getting the benefit of the doubt on most of the close calls. Part of it may be that they've earned that advantage and the US needs to earn it too but there was definitely a bit of a bias yesterday.

I've really brought nothing significant to the table but I felt like typing out my thoughts. Go Nats!

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

i didn't read much of this but...

I'm a big fan of the dutch. and I'd like to see england do well. and if slovenia ever make the world cup again, i'm all about slovenia.

other than those - meh.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Hey, I bow before their fervent love for their Turkish brothers.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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If you ignore the fact that that WC was held in conditions that worked against the European teams.

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Basically the heat hurts European teams (esp England,Germany,Sweden,Norway,etc) more than their South American rivals.

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You realize how retarded this sounds, right?

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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If you ignore the fact that that WC was held in conditions that worked against the European teams.

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Basically the heat hurts European teams (esp England,Germany,Sweden,Norway,etc) more than their South American rivals.

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You realize how retarded this sounds, right?

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ask dusty baker

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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You are just being ridiculous here. They qualified through the European qualifying. Part of the freaking country is in Europe. Not sure what other evidence you need.

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Just for the record, less than 5% of Turkey's land is in Europe. Also, I've discussed the EU topic with many Turks living in Istanbul and Ankara and none of them really care one way or the other but they clearly are more Asian that European. With that said:

Turkey is in UEFA

That's the only relevant part of any of this. Turkey's National Team represents Europe and clearly all Europeans claim them as such. So, Clark, I guess it's time to root against Turkey!

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

Clark

This world cup is not really different to the last few, the gap in international football has closed, there are few very easy games moreso at WC level.

Most of the "lesser" teams have players in the top leagues in Europe so are very experienced and have quality. Add to this good coaching, organization and playing a defensive type game thats hard to break down, so some of the favourites have not looked too great at times.

However these first two weeks of the WC are all about getting to the second round, its not about looking good its getting points on the board. Yo cannot win the WC in the first two weeks you can only lose it.

Once we get to knock out then you will see different types of games and hopefully teams like England lifting their play to levels that they are capable if.

Some of the African and other teams have looked good, they havent got the results while most of the main top teams have. Thats the difference in class imho playing bad but grinding out the results.

I dont see a side outside of Europe or South America winning this WC or even getting to the Semis.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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If you ignore the fact that that WC was held in conditions that worked against the European teams.

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Basically the heat hurts European teams (esp England,Germany,Sweden,Norway,etc) more than their South American rivals.

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You realize how retarded this sounds, right?

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Just more evidence of the inherent pussiness of the flopping, flailing, faking Euros.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Hey, I bow before their fervent love for their Turkish brothers.

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Lol. I, too, am surprised by the amout of Turkey love that the Europeans are showing in this thread. I've experienced so much Turkey-bashing while traveling through Western Europe it makes me sick but apparently football is a different story.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Its a shame that some feel the need to undermine the heroic performance of the USA team last night with this sort of purely bitter hysterical bile.

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Yeah, me rooting against European teams clearly undermines the US effort yesterday. Please, no one let the team know about this! [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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It undermines it becasue their heroic efforts had a massively positive impact on the neurtral where as your bitter small mindedness has the opposite effect.

As I said above (in edit) every "european" who wasnt Italian was cheering on the USA last night. I even fisted the air when they scored the dis-allowed goal. Hopefully your bitter and small minded reaction to losing to one particular european team and drawing with an other isnt indicative of your fellow countrymen.

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it isn't, clark is just a douche.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Its a shame that some feel the need to undermine the heroic performance of the USA team last night with this sort of purely bitter hysterical bile.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, me rooting against European teams clearly undermines the US effort yesterday. Please, no one let the team know about this! [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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It undermines it becasue their heroic efforts had a massively positive impact on the neurtral where as your bitter small mindedness has the opposite effect.

As I said above (in edit) every "european" who wasnt Italian was cheering on the USA last night. I even fisted the air when they scored the dis-allowed goal. Hopefully your bitter and small minded reaction to losing to one particular european team and drawing with an other isnt indicative of your fellow countrymen.

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Since we are all aware how much Europeans love the US.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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flopping, flailing, faking Euros.

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Ever seen Uraguay? Also, this is as retarded as me saying all yanks are cowboys.

Re: Anyone else rooting against ALL European team?
 

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Since we are all aware how much Europeans love the US.

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That is the beauty of football, it can make you love a country of cousin marrying rednecks who can barely read and don't have passports.