The World's Football - otherwise known as soccer

[Neophyte]

The lads were kicking around using the chatroom for other things besides just WFT gamedays and one of the things we were talking about was soccer matches. Several of us are fans of "footie" (Boone was a regular at Diplomats games!!).

To that end, I'll be in the chatroom in 45 minutes for the Chelsea v Tottenham match (match starts at 11:30 Eastern). I have been a Tottenham supporter for over a decade now.

If you are curious about how the game works, want to see it played at the highest levels in the world, support one team or the other, or are just bored with NFL pregame shows - stop in.

Sadly, today's match is being broadcast on Peacock which may not be part of your current streaming lineup. I only have it for English Premier League football matches.

 

[Boone]

Sorry bro, I’d have joined you if I’d seen this on time!

 

[Neophyte]

My bad. I put it up less than an hour beforehand.

 

[Boone]

Soccer was my game growing up. I played baseball, was actually a pretty accomplished pitcher in little league, but the sport I loved was soccer.

As soon as I was old enough to dribble a ball, I played. I mostly played defense and by the time I reached my teen years, I was trying out for and starting in a Select Soccer League. My mother drove me to practices all over Northern Virginia for years. When I got to High School, I made the Varsity squad as a freshman, but never played significant time despite clearly being the best defender on the roster. Our coach 'didn't play freshman'. I got recruited/lured into cross country and track and field after my freshman year and never looked back.

But I never lost my passion for soccer.

From my early teens on, possibly as a result of my brother and I loving soccer, my Dad was a Washington Diplomats season ticket holder. Probably the most significant time I ever spent with my Dad was on countless Sundays spent at RFK watching the Dips battle teams like the Philadelphia Atoms, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, the Chicago Sting, the Vancouver Whitecaps, and of course, the New York Cosmos.

I saw some amazing soccer matches. Several Washington-Cosmos clashes with RFK attendance close to capacity. I saw the Brazilian Santos with Pele play. And saw a still incredible Johan Cruyff play for Washington.

My brother lives in Charlotte whose MLS team the Charlotte Football Club had it's inaugural season in 2022. He bit the bullet and signed a 4 year season ticket contract beginning this year. We attended the opener last night. Almost 70,000 fans in attendance and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. I think I'm going to adopt and follow them going forward.

If I ever went to a Washington football game that had the atmosphere I experienced last night - I would be blown away. That's an indicator of how far NFL football in Washington has fallen - when an American soccer crowd blows you away.

 

[Chris]

Wow!

 

[Chris]

 

[Boone]

I wish my Charlotte Football Club could land a big time player. Our best guys get called up to their national teams…

 

[Fat Bastard]

I wish my Charlotte Football Club could land a big time player. Our best guys get called up to their national teams…

I am not a season ticket holder, but I have been to several CFC home games as that is my team also. They have brought in some decents guys, but not enough to do much damage overall. Swiderski takes games off, and Copetti so far is just a big disappointment and a flopper. Lattanzio needs to go also, need a better coach.

Some fans just go with 'Well its only our second season as a club, what do you expect?' That argument doesn't hold water anymore when St Louis being in their first season leading the West and look how well Austin is doing also and they are barely ahead of us as far as a team goes.

Not shocked Messi is going to Miami, him and Beckham have a great relationship and a ton of Messi merchandise will be sold.

 

[Boone]

Losing Jozwiak hurt a bunch too - he was our biggest scoring threat. We just don’t have a lot of finishers. They are still in the mix for the playoffs but the past 3 weeks has been disappointing. My brother is a season ticket holder so I go to a fair number of matches with him.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Losing Jozwiak hurt a bunch too - he was our biggest scoring threat. We just don’t have a lot of finishers. They are still in the mix for the playoffs but the past 3 weeks has been disappointing. My brother is a season ticket holder so I go to a fair number of matches with him.

Yeah that didn't help. I will admit and say I was not that enthusiastic about Jozwiak his first little bit with us, but has really came along of late. Need to get it together for sure or this season will be another wash.

And oh ok that's cool. Got some stuff have to do the next couple home games, but as of right now my brother and I are planning to go to the game July 8th against Cincy.

 

[bigredskinsfan1963]

my nephew is a soccer nut,but i hate it.to me it,s a boring game trying to take over the name football.

 

[Boone]

I think a lot depends on whether you play it as a kid. I love it because like hockey a lot of times you can see plays develop before they happen. I watched my MLS team play to a 90 minute tie last night so it can be like that.

 

[Fat Bastard]

my nephew is a soccer nut,but i hate it.to me it,s a boring game trying to take over the name football.

It's the beautiful game for a good reason tbh. I love soccer and the talent is awesome to see. And football is the International name for it and people just use it instead of soccer a lot, not that big an issue imo.

 

[Neophyte]

Brilliant match on NBC right now.

Tottenham v Man United

0-0 at HT but it's an exciting end to end affair.

 

[Boone]

Wow - big bold move by USWNT soccer…

 

[Boone]

Neophyte - do you know anything about Smith?

 

[Fat Bastard]

Neophyte - do you know anything about Smith?

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Went to the Charlotte opener and overall liked how we set up and what Smith wants to do. Since then, our play has not been great, but not totally on him as we still need to get some more talent in. Signing Liel Abada from Celtic will help with that, top player and some room for some more DP's to come in also; Copetti at striker is certainly not it.

Smith is a fantastic hire with a lot of success with Aston Villa and other teams; I think if Tepper gives him time(Easier said than done with that dude) he will bring a lot of success.

 

[Boone]

Oh man, I wish Om and I had known you were there - we would've bought you a beer.

 

[Neophyte]

Boone

Smith is a class manager. He was done wrong by Villa, I think, but then the PL is brutal place that lives by the "what have you done for me lately" mind set.

He has to be immediately considered one of the top managers in MLS, IMHO.

Now, a lot of his success will depend on the players he is given to work with but he is a quality hire.

 

[Boone]

Carolina FC signed a young forward today, Liel Abada from Celtic FC who is supposed to be very talented. We need some alpha goal scorers as we lost our best guy Karol Swiderski in the offseason.