FIFA!! World Cup! Yahoo!

[Nicole Marie]

It's finally here...it took four years but FIFA returns to bring the world the best in futball! Tune into Beethoven Radio starting Monday for World Cup Futball reports. Find out which teams are winning and which matches you should check out. If your new to futball tune into learn all about the sport and history of futball and why it is the worlds most popular sport. <P>First Match is on 31 May - France vs. Senegal in Seoul. <P>And for all futball fans post which teams you want to see win and your thoughts on the World Cup match being held in Korea/Japan! I'm cheering for Portugal! (Hey, they are ranked number 5 in the world.)<P>(Psst...Americans know futball as soccer. But since the rest of the world calls it futball that's how the game will be called on Beethoven. And just a note: Futball (NFL) in America is called "American Football" by the world.)<p>[ 05-22-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[treebeau]

Not to be confused with foosball, the tabletop game of futball. Two teams consisting of plastic men with a steel rod going through their waists. I seem to always root for red and my son roots for blue.<BR> <P>Regards,<BR>Tim B.

[yk3b]

Turkey all the way. Watch out for Hakan Sukur, Ilhan Mansiz and the goalkeeper Rustu Rencber (the best in the world). We're going all the way this time around.

[Nicole Marie]

Hi Yavuz-<P>I'm looking forward to Turkey vs. Brazil! That is going to be an exciting game! Good luck to both teams, it'll be quit the match! That's on June 3rd. Will you be watching?

[EJA]

I used to play soccer, but did too many headers and eventually forgot all the rules. (Actually I got into "American Football" -- so much more my style -- and then my hip went to pieces and that was the end of all that.) It's a great game -- if you like running until your lungs bleed, getting kicked in the shins until they are lumpy, and getting hit in the head until you have a concussion. . .

[jnowacki]

"Australian Rules" football...now there's a REAL man's sport! Not at all like the American wuss version where ya got a helmet & all that PADDING! There's nothing in the world like watching sweating, snorting, 6'4", 240+lb. guys running headlong into each other at top speed, kicking like testosterone-crazed beasts...CLUTCH THE PEARLS, MARTHA!! I'm all aflutter just WRITING about it! <P>-jn-

[EJA]

My brothers and I used to play one-on-one or two-on-one tackle football with no pads, no helmets and no shoes (sometimes we wore our rubber barn boots) in the cow pasture. We used cow-pies for kick-off tees. None of us weighed over 200 and I'm the tallest at 5' 11.5", but it is still a miracle that there were no broken bones.

[Nicole Marie]

Ok back to futball guys.<P>Here's a great site to brush up on facts about the game: <A HREF="http://worldcup.espnsoccernet.com/index?lang=en" TARGET=_blank>http://worldcup.espnsoccernet.com/index?lang=en</A> <P>Or go to <A HREF="http://www.fifa.com" TARGET=_blank>www.fifa.com</A> <P>And remember to tune in to Beethoven next week to hear start of the FIFA updates!Oh and here's a great link to the team I am cheering for: <A HREF="http://worldcup.espnsoccernet.com/team?id=portugal&lang=en" TARGET=_blank>http://worldcup.espnsoccernet.com/team?id=portugal&lang=en</A> <p>[ 05-24-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[audiogirl]

My worst fear has been realized. The letters e-s-p-n have appeared on our bulletin board. Is nowhere safe?

[Peter]

Futball? What's that? Ladies and gentlemen, the beautiful game is called football, as it's played with the feet. Not the fut

[A. Senna]

Cheers to Nicole Marie for getting the AMERICAN public talking about the World Cup!! It is the biggest event in the world and most Americans don't even know that it is going on. <BR>I must concur with Nicole, England v. Argentina is going to be great! I wish England could win it all, being that they have the best team on paper. But I think Argentina will emerge from the "Group of Death" and win the cup. <P>Oh, by the way, don't count out the US just yet with the loss of Keller. Brad Friedel was going to share the goalie responsibilities with Keller. Even though Kasey was the better of the two, Friedel will do fine. <P>Again, thanks Nicole!!!

[Mr Mustard]

Slovenia's odds in the World Cup are 720 to 1, in case any of you like betting on the underdog. <P>The whole country is aflame here. The team is widely expected to get the boot in the first round, but miracles do happen, and everyone is hoping for a few this weekend. (Their opening match is against Spain, which will require divine intervention for them to win...)<P>In their defense, Slovenia surprised quite a few people during the qualifications. They eliminated both Romania and Yugoslavia to get in. (Ranked 14th and 10th in the world, respectively.) But I guess we'll see what happens soon enough.<P>In addition to the great links Nicole posted, there is this:<P><A HREF="http://www.fifa.com/rank/index_E.html" TARGET=_blank>FIFA World Rankings</A><P>Good luck to everyone!

[Nicole Marie]

As my dear friend Tom said, "VIVA AFRICA!" <P>Senegal won todays game against France! Yahoo! (I'm not a big fan of the French team.) Any thoughts on today's game? <P>Now watch and see what happens between Uruguay and Denmark tomorrow!

[Nicole Marie]

Here's an update on FIFA from this past weekend and what's to come:<P>This weekend:<BR>Croatia vs. Mexico (0:1)<BR>Italy vs. Ecuador (2:0)<BR>Brazil vs. Turkey (2:1)<P>Today: (Who do you think will win?)<BR>China vs. Tunisia<BR>Japan vs. Belguim<BR>Korea Republic vs. Poland<P>Tomorrow: <BR>Russia vs. Tunisia<BR>USA vs. Portugal (Guess who I'm rooting for?! Portugal!!)<BR>Germany vs. Republic of Ireland

[sean10700]

Yes to the World Cup. I almost wish it took place more often than every four years, but then too much of a good thing would ruin it. I like the German team, so far, of those I've seen. I think the US can get to the round of 16, but not much further.<P>Brazil got lucky this morning, and Turkey paid the price for a lousy call from the ref. I wonder what the guys on the sidelines with the flags are doing? The foul clearly deserved a red flag, but it wasn't in the box. Oh well, I'm glad to hear you're a fan. I wish more people would give it a chance.

[Nicole Marie]

Here's the low down on what happend in yesterday's game:<P>China vs. Costa Rica (0:2)<BR>Belgium vs. Japan(2:2)<BR>Korea Republic vs. Poland (2:0)<P>And if you're a little crazy like me wake up at 5AM EST for the live game between Portugal and USA! Viva Portugal! You can catch the live games on ESPN, UniVision (Latin America's network) or ABC.<p>[ 06-04-2002: Message edited by: Nicole Marie ]

[sean10700]

Okay Nicole - take your medicine. USA! USA! USA! What a game. I don't Portugal ever got over the shock of finding themselves down 3-0 - and never recovered. It was worth getting up at 5:00 a.m.

[Nicole Marie]

I too woke up to watch the game. The US got very lucky. The Portugese defense was no where to be seen in the first half. But in the second half Portugal came back and broke apart the US team. The US was so upset in the second half that they made so many stupid mistakes. One included a US team member kicking a goal into his OWN goal! If Portugal played like that in the first half they would have beat the US. Oh well. Now it's on to the US vs Korea (Korea says it'll be no problem beating the US) and Portugal vs Poland.

[Nicole Marie]

Big games last night! <P>France and Uruguay had an extremely heated game that ended in 0:0! Did any one watch? I thought there were a few moments where team members were close to more then yelling.<P>Cameroon vs. Saudi Arabia 1:0<BR>And Denmark vs. Sensgal was a tie at 1:1.<P>Big games to watch:<P>Espaina vs. Paraguay (Spain will win) Brazil vs. China (Brazil) and Argentinia vs. England... BIG GAME! You must watch this one, these two teams are big rivals.

[Stradi]

Hello!<P>Portugal played badly.Phisically the US team is superior to Portugal.Neverthless Portugal almost recovered a 3-0 disavantage!I still have hope that Portugal can achieve the final!<P>FORÇA PORTUGAL!