The Soccer Thread (IV)

The question of stability was in reference to Indonesia.

And I like that your abbreviation doesn't split the verb. That sleeveless-shirt-wearing bastard could learn a thing or two from that example.

 

They be broke.

This is just a guess, but given the near-constant headaches with the Poland/Ukraine Euro 2012 build-up, you might not see any joint bids for high-profile tournaments (World Cup, Euros) for a while.

 

Yeah, I skipped 2014. Blatant brain fart on my part. 2018 is when English fans and media will be in a froth. I'm not sure where the rotation takes it for 2022, though. They either go back to Asia, or they do award it to the U.S. They just LOVE the fact we can do it on the cheap.

The Portugal bash is like so many statements in this thread: "Everyone except the team I root for is a damn cheater and a diver!" I don't believe I said Portugal was more talented. But they were BETTER that day, which in soccer unfortunately often involves an ability to fool the ref.

Maradona beat England in 1986 by scoring one of the great goals the world has ever seen. The other one, well . . . as I've said before, why blame the players for pushing to see what they can get away with? Because of some archaic "Respect for the GAME, man!" ideal? Sure, that would be nice. But the game - in the form of managers, bigwigs, and officials - needs to respect itself first. Sure, Maradona cheated. The ref blew the call. He went with it.

That's savvy.

 

What I don't think they love is the distance between venues, not that it's stopped them giving World Cups to South Africa or Brazil. But what somewhere like England, and for that matter anywhere else in Europe, offers is the ability to get from one venue to another in a matter of a few hours.

Let's just say if Portugal don't qualify, I won't miss them, and neither will anyone else. Not least of all the English and the Dutch. That second-round game was horrible.

 

Depends on your definition of stability. It's still a fairly nascent democracy, but I don't see civil war or Colombia-style violence that would cause Indonesia to lose a World Cup. Food riots, maybe, but not an organized popular uprising. This year's presidential election went off without violence in the streets or reputable claims of misconduct. The biggest complaints came from those who were in power pre-democracy and demanded they retake their place on the throne (because they do, in fact, consider themselves royalty).

The main concern people outside the country have but are too polite to say is terrorism. They see the Bali bombings, the hotel attacks and a country of 8 million that's more than 85 percent Muslim. What a lot of them don't get is the people here, and their brand of Islam, is actually fairly laid-back and tolerant (Malaysia is much more strict).

Actually catching the people behind the hotel bombings would go some way toward assuaging those fears, but we've heard sweet FA since the "raid" on Noordin M. Top's alleged hideout and I don't expect we ever will. What's more, the level of Arab investment and influence keeps rising here, and with it financial support for those who subscribe to a more hard-line brand of Islam. They're still well in the minority, but we're starting to see more bills in the legislature about cracking down on porn (an utter failure thus far), more stringent censorship of movies and more religious content on TV (keeping cigarette ads on TV, though? O-tay!).

As I said, though, I'd rate Qatar's chances much higher than Indonesia's. I've seen the bid proposal, and this "Green World Cup" business is a bunch of jive. People walk around Jakarta with their heads down because there's huge chunks of sidewalks missing throughout the city, even in the downtown business districts, and the water here is so polluted it looks more akin to something that would come out of a chocolate fondue fountain. The only "green" the Indonesian FA is interested in is whatever it and its business partners can skim off the top.

 

I would think the construction of a series of chocolate fondue fountains could only help the bid, though. So don't sell that idea short.

Forgive my ignorance, but where in Indonesia apart from Jakarta could they hold games?

 

Three stadiums qualify for use right now, with a few more soon to arrive. The official bid proposes building six new stadiums.
http://thejakartaglobe.com/sports/stadiums-a-priority-for-world-cup-bid-pssi/307095

 

2022 will be the return of Graham Taylor

Route I, Part II, Electric Boogaloo.

 

Eduardo's ban overturned on appeal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8236689.stm

 

Well, that was a whole lot of nothing.

 

I think that the ban was ridiculous given that it only would have been a yellow during a game. But it still was a dive.