What does the World Cup mean to you?

[Marc]

I'm a club over country man, but also love the WC. Every year I say I hate the England team and we are shit but as the tournament gets closer, I'm all aboard the bandwagon and starting to #believe and then we go through the process of being let down.

It's better than the Olympics for me personally. Football on every day is great, sweepstakes, fantasy games, bets etc all add to it. Football on at weird times of the day is also a underrated trait of world cups.

[Smiley Culture]

It’s a weird one for me, I think, from memory, it was the 1998 World Cup that really got me into the obsession of Football but as each World Cup that has gone on, it’s meant less and less. Whether that’s down to the whole Club v Country thing, growing up, England invariably being rubbish or a combination of all of those, I’m not sure. 

I remember being absolutely obsessed with the 2002 World Cup. I’d try and wake up for the games because they were on early. I even remember watching Senegal beat France while I was in Majorca. 

The 2006 one I can’t really remember tbh. I think at 14, I’d already given up on England and I can’t remember much of it apart from being in Paris on a school trip watching France win the semi and then their fans setting fireworks off in the street till 2am and obviously the final and Zidane’s last game. 

2010, I didn’t watch any England game, I worked in a pub at the time and worked one of the games where England ended up drawing with someone shit that they should have beaten. I can’t actually remember any of that tournament. 

2014, again, I can’t remember too much of but I do remeber enjoruing watching Chile and Columbia. I actually couldn’t even tell you who knocked England out, which is telling. 

As for this one, I’ve gone the other way and I’m looking forward to it and actually want to watch as much as I physically can. 

[Dave]

The World Cup to me is a glamorous, prestigious, outstanding and thrilling event. Every time it comes round I am mind blown by the immense skill and creativity on display. It truly is heartwarming to see so many nations from different cultures and backgrounds together unite to put on a fantastic display for over a month dedicated to the best sport in the world. To me, in a world full of suffering and hate, it's vital for the sake of mankind that the prestige and importance of this tournament only grows and never diminishes. 

[bozziovai]

1 hour ago, Smiley Culture said:

It’s a weird one for me, I think, from memory, it was the 1998 World Cup that really got me into the obsession of Football but as each World Cup that has gone on, it’s meant less and less. Whether that’s down to the whole Club v Country thing, growing up, England invariably being rubbish or a combination of all of those, I’m not sure. 

I remember being absolutely obsessed with the 2002 World Cup. I’d try and wake up for the games because they were on early. I even remember watching Senegal beat France while I was in Majorca. 

The 2006 one I can’t really remember tbh. I think at 14, I’d already given up on England and I can’t remember much of it apart from being in Paris on a school trip watching France win the semi and then their fans setting fireworks off in the street till 2am and obviously the final and Zidane’s last game. 

2010, I didn’t watch any England game, I worked in a pub at the time and worked one of the games where England ended up drawing with someone shit that they should have beaten. I can’t actually remember any of that tournament. 

2014, again, I can’t remember too much of but I do remeber enjoruing watching Chile and Columbia. I actually couldn’t even tell you who knocked England out, which is telling. 

As for this one, I’ve gone the other way and I’m looking forward to it and actually want to watch as much as I physically can. 

 

we're the same in this one.   Each world cup i have a memory, good or bad.  i'm a filipino so all my memories are just from watching it on the tube. ( live tv broadcast )

in 1998.  i can still remember the feeling of utter distraught when Zidane scored the first and the way i threw the chair when Zizo scored the second and my screams when Petit ran half way from the field and scored.   i was still in college that time, i wasn't able to go to school for a week.  i was depressed that brazil lose.   i'm an R9 ran, the triple R prior the world cup, ROMARIO, RONALDO, RIVALDO.   Romario got injured ...... the rest is history.

 

in 2002 it was a different story though, i'm with my cousins.  R9 was devastating that World Cup.  So happy that we went on a drinking spree for 3 straight days.

 

in 2006, i was with my classmates and we're taking the Board Exam in Manila.   We found a pub there that caters to the world cup, all of the people are football fanatics.   i already changed my opinion on zidane that time ( hated him for killing off brazil in 1998 ).    I was torn who to cheer for coz i both like zizo and del pierro and BOOM, that headbutt of zidane.   i guess for a month or so we made a joke out of the headbutt, if someone acts stupid or anything we tell them STOP THAT OR I'LL HEADBUTT YOU.

 

in 2010.   i was in saudi.   i was only a casual fan that time since spain doesn't have Raul.   

in 2014.  it was when i got interested again in the world cup due to the fact that Messi and co was haviing trouble qualifying.   My old teams of France and Brazil and Italy doesn't have the old heroes of old.   Basically, i just jumped in the watching-messi-bandwagon.   oh yeah and watching on youtube the clips of how brazilians rob and terrorized the tourist.

 

[Danny]

8 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

It’s a weird one for me, I think, from memory, it was the 1998 World Cup that really got me into the obsession of Football but as each World Cup that has gone on, it’s meant less and less. Whether that’s down to the whole Club v Country thing, growing up, England invariably being rubbish or a combination of all of those, I’m not sure. 

I remember being absolutely obsessed with the 2002 World Cup. I’d try and wake up for the games because they were on early. I even remember watching Senegal beat France while I was in Majorca. 

The 2006 one I can’t really remember tbh. I think at 14, I’d already given up on England and I can’t remember much of it apart from being in Paris on a school trip watching France win the semi and then their fans setting fireworks off in the street till 2am and obviously the final and Zidane’s last game. 

2010, I didn’t watch any England game, I worked in a pub at the time and worked one of the games where England ended up drawing with someone shit that they should have beaten. I can’t actually remember any of that tournament. 

2014, again, I can’t remember too much of but I do remeber enjoruing watching Chile and Columbia. I actually couldn’t even tell you who knocked England out, which is telling. 

As for this one, I’ve gone the other way and I’m looking forward to it and actually want to watch as much as I physically can. 

 

6 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

The World Cup to me is a glamorous, prestigious, outstanding and thrilling event. Every time it comes round I am mind blown by the immense skill and creativity on display. It truly is heartwarming to see so many nations from different cultures and backgrounds together unite to put on a fantastic display for over a month dedicated to the best sport in the world. To me, in a world full of suffering and hate, it's vital for the sake of mankind that the prestige and importance of this tournament only grows and never diminishes. 

It's the biggest argument in the club vs country debate for me, regardless of your preference it is just absolutely bigger than any tournament in football. Imagine not caring about the biggest tournament in football because you choose your club over it????

[Dave]

48 minutes ago, Danny said:

 

It's the biggest argument in the club vs country debate for me, regardless of your preference it is just absolutely bigger than any tournament in football. Imagine not caring about the biggest tournament in football because you choose your club over it????

Just to clarify to the more simple minded humans. I was being light headed, because I want the  emoji to have importance, and I want everyone to pay homeage to the 100 days thread. 

I'll put a detailed description about my time supporting England. From when EURO 1996!!!, to Ian Wright scoring a hat trick against Maldova, to me wanting to cripple Southgate for ignoring Wilfried now. When I'm not cunted.

[Dave]

54 minutes ago, Danny said:

 

It's the biggest argument in the club vs country debate for me, regardless of your preference it is just absolutely bigger than any tournament in football. Imagine not caring about the biggest tournament in football because you choose your club over it????

Uber driver is giving me the opportunity  to think aboit this... i always grew up wanting to see Palace play in an FA Cup Final. When it happened I didn't know how to react. It was all I ever wanted, but I knew from here on in it was downhill. Seeing Puncheon, a sub that was Palace born and bread, score the goal that sent the see of red and blue flags in to uproar and to get carried over the fans because of the euphoria I felt was an emotion I will never ever forget and to tell the grandchildren of that moment. To me, that beats watching England in the pub on a street.

[Guest]

@bozziovai i thought you were Saudi?

[Machado]

I celebrated that winner against France like a crazy bastard but believe me, that moment has nothing on your club winning a league title. It's not even close.

As a competition there's nothing like a World Cup though. Watching a fixture like Nigeria vs South Korea with both sides giving everything they've got is priceless. I love the competition, specially if Portugal are doing well. I care about it way more than I care about the Euros.

[Azeem]

21 hours ago, Kitchen Sales said:

The world cup is jingoistic rubbish, hijacked as a way to celebrate nationality rather than to represent the work of a football association by those brought up within its jurisdiction. Emphasised by the now overwhelming number of people who don't like football 11 months of the year who suddenly have face paint on.

Its happens in other sports as well, more cricket fans here in Pakland when Cricket wold cup is on, more hockey fans during the  hockey world cup and it happens in pretty much everything in life i.e People who aren't much religious start praying a lot more when Ramadan kicks in. What's annoying about that ? 

[Azeem]

@Topic

Unlike you pure blooded people we muggles are exposed to the world of football through the World Cup. So naturally its the thing about football we enjoy the most, even most of us are still neutral. Also it gives us a chance to really feel the game because from my experience i can never really feel my heart go up side down when the ball hits the post and off the keeper when its between two clubs.

but when its the World Cup and its two nations playing and especially if you have some sort of connection to the country even if it isn't your,  personally i get excited when  any Muslim country plays as if it's Pakistan playing. I screamed when Algeria thrashed Korea last time and got really upset when they lost to Germany, I got upset when Messi scored the late goal vs Iran. I jumped when Salah scored the penalty to put Egypt into the World Cup.

Some of you may feel this weird but some of you might understand because of having some heritage relating to a culture or country that isn't your homeland. 

[bozziovai]

8 hours ago, Blue said:

@bozziovai i thought you were Saudi?

nope.   i'm a filipino working here in saudi   

[SirBalon]

1 hour ago, Azeem98 said:

@Topic

Unlike you pure blooded people we muggles are exposed to the world of football through the World Cup. So naturally its the thing about football we enjoy the most, even most of us are still neutral. Also it gives us a chance to really feel the game because from my experience i can never really feel my heart go up side down when the ball hits the post and off the keeper when its between two clubs.

but when its the World Cup and its two nations playing and especially if you have some sort of connection to the country even if it isn't your,  personally i get excited when  any Muslim country plays as if it's Pakistan playing. I screamed when Algeria thrashed Korea last time and got really upset when they lost to Germany, I got upset when Messi scored the late goal vs Iran. I jumped when Salah scored the penalty to put Egypt into the World Cup.

Some of you may feel this weird but some of you might understand because of having some heritage relating to a culture or country that isn't your homeland. 

Interesting mate...

With that Muslim connection, you have managed to recreate and feel some of the euphoric sentiments connected to something so trivial as football.  It's the curious social phenomenon that football is, but I suppose you could tell me that the same or similar sentiments are obtained from watching Cricket or Field Hockey.

A question though mate (I've actually asked this to Muslim friends of mine in my personal life)... That push you have for Muslim Teams to do well, has that been hi-lighted for you even more by all the anti-Islamic stuff that's been going on worldwide from the west and all that, or is it just something you feel would've always been that way no matter what.

[SirBalon]

5 minutes ago, bozziovai said:

nope.   i'm a filipino working here in saudi   

Are you Antartican now?

[Azeem]

55 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Interesting mate...

With that Muslim connection, you have managed to recreate and feel some of the euphoric sentiments connected to something so trivial as football.  1-It's the curious social phenomenon that football is, but I suppose you could tell me that the same or similar sentiments are obtained from watching Cricket or Field Hockey.

A question though mate (I've actually asked this to Muslim friends of mine in my personal life)... 2-That push you have for Muslim Teams to do well, has that been hi-lighted for you even more by all the anti-Islamic stuff that's been going on worldwide from the west and all that, or is it just something you feel would've always been that way no matter what.

1-Concerning Pakistan in football its quite strong because we suck at football and we need a 'B' team to support , ask an Egyptian the same question he might answer differently.

In Cricket and hockey since we are an established nation and we live in the age of nation states so we do care more about our team but we do like to see likes of  Bangladesh and Afghanistan do well.

 

2- Without going much into details because that will turn this thread into something else and everyone's gonna hate me for that  It's the latter 

 

[SirBalon]

4 minutes ago, Azeem98 said:

1-Concerning Pakistan in football its quite strong because we suck at football and we need a 'B' team to support , ask an Egyptian the same question he might answer differently.

In Cricket and hockey since we are an established nation and we live in the age of nation states so we do care more about our team but we do like to see likes of  Bangladesh and Afghanistan do well.

 

2- Without going much into details because that will turn this thread into something else and everyone's gonna hate me for that  It's the latter 

 

Why would anyone hate you for that?  If that occurs the questions lie with them because everything and anything should reside within individual occurrences and nothing more mate.

But I knew the answer would be the latter because it's only natural.  People have a reactionalist mechanism in many facets, so nobody is free from this. 

But you're right mate, it'll turn the thread into something different and what I would've wanted to say I'll leave it because of that exact reason when everything should just be objectionable. 

[Smiley Culture]

11 hours ago, Danny said:

 

It's the biggest argument in the club vs country debate for me, regardless of your preference it is just absolutely bigger than any tournament in football. Imagine not caring about the biggest tournament in football because you choose your club over it????

My lack of interest in International tournaments is probably more down to the England team, the media who used to make daft “this is our best chance since ‘66” claims and England fans, be it the dickheads that give us a bad name at tournaments, the grown men who should be on a register because they’ve dressed as St George or the morons who stay at home and talk about England like they have any knowledge of the game of Football. 

I find it a bit weird that there are people who watch stuff like Ghana v Japan just because it’s a World Cup game when if it was a friendly or the Confederations Cup, no one would be arsed. Because it’s at the World Cup it doesn’t make it suddenly a better game. 

I much prefer Club football because there’s an emotional aspect to it and more of a connection to teams from fans, whether that’s based on family, birthplaces or the like.

You also see, largely, games of an equal standard, something you rarely see at International level. England seem to play a never ending cycle of countries like San Marino, Lithuania and Andorra and it’s been a long time since the International qualification process was anything close to interesting. It’s not even like it’s similar to the FA Cup where you see teams of builders and teachers knocking out League clubs in the early rounds. You don’t look at qualification games and think “banana skin” like you do with domestic cup football or even league football so by the time a World Cup comes around, there’s little interest from my part. 

[bozziovai]

6 hours ago, SirBalon said:

Are you Antartican now?

bwhehehehehe .... it's just a flag    

[Guest]

The World Cup is the pinnacle for us.

For most (if not all) South American nations, we all prefer the international game and winning the world cup. I personally would love to see a Peruvian team win the Copa Libertadores for the first time, but nothing beats winning the world cup. Given our stature in the last 40 years it would be a dream come true and there will be more celebrations then if one won the Copa Libertadores or if Alianza Lima win a league title.

The country is united during national team games. Its a family or friend past time and almost the whole country watches it. Even the people who don't care about football do, and its gotten even bigger numbers now that we qualified for 2018.

Its something I'll probably never see in my lifetime, but if we somehow did a Leicester and won the tournament, I don't think I could ever forget it.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Blue said:

The World Cup is the pinnacle for us.

For most (if not all) South American nations, we all prefer the international game and winning the world cup. I personally would love to see a Peruvian team win the Copa Libertadores for the first time, but nothing beats winning the world cup. Given our stature in the last 40 years it would be a dream come true and there will be more celebrations then if one won the Copa Libertadores or if Alianza Lima win a league title.

The country is united during national team games. Its a family or friend past time and almost the whole country watches it. Even the people who don't care about football do, and its gotten even bigger numbers now that we qualified for 2018.

Its something I'll probably never see in my lifetime, but if we somehow did a Leicester and won the tournament, I don't think I could ever forget it.

I have always got the impression international takes priority in south america. In regards to club teams in. Europe  I could cheer on clubs like Liverpool. I cheered on Fulham when they reached the Europa league final. But I never cheer on man utd, man city, Chelsea or spurs. Although I do like city a bit this year because of the way they play

[bozziovai]

this year's world cup though the things i'm going to watch out for are ----

1.    what's the political implication after the event

2.   how far can Portugal go ( being euro champs )

3.   how far can Argentina go ( last chance for messi )

4.   england's performance overall.   sorry guys but even for an outsider like me, the sonic blasts of your media has reached the outer corners of the world

[Stan]

England won't get further than the quarter-finals. 

[Stan]

2 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Not will Peru.

have they even qualified for the finals?

[Spike]

The Peru banter has dropped a notch.

[Samuel Eto'o]

What does the World Cup mean to me? In a word, unity. Unity of man for the love of football. Football, the only thing on this Earth that can make two warring factions lay down their arms and unite together in a love of that most beautiful of games. Whatever else may be going on in the World (Trump et al), when the World Cup is on, nothing else matters, for that one magical month.

 

I'll be the first to admit I'm a club football man through and through. How could I not be, being a Yank lol (by way of other countries, having lived around the World). Have loved Barca before Messi was even born. This club has always been my first love. That will never ever change. (Am not that old though lol.) Have loved the club since I was yay high. What I thoroughly enjoy seeing is men from different countries, different faiths and different skin hues coming together in a club and banding together to achieve a common goal. The domestic league title. The domestic cup. And yes, that most treasured club trophy and title of them all, ole big ears himself, the European Cup (Champions League). To win it means you're the Kings of Europe, Champions of Europe.

 

The World Cup is held once every four years, unlike the annual nature of club football. As such, it both lacks and carries with it more emotional heft and gravitas than club football. It lacks the emotional impact to me in the sense that it's a quadrennial event. On the other hand, it's even more meaningful than club football because of its very nature, helping serve as "markers and signposts of time", if you will. How many World Cups will we see in our lifetimes, you wonder.

 

The 1990 World Cup was first one I recall. Was too young to truly appreciate, understand or enjoy 1986. 

 

Every 4 years, club football men disband and assemble together in their national teams in a World Cup adventure, a venture that by its very nature should be a disjointed mess. It is the skills they have honed from playing in club football that serve them well, allowing them to play together relatively cohesively on the grandest of stages that is the World Cup , undaunted by the sheer international scope and scale of World Football.

 

Look, you'll never be able to duplicate the sheer quality of football played by clubs at the international level. Clubs train together week in, week out, year after year. What you do get in the World Cup is that unbridled sense of national pride and kinsmanship, noble sentiments which in no way shape or form diminishes the unbreakable bonds of camaraderie and brotherhood that have formed between different men from different countries within the context of club football. And that to me, may be the greatest, most meaningful magic that is the World Cup of them all.

 

I picked Argentina to win. It is time, don't you think? Messi doesn't need the World Cup to anoint him as the greatest player of all time. Anyone that knows anything/a modicum about football knows that he already is. I saw Maradona and Argentina collectively weep when they lost to Germany in 1990 (was it West Germany back then?). A tournament everyone fully expected the Albiceleste to win. As it was, German efficiency and effectiveness won the day, as was the case in 2014. Now in 2018, with the entire world watching and expecting them to win, it would be poetic justice on a truly celestial scale if Messi and Argentina do, in the end, carry the day. I, for one, can't wait for him and them to be crowned World Champions.