Top Ten Thursday - Soccer

As it's the world cup, this week Tamara at Part-time Working Hockey Mom has asked us to do our Top Ten Thursday on the theme of soccer:

"Could care less, love it, live it? What team are you rooting for? Who's going to win the FIFA World Cup 2018? Who's your favorite player?"

I'm not particularly keen on soccer so here are some random thoughts that I have around the so called 'beautiful' game.  

1. Australia - I know that they aren't good enough yet to win the world cup but I always support them and live in hope that one day it will happen. Once we got knocked out I was supporting anyone but England.

2. Scotland - poor Ken's country didn't make it to the world cup so he was also supporting anyone but England (do you sense a bit of a theme here).

3. Wimps - basically that's what most players are. They can barely get touched and they're rolling around on the ground as if they've been hit by a bus. I think this meme shows the difference between soccer players and other sports people.

4. Overpaid - on the BBC Sports Website there is a great calculator that lets you compare your salary to top footballers. Lionel Messi who plays for Barcelona would take only 14 minutes to earn my weekly salary and it would take me 729 years to earn his yearly salary. That just seems a little bit obscene when you think of how much could be done with that money.

5. Fans - I've never been to a soccer game and one of the reasons why is the fact that fans have to be seperated at the match and often get let out of different ends of the stadium at different times so as to not create any problems. As someone who has been to Aussie Rules Games, Rugby League, and Rugby Union games where everyone sits together and there is good natured banter throughout the match, this animosity towards the other teams fans just seems very strange to me.

6. Sweepstakes - at work we had a sweepstakes where you pay a couple of pounds and then draw teams out. Whoever has the winning team gets the takings. I picked out Uruguay and Denmark and then I cheated by looking and pulled out Australia - no one minded as they had no worries about Australia winning. Sadly all my teams are now out of the competition.

7. Jose Mourinho - when he came to England's Premier League as manager of Chelsea in 2004 it was like a breath of fresh air. His overconfidence, his accent, his fashion sense, and of course his smoldering eyes - I actually paid attention when he was being interviewed. This clip shows the infamous press conference which meant that he would forever be known as the special one.

 

8. The Offside Rule - several people have tried to explain this to me over the years with no success, except for one. This person ingeniously used the analogy of shopping during a sale with the till being the goal, and getting to the till part of the game. I can't remember everything they said, but I do remember it finally making sense to me.

9. Media Saturation - it really shocks me how much time on the news and space in the papers that soccer takes up. There can be Grand Prix races, the Tour de France, and other significant sporting events, and they may not even make the news and the papers may include just a couple of lines.

10. Diving - no, I don't mean the stylish kind off a high board into water. I mean when a soccer player suddenly throws themselves on the ground when they've barely been touched and sometimes not touched at all. The aim, apart from being a really bad role model to children, is to get a penalty or get a player on the opposite team sent off. There are some players that take their diving to Academy Award acting ability, and I really wish more referees would give out red cards when it happens.

So, have you been glued to the world cup or like me will you be glad when it's over. Before you go, make sure you hop over to Tamara's Blog and see what my fellow bloggers have come up with for their lists.

Until next time, have a great week, and I'm now cheering for Croatia to win.

Pamela & Ken

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