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World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010

Date: Jun 25 2010

Themes: Sports

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Intro

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Get your vuvuzela out, it’s time for the 2010 World Cup! Fans around the world are geared up for soccer’s biggest bash, which only comes around once every four years. This is the first time the tournament has been held in an African country, with teams competing in ten different venues throughout South Africa.

Even though soccer isn’t as popular in the US as American football or baseball, it has been gaining fans in the past couple decades. More Americans watched the World Cup in 2006 than in 2002, and even more are expected to watch this year. Find out if Jason and Jeff plan to tune in.

Dialog

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Jason

Jason

Jeff

Jeff

Jason:  It’s World Cup time! It’s a worldwide craze, I mean, for a lot of countries it’s, you know, way bigger than the Olympics or anything.

Jeff:  Yeah, I think America’s finally starting to catch up with that.

Jason:  The US is in it this year, which is cool. But it’s still not a craze here like it is other places. I think the US team kind of has the luxury of playing with some of the lowest pressure of any other team, because there aren’t legions of football hooligans here in the US just, like, waiting to riot if the team loses or something. Did you play soccer when you were a kid?

Jeff:  Yeah, I did, I played from the age of five till I was about 18. I played it more than I watched it.

Jason:  Nice.

Jeff:  So the World Cup excitement is kind of a new thing for me.

Jason:  Are you going to follow the World Cup this year?

Jeff:  I think I will. It’s always pretty exciting. Head down to the pub. Have a few pints.

Jason:  Definitely!

Jeff:  Watch the footballers do their thing.

Jason:  We can pretend we’re in Europe, you know? It’ll be like a little vacation without leaving the city.

Jeff:  That’s right.

 

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Discussion

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Jason and Jeff are excited to watch the World Cup. Although it is more important in other countries than in the US, many Americans have begun to watch more soccer in the last decade or so. In fact, a lot of American kids these days grow up playing soccer. That makes them more excited to watch the sport when they get older.

Still, soccer is a much more popular sport in other parts of the world. In some countries, it is such a craze that the fans act really wild. They have even been known to start riots after big matches.

Have you been watching the World Cup this year? Which team do you think will win? Have you ever acted like a hooligan at a match?

 

Comments

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istanbulmystical

Turkey

viva Turkey

07:04 AM Dec 17 2010 |

KEL

KEL

Brazil

Here in Brasil all over the country stop to see select Brasilian to play. It's a crazy. I believe that in future some no traditional countries in soccer, It will have that sport like being the more important !
My english is not good, but…lol

03:16 AM Dec 17 2010 |

amooody

amooody

Saudi Arabia

Hi my friend LUU-21 , first of all there is no need to apologize , this is just a discussion I accept all the opinions , second we dot change the names but the pronounciation change the spelling and that happens in all countries in the world for example the pronounciation of the name in England differs from the name in Germany and so on , third about Maradona I think when he decided to be a coach , he supposed to coach a small club in his country and gained some experience before leading the Argentina squad , according to me I think any coach puting his personal problems inside the team , he would t be successful . Here in our country all the people thought that Maradona will win the world cup coz he is Maradona Maradona ( the great player , the idol who the best in the football history ever ) and coz he has the best player in the world (Messy or Messi as u like hhh )but after that they have shoked . Finally I criticizing Argentina team coz it was always the best and this is the destiny of the great countries we always expect more . I wanna ask u , why do u think that JULIO GRONDONA is the real guilty ? thnx bye   

11:31 PM Jul 24 2010 |

luu.-21

luu.-21

Argentina

It's not made in Argentina. You can give a look at it in wikipedia and it is translated in all language ;) 

06:53 PM Jul 23 2010 |

Marcelo_

Marcelo_

Brazil

voltz the only site in the world that has this history of suicide is that she was below, why is that? :)))))) bad journalists of course

04:45 PM Jul 23 2010 |

VOLTS

VOLTSSuper Member!

Brazil

hey marcelo, u are right… no one knows anything about it here… I looked up in the google… there is nothing in portuguese language or english language… there is in spanish language, made by argentine journalists.

04:28 PM Jul 23 2010 |

Marcelo_

Marcelo_

Brazil

Funny, nobody knows the story of suicides here, and oddly enough this story began in Argentina … this is funny    :))))))

04:22 PM Jul 23 2010 |

VOLTS

VOLTSSuper Member!

Brazil

hey girl… as I said I think there are several journalists a little crazy in Argentina. U can watch brazilian players arriving at brazilian airports coming from south africa. take a look: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20a7Tg94wiI

I cant see anything wrong there. Brazilians dont throw parties when the team doesnt win, of course, and also doesnt fight for losing, I mean, we are not happy to celebrate. 

U know that Ghana celebrated very much, it was a fantastic world cup for them, but I cant imagine any kind of parties in Germany, Italy, England, France, ...or I am wrong??  

well…  When I said Argentina team has never been won Brazilian team with Maradona as a coacher, I am just saying about principal teams. U know very well that Olympics` football players are till 23 years old. So if u wanna talk about it I think we have to talk about female football, sub 20 football, sub 17 football, etc.

Anyway… my congratulation for Argentina team to reach quarter finals World Cup !

04:09 PM Jul 23 2010 |

luu.-21

luu.-21

Argentina

First of all check out my information… http://www.taringa.net/posts/noticias/6033128/Recibimiento-de-Argentina-Vs-Recibimiento-Brasil.html  http://www.diario-expreso.com/ediciones/2010/07/04/deportes/futbol/hinchas-furiosos-reciben-a-la-seleccion-brasilena-en-rio-y-sao-paulo/   http://www.competencia.com.py/competencia/2010/07/bochornoso-recibimiento-de-brasil/ 

They're all in spanish.. but you can use the translator

And well, about ''comitted suicide''   I mean do you live in brasil? or know some story of your country? A lot of people from other places know what ''Maracanazo'' is. So, if you want to ignore it, that is not my problem.

And we were not celebrating because we reached the 5º place…That's not soo much for us ( and for you it means nothing as you've said) we were celebrating because we love our country and we were supporting them in a bad moment… Although people went there to receive football players, then we make the right criticism and we accepted that it was obvious we were not going to win. . 

I expected more a victory of Brazil than a victory of Argentina… and everybody knew that. But as an Argentinian I accept a lot of things, such as maradona (horrible performance) and a lot of things more. Look, I also accepted how Argentinian fans are, very competitive. But that's the difference between us.. when you tell me a thing I say ok, yeah you're right.. but when I told you with good preposition, have you heard about maracanazo? you said that it doesn't exist.. come on! This is an exchange of words not to argue about which country is better… everybody knows brazil won 5 times and Argentina only 2! 

'' MARADONA HAVE NEVER WON BRAZIL AS A COACHER !!! SO… PLEASE MARADONA, STAY IN ARGENTINA!! BRAZIL LOVES U !!!'' Well, talking about this, Maradona was only one time coach of Argentina… You won only one time when maradona was in argentina. So It's not time to make generalization.

 

And of course I was talking to ''amooody'' about football, football corrupts, football positions, football history, all relationated to football. 

Another thing, I'm not surprised that brazil have won so many times! Everybody know that.. oh and you forgot a result  Argentina 3×0 Brazil Olympic games. I remembered that for you it's not important that, so take it or forget it.

 

 Bye!

12:48 PM Jul 23 2010 |

VOLTS

VOLTSSuper Member!

Brazil

hey girl, I wanna understand an Argentine´s mind. Why do u talk so much about Brazil? first of all… One more time, I live in Brazil and I am able to say that there are something wrong in Argentina… or information came up wrong to all of u or all argentines are really very much crazy… "TROW STONES IN BRAZILIAN PLAYERS??" WOW!!! SO CRAZY!!!

well…about celebrating… I can explain for u why there were so many celebrations in argentina… Who could imagine that Argentina would reach quarters finals??? No one!!!! In South America`s qualifiers Argertina was the 4th better team!! So I think Argentine have to celebrate much more!!! much more party!! going on…

Brazil there isnt so much to celebrate… We won all championships in the lastest four years, so quarter finals world cup isnt a good deal for us. and more… If u like to compare Brazil vs Argentine, take a look in the lastest results between the two countries in the lastest four years…

qualifiers FIFA  – 05/09/2009  – Argentina 1×3 Brasil

qualifiers FIFA – 18/06/2008  – Brasil 0×0 Argentina

America Cup – 15/07/2007  – Brasil 3×0 Argentina

amistoso – 03/09/2006  – Brasil 3×0 Argentina

Copa das Confederações  – 29/06/2005  – Brasil 4×1 Argentina

 

MARADONA HAVE NEVER WON BRAZIL AS A COACHER !!! SO… PLEASE MARADONA, STAY IN ARGENTINA!! WE LOVE U !!!

 

another day u said about suicide in brazil in 1950, now, u are talking about throwing stones… What about to talk about Football???

09:29 AM Jul 23 2010 |

luu.-21

luu.-21

Argentina

Well I have to apologize, because I didn't know that you call the football players different there. If you read my comments you can notice that I don't like Maradona too. He did a lot for us and that's why he was very well received here, because although we lost people went to the airport to wait him and applaud all the football players (You can see it on this video http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/video-masivo-recibimiento-a-maradona-y-su-seleccion-417214.html).we didn't do the same that Brazil, who threw stones at some of his players. Even though his performance on the World Cup was horrible. And yeah, he made a lot of bad things, such as choosing Garcé(??? terrible) Pozo, Otamendi (?) And left out Cambiasso, Zaneti, Gago. And that's why I don't like him… 

Well, sorry for this  misunderstanding. I told you that because I was angry when you said that Messi wanted to play in Spain, because that's not true. 

He wasn't the problem, he could have played very well, but the problem was not him, it was maradona… He was playing as a volant!! more or less..

And another thing is that, we are  criticizing maradona as if he was the only guilty, but the real guilty of all is JULIO GRONDONA (president of the AFFA and vice-president of the FIFA) a CORRUPT!!

Well and the last thing, I have a doubt Why do you change football players names in you country? Take care! see u and sorry for the misunderstanding again! 

11:22 PM Jul 22 2010 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

Altough I dislike to watch soccer is always exciting even more world cup…I was sure that Brazil wouldn't win this year even being a big favorate but I didn't expect that the cup it would be won by Spain…It was a big surprise to me ;) I think this year of Cup was moved by a big Zebra because all of the best teams lost :P

08:02 PM Jul 22 2010 |

amooody

amooody

Saudi Arabia

Thinks alot my friend for the correction but we call him Messy here , anyway do t think that I hate Argentina no but I think if there is expert coach that would be better too much . Maradona is very great player but t as a coach and my evidence is ( he chose 6 forward player in the team and forget good player in the defense such as CAMPIASO , ZANITY , and my favorite player REKELMY ).

06:11 PM Jul 22 2010 |

luu.-21

luu.-21

Argentina

Hahah MessI and not MessY .. don't you think you should know football player names if you understand football more than anyone else? .. 

Well, he doesn't want to play in Spain, first of all because he's argentinian (even though you like it or not…) and if he would like to play in spain he could do it… but he choose argentina because it's his country. Well.. I'm not criticizing Spanish team, but I think netherlands deserved to win just because they have tried so many times to win (1974 – 1978 – 2010)..  

01:03 AM Jul 22 2010 |

amooody

amooody

Saudi Arabia

hhhhhhh yaa Iam from saudi Arabia but I understand the football more than anyone else , honestly Maradona is t a coach , we all saw how the team played without plan just give the ball to messy to do everything , I think messy wishes to be player in SPAIN team , but the german team teach MARADONA how the game works .

07:19 PM Jul 20 2010 |

rose8888

rose8888

Iraq

i'm a huge fan of england i'm very disappointed in their games though,congrats to spain they totally deserve it

05:16 PM Jul 18 2010 |

luu.-21

luu.-21

Argentina

Hahah yeah, maradona is not a dt… but well who are we talking to? a person from saudi arabia, where is the football there? come on!!! haha Spain played eally well, but I think netherlands deserved to win

03:02 PM Jul 18 2010 |

julianrockeromillonario

Argentina

Maradona is not a dt…...

11:49 PM Jul 15 2010 |

amooody

amooody

Saudi Arabia

spain deserve the winning , they play a real football

this is what we call football , not the playing of MARADONA'S team hhhh

07:35 PM Jul 14 2010 |

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