194. World Cup 2014 (Part 5: More Forum Comments)

Luke reads out more comments from listeners about Brazil 2014 from the World Cup Comments Thread #2 on the teacherluke.co.uk discussion forum. These are all comments which have been sent in by listeners from around the world.

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World Cup 14 is still in full swing, with plenty of surprises, knockouts and some biting as well. All the comments that I’m going to read out in this episode were posted by LEPsters on the discussion forum. I’ve corrected them, and you can read all these corrected versions on the webpage for this episode. I’m now going to read out the comments that you sent in, as a way of giving everybody a voice and an opportunity to contribute thoughts, feelings and opinions to another global episode of LEP.

Let’s get started.

BTW, if you’re not a football fan – don’t worry, normal podcasting still continues. In fact, this is a very fruitful time for LEP as I’ve managed to record quite a lot of episodes recently. You’ll notice I’ve uploaded a series on culture shock, and I’ve got some more episodes up my sleeve. So it’s not just football football football!

Comments from the World Cup 2014 Forum Thread #2
This thread begun on 20 June and closed on 30 June. These things happened in that period: England had already been knocked out, Italy were beaten by Costa Rica and Uruguay and were knocked out, Luis Suarez became the most talked about player of the tournament after biting Italian player Giorgio Chiellini, France stuffed Switzerland 5-2 but both went through to the second round, Algeria beat the Korean Republic 4-2 – and all the Algerians in Paris went mental. All these teams were knocked out in the group stages: England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Cameroon, Australia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Ecuador, Honduras, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iran, Ghana, Russia, Korea Republic. In the second round we’ve said goodbye to: Chile, Uruguay, Nigeria & Algeria, Mexico and Greece. That leaves us with these teams left: France vs Germany, Brazil vs Colombia on one side, and Netherlands vs Costa Rica, Argentina/Switzerland & Belgium/USA on the other side.
As I have said before, things move pretty quickly in the world cup and when you listen to this, the situation might be completely different. Nevertheless, there’s a bit of context for you.

Here’s the post I left at the beginning of the thread, inviting people to take part:

Luke
Hi everyone,
I’ve already recorded an episode in which I read out your comments about The World Cup from this forum. I’d like to record another one later in the competition (perhaps next week at the end of the group stage, or just before the quarter finals).
So please leave more comments that you would like me to read out on the podcast.
Here are some questions for you to consider:
At this stage:
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final?
2. Which team do you think will win?
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion?
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
As before, I will correct your comments before reading them out on the podcast.
 You don’t have to give your name, you can leave anonymous comments if you prefer, but do tell me where you come from.
I reserve the right to not read out any comments, for any reason.
So, get writing! Let’s make another episode of LEP together!
Luke

Mohammed K
Germany, The Netherlands, Italy. 
One of these three teams will be in the final match, I guess.
Which team do I support ? I like Arg. , Braz. & Urg. 
I like the Latin American playing style, and I also like the English playing style (the long ball style) .
(I feel sad they lost last night. And I hope they go to the next stage)..
The star player? I think it’s Naymar (Brazil).
Thank you teacher Luke,,,
Mohammed , from Saudi Arabia
Hope to see you in Saudi Arabia one day.

Guillaume.S
Hi Luke,
To be honest I don’t like football at all, but how can you avoid it during the World Cup ? There is no way. I decided to be interested in football at least during the World Cup because that’s important to know some news if you want to make small talk with people around you.
Here are my answers to your questions:
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final?
 I would say Switzerland and England.. What? England has left ? Don’t worry Switzerland will follow them very soon. Honestly I don’t know who can be in the final.
2. Which team do you think will win?
 Luke’s English Podcast will win!
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion?
 My favorite moments are when everybody spent a good time watching a game, wherever they come from.
 By the way is it favorite or favourite? What’s the right spelling?
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion? 
Luke Thompson because he’s doing an amazing job for his listeners.
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
 I’m from Switzerland and we will know this evening if they can continue in the competition or not but now when you are listening to this episode you already know the result and that’s amazing!
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
 This is the first time that I’m interested in football because Switzerland is playing and because of YOU Luke Thompson ;)
As long as I can learn something in English with you that’s fine, even about football. So thank you so much Luke, well done, you won!
Cheers.
Guillaume

Hiroshi
I’m sorry but England got the same plane ticket with Spain.

Edison
Hi Luke.
I just want to say, I’m so sorry about England’s fate against Uruguay, but well, that’s the way football/soccer is.
1st question: I think Germany, Argentina, Colombia or Nederlands could be fighting for the champion’s title.
3rd question: probably 2 great moments, first one when Geoffroy Serey Die /juffwaar serey deeyay/ from Cote d’ Ivore cried while singing his country’s anthem. And personally I really love the community spirit at competitions, by sharing with people from all over the world.
5th question: I’m from Colombia, and I’m cheering and shouting for my team from Miami, Florida. I think they’re going to write a new chapter in South America soccer’s history.
6th question: Just awesome. Even though there’s some social business to deal with. I love brasilian people.
Thank you so much Luke! Cheers!
Ps: don’t forget that “getting inhebriated experiment while recording” haha.

Oleksandr
Hi. How you doing? Does it still hurt? )))
 I always thought that Roy Hodgson is the worst England team manager ever. He broke everything at Liverpool FC before he became coach of the three lions.
Don’t even try to understand why and how. It’s ridiculous and illogical, but I am a Ukrainian guy who has been living in Denmark for 3 years, a Liverpool FC fan and a fan of Holland/Netherlands. It’s complicated, of course if Holland play with Ukraine I will be on my native country’s side… The 
Ukrainian team, as you know, was in the same group as England (draws 1-1 and 0-0) and finished in 2nd place. We lost in a play-off agaist France, won the first game 2-0, lost the second to France 0-3. Unfortunately our players underestimated the contender and they thought that they were already in Brasil after first game.
Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
 Luis Suares maybe…I don’t know. Actually it could be anyone… Costa-Rica’s players have shown us, that everything is possible, even nobody expected that result in the group of death.
C’mon Holland !!! I have been supporting you from my childhood. Holland has one huge problem as England with penalties. – They smash all contenders in the group stage, but then become tired and lose in knockout stages. I hope they don’t , but if they lose I’ll support any European team (except Portugal – I hate divers) and Russia coz it’s obvious I’m from Europe.
Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
I feel the Brazilian financial pain, because we had Euro2012 in Ukraine and it seems that only UEFA and the corrupt government won …I understand that it’s an allegation, but anyway… The same shit, in my opinion, was in the winter olympic games 2014 in Russia. The Russian government spent about 51 billion dollars compared to about 3 billion in Vancuver 2010 in the previous games. Were those games 17 times better??? I don’t know…
Thanks for your attention. 
Oleksandr from Ukraine/Denmark

Aritz
Hi Luke! First of all, I am sorry about England… Honestly I think you deserve better results. You have an interesting young team for the next years though…
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final?
According what we have seen so far, Germany, Holland, France, Argentina, Brasil…should be at least in the semis. Then sometimes it’s a bit of luck. Let´s say Germany and Argentina! A revenge of the Italy 90 would be great!
2. Which team do you think will win?
If I had to bet money I would say Germany. I want Argentina to win though.
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion?
It’s hard to say in just one moment. I would say it’s been a really interesnting championship, with loads of goals, great matches, new teams coming out and going through to the next round like Costa Rica or Colombia.
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
Before Argentina and Germany play their second matches I think Benzema is stunning so far.
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
I am Spanish, supporting Argentina. The first match was not as good as we expected, but with Messi there everything is possible!
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
It’s my first World Cup abroad (I’m living in London) and it’s been a good experience! I’ve got free time in the evenings to watch them every day either at home or having good ales in the pub so that’s great! The World Cup always reminds me of my childhood somehow so I’m enjoying it a lot.
BYE BYe Bye bye…
PS: Can I correct a little mistake you made saying my name in the last podcast?? (Well, and in some others…haha) In my name the “I” comes before the “T”. So it’s Aritz instead Artiz! But nevermind!!

Nicholas
Hi! My Name is Nicolás, from Argentina. I support my national team, of course, but I think the finalists will be between Germany and the Netherlands, and the Germans will win their fourth cup.
The best player in the competition so far is Luis Suárez, from Uruguay (sorry Luke!)
As I said before, I support Argentina, as I’m from that country. How’s our performance so far? Well… at least we won. Messi is amazing, but I’m a little worried about the rest of the team.
For me, this World Cup is spectacular. I’m particularly happy because, in general, Latin American teams are doing great in this competition. I’m talking about Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica… I love to watch how Latin American football is becoming more and more competitive.
By the way, you can pronounce my name as “Nicholas”. The proper pronunciation in Spanish is “nick-all-ass”, but, as you can imagine, probably it’s not a good idea to pronounce it the Spanish way because of the last syllable.

Angel
Hi Luke, I’ve been listening to your podcasts for 3 months because I’m going to take a test called “Bulats” (Business Language Testing Service). Anyway thank you for doing this, let’s talk about the World Cup. I’m Mexican and obviously I support my country of course. I feel sorry for England. I know how it feels. Luke, do you think the weather affects the European countries in this competition? I think it is probably according to the results of the European players, and it seems the South American players are taking advantage of the situation. We all can see that, right? I can’t wait to see Netherlands play against a South American country. In summary I think the weather is one of the main factors in this World Cup. Thank for reading this and Viva Mexico! (Sorry for my English )
Ps my name can be pronounced 
like this: an-hell tread-bee-no

Giovanni
Hi Luke and thanks a lot for your website: I found it some weeks ago, browsing on the internet, and now I’m completely addicted. There are a lot of similar websites offering podcasts in English but the problem is that most of them are in American English and, generally, they treat learners like babies: I mean, they speak with a completely unnatural voice, the same kind of voice we have when we talk with our babies. You sound very natural (like a real friend) and that’s why I think you are unique! 
About football, I’m italian so I support Italy, of course. You know, after Brazil (5 times world champion) we are the most awarded team in the world (we won the world championship 4 times). However, this time, I think we should apologize. In fact, because of us, England was damaged twice: the first, because of our victory (even though in that circumstance you played well and, probably, you did not deserve the defeat; the second because of our pathetic defeat in the match against Costa Rica that had, as direct consequence, your elimination from the world cup. Now, we’re waiting for the next match next Tuesday Italy vs. Uruguay). It’s enough a draw to go ahead and kick back home Uruguay. Can’t wait!! Bye and…FORZA ITALIA!!!!!

Rafael
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final?
 Brazil and Argentina. If I had to bet real money on that, maybe I would go for Germany… but so far this world cup has not been the most logical one.
2. Which team do you think will win?
 Brazil, I hope!
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion?
 The second Suárez goal against England. Sorry Luke, but that was beautiful.
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
 If Brazil manage to win, probably Neymar.
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
 Brazil: Not as good as it could be, but fair enough. No big mistakes, good defence… the attack has been a bit disappointing so far.
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014? 
We overspend on those huge arenas… we could be hosting a world cup as good as it’s been so far without building new stadiums but just renovating our existing ones. I wonder how Fifa can be so influential over national decisions like that. Most of our mobility infrastructure plans are delayed or will not be made at all.
Apart from that, as long as Football and atmosphere are the more important things, this is probably one of the best world cups ever (so far).

Vaibhav
Hi Luke, I’m Vaibhav from India.
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final? 
Germany, Netherlands, Brazil & France.
2. Which team do you think will win?
 I think Netherlands has fair chance to win WC 2014.
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion? 
I think when Costa Rica qualified for 1/16 Round. Because before the world cup some football experts were saying that Costa Rica didn’t deserve to qualify for the World Cup,
 but they proved that they deserved to be in the World Cup by knocking out Italy & Uruguay.
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
 I think Thomas Mullar because he is the first player to score a hat trick in World Cup 2014.
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
 It’s great fun to watch the World Cup in my Summer holidays after my university exams.
Thanx Luke for recording this World Cup 2014 Podcast series.
P.S : You are great Luke and you are in my mind.

Aritz
Hi again Luke, and everybody here!
I just want to share this article about the essence of football. It’s brilliant!
New Yorker Article

Elena
Hi Luke! I can’t say for sure who is going to win the World Cup. Because who knew that Spain would crash out after only two games?(personally I thought they would win) It’s getting more and more unpredictable, and I really like it.
I’m from Russia and I’m already happy that our team is participating in the World Cup after a 12-year absence.

Yaron
Hi Luke,
I don’t have any news regarding your questions since the last episode. I still support Germany and I still think/hope that the Germans will win the tournament.
Firstly, I’m sorry that England’s team is out. I think as you said, although England lost, the English played pretty well, even better than the Uruguayans. In Fact, this is one of the annoying things about football. A lot of time the statistic is “lying”. Like in this game, if you check the statistics of England vs. Uruguay than you found that England had better numbers (More total shots, more shots on target, less fouls and better possession), however, at the end of the day, England lost. But, on the other hand, there’s some magic in football, isn’t there?
Secondly, I would like to ask you Luke (if I may), does the fact that England didn’t pass the group stage make you be less interested in the world cup? Do you support another team? Do you have any favor to France because you currently live in France? (By the way, the French had a great match vs. Switzerland)
Last thing, I would like to answer your last question (Question number 6):
The world cup until now is far beyond my expectation. Most of the matches are very interesting. 
In terms of my personal view: The second half of Germany-Ghana was very exciting. At some points, I thought that the Ghanaians were going to win, but, at the end of the day, Klose manged to score his fifteenth(!) goal in the world cup so far, and tie the game at 2-2. In addition, I think that this particular match was a good example of the difficulties that European teams have in a warm climate, since the Germans looked 50% of what they are actually capable of, in my opinion.
 In addition, up to now, in the German’s group, everything is still open, and I’m really concerned that Germany might end up like Spain and England, since, theoretically it still might happen. If Spain didn’t pass the group stage (with due the respect to England ) than no team is safe…
That’s it (I planned to write a short comment, however it turned into to a longer one)
Thank you for reading out our comments
Yaron (from Israel)

Oleksander
…following my previous comment….
It seems that I am always complaining in my comments, but that’s the way it is.)
I would like to tell you about 3 things that really, really annoy me in this World Cup and in football in general.
1. ‘Referees’. 
Unskilled, blindness, law violation, bribery… whatever you will call that.
It seems in some games that guys are able to sell rifles, heroin, human organs on the football pitch!!! )))
 We have to punish them somehow, if they deserve it, of course. Cut their fingers or at least pay them a lower salary. I mean punish the mistakes somehow, because sometimes referees cause fans’ broken hearts.
for example 
(another ‘hand of God’- Thierry Henry, France-Ireland)
2.’Wasting time, Adding time’ .
 Just make a ‘clear time’ like in basketball/handball. If the ball is out – time stopps. It’s easy to do technically, I think, and there’ll be fewer cheaters (fake injuries or something)on the football pitch.
3. ‘Divers’ , ‘Ballet dancers’ 
You probably get what I mean. Special HI to Cristina Ronaldy from me!!!))) 
For obvious simulation (faking, diving) I suggest a direct red card!!! In the future, players will think twice about diving or not.
I remember how Oleg Luzhny (Dinamo Kiev capitan in late 90s and player of Arsenal London in early 2000s, a kind of Ukrainian Chuck Norris) played a second half with broken toe in the champions league, because there weren’t any more substitutions. Nowadays, unfortunately we have fewer and fewer players like him, I mean real men, and football has become more girly, (That guys are kind of role model for young – Edgar Davids, Paolo Maldini, Steven Gerrard, Javier Janetti, Zinedine Zidane) I hope you get it).
P.S. I had luck to see Stewart Pearce on the football pitch LIVE in the season 97/98 in Kiev (Dinamo Kiev-Newcastle United). Actually, a team from Ukraine got first place in a group with Barcelona, Newcastle United and PSV Eindhoven. He was an incredible player.
I wish you the best personally Luke and all of your listeners in the world.
 Thank you for you attention #2 =)))
Oleksander from Ukraine/Denmark.

Jilmani
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final?
Brazil, France and Netherlands
2. Which team do you think will win?
Netherlands
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion?
Nothing yet
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion?
-
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
 I’m from Kuwait and I support Algeria of course.
I think most Arabs support Algeria as well.
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
I’m not so excited about it. I don’t know why.

Pan
Hi luke,
this is Pan from China. I started to listen to your podcast since your swear word episode which was amazing and my favorite episode.
Anyway let’s back to those questions:
Which teams do you think will be in the final?
 I think Germany and Brazil.
Which team do you think will win?
 It is hard to say since both Germany and Brazil are top teams.
What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion? 
As an Asian I would say Algeria‘s sudden kill of Korea in 2 minutes with 2 goals is the best and the worst since that I would like to see. (You’d like to see Korea go through?)
Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014? 
It is sad but common that China does not go to World cup. We just watch for fun and women watch for handsome players. Men watch for the matches. So far I think the Brazil World cup is good and it is normal every time there is a dark horse and unexpected knockouts.
Thank you Luke for reading my writing! Cheers

Yosef
Hi
In my opinion for sure Brazil will be in the final match, but which
 team they will play against is the mystery.
 I’m really disappointed by the referees this year. Their mistakes have
 changed the results of different games and it’s not fair at all. There are some teams that have performed better than expectations. They have played
 wonderfully. Also African teams are great and they have agile and powerful players.
 One positive point about this championship is the number of goals. Right now I’m waiting for the Italy and Uruguay match that will start in 15 min
utes. It could be a wonderful match.
have fun

Sabine
Hi Luke,
as so many of the others, I also want to tell you that I’m really, really sorry that England couldn’t at least make it to the quarter finals. I really would have loved to see a match between England and Germany.
I’m from Germany, and nobody likes us much anyway, but when it comes to football, it’s getting even worse, isn’t it. Well, someday you simply learn to live with it.
1. Which teams do you think will be in the final? 
In 1974 I was 10 years old and I still remember the world cup as overwhelmingly exciting. And I’d like to see a final between Germany and the Netherlands again.
2. Which team do you think will win? 
I’m afraid, this time it’s the Netherlands, though I’d like to see the Germans win, of course. In the end I could live with any winner, as long as it’s not the USA. They don’t even know the right name of the game we are playing here.
3. What is your favourite moment of the World Cup so far, in your opinion? 
I always like it when Cristiano Ronaldo cries. But my real favourite moment, if you can call that a moment, was the second half of the match between Ghana and Germany. It was the first time in years that I saw the Germans play so passionately.
4. Who is the star player of this World Cup, in your opinion? 
The Mexican goal keeper Guillermo Ochoa.
5. Which country are you from/supporting? How’s their performance so far?
 I obviously support Germany, but I like England, Japan and the Netherlands as well. And this year I’m quite impressed by Costa Rica’s performance.
6. Generally, what do you think of World Cup 2014?
To be honest, it doesn’t get me as much as it did in the previous years, so far. Maybe it’s because I’m not able to watch as many matches as I like, maybe it’s because this time the groups are strange, somehow. I don’t know.

Sabine (again)
Hi luke,
it’s me again (of course). Yesterday i wasn’t able to finish my post for some reason. I wanted to write some kind of uplifting last sentence but I couldn’t edit my post anymore. When it comes to terms used on the internet, by the way, I’m always afraid of falling for false friends. “Post”, for instance. Do I use it correctly or is it “posting” or is one of those just some stupid German word that tries to sound technical?
However, in the meantime I found out that it seems that I was totally wrong about everybody out there hating us when it comes to football. I listened to episode 189 of your podcast on the train this morning and I was really surprised to hear how many supporters we seem to have all over the world.
I’m wearing flag socks today. And I’m kind of optimistic about the match, but there still is a chance that everything goes wrong and our boys will shamefully sit on a plane home after tonight’s dinner.
I really hope you are not completely fed up with the world cup now. Thank you very much for explaining the world of football to all of us. I simply love the way you manage to put the light aspects and the serious aspects of a topic together in one sentence, so we all can see that each thing in life has got more than one side.
Chin up!
 Sabine
ps: for three or four days now i’m singing “three lions” to myself all the time (one of the older versions, I think it’s the second one I know the lyrics of) …

Guillaume.S
I would say GOOOOOAAAAALLLL !!!!!!
Hop Swiss !!
Bye

*At this point, Luis Suarez bit an Italian player during the Uruguay vs Italy game, which Uruguay won. This is a big controversy as it is more than just an illegal foul, but an assault beyond the normal physical roughness of a game. The British press covered the story a lot, calling for Suarez to be punished. Some papers in Uruguay said it was a conspiracy by the English press, and that Suarez is not guilty. Suarez has since admitted that he did it. This is the third time he’s done this and Suarez now faces a four month ban from professional football, which is going to cause him all kinds of problems, and his club Liverpool must now be thinking of selling him.*

Oleksander
…although I have been supporting Liverpool FC since 1996, I have to admit that Luis Suarez needs professional psychiatric help…
Three times in three different competitions… first it was in Ajax, then in Liverpool, now in the national team. It’s becoming a habit…
Something’s definitely wrong in his head… :-?

Yaron
Wow! The Suarez bite saga
. I heard some arguments in his favor, for instance, arguments like that his bites are not worse than a hard intention tackle. I totally disagree with those arguments. Tackles are part of the game, while bites are so not related to football. So even if a hard tackle might be more dangerous, in my opinion, it is still in the gray area, while bites are totally forbidden! There is no excuse for such behavior.
 Yaron (from Israel)

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. This thread is now closed because I think I have enough comments for an episode.
You can expect the next World Cup podcast this week some time.
I’m now going to open “World Cup Comments Thread #3″, so you can leave any other comments you have there.
Luke
WORLDCUPPIC5