Record ticket sales:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/37573174/ns/sports-world_cup/


I can barely contain myself at this point. I have to figure out a way to watch RSA v Mexico on the first day.

Here is a nagging question I have....could the top club team beat the world cup winner on a regular basis? You don't ever get a real apples to apples look at that question. The world cup seems like the equivalent of a giant version of high school soccer. All the top talent gets disbursed and goes back to play for their country. People love it because they can cheer for their country and the players get all mixed up into new squads.

I am pretty sure money would win out here and the top club team from a given year could beat the world cup champs consistently in a game. The problem is you may have 3 or 4 players overlap rosters.

Giant version of high school soccer? Kookoo you must have been smoking something. Look at the rosters from the teams. They are loaded for the most part with the top players from the club teams.

I havent been to a Wizards game in a couple of years, I do watch occassionally on TV. How was Hercules Gomez with the Wizards ?
Has he just blossomed or did the Wizards miss something ?

My dear Zizou, it's an analogy. Inter vs. World Cup champs, Inter would probably win, but only if Inter kept overlapping players from the WC champs on their roster. e.g if Brazil wins the WC, then Inter would retain Maicon, Lucio and Cesar et al. Now, do the same thing with a high school team state champ and the state champ of the club teams. See how that works?

Wouldn't the analogy be the reverse? At the pro level, there is only 1 WC team per nation and many club teams around the world.

Compare that to having way more school teams than club teams at the high school ages.

I think Kaka is right. National sides are like all-star teams. They don't have much time to work together. They can't develop intricate tactical understanding together. A lot of talent in the top sides, of course (Brazil, Spain, etc). But it doesn't compare to a team like Barca that also has top talent and plays together for the better part of the year.

That leads to a prime example. Look at Messi and how he can shine on Barca, and yet doesn't seem to play the same way for Argentina (and the argument of blaming Maradona for all of that is getting a little old). I think, like everyone else, that Messi is a great player, period. But maybe it takes intricate ball movement and timing like you get on a team like Barca to fully bring that out.

I see your point. Like Chelsea playing the English national team. I think it works either way, unless I am missing something.

If we are comparing the high school analogy, take practice time out of the equation.

If we are just comparing national teams to club teams, I agree the time together with the pro club teams makes a difference in the cohesion of the team and impact of the elite players.