Comments on: The Return Of The King http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html Croatia - World Cup 2010 - South Africa Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:57:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Mario http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110112 Mario Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:30:08 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110112 @Kevin: nice to see football getting it's share of attention in the States. And now if only you'd stop calling it soccer...kidding :) Oh and thanks for the support, it's much appreciated :) @Kevin: nice to see football getting it’s share of attention in the States. And now if only you’d stop calling it soccer…kidding :) Oh and thanks for the support, it’s much appreciated :)

]]> By: Kevin http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110108 Kevin Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:57:39 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110108 Yea im really shocked that ESPN is actually covering it. I think that speaks for how far soccer in the States has come over the years. It's good that they just take the UK feed and show it here, people there actually know what they are talking about. I know more than the ESPN soccer analysts they have for USA games, they are a joke. More exposure to the beautiful game the better. No worries Mario, hope all is well. I'll be ready to read the next post of yours, hopefully regarding the England match. Yea im really shocked that ESPN is actually covering it. I think that speaks for how far soccer in the States has come over the years. It’s good that they just take the UK feed and show it here, people there actually know what they are talking about. I know more than the ESPN soccer analysts they have for USA games, they are a joke. More exposure to the beautiful game the better.

No worries Mario, hope all is well. I’ll be ready to read the next post of yours, hopefully regarding the England match.

]]> By: Mario http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110107 Mario Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:06:21 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110107 Hey you two, thanks for commenting. Sorry for the lack of updates, due to some bad things catching up with me lately I haven't had the time to keep this thing the way I'd like to, quality and up to date. As far as off topic goes, as long as it's not politics it's ok with me :) Thanks again for hanging around, hopefully I'll jump start this thing soon. Cheers. Hey you two, thanks for commenting. Sorry for the lack of updates, due to some bad things catching up with me lately I haven’t had the time to keep this thing the way I’d like to, quality and up to date. As far as off topic goes, as long as it’s not politics it’s ok with me :) Thanks again for hanging around, hopefully I’ll jump start this thing soon. Cheers.

]]> By: ivan http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110106 ivan Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:10:03 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110106 Its too bad that Soccer hasnt made a bigger impact in the USA. I guess it all starts with the media. More media coverage is needed to promote the game. The media covers things that are more popular so i guess its a "chicken and the egg" sort of thing. The media needs more people watching soccer so it can be put on the 1st page of the sports section and soccer needs more media coverage to get more people interested in it. I thought Beckham coming to the Galaxy was going to make more of an impact but the result was a very short burst of interest. People smarter then me (or is it ...smarter then I?) have tried to promote the game with little success. Im not sure what it will take to get even close to the popularity it has in europe. I did however read today (somewhere online) that ESPN2 was supprised at its ratings for this weeks EPL game of the week. They had a 400,000 viewership which was about 4 times the viewership FOX had averaged last year (90,000). A far cry from other top sports but nevertheless a huge improvement. ESPN signed its contract with the EPL just 12 days before the start of the EPL season so ESPN2 got these numbers with very little advertising. A good sign for soccer in the USA. Anyway I got a little off topic here, I hope Mario dont mind :) Its too bad that Soccer hasnt made a bigger impact in the USA. I guess it all starts with the media. More media coverage is needed to promote the game. The media covers things that are more popular so i guess its a “chicken and the egg” sort of thing. The media needs more people watching soccer so it can be put on the 1st page of the sports section and soccer needs more media coverage to get more people interested in it.

I thought Beckham coming to the Galaxy was going to make more of an impact but the result was a very short burst of interest. People smarter then me (or is it …smarter then I?) have tried to promote the game with little success. Im not sure what it will take to get even close to the popularity it has in europe. I did however read today (somewhere online) that ESPN2 was supprised at its ratings for this weeks EPL game of the week. They had a 400,000 viewership which was about 4 times the viewership FOX had averaged last year (90,000). A far cry from other top sports but nevertheless a huge improvement. ESPN signed its contract with the EPL just 12 days before the start of the EPL season so ESPN2 got these numbers with very little advertising. A good sign for soccer in the USA.

Anyway I got a little off topic here, I hope Mario dont mind :)

]]> By: Kevin http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110105 Kevin Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:19:07 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110105 Thats awesome that you can go to bars and watch games, especially when you have fellow supporters of your team. I can barely find a place around here(North Carolina) that will have people viewing USA games, or club teams for that matter. Thats awesome that you can go to bars and watch games, especially when you have fellow supporters of your team. I can barely find a place around here(North Carolina) that will have people viewing USA games, or club teams for that matter.

]]> By: ivan http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110104 ivan Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:49:16 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110104 No worries Kevin, I see your point. We dont want bandwagon fans anyway :). Im in Canada and we do have a fairly large Croatian comunity here. Before the advent of online viewing of soccer games there were quite a few bars that showed international soccer matches. I remember going to a qualifying match for the 1998 world cup. There must have been over 1000 Croatian/Canadians packed in the bar and when Suker scored late in a game the bar exploded with celabration. It was amazing. Hopefully the USA get the world cup sometimes soon, it would be great to experience a world cup live and follow the Croatian team. No worries Kevin, I see your point. We dont want bandwagon fans anyway :) . Im in Canada and we do have a fairly large Croatian comunity here. Before the advent of online viewing of soccer games there were quite a few bars that showed international soccer matches. I remember going to a qualifying match for the 1998 world cup. There must have been over 1000 Croatian/Canadians packed in the bar and when Suker scored late in a game the bar exploded with celabration. It was amazing. Hopefully the USA get the world cup sometimes soon, it would be great to experience a world cup live and follow the Croatian team.

]]> By: Kevin http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110103 Kevin Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:09:23 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110103 That sounded different than what I had ment. I wasn't knocking Croatia's footballing ability, and of course they are going to have great support in Croatia. Was trying to say that they won't have the same fanbase as an England, Germany, Brazil, ect because of population numbers and they won't get the bandwagon fans those nations will. I do live in the States so my view on this could be completely different than someone who does live in Europe, however. I would love to see Srna leave Shaktar. Why not Tottenham they already have 2 Croatians? haha. I think the way Atletico plays, plus their lack of quality in the back, could be a good fit for Srna. That sounded different than what I had ment. I wasn’t knocking Croatia’s footballing ability, and of course they are going to have great support in Croatia. Was trying to say that they won’t have the same fanbase as an England, Germany, Brazil, ect because of population numbers and they won’t get the bandwagon fans those nations will. I do live in the States so my view on this could be completely different than someone who does live in Europe, however.

I would love to see Srna leave Shaktar. Why not Tottenham they already have 2 Croatians? haha. I think the way Atletico plays, plus their lack of quality in the back, could be a good fit for Srna.

]]> By: ivan http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110102 ivan Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:32:02 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110102 We are a powerfull football nation. Since 1993 we have been in every major tourney except for 1. The England game is sold out (90,000). The bar I went to see the game at was packed with Croat supporters. We played very well. I also am a big Kranjcar fan and think he is very under-rated. Ever since he left Dinamo to join Hajduk Split the croatian media (mostly from Zagreb) have been negative towards him. Time is on his side to prove them wrong. Some interesting rumours regarding Srna moving to the EPL. Chelsea, Tottenham, Atletico Madid and Barcalona all interested. $20 mill euro seems to be the asking price that Shaktar has put on him. Another stumbling block is Srna's wage. Reportedly Srna earns 5mill Euro a year in Ukraine mostly tax free since the tax rate in Ukraine is very low for football players. One week left in the transfer season so if anything happens, it will be soon. We are a powerfull football nation. Since 1993 we have been in every major tourney except for 1. The England game is sold out (90,000). The bar I went to see the game at was packed with Croat supporters. We played very well. I also am a big Kranjcar fan and think he is very under-rated. Ever since he left Dinamo to join Hajduk Split the croatian media (mostly from Zagreb) have been negative towards him. Time is on his side to prove them wrong.

Some interesting rumours regarding Srna moving to the EPL. Chelsea, Tottenham, Atletico Madid and Barcalona all interested. $20 mill euro seems to be the asking price that Shaktar has put on him. Another stumbling block is Srna’s wage. Reportedly Srna earns 5mill Euro a year in Ukraine mostly tax free since the tax rate in Ukraine is very low for football players. One week left in the transfer season so if anything happens, it will be soon.

]]> By: Kevin http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110101 Kevin Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:40:25 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110101 Haha yea little indeed. To be expected, Croatia isn't a world powerhouse. I was only able to catch the second half in and out. From what I could tell we played pretty solid. Dissappointed to see Kranjcar subbed out as early as he did. Bring on England! Haha yea little indeed. To be expected, Croatia isn’t a world powerhouse. I was only able to catch the second half in and out. From what I could tell we played pretty solid. Dissappointed to see Kranjcar subbed out as early as he did. Bring on England!

]]> By: ivan http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html/comment-page-1#comment-110100 ivan Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:55:56 +0000 http://croatia.worldcupblog.org/croatia/the-return-of-the-king.html#comment-110100 We won. Very little happening on this site :( We won. Very little happening on this site :(

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