Sports in general and soccer specifically has brought many people and governments with political problems together.. Especially what was done between the palestinians and the israelis...
207771
No.  No sporting event was going to turn back Hitler.  No World Cup Tourney was going to stop Japan from trying to take over the World.  Sometime you gotta put aside diplomacy and kick some ass.
269482
I would think that the team goes and plays the games it was scheduled to play and if they won the World Cup, it probably could create the amazing feat of reuniting the two sides into one country, maybe even go back to the old Yugoslavia days. We are all humans, there are no "country lines" anywhere I looked so we are all in the same team. Hope one day we can leave our pitty differences and join as one race.
525827
Roman - russian gagster? thats cool. I agree with you. In the pitch the players do act as unruly rich kids who own the game and can do and say anything that they like at any time. Jose likes attention and can do anything to get it. In all post match reviews he says the same thing - 'the referee was hostile and his sweet shy cudly boys were wrongfully targeted'. so what if Drogba and Robben treats the pitch as a swimming pool and dives deep down without any assistance from the opposite defenders. (they could have won olympic gold medals in diving and accolades for their oscar winning performances in front of the officials- you have to give them that) so what if Essien practices Muy Thai moves in the pitch or Ricardo trying hard to send someone to the hospital for good- they are just little innocent kids. All these needs hard training and who better to give them that other than THE MASTER - JOSE MOURINHO.
168455
Their politics have nothing to do with their ability as athletes.  It would be unfair of us to ask them not to play in something they have been working at their entire lives because of politics.
580228
No, It has inspired me, some good games by ghana, costa rica & cote de ivory... really big teams struggled with these guys. good matches, lots of hits and misses happens in all the WC, watch out for some more interesting games, may the best team win.
153891
I do not think they it is about respect.. most of the people that do not understand the history or meaning about the sport.Have to be educated on  what the game is about and why it is played the way it is played. With the MLS making its march in our sports culture, things can only go up and the people will be educated more and more every year. They will see that soccer or futbol is a worldwide sport that is played all over the world with alot of passion. ,and soon the whole country will wonder why we have not won this prestigeous trophy. The USA has a good program from youth to professional and the more people see that hard work they will wonder how Brazil has won the world cup as many times as they have,or maybe they will remember the NASL and so many good teams and players that participated in making a lasting impression on the American sports culture.. The USA has alot of potential and always have ,,look in 1934 the USA did well on a world stage and in 2002 ,we were a post shot away from being in semifinals against Turkey. The Country is doing well and they support the USA team,but with a World Cup win that would really get people even more exited every time a soccer game is played.
630746
Hello..an inexhaustible topic about Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It's happening because Israeli people occupated Palestinian territory,believing that the there is their roots as a nation.That happened in the 1944-1945 years.Now the two sides cannot come to terms with the "separating" the territorial pretences,and one of the major problematic areas is called Gaza..To stop the fighting were done multiple negotiations with the help of International organization,USA,the Arabic Legue..The end of the conflict cannot be predicted..The Israeli against Palestinians..
614643
Yes! I thinks so too! This is a great sport to get people from all nations together and just celebrate the sport, and for get about conflicts and skin color and religion. If there wouldn't be the Hooligans around everywhere...\nI love to watch it and I wish I could be in Germany right now and be happy with the teams that win and celebrate with the fans!\nWorld peace would be great, I thinks its a temporary peace though...
605062
I totally agree. People that hate soccer hate it cause there's not enough scoring and getting rid of offsides would allow more goals and therefore more people could enjoy futbol.
311768
Exactly. You got it completely right. The world cup is the place for the communication of civilizations and defining a team by the politics of its country is a unsporting attitude and should be punished right away.\n\nI give you an example, whenever Germany plays in the world cup does this team remind you of Adolph Hitler? If it does, then you got a problem. Exactly same with Iran, Iran's got a national team that plays for the pride of its people and has nothing to do with the government. For the honor of the same people who have been exploited and plundered by Ayatollahs and Arabs for centuries after the fall of Persian Empire. So the most stupid thing that someone can do is to identify a country by its politics in the world cup or like versa.
258520
I am a Juves fan so my opinion maybe biased but...i have not  yet seen a footbal team where there is not  some level of corruption involved!Berlusconi is screaming for investigation but only because he is the owner of AC Milan and a man known for not always telling the truth as most politicians !Time will tell what will happen to Juve but they won't be relegated to Seria B .Saying all this i don't really think that this situation changes the overall opinion of italian soccer.For example Maradona took drugs did that do any damage to Argentinas footie team ?No...so I will be cheering Forza Italia and good luck to Inghilterra!\nCiao
209848
The lack of Mutual Understanding my exacerbate problems between countries but most conflicts between countries are over distinct Geopolitical goals.  Sometimes it is just to remain the power in an area.\n\nI am also not sure what your definition of "mutual understanding" is if we all thought the same, and understand the same there would be no conflict, but who's way of thinking or culture is correct.\n\nIf you mean understanding each other I don't think that the Israelis and Palestinians have any trouble understanding that they both want the same land and they both believe that it is "their" even if they understood each other better their will be conflict.\n\nI think this is a promising topic for a paper, If you define all your terms, put in examples and come to come conclusions you should do very well.
407239
Absolutely every players perrogative to decline to play for the national team. There may be better ways to decline an invitation to play with the national team. There's injury, rehab, all sorts of reasons to allow it to be politically correct.
358365
Same reason why we have the olympics to re-unify the world and create a link between different countries. It's also just competitive nature and countries wanting to be better than the others, patriotism and supporting your country, take your pick
640319
I feel your frustration and I am in agreement with your assessment. Too many false red-cards have found their way from referees pockets into play during this cup -- which is completely opposite from the 2002 World Cup play (battles).   I like the game but these politics keep me from devoting too much time to following this sport professionally.
31673
Arent there huge riots in Europe going on right now over racism in soccer.  Check out the link below.  It states that Thousands, yes thousands of Spanish fans were shouting racial slurs at the British soccer players!!!  At one event alone!!! Soccer sounds the worst!\n\nI love hockey, I know it is not a cheap sport, so it does discriminate against the poorer countries.
298983
dont do it its not save. people will actually do hateful things. even wearing a jersey could get you beat up. there are many stupid people waiting for someone to do something like that to start chaos and blame it on the whole world cup thing