Introduce Yourself

[Plato]

Born in NYC. First gen here.
Grew up in a family of Olympiakos fans. Parents, uncles (except for one), grandparents etc all red. Smelled the ******** early on in life and decided to join the Greens. Must have been around 5 or so.

In my mid-20's now. Was always into the sport but still remember the exact moment I truly fell in love with the game. I was in Greece at a tavern, probably elementary/middle-school age, and they had some Serie A on the TV. Had always watched the Greek league growing up but the Lazio side on display that night made my ****ing draw drop.
Pavel Nedved, Nesta, Stankovic, Crespo, Claudio Lopez, Veron, Baggio, Peruzzi, Simeone, Inzaghi... Mendieta later on...
Fell in love with that side, Nedved in particular, whom I followed over to Juventus in my support.

Supporter of Newcastle since about '05 after their demolition of Olympiakos over 2 legs in the Uefa Cup.

Supporter of the Greek NT (obviously) although Ranieri is testing my patience. U.S. NT comes next but also a big supporter of the French NT for reasons I'm not quite sure of yet.

Played keeper for HS and striker for club. Broke a couple of ribs in my last game in HS and then tore some ligaments in my ankle a couple months later putting an end to any hope of college ball.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Supporter of Newcastle since about '05 after their demolition of Olympiakos over 2 legs in the Uefa Cup.

Kluivert, Robert and Shearer doing their thing. Sighs.

 

[Ugmo]

Born in NYC. First gen here.
Grew up in a family of Olympiakos fans. Parents, uncles (except for one), grandparents etc all red. Smelled the ******** early on in life and decided to join the Greens. Must have been around 5 or so.

That must have gone over well in your family.

 

[Plato]

That must have gone over well in your family.

Well my father watches each match but isn't a "diehard" by any means so he's OK with it. (I think)
The family in Greece is a very, very, very different story however, particularly with an uncle over there but one of his own sons is an Aek supporter so the hate is split among the two of us.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Grew up a Kahn and then Ballack fan, which made me a Bayern and Chelsea fan. I support both teams (since 1999 and 2005 respectively), but I'm often too critical of Bayern because I like them so much and have followed them so closely, Chelsea is more of fling but I have a lot of respect for their on-field players and their, dare I say it, heart. That's it really.

I'm not German.

 

[Power Man]

Grew up a Kahn and then Ballack fan, which made me a Bayern and Chelsea fan. I support both teams (since 1999 and 2005 respectively), but I'm often too critical of Bayern because I like them so much and have followed them so closely, Chelsea is more of fling but I have a lot of respect for their on-field players and their, dare I say it, heart. That's it really.

I'm not German.

Det 2012 CL final

Who were you rooting for

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Det 2012 CL final

Who were you rooting for

It was really conflicting, people here called me a glory-hunter and so on... It doesn't really matter, being a non-local fan has its drawbacks and obvious limitations. If the Habs win the cup I'd probably cry, when Bayern won the CL I was estatic, relieved, ograsmic even but it wasn't like a transcedal religious experience - it's just not the same for non-locals.

That said, I loved the Chelsea-Barcelona matchup in the semis, probably my favourite two-legged series of all time*. Bayern had an easy route to the final outside of the group stages and facing Madrid in the semis and as much as I wanted them to win at home, they didn't show the heart of bollocks that Chelsea had throughout the season. I was routing for a good game, and as it went to penalties and Bayern kept misfiring and underperforming it further confused me... neither team deserved the win but the gods were on Chelsea's side.

Petr Cech, what a performance.

*The 2010 quarters between Bayern and United were great too. Olic! Robben! ... Good times

 

[Penner getrdonebryan]

Born in NYC but have lived in NJ most of my life to Croatian-born parents who immigrated to the US. I have been a soccer from the beginning really, even before it became 'mainstream' and 'hip' to follow in the United States. People find it hard to believe, but I remember when the European Championships and EPL matches were on PPV! Imagine having to pay like $19 for a single match

My first exposure was the Serie A games they used to show on Sunday mornings on WNYE (NYC public access channel) and the highlights show they showed after the game, which was why Serie A was the league I enjoyed most. I also watched whatever the Spanish channels showed as well. My first major tournament exposure was the 1994 World Cup but I only remember the final, I was in Croatia for Euro 1996 where Croatia made a run to the quarterfinals. What really cemented my passion for soccer was Croatia's run in the 1998 World Cup when they finished 3rd place. My first exposure to the EPL was in the late 90s when they had a highlights show on MSG like at midnights on Sunday. By the time I got the internet it became much easier to follow all the leagues.

As for teams I support: Croatian national team and Hajduk Split. I really haven't developed a rooting interest for any club from the top European leagues but I pay attention to most of them. I'm actually one of the few these days who seems to like international tournaments more than club competitions. I get super excited for World Cups and Euros more than the Champions League these days.

I played all the way through high school, mostly as a winger, wasn't really a great player in all honesty, good enough to make the HS team and start there but not good enough to play/get a scholarship at college level

What a great croatian side in 1998,I remember rooting for you guys after knocking off Romania. That Croatia-Germany game might be in my top 5 best WC experiences. Still to this day Coupe du Monde 98 is my favourite,maybe because my love for football started there.

I'm a Steaua Bucharest fan,although not as fanatic as I was as a teen. Still support them but I won't lose it over lost games,poor displays as that part is now reserved for my Senators
I watch a bit of Premier League but never got into following a team on a regular basis,used to watch Chelsea a lot in the late 90's due to Dan Petrescu being there and them being a lot on romanian channels.Nowadays I enjoy watching Manchester City play but wouldn't call myself a fan.

 

[NyQuil]

Det 2012 CL final

Who were you rooting for

LOL, I was at a pub in Hammersmith-Fulham to watch that one.

My wife suggested wearing my old Bayern shirt under my Chelsea shirt.

Good thing I didn't.

It can get pretty rough around there.

 

[Power Man]

LOL, I was at a pub in Hammersmith-Fulham to watch that one.

My wife suggested wearing my old Bayern shirt under my Chelsea shirt.

Good thing I didn't.

It can get pretty rough around there.

U too ?


It seems to be ok to root for several teams
Let's buy all the shirts !

 

[NyQuil]

U too ?

It seems to be ok to root for several teams
Let's buy all the shirts !

I actually have quite a collection.

I typically buy one from every city I visit as a souvenir.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

I actually have quite a collection.

I typically buy one from every city I visit as a souvenir.

I do the same, that's how I have Jovetic and Pato.

 

[Power Man]

I actually have quite a collection.

I typically buy one from every city I visit as a souvenir.

Man City kits have always been nice

I was planning on getting one, but this season's kit is not so nice


I'll look for last season's , heistating between home or road (dark)

Also this season's Roma

 

[Juni]

Londoner. Chelsea fan. Football Manager. Formerly NHL:EHM. Youth football geek. @chelseayouth.

 

[ProPAIN]

Londoner. Chelsea fan. Football Manager. Formerly NHL:EHM. Youth football geek. @chelseayouth.

Btw, were you at the UEFA Youth team game or watching on TV/stream? From your tweets it seemed they didn't play very well?

 

[NyQuil]

Juni is the OG of Chelsea supporters.

 

[Juni]

Btw, were you at the UEFA Youth team game or watching on TV/stream? From your tweets it seemed they didn't play very well?

Watched on TV as was at work. They didn't play well, Maribor defended 11 behind the ball and Chelsea's passing wasn't precise enough, not inventive enough and not quick enough. Had plenty about them to win comfortably because Boga can shoot but if they played even half as well as they can they've have scored 7 or 8.

 

[YNWA14]

Dernerner...

Family was born in the Netherlands. I never played growing up outside of little games with my grandfather and family (and some little work/school games). I've been watching NT football since 1996 as well as Eredivisie matches with my grandfather and became a Liverpool fan in 2006 because of Fernando Torres mostly. Since then I've been a pretty avid football fan and try to follow as much of it as possible.

For most of my post-secondary life I've been trying to get into playing, and finally this summer I got a team together for the first time. We won the championship of our 7s division in the first season (though we finished 3rd in the table) and now we're just finishing up our second season where we finished 1st in the table by a wide margin and I was invited to play on a competitive team next summer (11s) which is pretty cool and exciting.

Recently had a baby who will be 6 months in a few weeks...another Liverpool/Netherlands fan in the making (with the apparel to match already). Cheers.

 

[SuperSaiyanBeastmode]

I played soccer as a kid(7-12)but didn't really think much of it, "just" an activity. It wasn't until I was watching tv when I was 17ish, a setanta sports free preview was on, and a liverpool game was on, and I don't remember exactly what steven gerrard did, but I definitely remember he was the reason I got into soccer. It was during the 08-09 season during the peak of his prime, and I am very glad I got to see that liverpool team before it was dismantled(alonso and mascherano...), or else I probably would of never gotten through the years they were **** afterwards. Poland is my national team, and I hope they do something decent at the 2016 euro's. That 2-0 win against germany was a shocker, but I hope it builds towards us making a decent result at the 2016 euro's. I hope we can somehow convince kurzawa to play with poland, but his insane form at monaco makes it extremely unlikely.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Poland is my national team, and I hope they do something decent at the 2016 euro's. That 2-0 win against germany was a shocker, but I hope it builds towards us making a decent result at the 2016 euro's. I hope we can somehow convince kurzawa to play with poland, but his insane form at monaco makes it extremely unlikely.

Poland are really putting together a good squad. I'm 1/8th Polish, so, although not my focus, I do enjoy the team getting together. Lewa & Kuba are a great core for any team to build around. If Kuba can stay healthy, Poland can get real dangerous. Kurzawa playing for Poland is real unlikely, but after the **** he pulled against Sweden, maybe France won't want him anymore meh who am I kidding, he'll just be one in a long tradition of French head cases, he'll fit right in

 

[BSHH]

Although I have left school for more than half of my life, I still play in my former school's gym (usually twice weekly, if possible). There are very little better things to do than playing football/soccer.

For an even longer time span, I have a season ticket for my local club's games. By citizenship and age, I was European Champion twice and World Champion three times, but actually realised only the last three titles. Club football is much more important to me, albeit often frustrating...

Gruß,
BSHH

 

[Evilo]

who am I kidding, he'll just be one in a long tradition of French head cases, he'll fit right in

That's really unfair. Until that game nobody ever uttered a word about Kurzawa's behaviour. Since then he's apparently the worst guy in football...
The guy made a mistake, he paid dearly for it, case closed.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

That's really unfair. Until that game nobody ever uttered a word about Kurzawa's behaviour. Since then he's apparently the worst guy in football...
The guy made a mistake, he paid dearly for it, case closed.

Its a joke, lighten up. He's a quality youngster, but he has a lot to learn. Relax.

 

[Evilo]

Its a joke, lighten up. He's a quality youngster, but he has a lot to learn. Relax.

Sure but over here, he's talked about every day in the press. He's listed with notorious "bad guys" and compared to them.
He's been absolutely killed in the media. It's absolutely disgusting.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Sure but over here, he's talked about every day in the press. He's listed with notorious "bad guys" and compared to them.
He's been absolutely killed in the media. It's absolutely disgusting.

I think it will be a lesson in humility for him. He is still young talented and can use this as experience. The media may have turned him into a bit of a sideshow but that is what they do. Its going to light a fire under the kid though and we just have to hope he channels it in the correct direction. I actually think this will be good for him.