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ESPN releases new 2014 World Cup promo

Neymar, Joao Moutinho

Photo by Tim Bouwer/ISIphotos.com

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHrf5EBVlDs]

Comments

  1. Come on, ESPN? Two minutes of video and just a split second of Landon Donovan footage? Yet we get like 30 seconds of Neymar Jr highlights (he hasn’t even played in a World Cup yet). Sometimes I think ESPN is in on the conspiracy to slow the rise of the USMNT and its support….Wow – while I’m writing this I watch an ESPN “top sports plays of 2013” montage and the only two soccer moments shown were a Mexico goal and a Christiano Ronaldo goal celebration. I could have sworn we dominated North American soccer this year, won the Gold Cup, destroyed the competition in the Hex and went on a historic winning streak. No highlights from that? No big deal, ESPN.

    Reply
    • Until the United States is actually good at football and creates some significant World Cup history they will never be featured in a World Cup promo. What great USA moments in World Cup history can be shown? They dont exist.

      Reply
      • 1. Whereas Neymar has created tons of World Cup history, right?

        2. ESPN is broadcasting the World Cup in the US, to the US audience.

      • Are you kidding me? What great moments in WC history can be shown? How about the U.S. defeating one of the World Cup favorites in 1994 in Colombia to get out the group stage; once again defeating a WC favorite in Portugal in 2002 and Mexico to get to the quarter finals; and in 2010 winning their group. That’s not including defeating England in 1950 and actually coming in 3rd place in the 1930 WC.

      • My guess is Id is one of those Euro snobs… Probably English. I only wish we had England in our group again.

        How about 2002? If the referee wasn’t biased and would have called the handball…. We had the better of the play that day and should have gone through to the semis.

        Keep sleeping on the U.S. We are becoming a great footballing nation and our resources are larger than any other countries. You better get used to it. Our football is here to stay.

      • good thing that John O’Brien handball against Mexico was missed. For some reason USA fans always have selective memory about 2002 World Cup handballs.

  2. Lame. I understand that Brazil and some others are favored…and they it and stars of the past are the focal point of the video..but dude, throw your home country a bone and include a highlight or two of US players. All we got was a bried shot of LD sliding into a corner flag. this was presumably after his goal in SA….

    Reply
    • Yea I would prefer a US commercial too, but I don’t think most of the world cup TV viewers in the US are following the US; I think they’re following some big team or some ancestral team. To that end I think ESPN are just marketing the games to their base: a multigenerational immigrant diaspora.

      US fans are a part of that, so hopefully they’ll give us a USA ad soon too.

      Reply
    • To be fair, only the last 15 seconds or so used modern players. The previous 1:30 was mostly historic world cup moments or shots of amateur Brazilians kicking the ball around.
      We don’t really have any historic moments, unless you can find tape of the upset over England 60 years ago.

      Reply
    • Lame is the perfect word for this promo, but not because the USMNT players were excluded – I think they briefly showed Landon Donovan’s celebration after his Algeria goal. The promo is lame because it seems like it was put together in some corporate headquarters out of cliche ideas that some Armani suits brainstormed about.

      Reply
      • First off, Dale you want to take the cup away from the greatest footballing nation in the world? Cmon you must be trolling for controversy! This is going to be the biggest football party ever! They will be prepared and the world, especially the U.S. are going to see what football is really all about. My .02 says this will go down as the greatest cup ever!

      • Id, you got something stuck up your arse? Football in the U.S. has surpassed Baseball and hockey and is quickly closing in on Basketball as the most popular sport in our Great Country. I’m guessing but, i believe you lead a sheltered life and really don’t know much about what is going on in the rest of the world. Keep your blinders on, U.S. goes through to the round of 16. Bet on it!

      • Id’s comment is all the more pathetic considering the, I imagine, 70-85% chance he is a U.S. American. I think most of the time people make these comments on /r/soccer and this website, they are coming from anti-social Americans with a need to feel more sophisticated than their own countrymen.

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