World Cup 2014 Thread!

[TaichiMantis]

I will be overdosing on matches soon! Woohoo!

[@PLUGO]

Just about says it all.

[GeneChing]

See the Capoeira & Shaolin-Soccer-for-real threads.

[TaichiMantis]

Oliver is brilliant! And yes, FIFA is evil....but I'm still giddy about World Cup!

[GeneChing]

Will Janot be at the World Cup?

Start Believing: Meet the kung-fu keeper


Jun 6, 2014 10:00:00 AM
The hobby of former St Etienne star Jeremie Janot features in the latest in our series chronicling the extraordinary power of belief

Rituals for good luck are common, but routines to punish yourself for losing are less so. Jeremie Janot, however, was far from your ordinary goalkeeper.

Standing at a relatively modest 1.75m and immediately identifiable by the tribal tattoo on the back of his shaved head, Janot was agile, muscular and extrovert. Indeed, in a game against Istres, he once played in a customised Spiderman kit, complete with balaclava.

So perhaps it’s natural that after each defeat of his professional career, keen amateur martial artist Janot habitually descended to his home gym, based in the garage of his house – and locked himself in to beat the life out of his favourite punch bag. All night.

This will be of little surprise to any who saw his furious reaction to conceding a free-kick to Juninho in the October 2004 defeat to Olympique Lyonnais – Janot performed a two-footed kung-fu lunge on the post after the ball hit the net – or visitors to his website.

On jeremie-janot.net, readers are greeted by the goalkeeper in a fists-up boxing pose, and he goes on to talk about meeting mixed martial arts star Wanderlei Silva (nickname: “The Axe Murderer”) as a personal highlight. Now 36, former St Etienne stalwart Janot has been without a club since Le Mans’ collapse in October 2013, having moved there the previous summer. Shortly after, he floated the possibility of transferring his skills to another sporting sector.

“An agent offered me [the chance to go to] a club in Thailand,” tweeted Janot. “I told him that if I go, I’ll end up at Lumpini Stadium doing Muay Thai.” Janot may have appeared to be joking, but name checking the Bangkok-based home of Muay Thai is another reminder of what a martial arts fanatic he is. Besides, he already showed in his football career that he’s pretty good with his fists.

balaclava?

[David Jamieson]

I am boycotting it this year as I did with the Olympics.
I don't understand these bloated organizations void of morality paying obscene amounts of money to men to play games and how they can overlook the abject poverty around them, the political strife, the oppression, the suppression.

If anything, you would think they would have the courage to use their popularity and worldwide support to say something real and meaningful and incite much needed change.

But nope.

FIFA and the IOC are ridiculous corrupt organizations and I would give anythng to see the players stand up for something right instead of those orgs and their own fame and wallet.

I love futy as much as the next guy, but I loath greed and cognitive disconnection even more.

[TaichiMantis]

Will Janot be at the World Cup?
?

No...but not surprised about goalkeepers and martial arts, it happened to me!