04/23/24
July 21, 2007
Football player deserts Asian Cup to get married : For the second time during this Asian Cup a player will desert his team to get hitched. Vietnam playmaker Phan Van Tai Em is to miss the biggest game of his life on Saturday as he has already organised his wedding on the same day.
posted by commander cody to soccer at 03:26 AM - 11 comments
Or, to put it another way: Is the Asian Cup really that important?
posted by afx237vi at 08:07 AM on July 21, 2007
Or, to put it another way: Is soccer really that important?
posted by sgtcookzane at 08:35 AM on July 21, 2007
Back off, "sgt".
posted by igottheblues at 11:19 AM on July 21, 2007
Or, to put it another way: Is soccer really that important? Only to about 4 billion people, Sgt. Frack.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 04:19 PM on July 21, 2007
I have to admit that I'm not that big of a soccer fan, but it just struck me as odd that, like this guys coach pointed out, he'd have so little confidence in his team that he'd schedule his wedding during playoffs. Like I said if he was a Detroit Lion maybe...but...
posted by commander cody at 05:09 PM on July 21, 2007
I think you give too much blame to Mr. Phan for the scheduling problem. I'm willing to bet that the future Mrs. Phan had a lot to do with it.
posted by Howard_T at 05:21 PM on July 21, 2007
LOL, Sorry iggot the blues and the black hand, I couldn't help the stupid comment. But yeah I'm with Cody, why did he schedule this during the playoffs? And right now he and the mrs. are probably like I don't understand why they are pissed, it doesn't make any sense!
posted by sgtcookzane at 06:17 PM on July 21, 2007
4 billion people probably don't have Comcast cable and see the NFL! I will be very surprised if the MLS ever passes the NHL more-less the NBA/NFL/MLB in the USA even with Beckham!!!! I don't think the Sgt was bashing soccer, only pointing out the insignificance in our mainstream here and apparently in Vietnam.
posted by budanld at 11:33 AM on July 23, 2007
Dude - showing your ignorance - football is the biggest sport in Vietnam. The point of the story is that no one expected the team to qualify for the quarter finals, even some of the players. The best story about the team comes from last year, however. The Austrian coach, Artur Riedl, was suffering from kidney failure. He is so well loved in Vietnam that 100,000 people offered to donate their kidneys.
posted by owlhouse at 06:50 PM on July 23, 2007
Oh, dear, GOD! The opinions of 4 billion people don't count because they don't get Comcast cable and can't see the NFL! Well how silly of them to "choose" to be born outside the US of A! In fact, a billion or more people can see the NFL - they just choose not to. It's not like the NFL doesn't trumpet their alleged viewership of the Super Bowl - but that's not numbers of people actually watching, that's just the numbers of people who live in countries where the game is shown and who could theoretically watch if they wanted to do so. A potential audience of a billion, but an actual audience of 100 million - most of whom are Americans. Guess what? Most people in the world don't want to watch the NFL. Even when it is available. The USA is not the world. Most people don't find our sports very interesting to watch, at all. It's time to stop the denial and soccer bashing. Yes, you guys were soccer-bashing. As to this guys wedding - I haven't bothered to read the article, but in a lot of countries weddings are very big deals and planned long, long in advance, and cost a lot of money (well, that's often true in the USA too); they might have even consulted astrological charts (as is done in a lot of traditional cultures) to determine the "ideal date" on which to get married; in which case, changing the date of the wedding at the last minute was not an option.
posted by dave2007 at 07:59 PM on July 26, 2007
He schedules his wedding during his team's playoff time? I mean I could understand if this was say a Detroit Lions player scheduling his wedding on the upcoming Super Bowl Sunday, since there's not a chance he'll have to miss his big day (getting married that is), but come on! Is getting married really that important?