What, no soccer today? Or tomorrow? Boo. American fans have gotten used to their daily, crack-like football fix. We want to waste away those work hours watching Uruguay and Paraguay and whatever other South American team is going to win today. It’s 10 AM Eastern? There should be a game on. It’s 2:30 P.M? Where’s my game? Sorry, Wimbledon …
World Cup
A Continent Is Booted Out Of The World Cup
So with Japan’s and South Korea’s losses to the Guays (Japan to Para-, South Korea to Uru-), the Asians are out of the World Cup. Frankly, few expected the South Koreans and Japanese to get to the round of 16 in the first place. As continents go, Asia is a football bummer. (Compare it to South America, which has four teams heading …
Spain Saves the Day (and Night)
Day and night at the World Cup. In the afternoon, Japan and Paraguay, two teams terrified to lose at this stage in the tournament, mud-wrestled for 120 minutes before Japan dissolved in a penalty kick shootout, 5-3. To be honest, I didn’t see the end of the game. Fortunately, I had to leave for the Spain vs. Portugal match—two teams …
Ole! Ole! Ole! Spain’s Passing Master Class Leaves Portugal Chasing Shadows
So how do you neutralize Cristiano Ronaldo, the superstar of epic Nike ads who so rarely does much more than preen and posture in his national team colors? Quite simple, really: You simply don’t let his team have the ball. (And you don’t seriously think glamour-boy Ronaldo goes back and fights for possession, do you? Nope. He …
Brazil Gets In Chile’s Face, 3-0
So you are a defender for Chile and you are playing the game of your life and you are realizing that, in a soccer sense, your life isn’t worth much. Because Brazil is squeezing the oxygen out of you, its unrelenting, high-pressure offense giving lie to the notion that this is somehow a more conservative Brazil. You want conservative? …
“Insipid” Sounds About Right
Jeezo peezo. If that farce was a World Cup 1/8th final match, I wonder how we managed to avoid death by narcolepsy during the group rounds. Certainly the Netherlands deserved its 2-1 victory over Slovakia, but only because it lost what for the most part looked like a sleepwalk competition: the Dutch couldn’t quite manage to be as …
Enough is Enough, FIFA: Video Technology Must Be Used
Trust me, despite being an England fan, I can be as critical as anyone when it comes to suffering through – and analyzing – many of the side’s underachieving performances over the years. I still shiver at recalling the likes of Andora away in 2007, losing to Germany 1-0 at the final game played at Wembley Stadium in 2000, the …
From Paris: More On England Getting Robbed
Our Paris bureau chief, World Cup Blog contributor, and all-around football guru Bruce Crumley commented on my gut reaction post to the Frank Lampard play. Bruce’s post shouldn’t be buried in the comments section: he offers a clear, in-depth argument as to why instant replay is needed in soccer. Check it out below. Right on, Bruce!
History 4 England 1
On its first goal, Germany played like England; on its second it played like Brazil. And on its third and fourth goal Germany played like Italy. England, on the other hand, spent most of he evening playing like the Faroe Islands in this 4-1 thrashing. The score line is tricky. This game will forever be known as the one where accounts …
Enough
Trailing 2-1 near the end of the first half, England’s Frank Lampard scored the game tying goal against Germany, as his shot hit off the top crossbar and bounced about two yards over the line. But ball popped out, and the ref did not call it a goal.
What a joke. The absence of video replay in soccer is close to ruining this World Cup. …
Ghana Crushes the American Dream
The go-for-broke Americans finally ran out of comebacks tonight. A tremendous individual goal by Asamoah Ayan, who shouldered off Carlos Bocanegra and smashed a shot past Tim Howard in the first extra time period gave Ghana a deserved 2-1 win over a U.S. team that made one mistake too many. As they have done in this tournament—indeed …
Taking the Temperature of Little Ghana
The nice part about living in New York City is that you can learn more about American foes, since immigrant fans of every country in the Cup live in the Big Apple. Took a subway ride up to Little Ghana in the Bronx, met some gracious people, passionate fans, and even a guy who will be wearing red, white and blue. Here’s the link.
