Today in England World Cup news (fear not — not a regular feature!): Coach Fabio Capello loses his sh…irt with the country’s notorious photographers during training. Meanwhile, the highly respected English and U.S. Ambassadors decide to have a wager over this Saturday’s showdown. ‘Twas ever thus.
How to Pick Your World Cup Nation: Look at Its Carbon Emissions
Choosing a World Cup squad to support can be a complicated task, particularly for those, like yours truly, whose country didn’t qualify for the 32-team tournament (India is absent, and will remain so till time immemorial). One nation may play an exciting brand of football, but its leading star could be a contemptible cheat. Or …
France’s World Cup: “Can We Go Home Now?”
Don’t tell the French this World Cup isn’t all over for them before it even starts. Suggesting otherwise is largely brushed off on Planet France–the largest consuming nation of tranquilizers and anti-depressants anywhere. Right now, optimism is mostly seen as merely forestalling the soccer agony that fate has in store for l’equipe de …
Keeping ScoreWorld Cup
Point Guard On the Pitch
If, for some reason, you’re inclined to turn to websites other than ours for World Cup commentary – and really, why would you be? – here’s one worth looking at: CBSSports.com, where two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash will be filing a series of eight video reports from South Africa. Nash, who was born in Johannesburg, is a self-described …
What Inter Milan Tells Us About Italy’s World Cup Chances
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q47te-lAO3s&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Tuesday’s appointment of former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez to run Italian treble-winners Inter Milan confirms a trend that signals a problem for Italy’s national team: Last season, under Portugal’s Jose Mourinho — now off to head up Real Madrid — Inter won all …
And Talking of Tempers, Will Eto’o Implode?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_vV2YCeZQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
With Didier Drogba fighting to overcome a fractured arm to play in the tournament, the media’s search for Africa’s great hope has settled, perhaps somewhat improbably, on Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o. Not that the Inter Milan striker is anything but a supremely gifted …
Will Wayne Rooney’s Temper Be His Undoing? Again?
They were the words every England fan dreaded to hear. Wayne Rooney’s colorful choice of language — the key word rhymes with an object in hockey — to the referee in his country’s final warm-up game before their campaign begins against the U.S. this Saturday was a potential precursor for why England’s continuing drought in international …
Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth!
Strap yourself in, make sure your diary is clear until July 11 and get set for a fantastic fiesta of football. The 19th World Cup, being held in Africa for the first time, is almost upon us.
Brazil? It’s Not ‘Like Watching Brazil’
“Brazil, it’s just like watching Brazil” is what long-suffering fans of lower-league English clubs sarcastically sing when their team of cloggers and journeymen strings together two or three passes. (See the clip from the Barnsley terraces below)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEzs0j30f6Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
But anyone who’s …
Oh, Henry!
Okay, so forget about the Thierry Henry who became the worst cheater the world had ever seen by controlling a ball with his hand that set up France’s undeserved victory over Ireland—and the World Cup berth that came with it. For much of the decade before that, Henry had been famous as an icon of French footballing excellence; a …
Quotes: Brazil’s President on Argentine, um, Preparations
“Diego Maradona is the only coach to adopt such a policy. I want to see the Argentines arrive staggering and exhausted to their games.”
— Brazilian President LULA DA SILVA, doesn’t think that Argentina’s policy to allow their players to have sex with their partners in South Africa is a good tactic. (via The Guardian)
World Cup: Security Problems Already?
Four days before the World Cup kicks off, the unedifying spectacle of football officials and policemen blaming each other for a dangerous stampede outside a friendly Nigeria-North Korea match at Ekurhuleni, near Johannesburg, is a little worrying for any fan arriving in South Africa. Reports from the scene say between 15-20 spectators …
The World Cup Nears — What Will the Future Write?
Over 12 million people have watched Nike’s epic World Cup ad on YouTube, and for good reason. Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, an Oscar nominee for the 2006 film Babel, the commercial is a spectacular paean to the world’s game, whirring from a sultry night in West Africa to visions of monumental triumph in an Iberian square. …