As most people know by now, the big idea about staging the World Cup in South Africa, the grand experiment, is trying to change the perception of the country, and perhaps a continent. So: is it working?
World Cup
That Giant Sucking Sound
Isn’t just France, but Raymond “I am not an idiot” Domenech drawing in his last, horrid breath as French coach. Just a few comments:
Peyton Place-sur-Seine
French coach Raymond Domenech may have decided to put the team’s best interests ahead of his many, many personal grudges for once, but that still doesn’t mean sanity has returned to France’s footballing soap opera. Though virtually all press reports in France Thursday say Domenech is set to make what has long been an obvious right …
Switzerland to its Footballers: Thanks Very Much, Now Go Back to Where You Came From
It’s common to celebrate the tapestry of nations coming together at World Cups. The globe unites under a shared passion, and, for one month every four years, it seems hundreds of millions of people assume new nationalities. What other event could transplant the bitter South American rivalry between Brazil and Argentina onto a slum in …
Cheering For North Korea: Weird, But Fun
Okay, let’s get one thing clear: no one likes horrible totalitarian dictatorial regimes that brutalize their populations, starve their people through incompetent and willfully destructive leadership, and spent most of their time threatening war on the outside world while trying to develop nuclear arms to use should those conflicts …
What the World Cup Means to the Burmese
Live Blog: Ivory Coast vs. Portugal
The hopes of a nation can now rest on a protective cast. The Ivory Coast’s — and TIME 100 cover star — Didier Drogba has been given special clearance by FIFA to wear it on his broken right arm for his side’s group game against Portugal. Reason enough to live blog this massive match!
Assessing Asia’s World Cup Performances
The Chinese may have racked up the most gold medals at the last summer Olympics, but Asians haven’t had anywhere near the same impact at the World Cup.
Taking On Vuvuzela Inc.
One thing seems certain as the great global debate continues to rage over whether the South African vuvuzela should be banned from World Cup stadiums or not: someone is going to find a way to make a truckload of money out of the rumpus. And a couple of companies are already seeking to do just that by moving fast on what’s become the …
Away from the Hermit Kingdom, North Korea Faces the World
Every World Cup needs its mystery team, usually a side of minnows few know very much about — in 2006, the “Soca Warriors” of Trinidad & Tobago played that role with cuddly, heart-warming gusto. It’s a bit harder to attach that sort of sentiment to North Korea, whose dictatorial regime is one of the most alienated and vilified in the …
90 Seconds With … Socrates
He was the thinking man’s player on the field and he certainly had the thoughtful name off it. Brazil’s 1982 World Cup captain Socrates (or Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, MD, Ph.D to give the man his full due) was a wonderful midfield dynamo, who played for his country 60 times, scoring an impressive 22 goals …
Cue The Benny Hill Theme
An own goal that even cracked the guilty Danish defender up, and a pounced-on shot off the post that by all rights should have been cleared to the other end. That was the extent of offensive brilliance in the Netherlands’ 2-0 win over Denmark–a match in which a 0-0 (read “nothing nothing”) would have been a truer reflection of the …
