Soccer Page 292 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Your Brazil-Germany Open Thread
Well, it's already 1-0, Germany, but it's still early. Talk about it here....
Defending World Cup Champions Are Screwed if They're Old
With Spain out in the group stage this year, there will be no repeat champion in Brazil. Do any of the remaining four teams stand a good chance of repeating? The Economist compared the average ages of defending World Cup champions and found younger teams tend to do better. ...
Alfredo Di Stéfano Could Wallop With The Best Of 'Em
It's unfortunate that it can take a great player's death for us to go back and really appreciate what a talent like Alfredo Di Stéfano brought to the sport. That's especially so in America, where the popular notion of soccer involves Brits inventing the game, Pelé and Brazil mastering it, us continu...
Soccer Player Sprints Off The Pitch, Screaming, After Red Card
Alhaji Kamara equalized for Norrkoping in the Swedish side's 2-2 draw with Orebro yesterday. Then, in the 92nd minute, the striker was sent off with his second yellow. He handled it poorly....
How Zlatan Bought His Dream House
The World Cup has been pretty damn entertaining so far but let's face it: It would be even better were Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic there. This is an excerpt from his hilarious (and surprisingly well-written) memoir, I Am Zlatan....
Superstar Alfredo Di Stéfano, Real Madrid's "Blond Arrow," Has Died
You've heard of Pele and Maradona, most certainly. Today, though, I sing of Alfredo di Stéfano. Di Stéfano, who died today at 88 from a heart attack, was arguably the greatest player never to have played in a World Cup....
Head Of FIFA's Anti-Racism Task Force Says It Hasn't Done Squat
If you've been taking in the World Cup this week, you probably noticed plenty of banners and commercials with FIFA telling you to just, "say no to racism." A great idea, except FIFA doesn't always follow its own message....
Report: Neymar Would Try To Play If Brazil Made World Cup Final
Could Neymar play in the World Cup with a fractured vertebra? According to one report, if Brazil made the final, he'd attempt to....
Twitter Shuts Up When Penalty Kicks Are Taken
Twitter data's discovered a neat pattern by examining usage during a World Cup shootout. Just like people at a bar or on a couch, everyone gets quiet on Twitter right before each penalty kick....
Emotional Neymar Says He's "Sure" Brazil "Will Win"
Before leaving them for good, Neymar spoke with his teammates following the news that a fractured vertebra will keep him out of the remainder of the World Cup and then recorded a message for the rest of his country. He told the rest of Brazil that he knew his teammates would go on and win it all and...
The Quietly Audacious Summer Of The Netherlands
Amsterdam is a city so prone to stereotypes it's hard to tell, from a distance, if it's a real place or if it's a kind of strange social construct, existing only in our collective memory. Until you visit, you're not quite sure, because everybody has an opinion on Amsterdam; they know what it's lik...
Will Costa Rica's Keylor Navas Take Down Another Giant?
Keylor Navas will ruin your dreams. ...
Argentina Take Early 1-0 Lead over Belgium
Gonzalo Higuaín drilled a rotating volley off a deflection past Thibaut Courtois in the 10th minute to put Argentina up 1-0 on Belgium. Ángel di María was actually trying to slide a pass to Pablo Zabaleta, streaking down to nearside post, but Belgium got a foot on it and it bounced right to Higuaín....
Here Is Your Final Colombian TV ¡GOL! Of The World Cup
Brazil eliminated Colombia 2-1 yesterday, which means the Caracol TV call of James Rodriguez's goal from the spot is the last time we get to feature Javier "El Cantante del Gol" Fernández's wonderful announcing. Enjoy....
Neymar Out Of World Cup With Fractured Vertebra
Brazil's worst fears were confirmed by the team doctor. Neymar suffered a fractured vertebra after taking a knee to the back on a challenge from Colombia's Camilo Zúñiga in today's match....
Germany Get To Fourth Straight Semifinal After Drab 1-0 Win Over France
Well, that was anticlimactic. After a tournament with so much excitement, attacking play, and goals galore, Germany beat France 1-0 in a fairly mundane quarterfinal to reach their fourth straight World Cup semifinal....
When The USMNT Played Belgium, Twitter Lit Up With Waffle Insults
Just like mentions of Nazis spiked on Twitter when Germany played America and Algeria, the chart above from Redditor honkeyponk shows Americans dissed Belgium by tweeting "waffle" over and over and over. ...
If You're Going To Scream At Arjen Robben For Diving, First Make Sure He's Not Actually Robin Van Persie
Here's a shirtless fan (with a carved "Y" of chest hair) verbally abusing Robin Van Persie as he leaves the Dutch hotel, yelling "cheater" and making diving pantomimes. Why? He thinks it's Arjen Robben. All Dutch people must look alike. ...
Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey Got A Call From The President
A top-16 finish is a success, so yesterday the two most prominent members of the USMNT received a phone call from Barack Obama congratulating them on their World Cup....