Soccer Page 310 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
World Cup Group H Preview: A Dark Horse, A Couple Mules, And A Goat
Here's your Group G hub and open thread where you'll find our previews and predictions....
How Russia Evolved Into One Of The World Cup's Most Dangerous Teams
Russia's march to Brazil began at the Euro 2012 tournament in Poland/Ukraine. The Russians, led by Dutch manager Dick Advocaat captured the attention of Europe with a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing of the Czech Republic in their opening game. The free-flowing, explosive Russian attack, a product of Ad...
The Brilliance And Madness Of Dutch Wizard Johan Cruyff
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....
Hey, At Least Getting Bashed In Group Play Won't Break Algeria's Heart
Algerians, like many former French colonies, are used to watching some of their most promising potential internationals playing for the old rulers. Algerian fans will probably cheer Karim Benzema due to the French-born striker's Algerian heritage. They might also rue, or maybe sardonically snicker a...
What FIFA Gets Right About Nationality
In April, Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj finally picked his country. The oddsmakers were right, and he selected Belgium over a palette of other national shirts: Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo (through his parents), Turkey (through his grandparents), and, if you asked the English, maybe even...
This Technicolor Footage Of The 1966 World Cup Is Incredible
This essay appears in the new issue of Howler...
Which Teams Will Be Having Sex At The World Cup?
It's a long-held myth that athletes should refrain from sex before a competition, for fear of exhaustion or a lack of testosterone. Nearly all scientific studies agree that there's no danger, but the belief persists. To that end, managers for a number of countries have banned their players from havi...
Can South Korea Make Another Surprise Run In Brazil?
South Korea are one of Asia's traditional soccer powers. They and Japan have bossed the continent for decades now, coasting to World Cup to World Cup, where they've tried to prove that Asia's got real talent. In Brazil, South Korea have a chance to once again show that though Asia's a historically w...
NFL Logos As European Soccer Badges: The Complete Set
We've previous featured the work of Football as Football, a project to reimagine NFL logos in four different European styles. Today marks the release of the fourth and final wave, a few of which are above....
Let's Stop Calling Belgium A Dark Horse
It's not a perfect fit, but Belgium are the closest thing we have to a true dark horse in this World Cup. They won't step onto the pitch as a mysterious bunch of kids in cleats—indeed, the whole reason they are so intriguing is because everyone expects these Belgians to be running things in a few ye...
Watch Famous World Cup Goals In Gorgeous Painted Animation
Just by its nature, each World Cup is more certain to produce indelible moments than just about any other sporting event we have. Here are a bunch of the best, animated beautifully by Richard Swarbrick....
Fan Ridicule Leads Soccer Team To Abandon Logo
Louisville City FC introduced its logo last week, to the outrage and disappointment of fans and designers who called it ugly, amateurish, and quickly demonstrated that they could do better. It took less than a day for the team to admit it screwed up, and announce it would hold a fan contest to pick ...
World Cup Group G Preview: Let's Just Kill 'Em And Get Breakfast
Here's your Group G hub and open thread where you'll find our previews and predictions....
Germany, Now Ravaged By Injuries, Should Still Walk The Group Of Death
It wasn't too long ago— a few weeks, maybe—that Germany looked a lock to travel down to Brazil and cut a bloody path through the World Cup. Then came the injuries. ...
Can Ghana Break American Hearts Once Again?
Ghana locked up a spot in Brazil by first cruising to the top of their African qualifying group, then demolishing Bob Bradley's Egypt over 2 legs by an aggregate 7-3 score line. The Black Stars allowed only 6 goals in their 8 qualifying games, while scoring 25 of their own. They were led by veteran ...
Portugal's Eusébio Was As Gifted On The Pitch As He Was Important Off It
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....
Portugal Might Be Ronaldo And The Rest, But That's Still Scary Good
Portugal made a surprising run to the semifinals of Euro 2012, narrowly losing out to Spain on penalty kicks in a game many thought the Portuguese deserved to win. It marked the second straight tournament where Portugal were eliminated by their archrivals, as Spain won a 1-0 Round-of-16 matchup in S...
Since They're Down There Anyway, The USMNT Might As Well Win
If we're being pragmatic, just for a second, we have to admit that if one started at the very first World Cup in 1930 and moved forward through history until today, right now, one could only conclude that the United States men's national team has been a complete, unmitigated joke. ...
Sepp Blatter Says We're All Racist For Pointing Out FIFA's Corruption
While addressing FIFA's African and Asian confederations on Monday, FIFA president Sepp Blatter seized the opportunity to mount a defense against the most recent and damning allegations that Qatar bribed its way to the 2022 World Cup. He did this by accusing all of his critics of being racist....