Soccer Page 312 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
World Cup Group D Preview: Luis Suárez Is Bathing In Placenta <em>Right Now</em>
Here's your Group D hub and open thread, where you'll find our previews and predictions....
Rio Mayor On World Cup: "We’re Latins, We’re Not Used To Deadlines"
The World Cup will go off on time. This was never in any doubt, despite the requisite doom-and-gloom stories surrounding Cups and Olympics. But it has not been pretty—11 of 12 airport upgrades remain unfinished, mass transit infrastructure is well behind schedule, and the São Paulo stadium set to ho...
"The Referee," From <em>Soccer In Sun And Shadow</em>
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....
Overmatched, Costa Rica Can Still Make It Rough For Everyone Else
Do they have any shot? Not really. But that doesn't mean Costa Rica can't put the fear of God into the Group D favorites for a half or so....
Italy Great; Sky Still Blue
Regardless of how you feel about a shirtless, flexing Mario Balotelli, the luxurious follicles that sprout all around Andrea Pirlo's head, or Lorenzo Insigne's textbook giocatore look of prison-chic with a €1,000 weekly hair budget, Italy do not enter this tournament as a "sexy" team. Somehow, one o...
Finally, England Have A Chance To Win Something
At long last, England's "Golden Generation" is dead....
Uruguay Are Inevitable
Many believed that Uruguay's dramatic run to the World Cup semifinals in 2010 was somewhat of a surprise. It wasn't....
World Cup Group C Preview: Let's Be Honest, This Is A Crapshoot
Here's your Group C hub and open thread where you'll find our previews and predictions....
My Anger Therapy
Here's an excerpt from Bosnian-American writer, MacArthur "genius" fellow, and Howler contributor Aleksandar Hemon's new e-book, The Matters of Life, Death, and More. It'll give you a little taste of how seriously this World Cup debutante nation takes its soccer....
Why Japan Is One Of The World Cup's Most Exciting Teams
Japan is the best team in Asia, and it's not even close. Part of the reason they are the best is because they might be the closest thing to Spain's tiki-taka seen anywhere on the international stage....
Jürgen Klinsmann Says U.S. Players Can Have World Cup Sex
It's Jürgen Klinsmann Week, and you have your choice of profiles of the USMNT manager. There's the New Yorker ("Klinsmann is a hippie pseudo-Buddhist flake"), the Times ("Klinsmann plans to make U.S. soccer less American"), the WSJ (Klinsmann wants to make U.S. soccer more American"), and many other...
For Ivory Coast's Golden Generation, This Is Their Last Shot At Glory
It's put up or shut up time for Ivory Coast this summer. The Elephants have gone almost a decade as easily Africa's most talented squad, yet time and again, they've come up short in international play. In a finally forgiving World Cup group, and with a couple key players in the form of their lives, ...
"The Manager," From <em>Soccer In Sun And Shadow</em>
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....
Dammit, Greece Are Going To Try To Win Ugly Again
Greece has a pretty good domestic league that produces a handful of pretty good players who represent their pretty good national team. In the gauntlet that is European international competition, pretty good usually isn't enough. This year, though, Greece made it through the fire to earn a spot in th...
Even Without Superstar Falcao, Colombia Is Still A World Cup Terror
First, Colombia had to navigate the difficult South American World Cup qualifiers. It was easy. Led by superstar striker and certifiable beast Radamel Falcao, Colombia booked their tickets for the tournament after easing to a second-place finish in CONMEBOL. Going into 2014, Colombia looked a world ...
World Cup Group B Preview: Not Quite The Group Of Death, But Damn
Here's your Group B hub and open thread, where you'll find our previews and predictions....
Hulk Scores After Stupid Good Neymar Backheel In World Cup Tune-Up
Yep. Brazil are going to win the whole thing....
Australia Should Probably Just Relax And Enjoy Their Holiday
A couple dozen Australian soccer players will vacation for a couple of weeks this June in Brazil. Here's what you need to know....
Vidal Is A Goddamned Tank; Or Why Chile Can Go Far In The World Cup
Chile's most memorable World Cup story is actually how they missed out on the 1990 and 1994 tournaments. Yes, they finished third in 1962 and gave Spain all they could handle in the first knockout round in 2010, but besides those two Cups, they've only gotten out of the group stage once, when they a...