review Page 733 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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, ...

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....

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...

<em>Groundhog Day</em> Goes Sci-Fi: <em>Edge Of Tomorrow</em>, Reviewed.
1. Edge of Tomorrow is such a terrific idea for a movie that everyone involved seems to be in high spirits, like they all have a little pep in their step knowing they're making a good movie. There's so much junk out there that you can tell when the filmmakers know they've hooked a big one; there's a...

A Shadow Of Themselves, The Netherlands Need A World Cup Miracle
In 2010, the Netherlands shocked the world by making it all the way to the World Cup final in South Africa. This year, many believe this team diminished. The oldest of their squad have since moved on, and injuries to stars like midfielder Kevin Strootman and keeper Maarten Stekelenburg have further ...

How Spain Can Ride <em>Tiki-Taka</em> To International Immortality
Off top, we need to acknowledge Spain's unprecedented dominance of international and club soccer over the past decade. Historically, however, Spain has been sort of a laughingstock. To understand the impact of Spain's international failure, you must first understand Spain's great domestic rivalry: R...

World Cup Group A Preview: There's Brazil, And There's Everybody Else
Here's your World Cup Group A hub and open thread, where you'll find our previews and predictions....

Eto'o's Last Ride: How Cameroon Can Shock Everyone At The World Cup
Cameroon are Africa's darlings and have qualified for the World Cup seven times, more than any other nation on their continent. This year, they'll be sending a familiar squad of hardened veterans with some young upstarts sprinkled in to Brazil. But this summer is also different, because it'll likely...

For World Cup Glory, Mexico Will Need To Get Their Shit Together
El Tri: the pride of Mexico, the class of CONCACAF (at least historically). In Brazil, they will look to continue their impressive streak of making it out of the group stage in five straight tournaments, despite recent turbulence in the team....

Croatia's World Cup Strategy: Rise And Grind
Croatia are a team stuck in the middle—physically, tactically and in overall proficiency. They aren't fast. They grind and plod their way to victories. They're often caught with holes deep in midfield against elite competition. The side lacks any real width. ...

How Brazil Will Wreak Absolute Havoc On Their World Cup Foes
Brazil is widely thought of as the greatest soccer nation in the world, not just because it's dominated the sport, but because it's perfected it. ...

The Nationals And Rangers Both Challenged The Same Play
A little bit of baseball replay history, and an old-fashioned inexplicable Ron Washington decision, all on a simple stolen base attempt....

Report: NBA To Overhaul Replay System
It's one of the more ominous sights in pro sports: three referees, huddled around the scorer's table for agonizing minutes, reviewing a crucial late-game on a tiny monitor. According to a report from the Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman, after next month, it'll never happen again....

The Pirates Win MLB's First Walk-Off Video Review
With two outs in the ninth in a tie ball game, Starling Marte tripled off the right field wall, and came home on a throwing error on the relay. He was called out at the plate. A year ago, this game would have gone to extra innings. But thanks to replay review, the Pirates got to enjoy some delayed g...

Umpires Use Replay To Check Count, Get It Wrong Anyway
Yunel Escobar struck out on a 4-2 pitch, which is a good sign that something went horribly wrong....

Disney's <em>Bears</em>: Bears Watching
There is a lot to like about Bears, the latest cinematic offering from Disneynature. There is much to dislike as well, but you'll be fine if you approach the viewing experience from the proper point of view. That point of view being that bears are great, and watching them do bear stuff is also great...

Is MLB Replay Just Making Things More Complicated?
"It's extremely difficult to have any faith in the process that's being used," Red Sox manager John Farrell said of MLB's new replay review procedure, which went against Boston on consecutive days. "On the heels of yesterday, it's hard to have any faith in the system."...