the-world-cup Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Fedor Smolov is that guy
After years of political tension between the countries, Russia officially invaded Ukraine on Wednesday, bringing swift sanctions and reaction from around the world, as countries almost unanimously opposed the actions spearheaded by Russian President Vladimir Putin....
Champions League Final likely to be moved out of Russia over Ukraine conflict
Not less than a week after the Russia Olympic Committee won 32 medals — second most overall but somehow ninth in the standings because of questionable Russia shit — Vladimir Putin appears to be preparing to invade the Ukraine. Now, the sporting world seems to be paying attention to the crisis in rea...
USWNT settlement was 30 years in the making
The U.S. Women’s National Team has spent its entire existence not just battling opponents from abroad, but its own soccer federation. After a nearly three-year-long legal battle, U.S. Soccer settled in court with the U.S. women’s soccer team. The settlement, which was agreed to six years after five ...
New Zealand was shut out, yet one of their players still recorded a hat trick
The U.S. Women’s National Team is celebrating victories on two fronts today. The first, and most important, victory concerns the $24 million the team settled for in their equal pay lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. That settlement was obviously a long time coming and well-deserved for a te...
Where does the USMNT stand in World Cup Qualifying?
Call this the Idiot’s Guide to World Cup Qualifying. The diehard American Outlaws probably know this information by heart. Casual fans may know some. Most general sports fans in America will only tune in to soccer should the United States men’s national team make it to the World Cup, meaning it’ll b...
OK, maybe it’s time to have a talk about Gregg Berhalter
The natural inclination is to arm the nukes to drop on USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter after his comments that the U.S. “dominated” Canada, despite losing 2-0 and managing just three shots on target. The initial reaction is that he’s completely deluded, doesn’t know what he’s watching, and all while h...
International athletes to watch at this year’s Winter Games
Finding noteworthy athletes from the rest of the world might still be easier than cherry picking from the America tree, but it’s harder to decide which multi-medalist athlete or teenage phenom to leave off the list. I tried to get a nice mix of both, but there are quite a few times when I simply had...
AFCON gets some CONCACAF refereeing
The African Cup of Nations gets a rough ride from most of the soccer world, and it’s mostly because of its place in the calendar. It deprives several clubs in Europe of some of their best players for most of January every two years, which isn’t exactly met with acceptance and gratitude. So it can ac...
Changing the World Cup to every two years could (but won’t) help soccer’s have-nots
Changing the World Cup to a biennial event is an awful idea. That’s not the most groundbreaking statement, but I wanted to put it bluntly because that’s the point I want you to remember from the rest of this. And if FIFA president Gianni Infantino is to be believed, and the move has a majority backi...
Let’s get back to a hockey World Cup
Now that it’s official and the NHL players won’t be going to the Olympics, some disappointment is understandable. The idea that Connor McDavid won’t play for Canada in a best-on-best tournament until his 30s is pretty ridiculous. Or that we may never get that line with him and Sidney Crosby. This to...
2021 was an incredibly fun year for the USMNT, let’s never do it again
As stated many times before, what the USMNT attempted, and really accomplished, in 2021 is unheard of in international soccer. Turning the entire roster over to children at once just isn’t done. Usually, teams are trying to blend generations, mixing in the aging vets (around 30) with those in their ...
It doesn’t sound like the NHL is going to the Olympics
There are few good ideas in the pandemic. The most you can muster is, “Well, I guess that’s the best they can do.” The urge to try and have anything normal is an understandable one, it’s just there are so very many limits to how to get to that safely, so we either can’t have them or just ignore the ...
After the latest Dos Á Cero, it’s time to be excited about the USMNT again
Not getting too crazy about the U.S. men’s soccer team, not getting too crazy about the U.S. men’s soccer team, not getting too crazy about the U.S. men’s soccer team, not going too crazy about the U.S. men’s soccer team…...
This is what it can be
It is hard to remember in the moment, especially when that is the first moment of a qualifier like last night against Costa Rica and the USMNT is giving up yet another stupid goal before coming back for a 2-1 win and you haven’t even cracked that beer that you’re firing against the wall, that this w...
This biennial World Cup mumbo jumbo is soccer’s next big fight
Last spring, when news of the Super League first started to break, I was pretty dismissive. Heard it all before — that type of leak tended to break on a cycle of every few years or so, and would quickly fade into the background. In reality, it did fade into the background pretty quickly. It just did...
U.S. Soccer offers equal pay to USMNT and USWNT... <i>kinda?</i>
It’s been one of the longer lasting sagas in American sports, as the U.S. Women’s National team seeks either a new contract or a resolution to their lawsuit against U.S. Soccer that sees them make huge gains in pay for representing their country. U.S. Soccer would have you believe that it’s recently...
NHL players in the Olympics has always been better in theory than practice
Late last week, one of hockey’s more annoying fights seemed to have reached yet another conclusion, when the NHL, the NHLPA, and the IIHF reached an agreement on sending NHL players to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. As with everything these days, it’s COVID-dependent, but the NHL schedule has ...
We totally forgot that this USMNT hasn’t played very well
Perhaps I doomed them last Wednesday when I told my editor the US Men’s National Team would qualify for the World Cup easily. The power of the motherfuck grows every day. That won’t comfort anyone, especially me, as the US has certainly stubbed its toe in its first two qualifiers, even if it hasn’t ...
It’s showtime!
It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to dodge the bags of piss...wait, those aren’t the original lyrics, are they? Well, for the USMNT they might as well be. ...
Olympics hoops just ended, but it’s already time to look towards the men's FIBA World Cup
The 2019 FIBA World Cup featured the infamous Gregg Popovich-led Team USA club that finished in seventh place shortly after losing to France in the quarterfinals, and then Serbia in the 5-8 seeding determination. Team USA eventually beat Poland in the seventh-place game, and this past summer, they a...