the-world-cup Page 14 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

France gets even scarier with return of Karim Benzema, also more blackmail-y
With club seasons stumbling to their final weekend, and the normal curtain-closer Champions League Final now less than two weeks away, attention and anticipation starts to turn to the postponed European Championships, which are still called “Euro 2020” even though it’s 2021. And also seems to be los...

N’Golo Kante wrecked Real Madrid
When Chelsea were struggling under Frank Lampard, I was one of many who wondered what exactly they could get out of N’Golo Kante at 30. It was fair to ruminate if he could be the one-man typhoon in the center of midfield that he had been for Premier League-winning sides at Leicester and Chelsea. It ...

Poll: Most think Team USA should boycott World Cup
The World Cup in Qatar is a little more than a year from now, and according to a poll from RunRepeat, 59 percent of respondents believe that the United States should boycott the event, with 61 percent saying that FIFA should move its quadrennial showcase out of the Middle East nation because of abus...

The USWNT’s fight is with FIFA
Yesterday, the USWNT and U.S. Soccer dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s on their settlement over the amenities/facilities/training half of their dispute over equal pay. While it’s a good thing that the women’s team will have the same flights, hotels, medical and training staff as the men, the settle...

Empty protests of Qatar World Cup show players see evil, but can't close FIFA's Pandora's Box
It’s been a week for performative protests in soccer. Last Sunday, Glasgow Celtic and Rangers followed Wilfried Zaha’s lead and tore the facade of the kneeling before the opening whistle protest. It was just three days after one of Rangers’ players was racially abused by an opponent, and it was clea...

CONMEBOL postpones World Cup qualifiers
It’s more about travel regulations and quarantine rules than the actual spread of the virus, but the postponement of this month’s South American qualifying matches for the World Cup serves as a stark reminder of how far behind the rest of the world the United States is and how badly we continue to m...

Has boring-ass La Liga replaced previous snoozefest Serie A?
It wasn’t a terribly good couple of weeks for La Liga teams in the Champions League. Barcelona got ritually sacrificed by Kylian Mbappe and PSG. Sevilla got an even bigger foot in their ass from Dortmund. Atletico Madrid, the current leader in La Liga, were held at arm’s length by Chelsea and lost 1...

World Cup Cuisine
George Zisiadis imagines the World Cup as a series of food mash-ups....

Your Ultimate Guide To Streaming Every World Cup Match Live
Want to watch the World Cup? We're here to provide you with the ultimate, comprehensive guide to watching every match of group play—either on a television, computer, or mobile device....

A Look Back At The Many, Many O-Faces Of The World Cup
Let's officially bring this World Cup to a close with a compilation of men celebrating their goals with panache, hugs, pileups, and, in the case of two Italians, a particularly tender shotgun. Enjoy these rambunctious foreigners one last time....

Meet The USA's Tipsy, Slovenia-Trashing, Bathroom-Snoozing Miss World Contestant (Video)
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Remember my encounter with the Miss World ladies? Absent from that group was one Lisa-Marie Kohrs, the U.S. representative. We've learned what became of her that day, and what became of her was a sloppy, jingoistic mess....

Pickpockets And Super Afrikaners On The Other Side Of The Sausage Curtain
PRETORIA, South Africa — My host in Pretoria gave me this can of pepper spray to fend off bandits. I didn't have it when the bad men struck....

“Have You Had Any Black Girls?” Asked The Afrikaner With The Mohawk
PRETORIA, South Africa — People here keep telling me I look South African. What they mean is that I look Afrikaner. (Yes, I'm white, and I dress poorly.) Looking Afrikaner sucks because inevitably you get approached by scary people who think they've found a fellow traveler....

Instant Messages You Never Want To Receive From Your World Cup Correspondent
Luke: well, i just got robbed me: what? what happened? Luke: they took my tickets man my tickets to [USA-Ghana] they pickpocketed me me: who did? ah fuck Luke: i don't know! some fuck...

The Shrieking, AIDS-Joking, Gulati-Taunting Ugly Americans Of The World Cup
PRETORIA, South Africa — A few hours before the gut-roiling USA victory here, I witnessed a tense moment of another sort when two well-lubricated American yahoos tore into Sunil Gulati, the head of the U.S. Soccer Federation. Here's how it unfolded ......

The Boys Not On The Bus: Riding Around Solo On FIFA's Cravenly Shunned Media Vehicles
JOHANNESBURG — Getting around this city during the World Cup has been an unholy mess. Traffic can be obscene. Cabbies have turned into pirates. So it's nice to have access to media shuttles. Too bad almost nobody uses them....

A Beauty In Joburg: Watching Slovenia-USA With The Ladies Of The Miss World Pageant
JOHANNESBURG — Slovenia-USA had it all. There was the immediate and customary American breakdown. The stirring comeback. A bastard shit evil ref, more evil than that bastard shit Larrionda in 2006. And then there were the Miss World contestants....

ESPN's George Bodenheimer Summons The Gods, And Other Tales Of Whoring
NEAR RUSTENBURG / DURBAN, South Africa — Our friends at ESPN treat the World Cup like a luxury safari. A few days ago, I got to see how their leaders rough it. The occasion was a braai, a South African barbecue. But not your typical braai. Think wine and white tablecloth....