world-cup Page 40 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Luka Modrić Wins FIFA's Dumb Little "The Best" Award

Individual awards in soccer are inherently silly and effectively meaningless. FIFA’s premier individual award has been rendered even sillier and less meaningful recently after soccer mag France Football regained ownership of the actually prestigious Ballon d’Or, causing FIFA to invent their own “The...

France's World Cup Celebration Party Was Wonderfully Joyous

Yesterday, France beat the Netherlands in a fairly meaningless international match. While the match itself didn’t matter, it did have the distinction of being the first time the French national team had returned to their home stadium since this summer’s glorious World Cup victory. To commemorate the...

Let's Remember Some Guys: 2018 World Cup Guys

It has been exactly one month since the World Cup ended. This might cause you to believe that it is far too early to engage in any remembering of guys who participated in the tournament, but that would overlook one of the central truths of guy remembering: Any guy can be remembered, at any time....

English Teen Lauren Hemp Scores From The Right Flank With Her Right Flank<em></em>

If we were to build a pantheon of world soccer’s most lethal weapons, there are a few iconic appendages we can think of that would be locks to make it in: Lionel Messi’s left foot, Cristiano Ronaldo’s right, Abby Wambach’s head. To those ranks we must now add the right hip/stomach/ribs region of Lau...

Mesut Özil Quits International Soccer In Letter Decrying Racism And Unfair Double Standards

Mesut Özil retired from German international soccer Sunday, in a lengthy statement released on Twitter. Özil says the fallout from a photo he took with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May lays bare a kind of racism he’s subjected to as a German with Turkish heritage, and that “enough is en...

France's Game Plan In The World Cup Final Was Just "Give It To Kylian Mbappé"

Throughout the World Cup, 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé showed why he was worth over $200 million to PSG last summer, displaying his unique blend of speed and skill to overwhelm the living hell out of his opponents. Though still very much a teenager, he was France’s focal point on the attack, serving as...

This Man Tattooed A Soccer Jersey Onto His Torso, Has No Regrets

José Maurício dos Anjos might be the world’s biggest fan of Brazilian soccer club Flamengo. He pumped a liter of ink into his body for them. When was the last time you cared that much about something?...

The four members of Pussy Riot who ran onto the pitch during the World Cup final have been sentenced to 15 days in Russian jail. They’ve also been banned from sporting events for three years. [The Guardian]...

Croatia's World Cup Final Run Was A Miracle

As a rule, small countries do not play in the World Cup final. Only 13 countries on earth have ever even made the final, and aside from one of Sunday’s participants, only big countries have played for the cup in the modern era. It’s been over 50 years since there was a final that didn’t feature one ...

Antoine Griezmann May Be The Last, Biggest Derrick Rose Fan On Earth

French striker Antoine Griezmann—noted NBA and, specifically, Derrick Rose fan who unfortunately also once painted his entire body black while donning an afro and Harlem Globetrotters uniform—won a World Cup on Sunday. And he played a huge role in the final, delivering the free kick that led to Fran...

These French People Celebrating Their World Cup Win Are Making Me Jealous

Man, winning the World Cup in a country that gives a damn looks fun....

Paul Pogba Bossed The World Cup

Kylian Mbappé’s rifle-shot goal that put the World Cup final firmly in France’s grasp was a fitting flourish on what had been a tremendous tournament for the 19-year-old prodigy. If France’s run to glory was paced by one player, it was Mbappé, whose reality bending runs and lethal finishing elevated...

Let Us Congratulate Vladimir Putin For Victoriously Claiming The One Available Umbrella During World Cup Medal Ceremonies

I can’t quite describe why I find this image so funny, but here it is: Vladimir Putin, grinning in the handshake line at the World Cup medal ceremony, with like the one umbrella anywhere in sight being held over his head dutifully by an attendant, while all around him are drenched in pouring rain:...

France Topple Croatia In Hectic, Exhausting World Cup Final

A hilariously wild and ragged World Cup final concluded with a 4-2 victory for France, after a chaotic first half marked by a pair of dumb goals for France, and a second half marked by a Pussy Riot field invasion and maybe the dumbest goal you will ever see in a World Cup Final, from Croatia....

Idiots On The Field Disrupt World Cup Final; Pussy Riot Claims Responsibility

Kylian Mbappé had just made a great run. Danijel Subašić saved it. The Croatian team went for a counterattack and… suddenly, there were idiots on the field....

This World Cup Final Match Absolutely Fucking Rules

If you were worried the World Cup final would present a couple of cagey teams hoping to avoid mistakes and get lucky on one decisive set piece or counterattack, that fear was dashed in just the 18th minute, when a pretty shameless dive gave France a dangerous free kick that converted to an own goal ...

Belgium Topple England In Sweet, Satisfying Third-Place Match

Belgium topped England in a loose and entertaining third-place game Saturday, behind a couple terrifying quick-strike counterattack moves, and some delightfully screwy defending from the lads of England....

Weird-As-Hell <i>USA Today</i> Blog Reads Like Ad Copy For The Qatar World Cup

We’re all in agreement that holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a bad idea, right? Like, historically bad, since both the oppressive heat and the lack of infrastructure make the tournament such a logistical nightmare that it has to be played in December, with an entire city created from scratch t...

Photographer Tackled By Celebrating Croatian Players Got Incredible Photos, Kisses

During yesterday’s World Cup semifinal game between England and Croatia, a sideline photographer for Agence France-Press, Yuri Cortez, found himself at the bottom of a Croatian team dog pile after the got knocked over during Croatia’s celebrations for Mario Mandzukic’s extra-time, game-winning goal....

Dear Croatia, Please Wear Your Extra-Cool Checkerboard Kits In The World Cup Final [Update]

Mighty, valiant Croatia have had a dream World Cup, and this weekend, they will take the field for the World Cup final only 26 years after joining FIFA as an official national team. It will obviously be the biggest moment in Croatian soccer history, and as such, they had better not overthink it and ...