world-cup Page 99 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Mexico Keeps World Cup Dreams Alive With Spectacular Bicycle Kick
This, from Mexico's Raúl Jiménez, came in the 85th minute, four minutes after Panama had just equalized and bummed all of Mexico out. Jimenez brought them all back to life with a bicycle kick laser that left Panama goalkeeper Jaime Penedo rooted to his spot. Look at him. Either it's going wide or, ...

With The World Cup Clinched, USMNT Players Must Now Fight For Spots
The United States men's national team is take on Jamaica this evening in what is, thankfully, a somewhat meaningless World Cup qualifying match. That's because the Americans already whooped Mexico, as well as everyone else in CONCACAF, to clinch a spot in next year's tournament in Brazil. So what's ...

English Soccer Is Dead, And It Deserves To Be
World Cup qualifying runs this week, and a lot of what's going on involves glorified exhibition play. Continental giants like the Netherlands and Italy are booked for Brazil, as is our great nation; other teams of interest, like Germany, Spain, Portugal, and France are more or less box-checking. The...

There's almost no way the USMNT can earn a top seed at the World Cup: The top eight seeds for Brazil will be decided by this month's FIFA rankings, where the U.S. currently sit 13th. Even if they win both matches this week, moving into the top seven (host Brazil are automatically in) would require s...

More Details About World Cup Host Qatar's Humanitarian Crisis
Yesterday, our attention was turned to the horrendous living and working conditions of Qatar's working class, a migrant population that will be responsible for building the infrastructure necessary for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. Today, an investigation by the Guardian paints an even clearer a...

The Qatar World Cup Is A Moral Shit Show, Too
The logistical problems that are already plaguing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are myriad, but planning for the event presents even bigger problems than trying to figure out how to play soccer in 120-degree temperatures. Namely, the deaths of hundreds of migrant workers who are building infrastructur...

USMNT Moves Up To 13th In Latest FIFA World Rankings
FIFA's September world rankings were released this morning, and we found out that U.S. Soccer, after being ranked 19th just last month, jumped six more spots to 13th in the world. The Americans also were able to hold onto the top spot in CONCACAF. Mexico, second in the federation, fell one spot, and...

How USMNT Reduced A Fiery Mexican Side To Ashes
The United States of America are going to the 2014 World Cup. In the end, it was never in doubt. And in the end, how they booked their ticket to Brazil was perfect, poetic. The Americans clinched at home, in a storied, claustrophobic stadium in front of a raucous, unapologetically and overwhelmingly...

The USMNT Dances, Sings, And Chugs Beer After Victory Over Mexico
After clinching a World Cup berth with a 2-0 victory over Mexico, the USMNT came back out onto the field for some good old-fashioned celebrating, America style....

Stakes Are High In Tonight's USMNT Match Against Mexico
After 12 straight wins, which included improbable triumphs against world powers like Germany and Bosnia and dominant victories against all comers during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the USMNT finally lost on Friday, 3-1, in a World Cup qualifier away to Costa Rica. Costa Rica, for some reason still seethi...

Blatter Admits Qatar World Cup May Be A Mistake, Throws Shit At Wall
Even if you ignore the rampant bribery allegations, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is already a massive clusterfuck. This is in part because the World Cup is set to take place in June or July, and summers in Qatar are really, really fucking hot. Like, way-too-fucking-hot-to-play-soccer hot. Now, FIFA p...

U.S. And Mexico Both Lose World Cup Qualifiers
This kid is everyone's spirit kid. He's pissed. And why not, everything about Friday night was a bummer. Before the U.S. men even dug themselves a 2-0 hole in the first 10 minutes, Michael Bradley went down with an injured ankle in the pre-game workout....

Jürgen Klinsmann Came From The Future To Save American Soccer
The United States are playing Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier tonight, and it's a big deal. The USMNT is first in their group, and a win would all but guarantee their place in Brazil next year. If some other results go the the right way, they could even clinch this evening. They've never won a q...

The Only Qualified Drug Testing Lab In Brazil Just Lost Accreditation
Boy, this would really be a problem if Brazil were going to host any major international sporting events in the next, say, three years....

You Can't Play A World Cup In A Hospital: Brazil 2014, Argentina 1978
On June 30, Brazil dismantled Spain before a rapturous home crowd in the final of the Confederations Cup, the test run for next year's World Cup. The hosts' surprise win—and what it augurs for 2014—temporarily displaced massive protests as the story of the tournament. June saw hundreds of thousands...

ESPN Announcer On Japanese Fan: “I Need Some Rice, I Need Some Sushi”
I'm thinking Michele Smith of ESPN is going to regret this "joke" about that Japanese fan during last night's World Cup of Softball gold medal game....

Ghana Scores In 121st Minute To Beat Chile In U-20 World Cup Quarters
We knew Ghana was capable of the dramatic, but this is just foolish....

He's Showing His Love For Ghana By Wearing Blackface
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Portuguese Soccer Player Misses Brutal Open-Netter
This is how Portugal started its game against Ghana at the Under-20 World Cup in Turkey today. That's Alberto Aladje with a botched shot that's so incomprehensible that it's almost impressive. As the announcer points out, it's probably harder to miss from that range than it is to find the back of t...