worldcup Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The USMNT's Gregg Berhalter saga just got weirder
As we covered this morning, yesterday a kind of strange story surrounding the USMNT’s Gregg Berhalter broke, because Berhalter got out in front of it. He released a statement claiming that someone had threatened to blackmail him over a domestic abuse situation from Berhatler’s teens, so the U.S. man...
Sports world mourns the death of Pelé
After a long bout with colon cancer, Brazilian football legend Pelé died on Thursday at the age of 82. As one of the most prolific talents in the history of the “beautiful game,” Pelé is still referred to as the “king of football.” Pelé’s transcendent talent transcended the globe and generations lat...
What were the best and worst sports trends in 2022?
As 2023 approaches, it gives media outlets opportunities to do wrap-ups, year-end lists, and rank anything else in the timeframe of the past 12 months. It’s really the only upside of time being arbitrary and a construct of people in power to make sure the plebeians arrive at the salt mines at 9 a.m....
And now back to the shitty side of international sports
It’s not that the World Cup on the field erased what we all know about the World Cup off the field. It is actually possible for something to be two things at once. Qatar got what it really wanted out of all this, which was a heaping pile of money the size of Kilimanjaro. Only they will know whether ...
I fear I may never know joy and happiness like Andrés Cantor
Maybe years ago, like a couple decades, Andrés Cantor was something of a cartoon to non-soccer fans with his outsized “GOOOOOOOOOOOOL!” calls making the rounds on various highlight shows as evidence of how silly soccer was to the agnostics and why it should never be bothered with....
The best soccer players of all time to never win a World Cup
It’s the pinnacle of soccer. The World Cup is a spectacle unlike any other in sport. And to truly be considered the greatest to ever lace up your cleats, you need to have lifted the trophy. Why can’t Dan Marino be in the discussion for the greatest quarterback of all time? He never won a Super Bowl....
Taking a moment for Messi
It seems like something of a missed opportunity that my favorite Lionel Messi moment came 11 years ago. There’s been so much since. It just happened to be on my 30th birthday, on a day where pretty much everything went wrong (a fine introduction to one’s 30s, it could be easily argued). Barcelona th...
Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: The Final
How do you chuck the trophy away twice and still walk away with it?...
Leo's legacy is on the line
After Argentina easily dispatched Croatia in the World Cup semifinals, the prophecy of Lionel Messi lifting the one piece of hardware that’d separate him from many of soccer’s other all-time greats is one win away. He’ll have that chance in what’s likely his final game on the sports’ biggest stage. ...
Thank the lord FIFA is going back into its hole Sunday
The people who scream that sports should be an escape are usually the ones most in need of a reminder about empathy, equality, a natural disaster, or an ongoing war. Sports can be a great distraction for those who actually need it. ...
The NWSL wants transparency, as long as no one’s looking at that moment
You would think that there wouldn’t be much of anywhere to hide for the NWSL after not only the Yates Report came out in the fall but the NWSL’s and NWSLPA’s joint report followed it yesterday, both detailing the rampant mistreatment, abuse, and ass-covering that followed that various coaches, front...
World Cup 2022 Diary: Day 25 - Morocco's historic run comes to an end
What if you just Morocco’d Morocco?...
Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: Day Argentina
Sometimes those who cover the game have to fistfuck a narrative into fitting. And then sometimes Lionel Messi does that. ...
Maybe Neymar is just unlucky
While this World Cup has had its share of great stories, the overarching one that started well before the tournament was Lionel Messi. This is his tournament, whatever Argentina does. Either it’s the last great failure of him (it’s never by him when it comes to Argentina). It’s always that the rest ...
World Cup 2022 Diary: Day 21 - It's no Kane do for England again and Ronaldo walks off a loser... again
First things first: As the sport of soccer mourns, take a moment to remember Grant Wahl, a journalist of the highest order....
World Cup Diary Day 18: Croatia, Argentina advance in penalty kicks
As extra time started, neither Brazil nor Croatia showed any urgency. The weight of a FIFA World Cup quarterfinal entering the additional 30 minutes-plus after going scoreless in the contest’s original time could’ve been swapped for the rhythm of a Tuesday exhibition. World Cups are how every countr...
The obliviousness of unfathomable wealth
It’s here that the Qatari rulers and FIFA would expect me to simply write about the quarterfinals of the World Cup that start today. And they are mouthwatering, in a vacuum of just soccer. All eight teams come in with a great story. Whether it’s Brazil not only trying to collect their sixth trophy b...
What’s next for the USMNT?
You know it’s over when your star midfielder is showing up courtside at Miami Heat games. Or the rumors of contract talks with the manager are heating up, while he tries to gain leverage by whispering about European club jobs. Time to call for the Lyft officially....
Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: Day 16
Brazil finally become all they can be, and Croatia do their thing of refusing to end a match in 90 minutes. They must really like each other! Let’s spin it right round!...
Week 13 NFL Takeaways: Separation Sunday, the air at the top is getting thinner
The NFL regular season goes way too far into winter, but the home stretch is here. The time for some to assert dominance and others to sink claws into the final playoff spots has come....