Monthly Archives: June 2006

Italy, lucky? You certainly wouldn’t call them “lucky” team if you looked at their recent history at the World Cup finals. USA 1994: eliminated on penalties. France ’98: eliminated on penalties. Korea/Japan 2002: eliminated by…well, the Italians would say ‘bad officiating,’ but a neutral just might call it ‘bad luck,’ or even, ‘a better organized […]

This was supposed to be Germany’s month, a time for the whole world to focus attention on how hospitable, proud and unified the dynamic country has become in the last 17 years. But when you take a closer look, it’s the former East Germans who look to be the odd ones out, a Bloomberg report […]

Everyone agrees: it’s already a classic. Germany and Argentina, the top-scoring sides at this year’s World Cup, in relieving us of these two days of soccer deprivation, are sure to serve up drama, suspense, shrapnel, fireworks, you name it…Hmm, the last time a match received this much hype (Argentina-Netherlands) it turned out to be very […]

But others will tell you the quarterfinalists “ooze class.” Whereas four years ago South Korea, Turkey and Senegal had never advanced so far as the final eight, this year, six of the eight teams have won the World Cup before, with Ukraine the only newcomer to the quarterfinals. FIFA President Sepp Blatter is in raptures […]

While FIFA and German soccer marketing heads continue to pipe on and on about how this is the best World Cup ever, Deutsche Welle columnist Oliver Samson just doesn’t agree, what with the lowest goals per game average (2.36) of any finals since Italia ’90 and the highest number of yellow and red cards. Even […]

Former Juventus defender Gianluca Pessotto is in critical condition after an apparent suicide attempt, ANSA reports. Pessotto underwent surgery during the night to improve blood circulation around his ankle, which shattered after the ex-Italy national team defender leapt from the top of Juventus headquarters on Tuesday night. Apparently, Pessotto was “very close” to dying from […]

Buenos Aires stops when the national team plays. Only a quarter of the city’s taxis are running, train service is cut to a minimum, directors encourage professors to suspend classes and pedestrian traffic on the streets is visibly depleted. You hear very few noises too, save for background TV commentary and the drone of a […]

Maybe they just couldn’t believe it: Spain still can’t seem to lift its curse at major tournaments and it all proved to be too much for the citizens of Madrid, who erupted into violence yesterday following Spain’s elimination by France. Municipal police officers drew their clubs on several young people who jumped into a fountain […]

Two of the most criticized players at this year’s World Cup (who happen to be teammates at Real Madrid) silenced their critics yesterday by leading their respective countries to what should be an exciting quarterfinal clash. Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, both three-time recipients of FIFA’s World Player of the Year award, inspired their teams to […]

In 2002, the World Cup order was thrown out of whack: no France, no Argentina, no Italy, and no Holland, which failed to even qualify for the finals. Instead, the likes of Turkey, Senegal, South Korea and the United States helped give some actual global balance to a tournament traditionally dominated by two South American […]