Category: Section 2 Around the Net

Predictably, the black market for World Cup tickets is booming. Equally predictable is FIFA’s lax attitude about the reselling of tickets, which is illegal, officially. Tickets to World Cup matches sold in advance for between 45 and 100 euros; outside the stadiums they’re selling for between 200 and 500 euros. Tickets to the final are […]

Like “tedious old friends” or “nagging, recurring injuries,” there are a few things you can expect from every World Cup, writes Dave Hill of the Guardian. One of these, which definitely receives way too much attention from the press every time, is the specially designed ball, which every year goalkeepers complain is inclined to swerve […]

Some may argue that globalization is bad for club soccer, but it’s great for the World Cup, writes Andres Oppenheimer of the Arizona Star Daily. He says up and coming countries are doing reasonably well at this tournament: Trinidad & Tobago’s brave performances against England and Sweden, Ecuador’s 2-0 win against Poland, and Ghana’s comprehensive […]

Group G is definitely not the Group of Death. Not because the results don’t indicate that it could be (they do), but for the mere fact that few World Cup watchers give any of the teams in itsave France, though even that’s in doubt nowa serious shot at winning the World Cup. Nevertheless, Switzerland’s solid […]

AP columnist Robert Millward says France and Brazil better learn that the favorites can’t just ride their legacy through to the final and expect to win the World Cup. “The trophy will be going somewhere else unless Brazil’s defenders stop handing easy chances to their opponents and the French stars remember how to score enough […]

It would seem that the job of the press during the World Cup is to laud the national team to the skies for good performances and turn away from them like a disowned child after bad ones. France has an unquestionably talented squad that is capable of great things, but the national team cannot seem […]

If it’s being said in Texas, of all places, then it must be so. After Saturday’s gritty draw against the Italians, The Houston Chronicle declares that Americans are getting wrapped up in this World Cup stuff after all. “Even those who never ‘get it’ might be becoming soccer fans. It seems to be catchy,” writes […]

France, following a poor display against South Korea yesterday, are claiming they were denied a second goal yesterday due to some poor officiating, after Patrick Vieira’s header was cleared off the line by Korea’s Lee Woon Jae. Replays suggest that France, despite their poor performance, could have a case. But we’ll never know: it was […]

It was “a contest of countless heroes,” the Independent said of the nine-man draw the USA pulled off against Italy yesterday. “After a series of World Cup group games designed to satisfy the aesthetes and purists, this was car-crash football at its most fascinating, a contest of three dismissals, countless yellow cards, and controversy, which […]

Will they or won’t they? The Togo saga continues, and this time FIFA had to intervene to ensure that the Togolese would even show up for its contest against Switzerland tomorrow. Togo players threatened to hold Group G hostage unless someoneanyonepays them their ransom of $200,000 each to play, and $30,000 extra for each win. […]

The United States owes a lot to a stunning performance by Ghana that it still has any hope to qualify for the second round of the World Cup. Ghana played explosive soccer in Cologne yesterday, completely dominating the same Czech midfield that ran the USA ragged just a week ago. An early goal two minutes […]

There is no other sport in the world that’s so tide to a nation’s history and sense of identity. New York Times columnist Michael J. Agovino talks about how a country’s response to their national soccer team’s performance reflects its national character. If losing, finger-pointing, weeping, stewing, and stoicism are universal reactions, it’s the way […]

If Argentina is the team to avoidand that certainly looks to be case so far, The Guardian says England’s best chance of avoiding them would be to beat Sweden on Tuesday, because then they would be on opposite sides of the bracket. England Coach Sven Goran Eriksson confirmed his team will be going after top […]

There’s been a “muted” response from New York’s banks and brokerage firms to this year’s World Cup, according to Reuters. Despite the fact that games take place during the workday, interest in the tournament is far from surpassing the NCAA basketball tournament or daytime baseball games. “People here are not watching soccer for soccer’s sake […]

Nobody wanted to see the Ivory Coast go home. They took it to the Netherlands and Argentina, two of the World Cup’s heavyweights, and deserved to do better on both occasions than lose, 2-1. It’s disappointing to see the African side go home prematurely, but it’s also depressing when you consider that the Ivory Coast’s […]

It’s estimated that 32 billion viewers will have watched the World Cup by the time the tournament is over. The BBC explores the politics of watching the World Cup in certain countries. In North Korea, state TV began showing edited versions of World Cup matches three days after the opening just in case something questionable […]

The Associated Press reports that sanctions will be handed out before the World Cup final on July 9 for the Italian soccer executives under investigation for match-fixing. Former senator Guido Rossi, who was chosen to lead the Italian soccer federation after the scandal broke, told the AP that Italy’s sports magistrates would decide who will […]

If anyone out there doesn’t understand references to soccer as “the beautiful game,” they need only be shown how expertly Argentina carved apart Serbia & Montenegro yesterday in Gelsenkirchen. Casual fans know who Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are, but “If you’re really curious about all the commotion surrounding this event,” said The San Francisco […]

It’s been an exasperating World Cup for English fans so far: their team, one of pre-tournament favorites to win it all on July 9, sit atop Group B with six points, but despite this they haven’t looked like comprehensive winners in either of their first two matches, which any British pundit will tell you was […]

You’d have to check the record books on this one, but ever since Tunisia tied it up against Saudi Arabia in stoppage time on Wednesday, there was a goal scored in the last two minutes or later in each of the next five games. We can’t imagine that’s not some kind of record. And arguably, […]

Argentine school officials have been instructed to stop teaching and wheel televisions into the classrooms during Argentina’s World Cup games. The new measure was brought into effect because school officials are fed up with kids skipping classes to watch World Cup games. It would seem they’re now using soccer as a way to lure kids […]

In soccer, political overtones sometimes exacerbate the tension between nations (see England vs. Germany) during soccer matches, but sometimes even politics takes a back seat to the game. A USA Today reporter in Iraq sat with a group of family and friends during the Czech Republic’s demolition of the U.S. national team on Monday. Outside, […]

It was the first significant spat at this year’s finals; law enforcement officials in Dortmund were forced to detain 300 people following clashes before the Group A match between host Germany and its Polish neighbors. Police tried to move fans out of the center of the city, but German fans responded by throwing bottles, chairs, […]

Ronaldo continues to be blasted for his indifferent performance during Brazil’s first match against Croatia on Tuesday. Interestingly, the heaviest (no pun intended) criticism of the Phenomenal One has come from his own countrymen, who jeered him off the field after being substituted for Robinho on 69 minutes. Calls for replacing the out of form […]

A South Korean fan is in critical condition at a Sydney hospital after falling from a street sign during World Cup celebrations. The 25-year-old man was one of about 5,000 South Korean fans in Sydney who were celebrating their country’s 2-1 victory over Togo on Tuesday. He fell after climbing a street sign at the […]