Category: World Cup Watch

By Ridge Mahoney in Berlin For a few more days at least, “PartyZone Deutschland” will stay on the air. A show by that title is running regularly on German television, portraying the activities and adventures of fans attending games as well as gathering at “FanFests” to party in front of big-screen TVs. After the round […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer America When the World Cup began, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane looked tired, and his Real Madrid teammate, Brazilian Ronaldo, was overweight. The two Galacticos were dismissed as past their prime, but they played key roles Tuesday in leading their teams into the quarterfinals, where they meet Saturday in Frankfurt. An […]

By Mike Woitalla in Munich The German media often report on the VIPs at World Cup games like this: “German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Horst Koehler and Franz Beckenbauer attended last night’s game.” They see no need to introduce Beckenbauer. His campaigning is credited with landing this World Cup in Germany, the country he […]

Hernan Crespo can no longer say he’s being overlooked. With goals in each of his three 2006 World Cup games — he swears he touched the ball Jared Borgetti appeared to head into his own goal during Argentina’s 2-1 overtime victory over Mexico — and the nifty backheel to teammate Esteban Cambiasso for the goal of […]

Hernan Crespo can no longer say he’s being overlooked. With goals in each of his three 2006 World Cup games — he swears he touched the ball Jared Borgetti appeared to head into his own goal during Argentina’s 2-1 overtime victory over Mexico — and the nifty backheel to teammate Esteban Cambiasso for the goal of […]

Now that Brazilian Ronaldo has the World Cup career scoring record, he says it’s time to concentrate on his main goal: win another World Cup title. Ronaldo’s first goal in Brazil’s 3-0 win over Ghana gave him 15 in his career, breaking the record he shared with German Gerd Mueller. “That [the record] was never […]

By Mike Woitalla in Hanover Predictably, German tabloid Bild provided in-depth coverage of David Beckman vomiting on the field during England’s 1-0 win over Ecuador. Under the headline, “David Barfman,” Bild ran sequence photos of the incident accompanied by possible reasons why he lost his lunch. “Did he drink English beer instead of German beer?” […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer Ameica Russian Valentin Ivanov, the referee of Sunday’s controversial Portugal-Netherlands match, said it was nastiest game he had ever called. Speaking out for the first time since the match, the 45-year-old Ivanov, dubbed Ivanov the Terrible for his calls, told Russian daily Izvestia, “Probably, from the point of view […]

By Ridge Mahoney in Hamburg (This will the final installment regarding the U.S. performance in Germany, replete with references to criticisms, valid and otherwise.) FORMATION. The 4-5-1 formation used primarily by Bruce Arena took a lot of abuse, of course, since a simplistic, knee-jerk reaction is to deride it as defensive. Well, it ain’t. With […]

By Mike Woitalla in Munich With each World Cup, the Spaniards search for a reason why things will turn out different. Spain entered the last seven World Cups as potential champion but never passed the quarterfinals. 2006 is the year, really, says the Spanish press. It has been citing 16th century French soothsayer Nostradamus‘ prediction […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer America Averaging 2.67 goals per game, Spain enters Tuesday’s match against France in Hanover with the highest-scoring team at the World Cup, but the Spaniards haven’t faced a defense as experienced as the Bleus’ backline. All four starters won league championships in 2005-06: right back Willy Sagnol with Bayern Munich […]

By Ridge Mahoney in Nuremberg The first few words of the Portuguese national anthem are, “Heroes of the Sea.” There isn’t an ocean anywhere near the Frankenstadion where a fascinating round-of-16 match took place Sunday, yet those who wore the Portugal colors will be feted as such after they outlasted the Netherlands, 1-0, on a […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer America Can Guus Hiddink do it again? Four years ago, World Cup 2002 co-host South Korea, coached by Hiddink, beat Italy, 2-1, in overtime in the round of 16. This time, Hiddink leads Australia against Italy Monday in the round of 16 in Kaiserslautern. “It’s difficult to compare these […]

By Ridge Mahoney in Leipzig   The incredible dipping shot that Maxi Rodriguez drilled over Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez in extra time decided the tense round-of-16 match for Argentina, yet the match was truly won at the other end of the field. Stuck in glide mode for much of the game, as if they would […]

By Mike Woitalla in Munich He sure is a grump. That’s a sentiment about Bruce Arena I heard from U.S. fans here in Germany, ones who watched on TV in the USA, and members of the press. And I saw that grumpiness frequently. The scowls, frowns and curses from the sidelines, and the irritability at […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer America Dutch coach Marco van Basten said he regrets publicly criticizing struggling star Ruud van Nistelrooy. “Regret is a big word,” van Basten said before the Oranje’s match against Portugal, “but what I did was not correct to the player.” The Manchester United star had been substituted during all […]

By Mike Woitalla in Nuremberg Coach Ricardo La Volpe paces the sidelines during Mexico’s games looking like he slept at the train station along with the hundreds of Mexican fans who are often stranded in the German cities where El Tri plays. La Volpe appears tired, angry and menacing. To the Mexican fans and press, […]

By Ridge Mahoney in Nuremberg A few more rough pieces of luck befell the U.S. in its Group E match against Ghana, and again the Americans didn’t get the job done. A penalty kick whistled for what seemed to be innocuous contact when Oguchi Onyewu headed a ball clear was slammed into the net by Stephen […]

By Paul Kennedy Managing Editor Soccer America Germany was one of only four teams to win all three group games at the 2006 World Cup — its first clean sweep in the first stage since 1970 — but that will be all forgottten if it doesn’t make a long run in the tournament. Germany faces a […]

By Mike Woitalla in Hamburg The cover of the Hamburger Morgenpost consisted of the black-red-gold German flag covered with the headline, “We’re no longer embarrassed by these colors.” The nation’s largest circulation daily, Bild, announced on its cover that “Black, Red and Gold is Cool,” and compounded the good news for Germans with an adjacent […]