Life as a player for the North Korean national team is probably pretty difficult as it stands what with living through that 7-0 to Portugal and a much improved 3-0 loss in their final two games. Their passion for the motherland combined with their pride as athletes surely took a belting hit as they...
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There was a standoff between employer and employee, and one of those wins that battle more often than not.
And it doesn’t matter if your name is Diego Maradona.
Diego said he would not budge regarding his demands that the AFA allow his whole staff to return or he walks. The AFA has politely let...
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The World Cup is oh-ver, but international football continues. There’s the Asian Cup, Copa America, Africa Cup of Nations, Euros and then – before we know it – qualification for World Cup 2014 will begin. Maybe more importantly (at least for the purposes of this post) is that the immediate post-World Cup period is...
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Austria celebrate their win over the Netherlands…and 3rd place in Group A.
Fans hoping to see a rematch of the Netherlands-Spain World Cup final played out on a younger stage will be disappointed to learn that they will have to wait at least another two years for the senior European Championships in 2012 after...
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Wow, its been messy for Brazil trying to find a replacement for Dunga as Brazil manager. With Leonardo and Scolari previously frontrunning, over the last week, it seemed to come down to2 men from within Brazil – Mano Menezes and Muricy Ramalho, the coaches of respectively, Corinthians and Fluminense.
Menezes had previously become the...
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This may just be the best thing France has done since ‘98 (or ‘00 if you prefer). In the wake of that massive mental and behavioral meltdown that was their World Cup 2010 campaign, a show of bad football and even worse insubordination, the French Football Federation has suspended the entire World Cup squad...
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A Brazilian tech company doctored these transformations for our amusement. Something which may be very simple but to the technologically unevolved (present!) still stands in the end as wonderfully cool. At least in the case of Dunga.
Diego’s (below), however, is artistic metaphor. Someone whose transformations have run the full spectrum of one human’s physical...
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Between being named the honorary friend of a Spanish town which holds an annual octopus festival and Russian betting syndicates attempting to purchase his special powers, Paul’s plate is getting rather full. Not just of mollusks, but of opportunities the most limelight-hungry celebrity could only dream of.
So clearly he doesn’t have time right...
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Spain celebrating their win over Portugal…
Spain became the first team to qualify for the semifinals on Day 2 of the U19 European Championships Group Stage. Spain’s second consecutive win means they will feature in the semifinals for the first time since they won the tournament in 2007. Meanwhile, Italy failed to score in their...
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Tell us if you’ve heard this story before: a ball which clearly crosses the line against Germany is not given as a goal as the Germans run out 4-1 winners in the end.
No? Didn’t think so.
This completely original plotline occurred in yesterday’s u20 Women’s World Cup – being held in Germany – match between...
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The six teams competing in Euro 2012 qualifying group C are: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, and the Faroe Islands. Italy will be anxious to prove they are better than their horror exit from World Cup 2010, and Slovenia will have the opposite goal – to prove that their 4-point performance in...
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In some strange turn of fate, Swedish channel SVT1 decided in early 2009 that it would behoove their nation to get a glimpse into Martin Hansson’s run up to the World Cup just finished. One year under the camera’s glare for a look into the life of Sweden’s best referee. You’ll know, of course,...
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The World Cup is very much over. Which means the complaints about vuvuzelas are also very much over. Or at least they should be. So who better to have the last World Cup Blog word on the whole topic than plastic horn inventor Jeff Vuvuzela, appearing ...
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U19 Tournament hosts France celebrate after demolishing the Netherlands 4-1
CROATIA 1 – 2 SPAIN
Debutants Croatia were unable to overcome 4-time Champions, Spain, in the their first game of the of the competition despite taking the lead before half-time (42′). The Croatian goal came as a bit of a surprise since the Spanish side had...
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In one of his pre-World Cup posts, Chris provided the average ages of all the teams and listed them youngest to oldest. In hindsight- the list is even more fascinating to me. After revisiting this list, I think its fair to say some of the most exciting teams to watch at the World Cup...
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I think its safe to say that the German team that exited the World Cup managed to win not only a few games but also the hearts of a lot of fans-including mine. And, trust me, no one is more surprised about this than me. For a variety of reasons, I was definitely in...
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You might remember just before the World Cup, England manager Fabio Capello unveiled his plan for the Capello Index, ranking the players at the World Cup out of 100, the operation was quickly pulled for fears it would undermine the England squad during the World Cup.
It seems Fabio was marking the players anyway,...
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The old adage, England invented the game and the Brazilians mastered it. You wouldn’t believe that if you watched the World Cup in South Africa, as both sides crashed out relatively early. Both are pondering the question of whether the nationality of a national coach is important, and if it is important, how much...
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I officially heart this. Because the only personal honour better then receiving the World Cup Golden Ball for best player – as Uruguay’s Diego Forlan did – is having a cartoon/song combo made to immortalize your achievement. According to The Spoiler, the celebratory song is by The Golden Vuvuzelas and features the line “his...
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A reporter asked for the same treatment Iker gave Sara Carbonero in their post-World Cup victory celebrations. Only she’s less reporter and more former Argentine beauty queen, which promptly puts her in the ‘kissable’ category (one needs meaningless awards to be peck-worthy, I guess). But Joan wasn’t impressed and, according to Google Translate and...
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