Considering the game of soccer involves lots and lots of variables, with 22 moving players and a referee and a couple of assistants, and weather conditions potentially changing from one minute to another … it was quite remarkable that in the World Cup we witnessed an episode that, far more than most, could be isolated […]

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I feel a bit like this is my other other team. People who know me can attest that I have been saying for 20 years that if I disappear one day, I probably have taken an assumed name and most likely can be found on the terrace of a cantina in San Jose, capital of […]

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Sounds like a children’s rhyme. Has a bit of a taunting sound to it, too. I doubt anything like it is spoken in Spanish, but a certain team might be familiar with it, by now. My “other” team, Mexico, did what they always do. For the sixth consecutive World Cup, they survived the group stage, […]

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Turning towards my other team, El Tri, big game tomorrow with the Netherlands. If the thing could be decided by raw energy emanating from the bench, Mexico would be a lock. Miguel Herrera, their coach, may be the most demonstrative manager in World Cup history. He loses his stuff every time Mexico scores a goal, […]

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The United Arab Emirates didn’t come within a country mile of qualifying for Brazil 2014. For practical purposes, the UAE’s qualifying run in the Asian Football Confederation ended in late 2011, back when I was covering the team for The National. A home loss to Kuwait and then a road loss to Lebanon, which is […]

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Germany 1, United States 0. Didn’t matter. Will hardly be remembered, going forward. I promise. Inartistic, sure. All the water on the pitch. Another of those rain games. (Has Brazil set some sort of record for those?) A bit scary for U.S. fans, of course. Some questions: Brad Davis is one of the best 11 […]

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Listening to or reading about what non-Americans think about the U.S. national soccer team can be fascinating. One one hand, there’s this: A YouGov survey of people from 21 countries who had teams in the current World Cup found that the question: “Which team are you rooting against” returned “Iran” with the most mentions, with […]

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I don’t know how many instances of one athlete biting another, during competition, I need to see before it becomes an “oh, that happens sometimes” situation to be handled by a shrug. All I can tell you is … I’m not there yet. I was in the offices of The National, working on the Wednesday […]

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If fans of the U.S. men’s national soccer team felt an unfamiliar and unpleasant sensation in the solar plexus tonight, 30 seconds from watching their team advance to the final 16 of the World Cup … well, it was both. Unpleasant? That goes without saying. A 2-1 victory over Portugal takes the Yanks to the […]

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If the World Cup is the most interesting global sports event, and it is, the best part of the most interesting global sports event is the first 10 or 11 days. The first two passes through group play, that is. Which ends tomorrow. And I am already a bit sad. Why? It should be fairly […]

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