If you think about it, not much pertaining to the 2018 Russia World Cup has been of a global nature, so far. In qualifying competition, European nations played nations from the European confederation. Asian nations played other Asian nations. And so on. The 2018 World Cup has been a regional event, to date. That changed […]

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Reaching the quarterfinals of a Fifa tournament is pretty much the definition of success, on the male side of the U.S. national soccer realm, and the Under 17 team just did it, at the U17 World Cup in India. And what does it mean for the senior side to have the kids get to the […]

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It’s time for a list. A lot of information and opinions banging around out there about the U.S. loss at Trinidad and Tobago, and subsequent failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Let’s see if we can pick out a few of the most interesting notions — and maybe introduce a few new ones.

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China is the world’s most populous nation, with 1.38 billion people. India is second, at 1.28 billion. The U.S. is third, at 325 million. Indonesia is fourth, at 260 million. Further down the list, Pakistan is No. 6 with 203 million and Bangladesh is No. 8 with 158 million. Q: And what do those six […]

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The United States and Syria and their national soccer teams. Concepts never before found in the same paragraph, on this blog. Each hoped today for a victory. Each would be crushed by a defeat. Each will settle for draws, late in the making, draws that keep each team on a road to the Russia 2018 […]

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We like to think sports are above and beyond politics. We know that is not true, has never been true and never will be true. Political imperatives often threaten fair and free sports events, and anti-competitive forces tomorrow have one of the greatest opportunities in modern times to take the narrative in a pre-ordained direction. […]

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Not exactly a rousing endorsement of Major League Soccer. The data guys at the FiveThirtyEight website have come up with a batch of calculations they believe indicate the “relative strength” of soccer leagues in Europe, North America and South America. (See the rankings, about a third of the way down the page.) In simplest terms, […]

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This post was inspired by a piece that appeared in The Telegraph, a British newspaper, in 2015, during the Fifa Women’s World Cup. In it, the author came up with “11 reasons why women’s football is better than men’s” I have been watching women’s soccer for the past few weeks, and thinking about it, as […]

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I remember the 2009 Confederations Cup, in South Africa, where the U.S. national team nearly won a global competition. Bob Bradley’s Yanks shocked world-No. 1, unbeaten-in-35-matches Spain 2-0 in the semifinals (go back and read that again), then faced Brazil in the championship match and led 2-0 at half … before losing 3-2. I noted, […]

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It was the biggest week in U.S. national soccer history. The 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. In this order: (And we are not messing with you here; this actually happened.) U.S. 3, Egypt 0 U.S. 2, Spain 0 (!) U.S. 2, Brazil 0 — at halftime of the championship match. It ended Brazil 3, […]

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