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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When “Ecuador 2, Honduras 1” finished tonight — tomorrow morning, in Eurasia/Africa — 26 of the 48 group stage games had been played. That still leaves plenty of time for (some) teams who didn’t start fast to do some damage in the 2014 World Cup. But … What we have seen so far is perhaps […]

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In the John le Carre novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy* the mole in British Intelligence is finally unmasked, and when asked why he betrayed his nation to the Soviets, Le Carre gives him a response something along the lines of: “We were bred to empire … and it was gone before it was our turn.” […]

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I pitied him before I knew who he was. Probably like several million other people who saw the defining moment of the Russia-South Korea match in the World Cup last night/this morning. He is Russia’s goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev. His mistake in the 68th minute led to South Korea’s only goal in a 1-1 draw. If […]

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Don’t know why it took so long for this to dawn on me, but it did, finally, tonight, whole waiting for the midnight kickoff of Game 1 of the World Cup. This tournament could lead to some sort of planetary record for work absenteeism, lethal hangovers, alcohol poisoning, sleep deprivation and random hookups over a […]

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If you don’t care to wade through my “Landon’s greatest game post” (referenced in the previous entry) … let’s make it easy for you. Here is the video — highlights — of the U.S.-Slovenia game from South Africa 2010. It is just under five minutes, of what I consider Landon Donovan’s greatest game.

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When American soccer fans think of South Africa 2010, they tend to immediately think of the Algeria game. Which is understandable. The 1-0 victory. The late goal by Landon Donovan put the Yanks into the final 16, and allowed them to win a group which included England. The epic Andres Cantor call. But the 2-2 […]

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As I have outlined on this blog, I cannot bring myself to support the U.S. team in this World Cup, not while it is run by that Enemy of American Soccer named Jurgen Klinsmann. If you clicked on the first link, above, you may have noted that several commenters on that entry seemed ready to […]

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