That is the finding, anyway, of a survey of 8,000 people in 15 countries with teams in the Fifa World Cup. Each person surveyed was given this hypothetical: “Suppose you could sacrifice a sum of money to ensure that your country would win the World Cup. How much would you give up?” The U.S. was […]

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Our friend David sent along an interesting link. Which predicts which teams will get out of the group phase of the World Cup based on … how sharp their uniforms look. And this is courtesy of the uniwatch.com site. Which ranks the 32 teams 1 through 4 in each of the eight groups. Some thoughts.

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From the 1994 World Cup through the 2010 edition, the U.S. national soccer team became increasingly American. Played by men born and bred to the game in the U.S. By the time South Africa 2010 rolled around, every man who made the starting XI for any of the four games the Americans played — and […]

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This was the idea of one of our graphic artists at The National, Alex Belman. As part of our three-week buildup to the Brazil 2014 World Cup … a five-part, clip-n-save-n-reassemble graphic of the World Cup trophy. You know the one … gold-plated, with all the hands grasping the soccer ball. And today was Day […]

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A few days back I posted an entry about how I doubt I will be able to cheer for the U.S. national team at the coming World Cup, because I have developed an animus towards Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach who dumped Landon Donovan. That provoked some reaction, some of it more than a bit tart. “We don’t […]

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This has nothing to do with Spain. Or Germany. Or Brazil. Or any of the global soccer powers. This is about the United Arab Emirates which, until tonight, had the longest unbeaten streak in international soccer. Yes, the UAE, which draws its national team from a mere 1 million citizens. (The other 7 million of […]

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Landon Donovan had not scored a goal in Major League Soccer this season. Which was a part of the cover given to Jurgen Klinsmann when he tossed Landon off the U.S. national team’s World Cup squad. Landon rejoined the Galaxy, was in the lineup for the home match with Philadelphia last night, and what happened?

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In the wake of Jurgen Klinsmann‘s cavalier treatment of Landon Donovan, I have arrived at a crisis point. Do I support the team Klinsmann will coach at Brazil 2014? Or do I withhold my love until he is gone? I am leaning towards the latter.

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I will be writing more about Landon Donovan and Jurgen Klinsmann, and his monstrous remake of the U.S. team but, meantime, here are a couple of videos you might enjoy. The first is Andres Cantor’s call of Donovan’s goal in the waning minutes of the game with Algeria at South Africa 2010, the one that […]

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It wasn’t right. It wasn’t smart. But anyone who says they didn’t see this coming had not been paying attention. Landon Donovan, booted from the U.S. national team. He will not play in the 2014 World Cup … and the average American fan is aghast. Yes, this is the Landon Donovan who is the leading […]

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