The New Republic

If you tell a sad, woeful story in Peru, hoping to elicit sympathy, someone might just respond with the phrase, “Bueno pues, así es el fútbol.” Meaning: that’s how soccer is; soccer, in this context, standing in for life. Soccer isn’t fair. Neither is life. Stop whining. READ MORE >>

Simon Kuper: "the growing tribe of US soccer nerds" ThinkProgress takes on "the right-wing war against soccer" Jonathan Chait: soccer triumphalism turns ugly Hyundai pulls its "Church of Soccer" ad READ MORE >>

A Poem by Martin Tyler and Ally McCoist -- as Commentated During the Brazil-North Korea Game (note: each of these phrases was said during the commentary in the order they appear in the poem, though not everything uttered by Tyler and McCoist is used)   The eye-catching Hong, if you can throw a coat over them, had a bit of bend and dip. He takes it into tight areas-- an absolute blinder, not pressing any panic buttons, they won't go route one, (clip it up high) pass the ball when the player wants to receive it-- READ MORE >>

"Why," asks a friend, "is this World Cup so rubbish?" At least, he says, "Italia 90 had a good sound track going for it." And it's true: Pavarotti is better than the Vuvuzelas. READ MORE >>

Preambling, the ESPN commentator tells us that this match promises “plenty of charm,” which sounds like the guidebook account of an alpine hamlet time has forgotten, or else one of those real estate euphemisms, like “cozy” or “many period details.” We learn that that today’s referee is an English teacher in a high school near Capetown. We kick off. READ MORE >>

Howard Wolfson asks whether soccer has arrived in America? Good entry, but my question is who is Matt Drudge? This might make me look stupid (not that difficult), but I don’t know who he is. I’ve come across his name before, I assume he’s new media, and I’m an old person. But that’s neither here nor there.  READ MORE >>

Why would anyone be a goalkeeper? A furor over Spain's win bonuses England tries to forget the USA game with a round of golf READ MORE >>

A curious thing has happened to Brazil and Germany over the last decade: they have become each other. After losing the 1998 final, Brazil decided–quite consciously, some insist–that jogo bonito had to become jogo para ganhar. They eventually hired Dunga, who always did play the sort of strong football, with some technical flair, usually seen in Munich and not in Rio. It’s been a long time since Brazil has had a truly magical player. Ronaldo could certainly be amazing. I once asked Rafael Márquez what it was like to try to defend against Ronaldo in his prime. READ MORE >>

Israel's separation wall turned into giant TV screen The economics of the World Cup Meet America's Jewish players Can Dunga fine-tune Brazil's imperfections in time? READ MORE >>

One of the great things in watching the World Cup is a chance to appreciate a team like Paraguay. From a fan point of view, they're not all that fun to watch, for obvious reason--defensive gritiness, absence of big names, no spectacular plays, mind-numbing discipline. If it wasn't the obvious limits of the team's abilities, you could call them poor people's Germans. No one outside Paraguay rushes home to watch them, but it's hard not to admire the commitment and hard work and the fact they always make it hard for the other team to beat them. READ MORE >>