The New Republic

Practically all the U.S. stars—Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, "Oguchi" Onyewu, and Tim Howard—are the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. But—despite an ever growing tide of immigration from soccer-frenzied Latin America, Hispanic representation on the national side has not kept pace. READ MORE >>

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"Life is too short to miss any games to be played this summer in South Africa. A sad fact of human existence is that an average life seldom contains more than 20 World Cups—our games are tragically numbered." From Aleksandar Hemon's preview of the tournament in the current issue of TNR. READ MORE >>

YouTube is, in many ways, a tragically demystifying invention. One of the joys of watching a World Cup was encountering a great player from an obscure league for the first time. But now highlight reels abound. Still, there are players that I can’t wait to see in action--if only to gauge if they can live up to the moments edited together by some adoring fan. One such player is the Portugese full back, and dribbler extraordinaire, Fábio Coentrão. His skills remind me of Denilson, who could make dazzling runs, filled with step-overs and other circus moves. READ MORE >>

Essien and Ballack are out. Pirlo and Drogba are questionable. Argentina has Maradona. Spain’s never won it. Holland is playing beautifully and Chile is no slouch either. READ MORE >>

How American soccer almost made it in the 1920s Zonal Marking’s Spain preview  Why so few female soccer announcers?  Against sanctimonious World Cup whining READ MORE >>

Not everyone at TNR has an equal appreciation for the beautiful game. In fact, Frank Foer and Jonathan Chait have debated its proper role in American sports and culture around the office for over a decade. Here are excerpts from a passionate argument (and equally rousing response) published in the magazine eight years ago, while the World Cup was wrapping up in Korea and Japan. From Foer’s piece, “Fair Ball,” (7/1/2002): READ MORE >>

In 2006, David Cameron said: “This coyness, this reserve, is, I always think, an intrinsic part of being British. We are understated. We don't do flags on the front lawn.” That was then, however, and now that he's Prime Minister and there's a World Cup on, Mr. Cameron has decreed that the Cross of St. George will fly above Downing Street. As a friend commented, it seems “We don’t do flags on the front lawn—unless the football’s on.” READ MORE >>

The average Premier League club has very little to do with you, the supporter, and your life. Yes, it is named after your town, but most of the players come from elsewhere, countries you may never have heard of, stay two or three seasons, then leave. The uniform displays the logo of an offshore gambling website. The owners fly in from the Cayman Islands to snap up your club with foreign oil money, mall money, steel money, or money loaned to them by investors which they are then happy to freight onto your club’s debt. READ MORE >>

England are struggling with the altitude. "Shouldn’t Africans coach Africans?" The strangely addictive Freddy Adu Twitter feed READ MORE >>