After Theater in Brazil, Soccer’s Calloused Cousin Takes the Stage
Another interesting piece by William Rhoden……….. NFL training camps open this week. With that summer ritual, the eagerly awaited heathen season is upon us. N.F.L. football is back. For casual soccer fans, the World Cup was an intriguing spaceholder. Great theater. In fact, soccer offers much better theater than the N.F.L. Broadway on the pitch. […]
James Rodríguez signs with Real Madrid
The unexpected star of the World Cup finals, Colombia’s James Rodríguez, has signed for Real Madrid for a reported £63m. The 23-year-old follows the signing of another key midfielder from the World Cup, Germany’s Toni Kroos who joined for a bargain £20m, and will be given the No10 shirt which was last worn by Mesut […]
LeBron James says World Cup is bigger than NBA Finals
Basketball superstar LeBron James landed in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the World Cup final on Sunday, and he said the Maracana showdown is bigger than the NBA Finals. Fresh from announcing his decision to leave the Miami Heat and return to his first team the Cleveland Cavaliers, James touched down in Brazil to watch […]
How Germany Became the 2014 World Cup Champs
In June of 2000 Germany finished dead last in its group at the European Championship. They scored one goal in three games, losing to Portugal 3-0 in their final match. “At the turn of the millennium German football stared disaster in the face – it completely lacked a professional foundation,” the writers of a 2011 report from […]
Residents Wonder How New Stadiums Will Benefit After Cup
NATAL, Brazil — From her crumbling house with the leaky roof, across a new highway from a new World Cup stadium, Maria Ivanilde Oliveira heard everything. Notes of the national anthems floated through the humid air into her living room, where her black vinyl couch was losing its stuffing and a metal bookshelf was secured […]
Brasil reacts to Neymar’s injury
Fortaleza’s Avenida Beira Mar was alive with the sounds of Brazil’s celebrations after they took another step towards the 2014 Fifa World Cup final – but there was no mistaking the Neymar effect. The road that sweeps around the front of this picturesque north-eastern coastal location was populated with fans torn between the joy of quarter-final […]
Boateng speaks out!
African football has yet once again showed its ugliest side and unprofessionalism by lying to the world. Kevin Prince Boateng ripped into the entire Black Stars World Cup campaign in Brazil and the Schalke man minced no words as he spoke his heart out to journalists after the Ghanaian federation had announced that him and […]
World Cup Sets Facebook Record
Facebook reported that the World Cup has racked up more than a billion comments, posts, and “likes” which is more than any other event in history. About 220 million people have taken part in the unprecedented online conversation. Knock-out matches that took place during the weekend pushed the overall number of “interactions” at Facebook past […]
Japanese Brazilians celebrate mixed heritage
Nearly 1.5 million Japanese descendants live in Brazil, and two-thirds of those live in Sao Paulo state. Sao Paulo, Brazil – The room was a mixture of Brazilian green and yellow and Japanese red and white, as more than 200 members of the city’s large Japanese community turned out to watch the country of their […]
Suarez is not a bad person
On Tuesday a fragile man broke in the industry we all support. He cracked in the pressure cooker we all built. On my way into work every morning I pass a mural. Sometimes I pause and just gaze at it for a while. That’s why it is there. One of the inspirational figures painted onto […]
