If only Paul the Octopus had lived to see it. I think it’s fair to say the best team won the World Cup in Brazil. In fact it might be fair to say one of the best ever won it – some are, though I think it’s overstating the case […] Read more
World Cup
For the Record…
I am picking Germany tomorrow, in a 1-goal game. Messi is Messi, but I think Germany has too much balance and depth. Let’s hope it’s a game worth getting up at 5 A.M. for… Read more
Seven Kingdoms (and Costa Rica)
For fans of the USMNT, today is the first day of the 2018 World Cup. It’s been one hell of a ride for the United States in Brazil, a reminder both of what we have going for us as a soccer nation and how wide the gap is between us […] Read more
Hear Me Roar
Hopefully, the song of the moment on Tuesday won’t be “The Rains of Castamere”. I love Belgium – let me say that up front. They have the best beer, the best chocolate, the best frites and the best waffles in the world – and any country that can say that […] Read more
It Sure Doesn’t Feel Half-full
That was only like kissing your sister if this is your sister… Before anyone else says it, yes – if you’d said a week ago the USMNT would have 4 points after playing Ghana and Portugal, I’d have gladly taken it. So would they. Hell, both of us would have […] Read more
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Ronaldo?
In truth, for Team U.S.A. that may be the wrong question. It’s certainly been an interesting first week at the World Cup. Host Brazil has looked indifferent in their first two matches and clearly isn’t the same sort of star-studded supersquad we’ve seen in the past, but given that every […] Read more
And So it Ends
With all due respect to our friends in Espana, the real winner of this World Cup is a German, and English expatriate: Paul the Octopus. Our cephalopod sensation completed his perfect World Cup run by predicting Spain’s win over Holland. Would that the Dutch could say the same – their […] Read more
And then there were two…
Netherlands vs. Spain We will have a new World Cup champion in 2010 – and that’s a good thing, I think. Two wonderful football nations who have never tasted the sport’s biggest prize will fight for the honor of doing so in an all-Euro final Sunday. Holland’s win over Uruguay […] Read more
The Final Four in S.A.
So much for South American dominance in South Africa. The semi-finals are here, and Europe – against the run of play – has emerged as dominant. Only the second-unlikeliest of the knockout round survivors from South America – Uruguay – survived as Brazil and Argentina went down rather meekly and […] Read more