In the midst of the brewing crisis over the election in Haiti, I’m taking solace in small, containable observations. Jude Celestin, the ruling party candidate who now stands accused by twelve other candidates of having carried out fraud at the polls today, made a shrewd choice in his campaign colors. As Emily Troutman noted in… Read More »
A few days ago, before the U.S. Women’s Team’s first game against Italy in World Cup qualifying, Abby Wambach told the New York Times that the (obviously slightly bitter) joke on the team was that they had to do badly this year in order to get media attention. “The irony of the whole thing is… Read More »
The video for the World Cup Debriefing we held here at Duke a few weeks ago is now available here. Achille’s reflections on the meaning of the event for South Africa (the second presentation) are excellent. I’d welcome your thoughts and reactions!
An irruption of football into an otherwise glum Wednesday afternoon: what could be better? Even better since it delivered a nice showing today by the French team, to my relief. And in Wembley no less. Between the two teams, France is clearly limping out of the hospital a little more quickly, it seems. Though it… Read More »
Courtesy of Grant Wahl’s twitter feed, here’s another take on one of the defining moments of the World Cup: the Ghana-U.S. game as viewed by Mick Jagger, aptly tagged “bad luck charm” by Wahl. You can read my account of this game as seen from Johannesburg here, and travel to the streets of Accra that… Read More »
Recent news reports from South America indicate that the coach of Chile’s national team, Marcelo Bielsa, will be leaving his post with immediacy. To the casual observer, this comes as a shock. Bielsa has been credited with restoring discipline and professionalism to a national soccer association known more in recent years for scandal than for… Read More »
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