The headline in El País said it all: “The strike of champions.” As of Friday, August 12, the AFE (Spanish Footballers’ Association) union resolved to strike for at least the first two matchdays of the Spanish professional football season. Their reason is a crisis in Spanish football related to the credit bust that, thus far,… Read More »
On June 7th, the Spanish national team played the second of two international friendlies in the Americas. The first was an energetic 4-0 victory over the United States in Boston; the second, in Caracas, another dominating win against the Venezuelan team. The match was noteworthy in contrast to the previous set of friendlies played… Read More »
In this past month of World Cup football, I have seen my facebook stream lit up by “friends” claiming that they are loving to watch coverage in Spanish. In many cases, these friends speak Spanish as a second language; I even have friends who don’t speak Spanish well at all, yet watch the Spanish coverage… Read More »
Video: World Cup 2010: Into Africa – Goal Diggers | The Daily Show | Comedy Central A brilliant piece on the “First African World Cup!”
World Cup 2010: Raymond Domenech fails to take blame for France fiasco | Football | guardian.co.uk This article from the Guardian highlights the extent to which the French football crisis is becoming one of international proportions, now being taken up at the highest levels of the French government. At first glance, one might think: why… Read More »
World Cup 2010: Fans, robbers and a marketing stunt face justice, Fifa style Fascinating piece from the Guardian echoing my recent sentiments on FIFA becoming more like the WWF than a legitimate sporting regulatory body. With the organization spiraling for decades now into its demagoguery, recent World Cups have showcased farcical refereeing and an intangible… Read More »
As Spain prepares to take on Switzerland on Wednesday, the world is abuzz with anticipation. Not only are Spain joint favorites with Brazil, but the tournament needs the Spanish team like a fish needs water. After one of the drabbest opening rounds in memory, fans everywhere are looking for reasons as to why things are… Read More »
We all know that with the thrill of the World Cup comes an astonishing array of national, racial, and cultural stereotypes. While we are not yet through the opening round of matches, we are taking a look for posterity’s sake at some of these, seeing how they’ve held up (or not) so far and what… Read More »
South Africa vs. Mexico Truly the dullest opening match in my memory. No upsets, no good football. Sloppy stagnant stuff, not to mention the maddening drone of the “vuvuela,” one invention that I wish I’d never heard of. When the crowd caught its collective breath, one was subjected to the asinine commentary of American television… Read More »
There is a phenomenon in Spain, one that is on the lips of commentators of the Primera División all over the world, one that tinges any match involving Spain’s two biggest teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona: villarato. When I hear the word uttered on GolTv, on ESPN, even on the Fox Sport family of networks,… Read More »
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