With final outcomes in FIFA World Cup qualifying often dependent more on the performance of other teams in a qualifying group than on one’s own results, the final matchday of CONCACAF’s hexagonal qualification round on Wednesday yielded an incredible example of how one goal thousands of miles away can dramatically alter another team’s World Cup… Read More »
Now that Argentina has (just barely) secured its spot in the 2010 World Cup after a tortuous and rocky qualifying run, fans of Argentina can breathe a little easier. One fan found occasion for an instant Youtube celebration of the last-minute goal against Uruguay, which shows an ecstatic Maradona jumping for joy. With his red… Read More »
As noted by a commenter on the previous post about the USA-Honduras qualifier, television coverage of the game in the United States was sparse. Whether the motives for exclusivity were malicious or simply economic, the game was only available in about 200 bars and restaurants across the country (and only about a quarter of those… Read More »
Not much being said in the English-speaking press on the South American situation, but the Spanish press is taking light of the intrigue that is brewing. For the most part, attention has been focused on the new [especially in England] football cliché of Maradona on the verge of disaster. Perhaps some ’86 sentiments being carried… Read More »
In a piece at the Americas Quarterly, Eric Farnsworth speculates about the possible political ramifications of this coming Saturday’s U.S.-Honduras World Cup qualifier. The political stand-off between former president Manuel Zelaya (who is living in the Brazilian embassy in Tegulcigalpa) and those who deposed him in a coup earlier this year is paralyzing the country,… Read More »
Has Raymond Domenech become a mere symbol as France’s national team coach? That is what people are wondering, as France reaches do-or-die time in the struggle to obtain a World Cup playoff berth. Much-criticized French coach Raymond Domenech has been more than under fire since as far back as 2006, when a resurgent Zidane, along… Read More »
In 2010, the World Cup tournament will finally take place in a (cold) South Africa. As the tournament begins, however, there will be thirteen European teams in the tournament, and only six African teams, with one of them — South Africa — automatically qualified as the host. Of course, it could be worse: at the… Read More »
In the past, the World Cup meant everything to national football teams; it was an opportunity to prove their team’s success to the world. I recently came across an article that made me realize just how crucial the World Cup still is to a team’s success, and in turn, to the amount of funding they receive. In… Read More »
I found myself strangely elated after the France-Serbia qualifier last week. As a fan of the French team there was, of course, no good reason to feel this. It was one more poor outcome by a team, under the questionable guidance of Domenech, that has an incredible roster but nevertheless has been limping along for… Read More »
