July 11th, 2006: Street cleaners are still working on tidying up Berlin’s fan mile after more than half a million Germans had gathered to salute Die Mannschaft on their improbable run to third place in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
At 16 years of age, Carlos Vela walked onto a soccer pitch in Peru with all the weight of Mexico on his shoulders. The Mexican National Team had finally made it the final of the U-17 World Cup. Not once in Mexico’s history had a Mexican national team made it to the finals of a world tournament. No pressure. No pressure at all for Carlitos, who would go on to lead the young Mexican national team to glory against Brazil, scoring their first of the match and leading Mexico to a 3-0 scoreline against the tournament favorites.
Not content with emmbroiling itself in match-fixing allegations and flying in $3 million in cash to pay its players mid-way through a World Cup, the Ghanaian FA has added chauvinism to its resume with the wholly serious suggestion that domestic teams entice “sexy girls” to their stadia in a bid to boost attendance.
As if there was ever a dull moment in the world of FIFA these days; issues revolving around the 2018 and 2022 World Cups continue to get worse. The laborers involved with constructing the Russian World Cup stadiums have come out saying they haven’t been paid for their work in months.
It would be disastrous if the Netherlands didn’t qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 in France. But, with only two games before the end of qualifying group stages, the Dutch National team sits fourth in their group, trailing Iceland, the Czech Republic and Turkey. What should have been a winnable group and a doable job proved more difficult than expected.
Siphiwe Tshabalala, owner of one of the world's most enjoyable-to-say names, scorer of the opening goal of the 2010 World Cup, has gone and scored one of the most absurd goals we have seen since...well, in a while.
Hoo, boy! What a rip.
We don't really have anything to add, save our love of saying "Tshabalala."
Tshabalala.
Tshabalala.
Lionel Messi has been raked over the coals by the Human Rights Foundation, a non-for-profit organization.
Seriously, is the Gold Cup fixed? Miguel Herrera earlier claimed various forces were against Mexico in the tournament, but now it looks like various forces (and by "forces, we mean "referees") want Mexico to win win the Gold Cup more than they want anything in the world.
First, there was this penalty, which we'll call "dubious."
I can see it both ways. But the Costa Rican team, and various Costa Rican politicians, were pissed.
Gabon's political opposition, in an effort to get some attention, has denounced the best footballer in the world.
The question of whether or not Russia should host the 2018 World Cup still remains in the air after recent stories of corruption from Sepp Blatter and FIFA have risen. Should plans for the next World Cup stay the same, more issues besides corruption will come to light during the summer tournament.