[PORTRAIT] South Korea’s 2-0 dismantling of Greece in its opening game was no fluke. It features one of the most exciting young wingers in the tournament in21-year-old Lee Chung-Yong. Lee, whose nickname is the “Green Dragon,” should have been awarded with a penalty in the first half and came close toscoring in the second half […]
Special Edition
Posted inSpecial Edition, What They're Saying
What They're Saying
“Platini? I’m not surprised, I’ve always had a very distant relationship with him, it’s always just hello and goodbye, nothing more than that. We all know how the French are, and Platini is French,and he believes he is better than rest.” — Argentina’s Diego Maradona on reported negative comments from Michel Platini about Maradona’s coaching […]
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What tricks does Maradona have for South Korea?
[PREDICTIONS] Argentina players are crediting Coach Diego Maradona with coming up with the play that produced thewinning goal against Nigeria. He’ll need to come up with a plan to stop South Korea, so impressive in its win over Greece. For a look at Thursday’s three games and Soccer America’s predictions … ARGENTINA (3 pts., 1-0) […]
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Pique plays D with style
[PORTRAIT] When he was 12 years old and a member of Barcelona’s youth program, Gerard Pique was taken aside by then coach Louisvan Gaal and the Dutchman told the boy he was too stubborn to ever make it as a Barcelona defender. Pique proved van Gaal wrong, and then some. Pique recalls that he went […]
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Stephen Colbert gets his digs in at English …
[VIDEO] On the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert examines the strained relations between the USA and England in theaftermath of the BP oil spill in the Gulf and gets his digs in with a look back at Saturday’s USA-England game in Rustenburg …
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Dramatic goal earns underdog New Zealand tie
[GROUP F] In a World Cup seriously lacking in entertainment, it was nice to see an underdog be rewarded — and in dramatic fashion at that. Former Danish youthstar Winston Reid‘s goal in stoppage time gave New Zealand a 1-1 tie with Slovakia on Tuesday. For what we liked and didn’t like about the two […]
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Spain heavily favored against Swiss
[PREDICTIONS] Spain, perfect in the group stage at the last two World Cups, will open its 2010 campaign against Switzerland. For a look at Wednesday’s threegames and Soccer America’s predictions … HONDURAS (0-0-0) vs. CHILE (0-0-0) June 16 in Nelspruit Kickoff: 7:30 a.m. ET. Television:ESPN/Univision. Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles). PREDICTIONS: Paul Kennedy: Tie 1-1 Ridge […]
Posted inSpecial Edition, What They're Saying
What They're Saying
“We have activated necessary and adequate contingency plans to different stadia in the country. We are confident that we will not compromise the safety of the tournament or our day-to-day normalpolicing.” — South Africa’s national police commissioner Bheki Cele after police took over security at four World Cup venues following new strikes by security guards,including […]
Posted inSpecial Edition, What They're Saying
What They're Saying
“Sure there is a negative record but you can’t think about that. Statistics are there to be overturned but they should not affect the way you play.” — Greece strikerDimitris Salpigidis after his team’s 2-0 loss to South Korea left the Greeks still looking for their first World Cup goal ever. Greece was outscored, 10-0, […]
Posted inSpecial Edition, Story
Japan win shakes it up
[GROUP E] Only three goals were scored in the two Group E games on Monday – the Netherlands beat Denmark with an own goal and a rebound off a post –yet Japan needed just one goal to post the upset of the tournament so far when it knocked off Cameroon. Here ‘s what we liked […]