Everyone talks about the USA-Mexico rivalry, but the biggest rivalry in the Hexagonal — at least in terms of traveling fans — will be Panama-Costa Rica. About 4,500 Ticos areexpected to cross the border at Paso Canoas and travel to Panama City for Wednesday’s game. Eleven buses carrying Costa Rican fans crossed the border on […]
World Cup Watch
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Hexagonal: Panama's attention turns from baseball to soccer
Panama is the only the team in the Hexagonal that has not played in the World Cup, but that doesn’t stop Blas Perez from believing. “We know wehave a great team, a great group of players,” says the FC Dallas striker. “We just have to show it on the field.” This is only the second […]
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Hexagonal: Name cards needed for Reggae Boyz's gathering
Name tags will be needed when Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz assemble at their Mexico City hotel for Wednesday’s Hexagonal opener against Mexico. Five Englishmen are joining the team for thefirst time, all signed up following a recruiting trip Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) boss Horace Burrell and Coach TheodoreWhitmore took to England last fall. Their targets? English […]
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Hexagonal: Mexico's Tri temporarily brought down to earth
Following its gold medal in men’s soccer at the 2012 London Olympics, Mexico is being trumpeted as a favorite to win the 2014 World Cup, but that’s getting ahead of the game. Since1994, El Tri has qualified for the every World Cup and advanced to the knockout phase only to lose in the round of […]
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Poster evokes Brazil's soccer and rich flora and fauna
Brazil unveiled the official poster for the 2014 World Cup on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro. Former Brazilian world champions Amarildo, Carlos Alberto (of New York Cosmos fame), Bebeto and Ronaldo and women’s star Martatook part in the ceremonies that were postponed from Monday following the nightclub fire in Santa Maria that killed 235 people […]
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No time for festivities in Brazil
Monday was supposed to be a day of celebration for Brazil. It began the 500-day countdown until the 2014 World Cup starts. Festivities promoting the event and demonstrating Brazil’sreadiness — as it is — to host the tournament were planned. But they were called off due to the tragedy in the southern city of Santa […]
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Blatter: organizers put on warning
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the incidents that took place at the aborted Copa Sudamericana final in Sao Paulo last week should give Brazilian organizersof the 2014 World Cup pause to consider what can go wrong if they don’t take the proper security measures. Wednesday’s abandoned match between Sao Paolo and Tigre of Argentina in […]
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Hexagonal countdown: Reggae Boyz shocker
Jamaica, which has had its way in the Caribbean in recent years, suffered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Caribbean Cup when it was shocked by French Guyana, 2-1, Saturday in theiropener. It is only the latest blow to the Reggae Boyz, the two-time defending champions, as they build up to […]
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FIFA announces cities for dress rehearsal
The buildup to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil passed another milestone Thursday when FIFA officially confirmed the six cities that will host Confederations Cup matches next June. Theeight-team competition, which matches the champions of each confederation as well as the host nation in a mini-World Cup format, will be played in Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, […]
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USA faces tough road to Brazil but draw delivers good omen
How can you describe as tough a draw that only determines when and where you play, not whom do you play? Well, FIFA conducted the Hexagonal draw Wednesday night in Miami, Beach, Fla.,and the United States will open against Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico — the three teams in the six-team qualifying group that have […]