Sunday was a moral victory: Spain clearly deserved to win not only the World Cup but also the actual game at hand. The great Johann Cruyff came out today and accused the Dutch of being anti-footb...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/07/13/spains-moral-victory/
There are two games left. The third place playoff takes place on Saturday, Uruguay against Germany in a game often described as one nobody wants to play in. It can be well worth watching though�...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/07/09/zero-hour-in-south-africa/
In the World Cup, as in any tournament, half of the field is eliminated in the first round, and half again in each succeeding round—a method of crowning a champion devised by Zeno and guarantee...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/07/09/and-then-we-came-to-the-end/
The semi-finals of this World Cup have led to an earth shattering cosmic twist: everybody now likes Germany. Most of the credit for this goes down to the way they play. Germany was dazzling to wa...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/07/06/deutschland-uber-alles/
Over the past year, Diego Maradona has had Argentinians scratching their heads. Why wouldn’t he pick a settled team for the qualification campaign? Instead he chopped and changed his lineup, ru...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/07/02/dont-doubt-diego/
England’s performance was in a different league of awfulness from the regular awfulness that had been seen in earlier games. Before, the problem had been one of not seeming to care; the players...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/06/29/englands-loss-to-germany/
So far in the World Cup, it’s Donald Rumsfeld 1 Pele 0. The former Defense Secretary’s sneering dismissal of Old Europe seems, in this realm anyway, prophetic, as anciens regimes slink home t...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/06/26/when-the-games-start-to-matter/
The group stage of the 2010 World Cup ends today—the group stage of the first African World Cup, as we’re reminded again and again by the soccer salesmanship masquerading as studio commentary...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/06/25/empire-of-sport/
Among the new heroes of this World Cup one must now count Bob Bradley, the grim, predestinarian U.S. coach—on the silent sideline his presence seems more foreboding than forbearing—much malig...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/06/23/an-injury-time-strike-upon-a-hill/
The stars of this World Cup have all been letdowns. Messi, despite some flashes outside the box, hasn’t scored, Rooney and Kaka look exhausted, Robben and Drogba are injured, and Cristiano Rona...
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/06/23/with-power-comes-responsibility/