Topic: Soccer

May 10, 2013

An FA Cup Phrasebook for American Football Fans

Tom Mitchell

With the FA Cup final between Wigan and Manchester set for noon Saturday, American fans will descend upon pubs through the country to watch England's most important annual football game. It can be a daunting scene for newcomers, which is why we pulled together a brief guide for fans looking to fake it effectively. 

May 10, 2013

New York, New York F.C.

W.M. Akers

New York City may be about to get its own MLS team, courtesy of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour. But it won't be the New York Cosmos, in name or coolness or spirit or any other sense, and that's a pity.

May 9, 2013

The Man Who Was United

Casey Morell

The greatest possible tribute to what Sir Alex Ferguson did during his 26 years with Manchester United is how hard it is to imagine the team, or the game, without him. Even when he retires, though, Ferguson won't quite be gone.

April 18, 2013

Perfect Pitch

Ryan Bradley

“The funny thing is, anybody can manage grass; it’s about managing people, and people’s expectations of the way the grass needs to be, the way the grass needs to look.”

April 12, 2013

Viva Azteca: Yakkin' About Soccer's Strangest, Scariest Stadium

Aaron Gordon

Estadio Azteca is one of the stranger, better and more terrifying places on earth to watch a soccer game. And maybe to watch anything, actually. Two Azteca veterans compare notes on one of soccer's holy, and wholly weird, sites.

April 4, 2013

Making a Mess-olini of It

Tom Mitchell

Despite his claims to the contrary there's a pretty good case to be made that Sunderland FC's newest manager, Paolo Di Canio, is at least sort of a fascist. A wee bit of the iron fist never hurt anybody, right? 

April 4, 2013

Why We Watch: Xavi Hernández, Football Fundamentalist

Linda Hui

One of the dirty little secrets football fans don’t like to talk about is that, in the game, a lot of things happen by accident. Xavi Hernández is the antidote to all that.

March 13, 2013

Why We Watch: Jack Wilshere, Force of Concord

Scott King

Leaving Arsenal, Gunner star Cesc Fabregas anointed the young Jack Wilshere, saying, “Jack will be the England captain inside the next two or three years, you don't have to be a magician to work that one out.” Wilshere’s talent was never questioned,  but did little to ease pain of Fabregas's departure. His play, on the other hand, has managed that.

March 6, 2013

The Randy Report: United in Anger

Randy Kim

A bad call at a worse time will presumably prevent England from winning the Champions League trophy. It's not the first time a ref has made a mistake that cost a team a chance at glory, but it happens more in soccer than it feels like it should. Or at least that's what the death threats that the refs get would make you think.  

February 20, 2013

Robbie Rogers, Out and Out

Kevin Koczwara

Last week, former U.S. Men's National Team player Robbie Rogers came out and retired from soccer. This is probably not the end of this story, which now belongs to Rogers himself.