They came to Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, in droves, the Boers — to cheer their team from the motherland. The Boers are descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle [...]

Luis Suárez is new villain after ‘hand of God’ claim: Diego Maradona step aside — there is a new pretender to the throne of most vilified World Cup figure. Step forward Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan striker whose last-minute goal-line handball helped his country reach the semifinals in which they will play Holland on Tuesday, and [...]

RACHEL MADDOW: “Legend has it that in 1945, the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago was asked to leave a Chicago Cubs game and take his pet goat with him. The tavern owner cursed the Cubs and the curse of the Billy Goat, the faithful believe, is supposed to explain why the Cubs [...]

As I watched the clinical Germans thrash perennial losers (the inventors of football) England, 4-1, I couldn’t help but think of poor U.S.A. What went wrong? Jurgen Klinsmann, the former German striker and national team coach, while color commentating for ESPN, hit the nail right on the head: “Unless Americans turn the game over to [...]

Conservatives: “Obama’s policies are the World Cup,” soccer is “a poor man or poor woman’s sport” Conservative media has declared war on soccer: As the 2010 World Cup goes on in South Africa, conservative media figures have seized the opportunity to attack the tournament and the sport of soccer. They have also used soccer as [...]