A little over a year ago at this time many of us got to know the name Graham Poll quite well. You’ll recall that he was the man in the middle of an outstanding match between Croatia and Australia in the group round of the 2006 World Cup. You also probably remember that [...]

You remember the stories leading up to the World Cup in Germany. The millions of testosterone-filled men would converge on a country where prostitution is legal and all hell would break lose, including 40,000 foreign women being forced to so sex work. Thankfully that did not turn out to be the case.
A report [...]

After guiding a young Germany team into the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup, Jurgen Klinsmann has been in demand. The coach has been linked to national team managing jobs in the United States, and Australia and, most recently he has been linked with Chelsea. Today it was announced that he will be [...]

Some quick links from around the Web….

The race against time for the 2010 World Cup (NY Times)
Teams will not stay in host cities in 2010 (Reuters)
South Africa considering expanding fan parks throughout the country (Mail & Guardian)
The World Cup spurs growth in Cape Town (Cape Business News)
Requirements galore for Brazil to host 2014 World Cup [...]

And then there is one. It looks all but certain that Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup now that Colombia has pulled out of the running. Colombia broke ranks with the rest of the continent in offering a bid but they never had the backing of the kingmakers at FIFA or within [...]

Nothing can be official until a graphic designer comes up with a fancy logo that fan be slapped on pens, notepads and t-shirts. The Brazilian Football Federation has unveiled the logo for its 2014 World Cup bid. Kaka, Dunga, Ronaldinho and Lucio are pictured here showing off the logo while standing in front [...]

You know it is time for international football when you start seeing pictures of tattooed men drinking beer without shirts on. Here are some headlines from today….

Jack Warner tries to screw over T&T’s players again (Guardian)
Bosnian player unhappy with ethnic-based selections (Reuters)
Take $100 million off of FIFA’s books (Sports Journalists)
Nothing friendly about the Czech [...]

By the time the 2010 World Cup starts you will have read no less than 7 million words about it. Here is your fix for the day…

Don’t even think about bringing a dirty bomb to South Africa 2010 (BBC)
It is no joke. Lassana Diarra called up for France (AP)
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni comes up [...]

Only 1,212 days until we are once again in heaven watching the World Cup….

Checking in with the Matrix (Sports Illustrated)
Fancy dribbling will get only so far in Brazil (NZ Herald)
Football struggling to make in-roads in China (Fox)
Zidane and Ronaldo to go head to head (Guardian)
England’s squad for Euro 2008 qualifying (CNN)
And Germany’s selection (Eurosport)

The Allianz Arena in Munich was one of the coolest stadiums in the 2006 World Cup and it is one of the coolest stadiums in the world. You can watch it rise from dirt to finish in less than three minutes in the video below. It will be fun to see some of [...]