Word: balle
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...into the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Before then, Sub-Saharan Africa hadn't made much of an impression on the global soccer stage beyond the occasional embarrassing episode, such as when a Zaire defender tried to pre-empt a Brazil free kick by booting the ball away in the 1974 tournament. But since the early 1990s, the stature of African football has only grown: top African players are now superstars in the world's flashiest leagues, while players of African descent are increasingly competing for spots on Europe's best national teams, including once homogeneous squads...
...spirit of the World Cup. The Olympics may garner the attention of more global leaders and media outlets, but its myriad competitions and choreographed pageantry can never generate the unifying, almost cosmic passion that envelops the World Cup. As David Goldblatt asks in his definitive history of soccer, The Ball Is Round, "Is there any cultural practice more global than football?" It has more followers than any one religion and is more universal than any one language. Even Americans - some of whom still sniff at the sport's low-scoring games - are coming around: they are among the largest groups...
...extra time, Henry clearly controlled the ball with his hand before passing it on for the goal that secured France's ticket to South Africa next June. The referee didn't see the incident and allowed the goal to stand despite howls of protest from the Irish players. After the game, Henry admitted that he had touched the ball, but in a manner implying it was accidental - an assertion that compounded the sin because replays showed he actually touched it twice, the second time with a certainty that suggested it was deliberate. "I cannot speak, I am so angry," fumed...
...score the winning goal over England in a 1986 World Cup quarterfinal match. "Les Bleus: Hands Up," echoed Libération in its coverage of what it called France's "holdup" of the Irish team that had utterly dominated Wednesday's game prior to Henry's pawing of the ball...
...question being asked today was how all four of the referees officiating the game could have failed to see Henry use his hand to control the ball. The logical fix: allow referees to consult video as they do in professional baseball, hockey, basketball and American football, as well as in international sports like cricket, rugby and tennis. Since video has vastly reduced officiating errors in these sports - just last month, the first video review in baseball World Series history was used to turn a double by the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez into a two-run homer - it could...