Word: soccer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...American soccer fans who awakened in the predawn hours to watch the U.S. take on Portugal in the World Cup must have thought they were still dreaming. Before the coffee finished brewing the U.S. had gone up 1-0--excuse us, one-nil--on the stylish Europeans. And the Yanks kept lighting up Portugal like a pachinko table: 2-0 in the 29th minute and 3-0 in the 36th on a beautifully taken header by Brian McBride. Despite a furious Portuguese rally, the U.S. held on to a 3-2 victory for one of the biggest upsets in World...
...success was unexpected, particularly after 1998's debacle, when the U.S. finished dead last, behind all 31 other teams. But U.S. coach Bruce Arena has made a career of unexpected success. When he took over Major League Soccer's D.C. United after an impressive college career, there were doubts he could handle pro players. United won back-to-back MLS Cup titles. When he was named coach of the U.S. team in October '98, there was clamoring that the team needed a leader with a glittering international resume, not some local from Brooklyn...
...intensity, Arena does not take a dim view of having fun. In Seoul, the team is staying at a downtown Marriott to be in the midst of the festivities. In previous Cups, they were soccer monks, isolated in country retreats. "Bruce understands the importance of enjoying the Cup," says midfielder Cobi Jones. "We feed off of all that positive energy...
NOTHING BUT NET Because this year's World Cup soccer tournament is being held in Japan and South Korea on the other side of the world, most of the matches don't appear on U.S. TV until the wee hours of the morning. Happily for soccer junkies, there is no shortage of websites competing to fill the void with up-to-the-minute scores, running commentary and even a few video highlights. Among the best: ESPNSoccernet.com FIFAworldcup.com and TEAMtalk.com...
...same can be said of the entire squad. Japan plays extroverted football, displaying not just rigid discipline but poetry, creativity and opportunism. "They do what they want to do quite freely," says Yasuhiko Okudera, Japan's first great soccer player who made his mark in the German Bundesliga in the 1970s. Now 50, Okudera is naturally thrilled for Japan, though he's not quite sure what to make of the Cup team personalities. "One of my German friends asked me, 'Why do they dye their hair like that?' I didn't know what to tell him," Okudera says...