Tweet I happened to notice a spike in referrals from Feedster, a RSS search engine, the other day and discovered that we were their ‘Feed of the Day’. They have been featuring soccer blogs from across the globe all during the World Cup and are very impressed with the ‘Soccersphere’: Since the most popular sporting […]
Entries for July, 2006
Golden Ball Finalists – Who Will Win?
Tweet FIFA announced the Golden Ball shortlist this morning for the tournament’s outstanding player. The shortlist has been drawn up by the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) and, with only players who reached the last four considered eligible for selection, representatives of the media will now pick from a field comprising three Frenchmen, two Germans, […]
Sometimes A Picture Is All You Need
Tweet In keeping with the "A picture is worth a thousand words" cliche… Portuguese keeper Ricardo just misses the PK from France’s Zinedine Zidane (AFP) Allez Les Bleus!
The Merry WhistleBlower Returns!
Tweet I really enjoy reading the few blogs in the Soccersphere written by referees. Reading about the antics of coaches, players, and even spectators can be both funny and sad at the same time. Lately, TheRef over at The RefBlog has been the only one posting regularly, but no longer. The Merry WhistleBlower @ Whistling […]
What The Football Spectator Says…
Tweet Wise words from the Football Spectator: If anyone ever asks you why you love football, hand them a DVD of last night’s World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany. To those that say "a goal-less match is dull" say "watch the first 90 minutes of this game" and then ask them if their opinion […]
That Was a Pretty Goal and an Excellent Match
Tweet Like Italy or loathe them, that was a beautiful goal by Grosso in the 119th minute. I thought the referee, Benito Archundia, did a great job keeping things clean while letting the game flow. Watching him waving at an Italian player early to get up after a sort of dive was a perfect warning […]
High Tech Referee Performance Analysis
Tweet We linked to an article a while back that talked about how the Socceroos were using advanced software to break down and analyze video of opposing teams. The company that develops this software listed FIFA as a client and we wondered how they might be using it. Well, we got an answer. It turns […]
Soccer Unpopular Because NY Cosmos Folded! Huh?
Tweet You can’t be serious. Jonathan Mahler has an article in the New York Times today (HT Moulin) that starts out with this gem: With the 2006 World Cup building toward its climax, soccer has reasserted its claim as the most popular sport on the planet. But in most of America, interest in the game […]
It’s A MLS-Mexico Tournament, Not CONCACAF
Tweet Earlier we mentioned some speculation about a possible CONCACAF Champions League starting in 2007 modeled after the UEFA Champions League. However, it looks like this will only be a tournament between Mexico 1st Division and MLS teams. I found an older article on SoccerNet last night where MLS execs talk about their plans: "This […]
What Is It About Soccer That Attracts Trolls?
Tweet Here’s a question… Why is it when soccer fans try to discuss soccer in various forums, they attract an army of soccer hating trolls? What is it about soccer that makes people feel they have to shout out ‘I Hate Soccer’ if they don’t enjoy the sport? During the World Series, NBA Finals, or […]
Referral Shout Out for June 2006
Tweet I started this little blog mostly as a place to jot down soccer thoughts during the year. I figured a few people might read it. Well, it’s become more fun than I ever imagined. Looking at the stats for the first half of 2006, our traffic in June was 25 times that of January, […]
