Jedda, Saudi Arabia | Following evening prayers, Saudi Arabia and Sweden played a friendly match tonight with historic implications: for the first time, and after pressure from Swedish authorities, women were allowed to attend. The normally rigid gender separation in public was relaxed a bit for female Swedish supporters. “They will be allowed to watch the [...]
A supporter shows the colors after Angola’s 1–0 victory over Rwanda clinched a trip to Germany. (Riccardo Gangale | AP) Luanda, Angola | At some moment on 11 June 2006, an overexercised sports commentator will allude to the colonial history of Angola and perhaps suggest that recompense against opponents Portugal lurks in the minds of the Palancas [...]
Watford, England | Everything in soccer, it seems, is for sale. In the U.K. this includes fixture lists, the calendar that football authorities produce to establish who plays whom on what day. Some non-revenue-producing, independently produced fanzines have fallen afoul of the regulations. The Guardian mentions the case of Watford FC Web-based chroniclers “Blind, Stupid and [...]
London | Farayi Mungazi of BBC Sport worries about Sepp Blatter‘s recent suggestion about banning pre-game national anthems from international football. On the idea that FIFA could commission a generic anthem, in accord with that presaging UEFA Champions League fixtures, Mungazi writes that “[n]ot only do I beg to sing a different tune, but I would [...]
Milan | Messina and Ivory Coast defender Marc Zoro picked up the ball in the 66th minute of a Sunday match at Inter Milan and started to leave the pitch to protest the monkey sounds with which spectators greeted his touches. The match continued, with Zoro’s participation, but the display at least has galvanized Italy’s soccer [...]
Manama, Bahrain | “Reggae has been to the World Cup, samba has been to the World Cup—now it’s soca time.” So says an announcer on Trinidadian radio, as reported by blogger Nicholas Laughlin. Six-foot-seven defender Dennis Lawrence could take credit for both of Trinidad & Tobago’s goals in the World Cup–qualifying tie with Bahrain. His second-half header [...]
Geneva | A diplomatic thaw? While the atmosphere at Sunday’s Argentina–England friendly at Stade de Gení¨ve perhaps lacked the requisite hostility, “[t]he latest encounter featured punches on the terraces, songs about the Falkland Islands, jibes regarding players’ sexuality and general churlishness.” Some England supporters were heard chanting standard nationalistic ditties such as “You’ll never take the [...]
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