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The US men’s soccer team will start its World Cup campaign on Saturday against England. It’s the first time the two teams will have met at a World Cup tournament since 1950. On that occasion, the US beat England 1-0 in a major upset. Now, as The World’s Alex Gallafent reports, the English are forced once again to confront the complexities of a special sporting relationship. (photo of Red Bulls fans: Alex Gallafent) Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
How We Got Here takes on soccer this week. We speak with Duke history professor Laurent Dubois, author of Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France.
Soccer spread so quickly. A lot of sports spread along the sinews of empire, you can think of cricket or rugby or even baseball in the U.S. case. What happened with soccer is it did spread via English–it was created and codifed in England and it spread with English people who crossed into other countries but very quickly it took root in those other countries. France is one case among many where in the early 20th-century English communities brought it there and then very quickly it became just part of the social fabric of every day life and very quickly it became an extremely important pastime for many many people. – Laurent Dubois
Dubois explores the roots — in Empire — of the diversity of the French national team, long celebrated but also maligned for its preponderance of players of African and Caribbean descent. And he profiles two players in particular, Lilian Thuram and Zinedine Zidane, in his tale of how soccer and French identity are intertwined. Download MP3
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Hundreds of thousands of soccer fans are heading to South Africa for the World Cup. Once there, they’ll have to find their way to stadiums in the nation’s nine host cities. There could be problems with many streets getting new names, as apartheid era symbols are replaced. Kyle G. Brown reports. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The American Glazer family is not very popular in Britain right now: the majority owners of England’s legendary Manchester United soccer club are facing a fan revolt. The fans accuse the Glazers of taking over one of the most profitable sports teams to use it as a cash cow to pay off their debts. The Glazers are the subject of a BBC Panorama documentary which is based on the work of Andy Green. Marco Werman talks with him. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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The eyes of soccer fans from around the world are on South Africa in June and July. The United States is one of 32 teams competing for the FIFA world championship in tournament hosted by an African nation for the first time. Find all of our World Cup coverage here.
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On a day when the State Department issued a travel warning about visiting South Africa during next month’s soccer World Cup, Marco Werman speaks with Johan Burger at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa about what his country is doing to combat both potential external terrorist threats and the internal problem of crime. Download MP3 (photo: Laura Lynch)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A new rule goes into effect for today’s Geo Quiz. The World Cup soccer tournament kicks off next month in South Africa. Soccer’s powers-that-be have been busy planning and changing the rules. This week, they banned a move called the paradinha. (Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/alexfrance)
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The World Cup soccer tournament opens in South Africa in seven weeks and South Africans are psyched. 360,000 foreign spectators are expected to bring their enthusiasm – and money – to South Africa. But some South Africans view the World Cup as a burden that has made their lives worse. We’ll learn why from The World’s Laura Lynch. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Zimbabwe marks its 30th anniversary of independence on Sunday. And the same man who became the leader of the new nation is still in charge today. Back in 1980 Robert Mugabe was cheered as a hero, now he is reviled by many of his own people who have watched their nation descend into violence and poverty under his rule. The World’s Laura Lynch takes a look at the country’s fractured politics through the lens of soccer. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
David Beckham’s dream of playing in a fourth soccer World Cup looks to be over after he tore his left Achilles tendon while playing for AC Milan on Sunday. The 34-year-old England midfielder had surgery in Finland today. The World Cup tournament starts in June in South Africa. The World’s William Troop tells us more. Download MP3 Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
One of the favorites to win this year’s FIFA world cup tournament in South Africa is England. After all, it’s home to one of the top professional soccer leagues on the planet. But England only won a world championship once, way back in 1966 and The World’s Alex Gallafent (an England fan) is now worried that the English team is unraveling less than 100 days from kick-off. Download MP3 (flickr image by .imelda)
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A senior FIFA official has denied African soccer fans are being priced out of the World Cup in South Africa. Fans in the African countries that have qualified for the tournament say tickets are being sold on the internet, to which they have limited access. Furthermore, even if they could afford tickets, few African fans have credit cards, needed for online purchases. Marco Werman talks with The World’s soccer aficionado William Troop about the dilemma. Download MP3
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In this week’s podcast, we feature a listener-generated segment on robotic soccer. Tell me, is there anything more awesome than teams of three kid-sized robots trying to score goals against one another? Absolutely not is the answer. We’ll hear from the FUmanoids, the German team that is currently the #2 team in the world. We’ll also talk about Google’s Europe woes, and about Latvia’s virtual “Robin Hood.”
