Soccer
Story Stream
On the Road With Landon Donovan July 10, 2024
Landon Donovan has seen US Soccer in all of its forms. From the good (a Cinderella run to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals) to the bad (a winless trip to the World Cup four years later) to the ugly (being left off the squad in 2014), Donovan has been...
The Euros Are Like Europe, Only Better July 03, 2024
There are two ways of confronting the tensions that have seized hold of Europe in recent days and weeks. Two ways, that is, of trying to understand the fears (genuine or misplaced), and the promises (vacant or smilingly hopeful), that fill the air. M...
Why We Love Football July 03, 2024
Why do we love football? This is a difficult question to answer—anyone who accepts the mantle of being a football fan is faced with a series of increasingly clear problems with the sport. The moral panic of the 1980s over violent, “thuggish” football...
The U.S. Men’s Soccer Team Is Excellent June 26, 2024
Last Thursday, my soccer-obsessed 10-year-old son and I sat in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and witnessed 70,000 people humming the Argentine national anthem together. This was just before the first game of the Copa América, the South American so...
The Tao of Joe Mazzulla June 17, 2024
When Joe Mazzulla sits down to talk with reporters, his eyes rapidly shift from left to right. You imagine he is identifying where all the exits are. Like Al Capone, he never sits with his back to the entrance. He regurgitates plays like Alexa on 2x ...
I Love You, Maradona April 01, 2024
While reading Maradona’s autobiography this past winter, I found that every few pages I would whisper or write in the margins, “I love you, Maradona.” Sadness crept up on me as I turned to the last chapter, and it intensified to heartbreak when I rea...
Can Saudi Arabia Buy Soccer? February 21, 2024
Consider, before we begin, that not long ago, the grassy pitch of Riyadh’s Al-Awwal Park was desert, and even before that, it was underwater. Around 250 million years ago—give or take—much of what we call the Arabian Peninsula was submerged beneath a...
