Captain America Landon Donovan is the cover boy for FIFA 11 here in North America. Well, Kaká, of Brazil, is the real cover athlete, but Donovan and Carlos Vela, of Mexico, share the cover with him. → Read More
Guess who’s the athlete with the most social network fans in the world. Go ahead, guess! OK, no more guessing: the answer is Cristiano Ronaldo. Good for him. → Read More
Finally. That’s literally the only word you can use in response to the following sentence: DirecTV will carry Fox Soccer Channel in HD beginning on August 11. Well, according to EPL Talk’s well-placed sources at the network. And yes, that’s just in time for the new Premier League and Serie A seasons. Thank you thank you thank you! → Read More
During the World Cup, particularly during the England-Germany and Mexico-Argentina games, there was a lot of debate over the role of video replay in the sport. FIFA responded, in typical fashion, by banning video replay inside stadia. Head in the sand, etc. Well now Italy broadcaster RAI has embraced that very same mentality. Starting with the upcoming Italian season it will not show “controversial” replays during games. So, if there’s a dodgy offside call during the Derby d’Italia, or perhaps a contentious penalty between the war-masked-as-sport between Lazio and Roma, well, RAI won’t be showing any of that. → Read More
When does the Premiership begin, in a few weeks? (Yes, I realize I could just Wiki that, but that would have deprived me of an opening question.) Word today is that the Barclays Premier League has teamed up with EA to make the games a little more technological. EA will henceforth be known as the Official Technology Partner of the Premier League. Yay, etc. → Read More
A few stories came out of the World Cup (besides the fact that Spain is the best team on the planet): the Adidas Jabulani is now the most (in)famous ball in history, Diego Forlán is the man diggity, and everyone hates the vuvuzela. Not me—I don’t mind ‘em. → Read More
Spain now have a star on their shirt. I’m not exaggerating when I say that my limbs were numb and my mouth was dry during yesterday’s World Cup final. I was truly a hot mess. Moving on… It’s now time for all publications to run their World Cup retrospectives, and since we barely qualify as a publication it’s time for ours. Well, mine; nobody else on staff could name a single player from yesterday’s final. But, of course, I’m taking a more technological point of view. Because if there’s anything I excel at, it’s writing about marginally relevant topics right here on CG. → Read More
Looks like Fox Soccer Channel has decided to embrace Twitter. It’s about time! Andy Gray, the former professional player turned TV pundit, will be on the channel’s Ticket to South Africa program tomorrow evening to discuss the ins and outs of the World Cup. How can you participate? → Read More
The World Cup is winding down (that psychic octopus has predicted a Spain victory, by the way), which means there will be a very real void in my life once again. I don’t even know of the Champions League or La Liga will be able to fill it. Sigh. I guess we should savor these last remaining moments while we can. One of those moments? As you know, Nike has pretty much taken over downtown Johannesburg, installing giant video screens and having Kobe Bryant throw down challenges left and right. Today’s note: presenting Ball Man! The name alone is a win. → Read More
And now Nasa hates the Jabulani. Wonderful. I suppose Nasa has nothing better to do now that it has less money than your little sister has in her piggy bank. The former space agency says that the ball becomes “unpredictable” at speeds greater than 44 mph, and that the high altitude that many of the games were played only exacerbates the problem. → Read More
RoboCup 2010, a six-day event in Singapore during which robot geeks from around the world let their robots play soccer against each other, ended last week with a German triumph. In the final game, the Darmstadt Dribblers from the Technische Universität in Darmstadt beat the FUmanoids, a team of robots developed at Freie Universität in Berlin 7:1. → Read More
Fifa President Sepp Blatter has apologized (!) for the terrible referring that led to Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal against Germany on Sunday. Even bigger than Sepp Blatter admitting fault, which is huge in and of itself (it’d be like Apple saying sorry over the iPhone 4 fiasco), is the news that Fifa will once again investigate the possibility of goal-line technology at a board meeting on July 1. → Read More
Kobe Bryant, fresh from bringing another championship to Los Angeles, is in South Africa enjoying the sights and sounds of the World Cup. Even if Team USA is out, there’s still plenty of reasons to celebrate, chief among them that my fantasy team’s captain, Holland’s Wesley Sneijder, scored another goal. Beyond that, though, Kobe, a longtime soccer fan (remember when he visited FC Barcelona?), has been taking advantage of that Nike thing I mentioned the other day, the giant screen in the middle of Johannesburg. → Read More
Fifa , world soccer’s organizing body, has responded to requests for goal-line technology (among other technologies) with a non-response. Said the organization, by way of spokesman Nicolas Maignot, at a media briefing earlier today: “The International FA Board, which Fifa is a member of along with the four British associations, dealt with this topic in March. A clear decision on the use of technology was taken at the time.” He then added, “We will not enter into any debate on refereeing at the daily media briefing. I am not competent to do so.” Competent, you say? /me taps nose → Read More
Dear Fifa, Please wake up and smell the coffee: we need goal line technology, and we need it now. England’s Frank Lampard just had a 100 percent legitimate goal stricken from the record by some dunderhead linesman. DOES HE EVEN HAVE EYES? The integrity of the sport is at stake here. I’m not asking for instant replays for outfield play or anything, but we need a camera on that goal line, or a chip/sensor in the ball, and we need it now. And look at that: Fifa supremo Sepp Blatter is on Twitter. Maybe we should let him know how we feel about goal line technology? → Read More
Sitting here watching Uruguay’s Luís Suárez bury the ball into the back of the net (his second goal = !!!), I’m thinking to myself: “Boy, he sure didn’t seem to have any problem controlling the Jabulani.” But never mind, for FIFA, world soccer’s generally inept governing body—remember, this is the same body that refuses to allow goal line technology!—has finally come out and said it: “FIFA is not unreceptive about what has been said about the ball.” The organization now plans to talk to players, team officials, and the ball’s manufacturer, Adidas, after the tournament. The question is: is the ball crocked? → Read More
It was only a few days ago that I mentioned that Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, now ready to face Spain in the next round of the World Cup, was about to re-launch his Web site, bringing together content from his various online, um, presences. Photos, video, and tweets from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, etc. Well, it’s now live! → Read More
Whew! Day One of the World Cup is now behind us, and I wanted to take a moment to point y’all in a particularly awesome direction. The Guardian, one of my recommend sites from yesterday’s catch-all post, has a truly amazing Twitter mash-up that needs to be seen to be believed. What it does is analyze tweets that occur during a game, then it creates a dynamic chart that corresponds to said tweets. → Read More
Let’s get down to business. The World Cup begins tomorrow, June 11, 2010. The tournament kicks off with hosts South Africa against Mexico at 9:30am ET/6:30am PT on ESPN in the U.S. (International readers: you’ll have to consult your local listings.) Consider this post a general how-to on making the most of the tournament. Mobile Apps, helpful Web sites, podcasts, etc. Woo~! → Read More
Building robots capable of playing soccer – that’s apparently very hard to pull off, as shown several times in the past. But this new robot, the RoboErectus Jr., is different. Developed at the Robotics Center of Singapore Polytechnic, he looks like he’s a little small, but his moves are pretty cool. → Read More
