We’re still a hot 11+ years away from the 2022 Fifa World Cup, but the parade of moaning continues. The latest bit of gossip suggests that the tournament could be played during the wintertime in order to combat the extreme temperatures usually present in Qatar during the summertime. So much for developing a new stadium cooling technology that could then be exported to other countries! → Read More
Fifa’s bigwigs are currently in Zurich listening to numerous bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. A sort of, “Please bring the World Cup to My Country because we have lots of stadiums and hotel rooms and we think Fifa is really awesome.” It’s truly the height of tedium. (The number of articles I’ve read over the past few weeks, particularly in British newspapers, along the lines of… → Read More
Unfortunately, I’ve exhausted all of my Clásico references in that Windows Phone 7 post. How much sense would it make to use all of the references all over again? I mean, this time I could link to El País’s match report (“goals rain down in the Camp Nou like leaves in the autumn, in a natural manner, with a just rhythm, with a beautiful and serene shape, a sign of health and footbalistic… → Read More
Who can forget the acrimony, not to mention the utter embarrassment, that followed Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal (better video here) during the England-Germany Round of 16 World Cup match? The ball was clearly over the line, but for the nearsightedness of the officials on the pitch. Not that it would have mattered—Germany well and truly beat up ol’ England—but the ghost goal should… → Read More
The European soccer season is well under way, and that could mean only one thing: the new FIFA and PES games are right around the corner! I’m a PES man myself, but I’m more than willing to give the new FIFA a try. And why not? Both EA and Konami have released demos of both games today. Here’s what you can expect. → 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… → 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
Credit to Pocket-lint, a fine site, for comparing the Adidas Jabulani, the ball that’s used in the World Cup, and the Nike T90 Ascente, the ball that’s used in the English, Spanish, and Italian leagues. The ides was to see if you could find out, once and for all, if there’s something inherent in the design of the Jabulani that makes it fly all over the place. Conclusion? Maybe… → 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… → 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… → 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… → 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… → Read More
More info on Sony and FIFA‘s plan to bring us the World Cup in 3D. It turns out that Sony will only film one game per matchday in 3D. That’s for all 25 days of the tournament, so if multiple games are played on the same day only one game, presumably the highest profile, will get the 3D treatment. → Read More
How do you know when you’re a great athlete? Oh, I don’t know, maybe when the top-tier manager of the opposing team calls you a PlayStation! Like, you’re so good it’s almost as if someone goes into Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer or EA Sports’ FIFA, creates a player, than gives said player 12 out of 10 in all the key stats: speed, attack, technical skill, etc. Leo Messi is like a PlayStation. → Read More
Sepp Blatter (left), the FIFA president, has explained why there won’t be goal-line technology at this year’s World Cup, saying he wants the sport to maintain a “human element” and that all levels of soccer, from 6-year-old kids to open-goal-missing Gonzalo Higuaín of Real Madrid, need to be played with the same rules. Whatever you say, Sepp. I hope for your sake a Spain or Italy or Brazil don’t… → Read More
There’s a myth out there that technology will ruin soccer, what Pelé (and others) once called “the beautiful game.” Let me ask you something: is this Cristiano Ronaldo free kick any less beautiful because he’s wearing the latest Nike boots? Do you have any idea how many hours are spent developing the technology that’s built into things like the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly II? Rest assured that… → Read More
Is FIFA the worst organization on the planet? I’d say so. World soccer bigwigs have concluded a meeting in Zurich, and they’ve decided against implementing goal line technology at this year’s World Cup. Yes, why would you want to introduce a legitimately helpful technology into a sport that so desperately needs it? Ridiculous. → Read More
Tomorrow is the big day, fellow football fans. That’s when FIFA announces the full brackets for next year’s World Cup, to be held in South Africa. Yes, there’s a tech angle here. Sony has said that it will film the entire tournament, from the very first kick-off until the final whistle of the final game in Johannesburg, with 3D cameras. → Read More
You would think that with a population of 300 million the U.S. would be a little better at soccer than it currently is. Not that the US Mens National Team is terrible—its victory against Spain in the Confederations Cup in June was all kinds of great—but we’re (yup, Royal We time) not exactly known as a “world power,” mentioned in the same breath with Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil… → Read More
Finally, a cellphone promotion (called Pasaporte a los Partidos) I can get behind! T-Mobile is teaming up with CONCACAF, North America’s, Central America’s and the Caribbean’s soccer governing body, to help promote the CONCACAF Champions League, the region’s main club competition. (Think UEFA Champions League or the Copa Libertadores in South America.) Anyway! If you’re a T-Mobile user, all you… → Read More
The demo for FIFA 09 is nowon the PS3′s PSN. Not a moment too soon, since we’re right in the midst of World Cup 2010 qualifiers. That up there is England, winning. Yes, truly shocking. → Read More
We have terrible news for all eight of you soccer fans. It looks like EA has acquired the exclusive license to Spain’s La Liga, meaning FIFA will be the only game to feature the Spanish league. In other words, don’t go looking for official LFP logos and whatnot in Pro Evolution Soccer 2009. That’s a real shame, since everybody who’s anybody knows PES has been consistently… → Read More
Peter Moore, seen here playing DDR, is rather bullish on EA’s sports properties. Rather than “rest on its laurels,” he says EA’s upcoming sports titles will be incredible, expect nothing but the best, etc. Several EA sports games have won sports game of the year honors from various publications; Madden was the fourth best selling game overall last year; NASCAR has been… → Read More
EA claims that FIFA 09 contains some 250 improvements over last year’s game. These include improved responsiveness, changes to the collision system and a new jostle system that takes into account players’ strength when calculating collision. Presumably, that means that strikers like Drogba and Villa will have an easier time running through defenders than Eto’ or Messi. Of course… → Read More
Pic via IGN. Duh. Video games make you violent, video games cause global warming, blah blah. Every day, some bonehead gives games a bad rap. Today that bonehead is Robert Green, a goalkeeper for West Ham United, an English soccer team. England crashed out of Euro 2008 last week—hilariously, I might add—and Green partially blames video games. Said the Green, “We would have the… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
