This one’s for you, cricket fans. For those not familiar with “the gentleman’s game”, we are currently in the grips of the ICC World Cup — or The World Cup of Cricket, if you prefer. “Who cares?” or “what’s a cricket?” you may be asking. Well, considering there are only five proclaimed cricket pitches in the U.S., you may have a fair point. But for countries (and cricket powerhouses) like India… → Read More
If nothing else, hosting the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will provide more than a few stories like this one. The tournament’s organizers now say they have invented artificial clouds to hang over stadia and training grounds. The idea is to help block out the punishing sunshine that’s present there during the traditional World Cup months of June-July. → Read More
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’d Well there you go: the 2018 Fifa World Cup will be in Russia and the 2022 Fifa World Cup will be in Qatar. We’re all in agreement in the official CrunchGear chat room this morning: it’s more exciting this way. Would you rather spend your summer holiday on the Baltic Sea coast or in rainy Liverpool? (Nothing against Liverpool, mind.) I, for one, think it’s far more… → 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
Sony will release the official <2010 FIFA World Cup 3D Blu-ray documentary on November 16. You'll need a compatible Blu-ray player as well as a 3DTV to get the most out of the film. → 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
Toshiba made a bit of a mistake back in early June. They ran a series of ads in Germany, England, Portugal, Italy, and Spain, promising that if someone bought a Toshiba product before the end of the World Cup, and your team won it, Toshiba would refund your purchase. Sounds like a great deal, right? Well.. you’ve got to read that fine print. Turns out that Toshiba is rather particular about… → 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
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… → Read More
Social CRM platform vendor Attensity has issued its analysis of the sentiment expressed throughout various social media platforms about the World Cup finalists. Based on data drawn from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, video and forum sites, the startup has concluded that while Spain owns the largest share of conversations across the Web, social media users speak slightly more positive of… → 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
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… → 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
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
Ha! How did I miss this? Go ahead and search for something on Google, then scroll to the bottom of the page. Notice anything? And now we can all celebrate Italy’s elimination from the World Cup! (Thanks, Carlos!) → Read More
How can you hate on the vuvuzela? Here’s another option if you’re one of those people who hate the sound of the vuvuzela during the World Cup. Elgato, makers of EyeTV 3, have developed a filter that blocks out the sound of the horns. You’ll need the latest version of EyeTV, mind you. My advice? Embrace the vuvuzela! It’s all part of the fun~! → Read More
Looks like Nike is up to quite a bit more in South Africa than making sure Landon Donovan (and the rest of Team USA) is well-dressed while taking first place in Group C. (Fingers crossed!) I just got word that the company has constructed the biggest interactive LED screen in the whole of Africa. It’s on the Life Centre skyscraper that’s in Johannesburg. Now, what would you want to do with an giant… → 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
Here’s a slight update to my World Cup “all you need to know” post from yesterday. I completely forgot to mention that ESPN3.com is streaming all the games live and totally for free. No need to mess around with shady P2P streams. → Read More
Today’s the big day. TechCrunch turns five years old. And oh, there’s a huge football – no, not ‘soccer’ – event kicking off in South Africa too. Many of you will be missing the opening match(es) while you’re out celebrating our birthday and 5 years of change on the Web all over the world, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to catch up from your mobile phone, or look up what went down on the… → 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
Both EA and Konami have revealed details regarding the next FIFA, called FIFA Soccer 10 in the U.S., and Pro Evolution Soccer, called Pro Evolution Soccer 11, games, respectively. The first detail: they exist. There was approximately a zero percent chance that EA and Konami wouldn’t continue with the franchises, but you and I know that big corporations make terrible decisions all the time. EA’s… → Read More
Continuing with our (well, my) nearly non-stop World Cup coverage! Spain beat Poland yesterday 6-0 in Murcia. It was an awesome display, and an illustration of why Spain are the favorites to win the tournament. And yes, there is a tech connection~! That second goal, my word… → Read More
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