This is a result widely being described as “England’s second exit from Europe” in five days. Iceland 2, England 1, in the round of 16 at the Euro 2016 tournament in France. Yes, Iceland. Previously known for volcanoes, blond people and, yes, ice. Here in France we watched the match on BBC. And by the […]

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It was three years ago that I saw Ricardo Quaresma at what must have been his low ebb. This would have been in Abu Dhabi, in the stands at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, where I watching the final of the President’s Cup — which pitted Al Ahli and Al Shabab on a stultifying May evening. […]

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France is host of the ongoing European Championship. We live in France. We have never been to a Euro tournament match. A few matches are being held in Marseille, the closest game site to where we live, in the Languedoc. One of those Marseille matches is Saturday and involves Iceland and Hungary, two long shots […]

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And we thought drunken thugs clashing around a soccer match was an sight that had been relegated to history. Not when England is involved, especially overseas. Especially in France. Especially in Marseille. English louts who reportedly had been drinking all day attacked/were attacked/counter-attacked in an atmosphere of beer-fueled chaos near the Old Port of France’s […]

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All these years after soccer made a breakthrough in the United States, and I’m still not sure American fans appreciate the significance of the Uefa European Championship. The World Cup is the planet’s biggest tournament. The Euros are No. 2. I suppose No. 3 would be the Copa America, which is going on in the […]

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Sometimes I feel I’m at the far end of the Jurgen Klinsmann must go spectrum. I believe the German coach of the U.S. national team is an ongoing disaster who is actively making the team worse by denigrating American players and the country’s domestic league … and who continues to bring in faux Yanks, insta-Yanks, […]

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This falls under the heading of a particularly broad category of human events. To wit: What were they thinking?!? Someone at a BMW dealership and someone at Al Ain FC, the most celebrated soccer club in the UAE, thought it would be a good idea to do a commercial spot. So far so good. However, […]

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U.S. soccer fans have been wondering, for years now, whom the next great American-born attacking soccer player would be … someone to carry the torch Landon Donovan bore for more than a decade. The Next Man may finally be here, and he more properly is a boy rather than a man. That would be, of […]

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We have been in Southern California for nearly two weeks now, and one sports concept is noticeable by its absence: Any apparent enthusiasm for the return of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.

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My default setting when it comes to big-time sports in the U.S., both professionals and major colleges, is to apply my speck of psychic energy to the support of teams from the western United States. Thus, I should be sending negative vibes (however that is done) at the Cleveland Cavaliers, who tonight clinched the Eastern […]

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