Brazil Cuts Beer Duties To Avoid Shortages
by No Author Listed and Peter Murphy (Article | Reuters - May 27)
Brazil has slashed beer duties to avoid shortages during the World Cup, after local brewers warned they would be unable to meet surging demand despite sharply increasing production. more details | go to article

Rural South Africa Gets Taste Of World Cup
by Tshego Letshwiti (Profile/Interview | Yahoo - May 26)
Outsiders are rare as rain in this dusty corner of northern South Africa. So when cars carrying government workers, flags and a sound system arrived at the community sports field, curious villagers streamed in. more details | go to article

Soccer Star Ronaldo Angry At Vanity Fair
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | New York Post - May 25)
The world's highest-paid soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo, is fuming that Vanity Fair put him on the cover in tight underpants with rival player Didier Drogba. more details | go to article

South Africa Pushes To Make The Cup Its Own
by Celia W. Dugger (Profile/Interview | New York Times - May 23)
The official mascot of Africa’s first World Cup — a stuffed leopard with spiked green hair — was made in China. The official World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” was written by the Colombian pop star Shakira. The official restaurant? McDonald’s. more details | go to article

"Green Card" Incident Outrages Students After Soccer Match
by Molli Graham (Article | KMTV-Omaha (Action 3-CBS) - May 19)
A celebration is tarnished by the act of some students. What happened after last night's Nebraska State Boy's Soccer Championship, has some teens in hot water. more details | go to article

Lineker Quits Newspaper Column Over Triesman Story
by Agence France Presse (Preview | Yahoo - May 18)
Former England striker Gary Lineker on Tuesday quit the newspaper which published the secretly recorded allegations from the Football Association's chief about England's rival World Cup bidders. more details | go to article

Detained Militant In Iraq Details World Cup Plot
by Qassim Abdul-Zahra (Article | Yahoo - May 18)
An al-Qaida militant detained in Iraq on suspicion of plotting to attack the World Cup told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wanted to target Danish and Dutch teams to avenge insults against the Prophet Muhammad. more details | go to article

Amid Cup Fervor, Revisiting Pain Of Apartheid
by William C. Rhoden (Profile/Interview | New York Times - May 17)
My introduction to Hugh Masekela came in 1968. Amid great turbulence, assassinations and riots, Masekela’s hit single “Grazing in the Grass” became the breezy anthem of a hot summer. more details | go to article

FA Chief Lord Triesman Accuses Spain And Russia Of Bid To Bribe World Cup Referees
by Ian Gallagher (Preview | Daily Mail (UK) - May 16)
England's campaign to host the 2018 World Cup was in chaos last night after the Football Association’s chairman accused Spain and Russia of planning to bribe referees in this summer’s tournament. more details | go to article

Footballer As Life Coach (The Imaginary Kind)
by A.O. Scott (Commentary | New York Times - May 14)
There are two Erics in “Looking for Eric.” One is Eric Bishop (Steve Evets), a middle-aged Manchester, England, postal worker whose existence has been a chronicle of hardship and disappointment, much of it self-inflicted. more details | go to article

Capello Player Rating Website Plan Postponed
by No Author Listed (Article | BBC - May 11)
Plans for England boss Fabio Capello to be involved in a player ratings website for the World Cup have been postponed. more details | go to article

English Pubs Rely On Rooney's Groin For Beer Sales
by Andrew Cleary (Analysis | Bloomberg - May 11)
Bars across the country are building stadium-style seating, upgrading televisions and offering free meals to fans as they bank on a strong showing from England in soccer’s World Cup to provide a respite from five years of falling beer sales. Fans are concerned whether star player Rooney will recover in time. more details | go to article

Europe's Unbeaten Clubs
by No Author Listed (Analysis | Soccer America - March 2)
ayer Leverkusen set a German Bundesliga record for most games without a loss to start the season Saturday when it tied Cologne, 0-0, and extended its unbeaten streak to 24 games. It's bidding to become the first German teams to go unbeaten in modern history. Here are the team who have gone unbeaten in Europe's major leagues over the last 50 years. more details | go to article

FIFA May Get Into Line With Dropping Offside
by Cathy Harris (Article | London Times - March 2)
Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, football’s governing body, may be considering scrapping the offside rule, as hockey did more than a decade ago. more details | go to article

Mexico Bar Staff Charged In Soccer Star Shooting
by Associated Press (Article | Yahoo - February 25)
exico City prosecutors have charged six employees of a bar with covering for the suspect in the shooting of Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas. more details | go to article