The national stadium in Dili, the capital city of Timor-Leste, is an unassuming place. Two small stands, one on either side of the pitch, offer the only seating, with grass banks providing the…
Tag: world cup
Given the unrivalled scale of its all encapsulating allure, it comes as little surprise to see that the World Cup has inspired a vast array of creatives to abandon their daily duties…
As another World Cup pushes on, the thirst for nostalgia is ramped up to an unquenchable level. Doe-eyed fans of the game seek every possible outlet to satiate their thirst for the…
The wind howls down a bleak Belgrade avenue, rain thumping against the windscreen of the white Mercedes that carries Aleksandar Stanković gently towards the blurred traffic lights on Bačvanska Street. It is October…
When Joachim Löw has dinner with Angela Merkel, he always orders the same thing. Merkel’s cook, Löw told Bild newspaper in 2016, makes a mean cordon bleu with chips. As for what…
Uruguay has produced many legends since winning the very first World Cup in 1930. Indeed, that line-up featured defender José Nasazzi and striker Héctor Castro, both placed highly amongst La Celeste’s greats.…
The 1982 World Cup is memorable for a litany of reasons. There are so many indelible images from that sultry Spanish summer 36 years ago that it’s almost impossible to recall them all.…
Commissioned by Josimar Magazine to illustrate the cover for their 200-page World Cup issue, New York City-based designer, illustrator and art director Daniel Nyari willingly assumed the mantle with both hands and…
I have no idea what to do about the World Cup this summer. It is probably my favourite sports competition but, for the first time since I began following it, or even…
Football is not wanting of phenomena. There have been phenomenal players, phenomenal tricks, goals, passes, plays – we have seen it all. Phenomenal teams have packed stadiums throughout history, leaving masses numbering…
Many a gifted footballer has come out of Rosario, Argentina. That is where the peerless Lionel Messi was born and called home until his departure for Spain; where Internazionale striker Mauro Icardi…
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, David Beckham was captain of England. The squad he led – though painfully restricted by manager Sven-Göran Eriksson’s abhorrence of creativity and his subsequent insistence…
As settings go for the biggest match in a nation’s footballing history, the Azteca in Mexico City has to be one of the finest. For the Red Devils of Belgium, this would be…
With the 2018 World Cup just around the corner, Joel Rabinowitz spoke to five Icelandic football supporters to get the inside track on their country’s remarkable rise from international minnows to the…
“With so many great players in one team, you make art. You don’t mean to but you do.” These were the thoughts of one of the crucial cogs in the Dutch totaalvoetbal…
In many ways, Iceland have no right to feed at the top table of world football. A nation of just 325,000 people marooned on a volcanic island in the North Atlantic, miles…
It is the evening of 14 June 1992 at the Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm. England are playing their final Group A game of Euro 92 against the host nation Sweden, needing a…
As featured on Guardian Sport The busy intersection of 25th Avenue and Steinway Street was completely shut down due to the mass of people chanting, singing, cheering and screaming. Flags were waving high…