Tag Archives: World Cup

Another Year Ends…

I feel as if I should be marking the end of 2022 here somehow, but I am not sure exactly how. For many people it has been a year best forgotten quickly. The COVID -19 pandemic seems to drag on, though at least the panic part seems to have died down as we have come […]

Shattered Dreams

Like most sports fans, at times my head and my heart are at war with each other. Never has that been more obvious than during the World Cup this year. Canada qualified for the tournament for the first time in 36 years. We finished first in our qualifying division, ahead of the US and Mexico, […]

What World Cup?

A year ago Germany was awash in patriotism as the nation cheered on the national team in the World Cup. It was like hockey in Canada only more intense. Business came to a halt during games. Church services were canceled. There were flags everywhere. Large screens were set up in public places to allow communal […]

A National Disaster

No rioting in the streets – Germans are too stunned for that. For the first time ever, the country’s football team has been eliminated in the opening round of the World Cup. It is tough for North Americans to understand just how big a deal that is. When I was growing up soccer, or football […]

World Cup 2018/World Cup 2026

The biggest event in sports outside the Olympics starts today, and unless you are Mexican, nobody in North America cares. Well, that might be an overstatement given that yesterday the 2016 event was awarded to North America, but Canada and the US aren’t playing this year. For Canadians that is nothing new. In our only […]

Watching the World Cup II – The Women’s Game

FIFA, the international soccer body, has taken a big hit lately. Corruption, rumored for years, has come home to roost – 14 FIFA executives have been arrested recently and the news seems pretty bad. Except in Canada, where the Women’s World Cup kicked off this week. No charges of corruption or bribery in the awarding […]

Watching The World Cup

It is arguably the biggest sporting event in the world, even bigger than the Olympics. Also held every four years, the FIFA World Cup dominates most of the world for a month or so – pretty much everywhere except North America. Here the sport that the rest of the world refers to as football has […]