A Few Thoughts on World Cup 2014

So last year I wrote a thought piece on the current Confederations and their qualification systems for the World Cup.  About a month removed from this year’s World Cup in Brazil I am emerging from acute soccer withdrawal and wanted to note some thoughts about Brazil. First off, this was an exciting edition of the World Cup.  Great games, lots of goals and drama galore.  The German shellacking of Brasil will go down in history as one of the greatest shock defeats in the history of the game.  The advance of Costa Rica deep into the tournament was as great …

A Few Thoughts on International Futbol

Association Football known world-wide as football or futbol but tagged with soccer in the United States is the world’s game by any measure.  I have my own complicated relationship with the game which has meant different things to me at different points of my life. Right now it’s World Cup qualification season across the world. In each of six regional confederations, tournaments are ongoing to determine which teams will make the final cut of 32 nations at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  (England may claim to be the home of the game because it propagated the rules the World …