World Cup

Alright, who’s ready to feel sick and ill at the same time? You? Let’s go. FIFA is cleaning up its act. FIFA is getting its s*** together. That’s hard work — they were mired in metaphorical defecation up to the neck following the reign of corruption’s Sepp Blatter. It’s such a grind piecing together the fallen remnants of football’s global governing body that newly elected FIFA president Gianni Infantino will receive $1.52 million, a car, housing and a monthly expense limit of $2,025 for his troubles.

Diving in soccer certainly predates the 1974 FIFA World Cup final, but on no other occasion has the ramifications of a flop been so clearly encapsulated and amplified.

The 1974 World Cup in West Germany served as a pageant for the Netherlands technique of Total Football, the tactical theory envisioning a side in which any outfield player can quickly take over the role of any other player on the pitch.

With Bolivia sitting ninth in the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying table, and having lost all three of their Copa America Centenario matches, newly appointed manager Angel Guillermo Hoyos is determined to get the most out of La Verde by going back to square one — the square where he determines who in Bolivia actually plays soccer.

Sources from Lionel Messi’s family have told Goal.com that the former Argentina captain will not return for his country’s September World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.

Argentina’s opening match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was against a South Korean side that was participating in the tournament for the first time since 1954. Argentina’s 1982 World Cup campaign, after having won the 1978 edition on home turf, had been a disaster. 

It had been Maradona’s first World Cup and defeats against Italy and Brazil had offered a glimpse of how to disrupt the Argentinian star: aggressively man-mark and foul the Argentine No. 10.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino looks set to continue the work of his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, and disgraced UEFA president Michel Platini in expanding the World Cup to 40 teams.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will each feature the current format of 32 teams, which came into use for the 1998 edition of the tournament, but Infantino believes the 2026 World Cup will feature 40 national sides. 

To say that Marc Wilmots underperformed as Belgium manager at Euro 2016 is akin to saying the USA men’s basketball team was off the pace at the 2006 Olympics or that the Republican Party hasn’t put their best foot forward for the 2016 presidential election. Wilmots screwed the pooch.

Amnesty International published two new videos that show in gruesome detail the true nature of conditions for migrant workers working on the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The Qatar World Cup is set to be held in the winter, and has been subject of criticisms from almost every angle imaginable.